Ruthless King

She sighed. She wasn’t tired. But she also knew that arguing wouldn’t help.

“When will you be home?” It seemed like he usually worked late at night.

“Actually, I’m planning on being home to have dinner with you.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised.

“Really. Sound good?”

Oh. It sounded more than good.

36

She banged on her laptop keys in frustration. “You pain in the ass! Why? Why do you hate me?”

“Thea? Why is that lady yelling at her laptop?”

Jilly jumped into the air with a small scream. Turning, she saw a beautiful, curvy woman standing by the French doors with two boys flanking her. The boys looked just like her. All three of them had golden brown hair and hazel-colored eyes.

Shit.

She’d come out to the courtyard to work, but things weren’t going well. Her laptop was not only extremely slow, but it kept losing her work.

Technology was really messing with her flow. She might have to go back to pen and paper.

“Hi. Sorry.” She jumped to her feet. “I, um, I’m having technology problems.”

The smaller boy eyed her skeptically. “I don’t think yelling at your laptop is gonna fix it. Carrick says that we need to talk about our feelings rather than yell about them.”

“That’s smart,” she said with a small smile.

“Is it?” the boy asked. “I don’t really get what he means.”

“He means you should talk, not yell,” the other boy said. “It’s not that hard to understand, doofus.”

“Hey! I’m not a doofus! Thea, tell Keir not to call me a doofus.”

Thea stared up at the sky with exasperation. “Why? Why me?”

“It’s all right,” the younger boy said to Jilly. “She’s not losing her mind or seeing ghosts. She’s just praying for patience to deal with Keir.”

“With me? With you!”

“The two of you are giving me a headache,” Thea said tiredly. Then she smiled at Jilly. “Hi, I’m Thea. Jardin, Regent’s brother, is one of my fiancés.”

One of her fiancés? She had more than one?

That was . . . fascinating.

“These are my brothers, Keir and Ace,” Thea added.

“Hi, I’m Jilly.”

“We know,” Ace said. “Jardin said Reggie has never had a girl before. Man, he’s really old. I thought he would have had lots of girlfriends. Although, I get it. Girls are gross.”

Thea shook her head while Jilly bit back a smile. “You might change your mind on that when you’re older.”

“Nuh-uh. What’s wrong with your laptop?” Ace asked, coming closer.