No Such King (Bloody Royals, #1)

by Coralee June

The roses I brought to her last resting place would make her grimace. It was a dismal offering for my departed parents—half-dead flowers tightly cradled in the fist of a negligent daughter. Even the thorns were trimmed off the stems. Mum hated it when florists did that. Thorns should be respected and revered rather than destroyed, according to her. The danger adds to its beauty, Christine.

I missed the idea of my father—of a man who loved the women in his life ferociously.

“I hate that you’re standing on Aldrich soil. I hate that you attended the funeral of the man that ruined your life. I hate that every second you’re here puts you at risk. And I’m going to make your life a living hell until you go back where it’s safe. Where I know you won’t get sucked back into this world.”

Lingering in the past only paved a road that led to heartbreak. I was forging a new future.

His lips found the corner of my mouth. It was chaste and teasing. Dark. Assuming. He pulled back with his arched brow raised before walking out of August’s suite.

Realization dawned on me at that moment. I took a step closer to her. “Who hurt you?”

“Is that why you ran, beautiful? Because you were afraid August would peel back your layers and not like the fractured soul you’re clinging to?”

“What if I don’t deserve him? What if I don’t deserve any of you? What if I’ve become a monster?” “Then I guess I’m a monster catcher, baby,” he whispered.

I picked myself up off the floor, and I became a girl who didn’t have to fly away from her pain. I learned to fight it.

“Why do you have tears in your eyes, pretty girl? Who do I need to murder?”

“Because power allows me to be closer to you. To protect you. To take care of you. August is king, but I am not afraid to be a monster, Christine. A monster isn’t hesitant to fight or to get their hands bloody. I can accomplish things he wouldn’t get away with. I don’t have a moral compass, which means I don’t give a fuck who I have to hurt to get to you. Monsters aren’t afraid of the dark, baby.”

With August, I had to become what I feared. With Atticus, I got to accept the darkest parts of my soul. And somewhere between all of that, Leo was there too. We were trauma bonded, the rugged bodyguard and I.

I looked down at him and frowned at the wicked gleam in his eyes.

“Nod like a good girl so I know you understand.” I did what anyone would do at that moment. I nodded.

I was no one’s property. I would fight for myself.

“I’m afraid I can’t ask you,” he replied. “You see, Christine, if I asked, that would imply you had any say in this. But it’s not my mother, this Crown, or your so-called crimes that draw us together. It’s…fate. As obscure and obsolete of a construct as that is, you’ve been mine since the day you were born. You’ve had my heart since that night you moved in. We have been meant to belong together for as long as I can remember. It’s too late to stop now. It’s too late to ask.”