Page 82 of The Royal's Pet: A MMF Ménage Royal Romance

“Roland?” His mother blinks blearily. She’s sitting on the edge of her bed in a long white nightgown. With her hair down, long blonde tresses curling like waves, she looks meek and doe-like. Beautiful still, but… well. Normal. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Ah. Roland.” Iris’s red lips twist in a grimace. “Just the man I wanted to see.”

“Drop the weapon, bodyguard.” A woman in a dark suit seems to emerge from the wallpaper behind us and points a pistol at Ben’s head.

My heart falls through the floor. So much for the element of surprise. Ben looks like he’s swallowed an apple core. He scowls and hands his weapon off to her.

“Sara Ryan, is it?” Ben says.

“Handsome and clever.” She smiles cruelly. “I like that.”

“You two know each other?” I venture.

“She was at the club,” Ben grunts.

It dawns on me. “You’re the boob flasher,” I pipe up.

A low laugh escapes her throat. “I see my tits precede me.”

“I’m completely lost,” Roland snaps, his hands in the air. “Why are we talking about her breasts?” He snarls at Iris, “You’re trying to poison my mum and steal the crown.”

“Goodness, Roland!” The queen tosses up her hand. “You’re always so bloody dramatic. No one’s trying to poison anyone.”

Iris’s lips purse together like a rosebud. “No, Selena, he’s right,” she says coldly. “I’ve been trying to kill you for years.”

Her words are so startling that my whole brain feels fuzzy, like I’ve been hit over the head with a brick. Everyone’s eyes are locked on Princess Iris. Slowly, I reach into my jacket and my trembling fingertips graze my phone.

45

Ben

The cold muzzle of her pistol presses against my temple. My heart is banging against my rib cage. Yet the air seems sucked out of the room at Iris’s confession.

Iris laughs. It cuts the tension with all the grace of a rusty machete. “Oh, why so sour?” She cackles. “Come, now. You had to know this was coming. Your meddling kids clearly have it all figured out.”

“Poison?” The queen stares into her teacup and then throws it at her sister. The remaining tea slops against the wall, and the cup shatters into a million pieces. “You conniving, jealous brat!”

Selena lifts a hand to slap her sister, but Iris suddenly grabs the queen by the throat. I lurch forward, and so does Roland, but the gun twists at my head as a reminder. “Down, boys,” the agent hisses.

“Don’t spend all your energy at once, dear sister,” Iris coos. “It’ll only make the toxin work faster.”

Selena gargles, and then her legs give out. She sits at the edge of the bed, and her eyes fill with tears. “Why?”

“Why?” Iris mocks, releasing her sister to pace in front of the bed. “You had everything! You had our parents’ love and attention. You had the crown. You had a handsome husband and a strong son. You took everything and left nothing for me.”

Queen Selena starts to nod off, her eyelids drooping. No, I plead quietly. Stay awake. Stay alert.

Iris cups her sister’s chin in her hand. “How long did you expect me to live quietly in your shadow? Who was left to love me?”

“I loved you,” Selena mumbles, her words slurring together.

Iris spits. “You pitied me. That’s not love.” She stands and her eyes blaze over the three of us. “So I’ll take everything you love. And then I’ll take the crown.”

“My father,” Roland speaks up, his voice a near-whisper. “That was you?”

Iris’s lips twist in a grimace. “You were all supposed to be on that plane… mechanical failure. It would have been perfect, and the crown would have fallen into my lap. But no… you had to make me wait. For ten years, this place was a goddamn fortress… until you.” She turns her vicious smile on Rory, and every muscle in my body goes stiff. “I should thank you, ducky. Without you, I would’ve never gotten the prince within my crosshairs.

“Of course, I didn’t expect you there, bodyguard.” She turns to me and clicks her tongue against her teeth. “The things you three get up to behind closed doors… naughty, naughty.”

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