Page 122 of Shâhzâdeh

“Tell me I can break something.” Shoaib remembered the way Vanya talked shit about their last encounter and I knew he wanted to redeem himself.

I held up the bloody plug of hair that I’d ripped out with a smile. “Not today.Mamanwants to have fun.”

Sho grunted but relented as he and Quentin grabbed Jonathan up by his arms. He looked surprised, another reason I knew he would never learn from his mistakes. They’d already beat his ass once, but he somehow felt like history wouldn’t repeat itself.Those that fail to learn the lesson the first time…

It took a second for the fellas to sit back down. The unreleased anger at the disrespectful shit that was said about Vanya still keeping us all on high alert. I couldn’t blame them. I’d had an ever-increasing feeling of rage since I’d laid eyes on this man last summer and saw the way he spoke to Vanya.

“Auntie Babette ‘bout to put a root on him.” Midas sat back down and picked up the glass he’d been sipping on before we’d been interrupted. He leaned back with his ankle balanced on his knee looking like he was calm, but as his cousin I knew he wasn’t. He wanted to go after Jonathan and beat his ass.

“I zhink she likes him even less zhan me. You know how she feels about bullies.” I didn’t sit back down until I saw Quentin and Sho walk back into the lounge. From the way they were smiling, I was sure that they’d done something to him. I couldn’t be bothered enough to care. They knew to leave him alive so if they tortured him just slightly more before I got to kill him, it only added to what he deserved.

“Maybe she can make him act like his inner animal.” Ori’s deep ass voice spoke up from where he was sitting.

“Inner animal?”

“Yeah, a coon. Like every time someone calls his name, he… makes whatever noise a raccoon makes. Hol’ up, what noise does a raccoon make?” Ori paused like he was truly trying to remember if he’d ever heard a raccoon sound before.

Yacouba looked up from his phone with a strange look on his face. “It says raccoons make a chitter sound to communicate. Chitter even rhymes with nigger. I bet he be letting them folks call him that shit too. Probably the only way he can get his dick hard.” Yacouba almost made me choke with that supposition and I didn’t want to die before I had the chance to make Vanya my wife.

“Enough about him. I’m ready to relax.”

“When does everything start?” Priest was attempting to be the calm like he wasn’t on go like the rest of us when Jonathan was here.

“After the honeymoon. I want to enjoy spending time wiz my wife, celebrate our union and zhen end our enemies. For once, the old man outsmarted me because he knew zhe family wouldn’t be able to come because of mourning if he died beforehand. And our union would be looked down upon if we went ahead while zhe country mourned his deaz.”

“I’m shocked they’re coming at all.” Midas sneered at the thought of being in the same room as the other side of my family, as he always did.

“Gives zhem anozer connection to my fazer and his influence. Damn shame vhen a king needs zhe influence of a businessman to drum up good publicity.” They were the only wild card with tomorrow, but I had enough back up plans to ensure they stayed in line.

“When you’re a king set in his ways and refusing to actually do any of the good work you want credit for, it can go like that. But it’s no matter, all things end, especially the reigns of tyrants.” Midas held up his glass and the smile on everyone’s face signaled they agreed with his sentiment.

“I find so much of this to be prophetic.”

The tone of Priest’s voice gave me a chill and I was almost afraid to ask him to elaborate. His tone was serious and I prayed he was going to say something to ease my mind. “So much of what?”

“You and this woman. She’s your Esther.”

“I see Mir tucked Priest back into his cubby for the day. We about to get a word.” Ori was all smiles like he was truly wanting to be preached to in this lounge. Omega and Smoke had even tuned in from whatever brotherly business they were discussing to listen to us.

“I’m eager to hear what you have to say, Mir. For whatever limited time we have you with us.” Yacouba was joking around with this man like he was working with a full deck. This was the same man who delivered a death threat to his father/uncle from the pulpit. I was not about to play around with Mir and how powerful his words were.

“Y’all are all ridiculous but I’m serious. You are named after a great king. One who was born of a family that condoned polygamy but you and your father both abhor it.”

“Yeah… but zhat’s just common decency.” I was trying to understand where he was going with this.

“Your wife was taken in after being orphaned.” He looked at me with raised brows as though he were waiting on me to make the connection.

It clicked for me, and I shook my head at his parallel. “A situation I’m still researching but her adoptive fazer was no Mordecai.”

“Was Mordecai even as pious as we believe?” His brow rose and that shit had me sitting forward like this man had dirt on someone who lived way back in the 5thcentury BC.

Ori chuckled and kept sipping from his glass. “Welcome back, Priest.”

“I digress. We have seen the sweet Esther. The one who stands up for those she loves. She for damn sure was going to help Frankie run away from this nigga last year.” He nodded his head toward Liam causing his diamond cross to throw rainbows in the dim light.

“Yoo ken she was more than ‘appy to t’reaten me in my own ‘ome. She’s got fire just beneath ‘er sweetness. She dinna flinch when my Frankie pulled the trigger.”

“So you have to decide if you’re going to have your sweet Esther or allow Amestris to come and play.”

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