I didn’t have the time to juggle all my work. I often worked overtime, and frequently, late into the night. With the nursery visit and the incident with Gaius, on top of the work I’d piled up yesterday from helping Rylan, it didn’t seem like I’d be able to finish.

I sat on my bed—it really was better to work on a desk, but I had my bad habits, too. It was nice to think the crown prince shared the same bad habits I did. I was flipping to the next page when someone knocked on my door. It was a sharp sound that jolted me out of my flow.

I strode toward the door and pulled it open. Rylan waited for me in the doorway. “Am I bothering you?” He looked behind me, catching the pile of papers I had on my bedsheets. “It’s late. You’re still working?”

“I’m trying to catch up,” I said.

He stepped into the room, walking past me. I hadn’t even given him permission, but didn’t raise the fact that he’d barged in. He ambled up to my desk and picked up a quill. “Let’s get to it, then.” He grabbed one of my sheets of paper and read through it. “You’re working on a report on soul magic that quickly?”

“What are you doing?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too insolent.

“I promised I’d help, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t think you actually would.”

He slumped onto my bed, leaning on the headboard, and tucked a hand behind his head. He looked absolutely regal and casual at the same time, which made me unable to reel my mind back to my work. Perhaps it was better if the prince weren’t around, because his presence did more harm to my state of concentration than good.

“I think I spotted an error,” Rylan said, adjusting himself so he was comfortable on my bed. “Here, you say that soul magic is harvested by the spells ‘es lea misreagou’ and ‘kisla misreagou.’ It’s actually ‘es rea,’ which means to bring forth. It’s a rather basic error. It’s ancient dragon tongue. Things would make more sense to you if you knew the language.”

“And you do?”

“Us princes are trained to know our roots.”

“Apologies for my mistake, then. The magical arts are completely foreign to me.”

“You’re tired, too.” He glanced up at me. “Why are you standing over there? Come here.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. Still having second thoughts, I did as Rylan ordered. Rylan commanded himself with a confidence that made it difficult to defy him. Even his brothers, who were all strong-headed, listened to his words.

I climbed onto my bed, making sure I kept a proper distance from him. Rylan was treating me as if I were family, which jarred me. Even Mother and Bianca hadn’t treated me this closely. Being this close to someone didn’t come easily to me. It took a long while for me to open up to Frederick, and even though I was all smiles and nice words with many of my colleagues, I would never allow them into my private life.

I wouldn’t have allowed the princes either, but they were forcing themselves in without much warning.

Rylan pulled me closer. I wasn’t wearing my gloves, so the spark of warmth occurred between us. I let it hum through me, embracing it. Rylan didn’t say anything, instead taking another sheet of paper from the bed and helping me through my reports, as if the two of us being this close was perfectly natural.

“About last night,” he said, after a bout of silence. “I fell asleep.”

I dared not look at him, because the proximity and his scent of ash and smoke made me too giddy. “That’s all right.”

“No, I mean, I fell asleep. I’m supposed to be plagued with insomnia. And your presence… it solved that.”

“Coincidence, perhaps?” I said, trying to deflect. I glued my eyes to the words on my page, even though whatever I read flew past my mind.

“I don’t think that’s it. There’s something special about you, Sera. I haven’t seen Micah open up to anyone in a long while. You’ve got us brothers chasing our tails.”

“Gaius hates me.”

“He doesn’t.” Micah had mentioned something about Gaius liking me, but with the way he was acting, I simply couldn’t wrap my thoughts around that.

We’d spent another ten minutes in silence, accompanied by only the scratching of quills on paper, when Kael said from the doorway, “Rylan, have you been trying to get an edge on us?” He strode into the room the same way his brother had, without an invitation. He plonked himself on the bed, which was starting to feel too small, even though it was larger than all the other beds I’d ever had.

“What are you two looking at?” Kael asked. He had messed up my sheets of paper.

“Hey,” I said. “If you’re not going to help, don’t try and make trouble.”

Kael chuckled. He leaned on my lap and hovered a report over his face. Did these princes know nothing about personal space? “This one’s about dirt? You’re reading about dirt?”

“Soil conditions are key to plant growth,” I said, snatching the report from his hands. “Kael, you’re lying on my work. Don’t crumple anything up.”

I thought this situation would bother me more, but I was beginning to take their presence in my stride. I liked having them so close.

It was then that Micah came in. “What’s going on here?” he asked, barging in without my welcome, just as Rylan and Kael had.

“Rylan decided to get a leg up on us again,” Kael said. “The sneaky ass.”

“Is he?” Micah said, bemusement lighting his eyes.

I replied, “I’m trying to study, and these two—Kael especially—aren’t helping.”

“Let me see,” Micah said, walking over. He, too, climbed onto my bed and, surprisingly, managed to find some space for himself. “I could solve some of these equations you have here.” He took my quill from me. “There. Done.” He handed me my work.

Everything was getting disorganized. These three were too much for me to handle. I needed to re-sort everything by putting all the documents back on my desk.

“Here’s another one,” Rylan said, passing the problem to Micah. “With Micah around, you won’t need an abacus.”

“Thanks,” Micah said. “As if that’s all I’m useful for.”

The two brothers took over seamlessly. I was left dumbfounded. Then, after more silence, Kael interrupted, probably because he was bored out of his mind, “What if Sera’s really our mate?”

“Instead of nonsensical hypotheses,” Rylan said, “you could help.”

“I’m only good with things relating to combat.” Kael sat up, which was a relief to me because my lap was going numb. “I’d love to try, really, but looking at these things literally hurts my brain.” He kissed me on my cheek. “Sorry, Sera.” My breath hitched in my throat.

Micah growled. “Hey, no cheating.”

“I’m not cheating.”

“That’s it, now I need a kiss too.” Micah leaned in.

I jolted from my bed and to my floor. I did not need to start getting touchy-feely with three men on a bed. My thoughts ran wild. Things could easily turn for the worse… or better.

I still couldn’t decide how I’d take it, but things were moving too quickly.

That was when Gaius stepped in. He leaned on the doorframe. “Fools. What are you guys doing?”

“Helping,” Kael said.

“I think you guys have done enough help for today,” I replied, meaning it. Rylan and Micah worked fast, and they’d gone through at least twenty pages during the short time they were here. Kael, however, not so much.

“I don’t understand why you three are pining over her,” Gaius said. His eyes raked over me. “She’s nothing special.”

“She’s a gem,” Kael said.

“You’re the one who’s reacting the most to her,” Micah added.

Gaius narrowed his eyes. “Shut it, Micah. I don’t need a bastard telling me what I feel.”

The room stilled. I could almost hear crickets chirping from outside. Guilt flickered over Gaius’s face, and if I hadn’t stared at him, I would have missed it.

Micah shrank back. His face stiffened, and the smile he’d been wearing when interacting with me, Kael, and Rylan had disappeared.

Gaius pushed himself from his leaning position. “I’m going to bed.”

“I think you should apologize,” I said.

He’d already turned away and was walking off. He wasn’t showing a hint of remorse. Hitting on Micah’s past was a low blow, and it made me want to punch Gaius right back. I probably should have minded my own business, as Gaius had asked me to countless times, but I just couldn’t let it slip past me.

How could someone be this mean? I went after him.

“Sera,” Rylan said. “Leave him.”

I ignored Rylan and padded down the corridor, going after the short-haired prince. “Gaius? Gaius, wait.”

“I’m running out of patience with you,” Gaius said, spinning around.

“What have I done, exactly?”

“Strutted in here, tearing things apart. My brothers and I shared a close bond, and I didn’t need an extra someone coming in and ripping it away.”

“Okay, first of all, I wasn’t the one who started all of this. Your brothers were the ones who decided on this silly challenge, and second, you’re the one shutting yourself off from everything and everyone. Was it me who decided to throw insults at Micah? No. It was you.”

Gaius stiffened, his jaw tight. “You don’t know anything.”

“It’s plainly obvious to me.” I gestured in exasperation. “I understand. You were hurt in your younger years. You probably were a pretty nice guy back then, but then that woman betrayed your trust, and you’ve decided to shield yourself. But it doesn’t have to be this way. People will warm up to you if you give them the same treatment you want to receive. If you apologize to Micah now, it’s not too late to patch things up.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Well, suit yourself. But don’t blame me for the consequences of you treating everyone as if they’re worth nothing.” My parents used to do that all the time. They weren’t perfect. Far from it. And they’d shift the blame on everyone else—me, especially, although I guessed I deserved it. I didn’t expect one of the royal princes to be just as childish.

“I hope you trip on something and die,” Gaius said.

“Seems more likely you’d do that.” I rested my hands on my hips and spun around.

He grunted. He had asked for that retort. Should have thought about his words more before spitting the first terrible insult he could manage.

“Good night, Gaius.” I waved, walking away. “Sweet dreams.”

“And none to you.”

I heard the thumping of his feet on the carpeted ground as he left. I was hoping to hear him tripping again, and this time I wished he fell on his face and broke his teeth or something, but nothing of the sort came.

I re-entered my room, still seeing the three brothers there. My cheeks heated. “You guys aren’t leaving?”

Rylan was already on his feet. “I was afraid Gaius might have done something.”

“Other than shooting more death glares?” I smiled. “I’m fine.”

I glanced at the inkwell that was almost spilling over on my bed. One wrong move by Kael and we would need to call the maids in. I gathered my documents and shifted them to the desk. “I appreciate your help, but maybe it’s better to do it somewhere more conducive?”

Kael seemed to understand where my suggestion was coming from. He wore a sly smirk. “I think I prefer it here.”

But his brothers obliged with my request, and they dragged seats toward my desk—one from the balcony, and a couch from the side of the room.

“Are you all right?” I asked Micah.

He shrugged. “Yeah.” He was hiding his pain behind his eyes. I didn’t pry.

“You both really don’t have to do this,” I said.

Rylan grinned. He tucked my hair behind my ear—did he know that he kept doing that unconsciously? “I’m just returning the favor.”

“And we’re here to make sure Rylan doesn’t win,” Kael said from the bed.

Rylan rolled his eyes. “I’m not part of the stupid game.”

We worked for a couple more hours, but without Kael’s help. He soon fell asleep on my bed.

* * *

My encounters with Gaius had made me unable to catch any sleep. The bed tried to lull me into it with its comfortable mattress, but my eyes refused to respond. The prick simply infuriated me so much. Gaius, with his handsome, punchable face and horrendous personality, wouldn’t stop plaguing my mind.

I threw the sheets off. It was getting too warm underneath them. I picked up my matchbox to light my lantern.

I needed a walk to calm down.

Insomnia was a vicious cycle. First, it made me unable to sleep, then I’d worry about not being able to sleep, which kept me awake. I’d had enough of tossing and turning. My limbs were too agitated to keep still.

I left my room and went down the corridor, stepping past the rooms of the princes. They were all shut.

I wasn’t sure where I was walking to. All I knew was that I needed to find somewhere to cool my head. The back door of the building creaked as I made my way out into fresher air. A lone girl shouldn’t be out late at night, but this was palace ground, which made safety not much of an issue.

Cicadas played a rhythmic tune as my feet brushed across the cobblestone path. I meandered around, not going to anywhere in particular, with only my thoughts of the four princes accompanying me.

I caught the sight of a silhouette standing next to the large lake I could see from my room. The figure was shadowed by the glow of the moon. He was tall, and only upon closer inspection did I realize it was Micah.

His crimson hair was almost turquoise in the moonlight. He wore plain slacks—his nightwear, probably, but his tattoos and face were more than enough to make him look anything but ordinary.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked.

Apparently, he didn’t have to look at me to know who I was, likely due to his heightened scent of smell and hearing.

“No,” I replied. “There’s too much on my mind.”

Micah threw a rock across the lake. It skipped until it was so small I couldn’t see it. “Same here.”

“Was it what Gaius said?”

“Yeah.”

“It bothered me, too.”

“Nobody’s scolded him in a long while. It’s strange to see someone stand up to him.” A smile quirked up the corner of his lip.

“You heard?”

“We all did. You were scolding him so loudly. He probably deserved that.”

Micah threw a few more rocks. He never failed with any one of his tosses. They skipped across the water as if they were made of feather, each of them never sinking too soon.

“That’s… impressive,” I said, brows shooting up.

“It calms the mind.”

“Sorry you had to put up with him growing up.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Oh? You got used to it.”

“It’s not that…”

There was another part of the story I had not heard. “Then what is it?”

Micah tightened his jaw. “I used to look up to him instead of Rylan. He was my big brother. The big brother I could go to for any problems. After Josephine, it all changed.”

“Josephine?”

“The girl he loved.”

“She must have been something.”

Micah bent down to gather more rocks. “She was. She had the rosiest of cheeks, lips that could only belong to a temptress. Raven hair that cascaded down her, almost like how they had described the old goddess.”

A pang of jealousy gripped my chest. I wasn’t sure why it was there in the first place. “It sounds like you liked her too.”

Micah didn’t respond to my statement. “She had Gaius wrapped around her finger, but she never entertained the thought of marrying him, even though he asked again and again. If she asked him to kill, perhaps he might have. And then she fell in love. Not with him, but a man she’d grown up with. A smith’s boy. She probably already gave her heart to him before she met us and Gaius, and—” He paused, hesitated, then continued, “She told Gaius she could never be with him. That she had always belonged to someone else. She was lowborn, and so was the smith’s boy, and that cemented in Gaius’s head that those with low birth couldn’t be trusted. People like Josephine. People like me.”

I studied Micah’s eyes. They were even more ethereal when lit by the soft blue of the moon. A wrinkle had formed between his brows, and I wanted to smooth it away with my touch.

“It was at that point he stopped being my big brother, and he looked at me as a stranger. I lost him the day Josephine left.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“It’s not easy being the bastard child.”

“I can’t imagine it would be.”

“Queen Miriel hates my guts. That I’m still sticking around. She tried to get Gisiroth to send me away multiple times. Perhaps he would’ve, if not for my brothers’ protection. Gaius fought the hardest for me. It’s like, we’re family, but I’m always the outcast.”

“I think I know how that feels,” I said.

“I had a sense about that from you. I felt the same hunger in you. The same one I have.”

“Hunger?”

“For power.”

“You want Rylan’s position?”

Micah halted, and the last rock he threw didn’t fly across the lake as the others had, hitting the water at an angle that made it sink. “Is it wrong of me?”

I thought over his question. What he spoke of was treason, and I was uncertain whether I should condone it. “No,” I said, finally. “Your wanting comes from the lack of legitimacy. You think that being the crown prince would make you accepted as well.” I paused. “But Rylan cares about you. Your brothers do. It’s not difficult to tell. And I wouldn’t want to see the lot of you get torn apart by politics.”

Micah had stopped throwing the rocks, and he was now looking at me. “Perhaps. And you?”

I shifted my gaze. “The same. My parents see me as an illegitimate child. Father especially.” I ran a hand down a strand of my hair. “That someone this cursed can’t be theirs. They had two daughters, but paid all their attention to Bianca, pretending I didn’t exist sometimes. Me fighting this hard is perhaps a way to show others I’m worth it.” I’d never told anyone else this before, but Micah sharing his past had made it easier for me to open up.

This moment between us, despite its calmness and quietness, made a storm swirl around my insides. I imagined I’d remember it years later, because I’d never shared my insecurities like that. Not even to Frederick.

“Do you want to try?” Micah said, opening his palm and revealing a slender rock.

“Skipping rocks?” I smiled. “Sure, why not?”

He moved closer and wrapped his arm around me. I hadn’t expected him to do that. He placed the rock in my hand and lifted it, guiding my fingers. I wasn’t wearing my gloves, and heat shot through me wherever he touched.

“Feet shoulder width apart,” he said, nudging my legs with his own feet. I could feel his breath behind me, brushing my ear. He let go of my arm. “Make sure you bend your wrist the right way, then follow through.”

“All right,” I replied. I tried to pay attention to his instructions, but all I could think about was how nice his touch was, and how comfortable his arms could be.

I wound my arm back and threw the rock. It skipped once before sinking into the water. I grinned, despite how bad of a show it was compared to Micah’s. “I did it,” I said.

“You did,” he replied, digging his nose into my neck. The sensations were suddenly too much. I ought to have pried myself away, but I loved his touch on mine. “Your scent is like a drug. Addictive. Bewitching.”

“Micah?”

“Kael told me he already kissed you.”

“Did he?” I asked. Micah was holding me around my waist. I gripped his arm, not quite sure what to do with my hands.

“I think he was trying to taunt me.”

“And did it work?”

“Yes.”

I stiffened. “He says it wouldn’t affect the bet, however, because he made the first move.”

“I’m starting to care less and less about that bet, and more about having you to myself.”

My chest tightened. I wasn’t sure if all I wanted was Micah, because of my lust for everything. I liked them all, but perhaps having all the princes to myself was too far-fetched.

But I shouldn’t want any of them. They were conflicting with my goals.

“Should I try again?” I asked, gesturing to another rock. “I’ll aim for two skips this time.”

“I have a better idea.”

He pushed my face backward so it faced him, and then his lips covered mine. His sweet scent rushed through me, and then all there was in the world was Micah.

I lost balance of myself, but Micah caught me, steadying me with his hold.

He pulled back with hooded eyes. Then a smile brushed the side of his glistening lip.

“There,” he said. “Now I’ve fixed that problem of having Kael’s taste on your lips.”

I had to steady my breathing.

“You make me want more,” he said. The way he said that, bathed in the glory of the moon, made my insides ache in ways they shouldn’t.

I licked my lips, and his eyes traveled downward. “More? As in…?” My breathing had quickened, and it scared me to know that I wanted Micah to press on.

A smirk brushed his face. “Perhaps another day.”

He let go of me, but not completely. He hooked his fingers around my hand and led me along. “You really should head to bed. You have work tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” I replied, letting myself get swept away.

“I’ll walk you back.”

I wasn’t sure what the dynamic between us would be after this, and what the interaction all meant, but excitement tingled through me, and I wanted to find out.