3: Princes

SOMA

I spend the entire afternoon hanging decorations. It’s more fun than I imagined, and that’s solely because of Mason. He keeps wrapping the lights around his neck and pretending to choke.

Edna, the head decorator, has sent us a warning look twice. But whatever agreement she has with my best friend stops her from kicking us out of her sight.

“Stop it.” I wheeze, trying to catch my breath as another bout of laughter takes over me. “You’re going to get us in trouble if you keep making me laugh this hard.”

Mason wiggles his brows. “But I love it when you laugh.” His lips pull into a small, teasing smile, but his eyes grow soft. I try not to blush. “You’re way prettier when you laugh. Way prettier than those nasty cousins of yours.”

My eyes dart around the clustered backyard, and I slap a hand over his mouth. “Mason,” I say, letting out a nervous laugh. “You can’t say that.”

“That’s it,” Edna declares, finally losing it with us. “I’m separating the two of you for the rest of the day.”

She storms toward us, and I tense. Others mind their business, hanging balloons and setting up the stage. The decoration isn’t fully finished, but I can easily see it being transformed into something of a fairytale.

“You,” she starts, pointing a finger at me. “Go there.”

Mason wraps a protective arm around my shoulders. “It’s my fault.”

“I don’t care. If she doesn’t move, you lose your pay.”

Mason’s mouth opens, but I’m already racing to the other end of the backyard before he can protest. In case he has forgotten, he’s getting a week’s pay in one day.

We will survive a few hours apart.

The backyard is wide and open, bordered by a low stone fence and rows of trimmed shrubs. Beyond that, the land slopes gently down into a stretch of woods that surrounds the back of the palace. I busy myself in the corner lacking decorations, throwing Mason a smile.

Annoyance flickers across his face, but he returns to work. After our separation, the place goes quiet, and the late afternoon sun casts long shadows over the grass. I’m on my knees, stringing fairy lights through the bushes, when something crashes through the trees.

A wolf.

A big black wolf. Streaks of deep orange blaze through its fur, like embers woven into darkness. It bolts out of the woods without warning, moving with an intensity that reminds me of fire. Its molten eyes glow, shifting between copper, gold, and ember-red.

In my haste to scurry out of its way, I lose my balance and fall onto the damp grass. Before I can scramble back up, two more wolves burst out, faster than the first. They barrel through the yard, knocking over tables and tangling the strings of lights we’ve spent hours setting up.

It’s chaos—a complete mess. The thought of starting over makes my head ache. Still sitting on the grass, I twist around to glare at the wolf that sent me flying. But instead of wolves, I’m horrified to see they’ve all shifted to their human forms. Which means…

They are naked. All three of them.

Cheeks flushing with embarrassment, I avert my gaze. Something unexpectedly warm courses through my veins, and my heart pounds. I wait long enough to ensure they’re all decent before I chance another look.

Thankfully, they’re better dressed now in jeans that hang too low below their waists. Even with their backs turned to me, I can tell they are bulkier and taller than Mason, with hair varying from auburn to black to red.

Their laughter and voices fill the air as they grab shirts from maids who must have appeared when I glanced away. Everyone else is in a trance, with their heads bowed and their necks tilted to the side to show submission.

No one reprimands the trio for the mess they made. Even Edna is unusually quiet. I can’t look away from the one in the middle, the one with the broadest shoulders and wavy auburn hair that falls to his nape.

When he turns, I know he’s the one who caused my fall. There’s a hint of that ember-red in his eyes before they switch to smoky grey that pierce right through me. He’s the same guy from the car, probably the person who splashed water on me yesterday.

Instead of remorse, disapproval flickers in his gaze as he takes a step forward. The sun catches the silver stud in his ear and the second piercing in his left brow.

He sweeps his hair into a small bun, and his muscles ripple, making him alluring yet dangerous. I should stop gawking at him, but there’s a sharpness about his beauty that makes it impossible to do otherwise.

Something about him feels familiar. I’ve seen him elsewhere. But it’s when his accomplices turn I realize where I saw them. In the pictures plastered all over Sheila and Maeve’s walls.

These are the… Alpha princes.

My head dips in a bow. I hold my breath, worried I’ll be punished for staring into the face of Brynne Rybak, Crown Prince of Shadowspire. Do I apologize?

Mason steps in front of me before I can decide and helps me to my feet.

“Are you alright?” he asks, eyeing the mess of grass and dirt clinging to my dress.

“Yes,” I say quickly, forcing a smile. “I’m fine.”

His jaw tightens, and his lips press into a grim line. He doesn’t believe me.

“Excuse me,” Mason murmurs, turning to address the brothers. I reach for his hand, but my fingertips graze his skin as he moves away from me. “You hurt—”

“Pass me that towel,” one prince cuts in.

He has a head full of startling red hair, with dark brown eyes and the cheekiest grin I’ve ever seen. If I have to guess, he’s the troublemaker of the group, the one who’s always up to no good. He must be Kade Rybak.

Kade is the youngest of the brothers, which leaves the middle prince to be Tristan Rybak. He’s the brooding one, with an air of mystery. I know this because Sheila has a preference for him. She’s always talking about wanting to know what lies underneath all that mysteriousness.

“Hello?” Kade snaps his fingers. “The towel.”

Mason ignores the order without a glance at the towel Kade points at. His eyes remain trained on Brynne.

“Are you at least going to apologize?” he demands of Brynne. My eyes widen in shock, and gasps travel through the backyard. “You made my friend fall.”

“Mason.” This is a fight we can’t win. I yank on the hem of his sleeve, whispering, “What are you doing?”

“He owes you an apology,” he hisses out without so much as a glance at me. His whole body tightens with fury, and my hand falls to my side. “I won’t let these guys walk around like they did nothing.”

“Are you talking about me and my brothers?” Kade asks.

Kade moves so fast my head spins. When he stops in front of us, I expect Mason to flinch, but he stands straighter. Even then, Kade towers over him by a few inches.

“Yes, I was,” Mason answers. For once, I don’t appreciate his confidence, and I consider leaving him to face this on his own. “You ruined my friend’s dress. All three of you. The least you can do is apologize.”

Brynne stops beside Kade to ask, “What’s going on here?”

“He wants us to apologize to his little girlfriend here,” Kade supplies. Tristan flanks Kade on the other side, quiet. “To fix her dress like it wasn’t already horrible.”

He snickers, like it’s funny, and of course, Mason falls for it.

“No need to sound so condescending about it,” Mason mutters. “Horrible or not, you owe her an apology.”

“Is that so?” Kade’s gaze drifts to me, and I let mine drop. Whatever he sees makes him laugh. “What other demands do you have of your princes?”

Mason slows. The moment he catches on to their real identity, he stiffens, and his hands clench at his sides.

“Princes?” he whispers.