Page 36 of The Darkest Prince

I lean into his arm and lower my voice. “I’d like to do you, but you don’t touch me anymore.”

He scowls, then scans the space around us to ensure no one overheard me. “Damian, for fucks sake. My grandfather is right there. If he hears you…”

Like I don’t already know the rules.What we do in the dark can never see the light. If anyone were to find out about us, Bastian would be destroyed. He can’t handle anyone—especially not his piece of shit grandfather—finding out about us.

Bastian comes from one of the Founding Families. He’s an Adams—yes, like the president. Fitzgerald Archibald Adams IV is among the guests in attendance. The old man is one of Bastian’s few living relatives and treats him like garbage.

After our parents died, Fitzy took both of us in for a few weeks. Those days of being locked in a dark basement without food or water were worse than hell. Our parents hadn’t been in the ground for more than a few days when the beatings started. Some days, we woke up in our piss and shit.

To say we hate Fitzy is an understatement. But he still finds ways to get into Bastian’s head. He calls us dirty, filthy animals as if we’re still the little boys trapped in the basement, wasting away in the dark.

He’s part of the reason I kill people. And why I enjoy hurting bad men who do horrible things and deserve to die. When I kill a man, I imagine it’s Fitzy beneath me, begging for his life.

Bastian’s grandfather has brainwashed him. He doesn’t know about our sexual desires, but he still sees our relationship as wrong. We don’t conform to what Fitzy considers the norm. And so Bash sees us as something dirty and disgusting. A secret we need to hide from the world.

“I miss you,” I whisper, giving his arm a brotherly pat when I just need an excuse to touch him. No one else will read into the simple gesture. “We leave in the morning for initiation. Ineedto be with you before we go.”

There’s no time for doing normal post-graduation shit. No senior week or vacation before we start college. Our family isn’t like others and has a duty to our corrupt organization.

No rest for the wicked.

“D, it’s over.” Bastian sips from the highball glass. “Luca is keeping Alex.”

“No, I’m not,” Luca says, coming out of nowhere with a drink in hand. “You want her? She’s yours, too.”

“You claimed her, and we’ve back off since then,” Bastian snaps. “And you wait until our last night with her to change your fucking mind?”

Luca smirks. “I’m a dick. What can I say? A little celibacy will do you good with us being locked on Skull Island for the next two months.”

All Knights must train on Skull Island before being admitted into the organization. We will go through the nine circles of Hell and hopefully live to tell about it when it’s over. Our dad warned us of the dangers will we face.

“What the fuck, Luca?” Bastian’s nostrils flare. “You did this shit on purpose.” He shakes his head, furious. “The last few months of school were all bullshit, weren’t they? A fucking game to mess with our heads.”

He shrugs. “I did it more to fuck withherhead. But sure, if you want to take it personally, go right ahead.”

My blood feels like it’s boiling inside my veins, and I’m ready to snap my brother’s neck.

Luca is a lot of things.

An evil mastermind.

A genius.

And one day, he will lead our family. I respect him, but right now, I want to grab my hunting knife and cut out his black fucking heart.

“You were jealous, weren’t you?” I ask him. “That day in the bathroom set you off, and you haven’t been the same with Alex since. You didn’t just play her. You played us, too.”

“I don’t get jealous,” Luca fires back with venom in his tone. “But make no mistake, that girl is mine. She will marry me and will produce my heir.”

“Yeah,” Bastian interjects. “But we had a deal, you jealous fucking prick.”

Luca saw how much Alex wanted us, and it killed him. I don’t know if Bastian will ever forgive Luca for this. Not sure if I will either… unless he lets us have her and backs off.

“And I intend to keep it.” Luca takes a sip from the glass, tugging on his tie. It’s red, my favorite color, and it reminds me of blood. “She’ll be my wife in name only. You can have her when I’m done. Or if you prefer, we can share her.”

I want to kill him.

He made us believe she was off-limits. Neither of us has touched her since. She probably thinks we don’t want her anymore when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

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