Theo gripped the edge of the mattress as if that would be enough to root him in place as he watched Galen run his hands over Meg, his furious filthy words coloring the room around them. Taunting. Searching for just the right trigger. Any other time, Theo would have fought for control, assuming it as naturally as breathing. When push came to shove, both Galen and Meg deferred to him. They loved it too much not to.

But he owed them an apology, and if he could barely force the words past his lips, he could damn well hang on long enough to suffer through their punishment.

He’d certainly delivered enough of his own over the last six months, for infractions both real and imagined. His Meg liked to play games, and he enjoyed filling that need for her.

She wasn’t his in that moment, though.

She was Galen’s, well and truly.

Galen had her caged with his body, one hand bracketing her throat, and the other gripping her pussy possessively. The challenge in his lover’s dark eyes didn’t need to be spoken to be understood. Mine.

Not fucking likely.

They didn’t compete over her. They were each other’s as much as they were hers, as much as she was theirs. The power dynamic might shift a little from time to time to adapt as necessary, but despite Meg’s fears, it was mostly equal.

Not tonight.

Tonight, for the first time in six months, Theo stared down the barrel at what his future might have been if Galen and Meg weren’t too stubborn by half. Him, standing alone, an untouchable pillar forever destined to be separate from those around him. Them, very much of the earth, very much each other’s. Galen, owning Meg, being owned by Meg.

Without him.

Galen, damn him to hell and back, was proving a point. He toppled Meg onto her back, with her head near the end of the bed where Theo stood. “Arms over your head, baby. Give him a show.” He spread her legs wide and guided his big cock into her. One hand went back to her throat in ownership and he drove into her hard enough to send her several inches up the mattress. He managed to keep himself off her body enough to give Theo a show that had him clenching his jaw so hard it was a wonder his teeth remained intact.

They were so fucking beautiful together, Galen all brutal power and scars, and Meg feminine curves and tangled dark hair. His Beauty and his Beast. His… Unless he lost them.

Theo hit his knees next to the mattress, unable to tear his gaze from where Galen’s cock disappeared into her. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Mmm.” Galen slowed his pace, teasing Theo as much as he teased Meg. “That’s a start.”

“Sadist,” Meg whispered, a thread of amusement winding through the desire in her voice. “You want him to beg.”

“Don’t you?”

She tilted her head back and met Theo’s eyes. Even half gone with pleasure, Meg seemed to see down to the very heart of him. She reached up and grabbed his wrists, anchoring him in place. “I have his apology. I want his cock.”

“You’re too easy on him, baby. You make a terrible top.” Galen stopped moving, buried inside her to the hilt. He smoothed his hand down the center of her body and back up again. For a moment, it looked like his perverse need to be an ass would get the best of him, but he finally shook his head. “You’re in charge.”

“Glad someone remembered it.” She inched closer to the edge of the mattress, and Galen moved with her, keeping them sealed together. She gave Theo’s wrists a squeeze. “Come here.”

He obeyed, slightly shocked to find his legs weren’t quite steady. Meg fisted his cock, a slow smile pulling at the edges of her lips. “Do you know what I want, Theo?”

“Tell me.” He’d assume nothing. Not tonight. Not with them. Not anymore.

“I want you to fuck my mouth while Galen fucks my pussy.”

Galen spoke filth all the time. It was something that Theo loved and expected from him. Every time Meg did it, though? He lost his fucking mind. There was something about the crude words falling from those angel lips that drew him in a way he was never full prepared for. Even after all this time.

Meg tilted her head half off the mattress, leaving her throat in a single long line. An invitation Theo couldn’t resist even if he was so inclined. He leaned over the bed and let her guide his cock between her lips, licking him with the same sinful tongue that had just spilled words that made his body clench with need. She sucked him deep once, and then again, and on the third time, she set her teeth against his sensitive base. A reminder of her command.

Theo lifted his gaze to meet Galen’s, seeing the same storm of emotions in the other man’s eyes that swirled through his chest. They didn’t deserve her. Times like these only drove that reality home. No other woman in all their history together had seen to the very heart of them and strove to give them what they needed, even if they couldn’t admit it themselves.

There was no other woman they’d trusted enough to allow into their very hearts.

He pulled almost all the way out of her mouth and then thrust carefully back in, testing her. Meg had taken mouth fuckings before, but easing into it was the only way to ensure everyone had a good time, no matter what she demanded. He went to withdraw again, but she grabbed his thighs and dug her nails in.

A silent command for more.

“Damn it, princess, I’m trying not to hurt you.”

“She’s ours, you idiot. Trust her.” Galen lifted her hips and drove into her, his grip holding her in place so he didn’t shove her deeper onto Theo’s cock as he fucked her.

It had never been a problem before. But then, Theo had never been in his own head quite the same way he was tonight. He hesitated, torn between what he wanted to do and what he knew he should do.

Meg pushed him away and cursed. “Galen, this isn’t working. He’s thinking too much.”

Galen pulled out of her and sat back on his heels. Theo knew him well enough for warning bells to be pealing at the sight of those dark eyes going darker with cunning. “On the bed. Now.”

Inspiration struck as Meg watched Theo climb up to join them on the mattress. She grabbed Galen’s hand. “Hold on.” Both men froze, waiting for her command. The sheer power rush of having these two obeying her, even if it was only for tonight, left her giddy. “Theo, baby, do you remember that fight we had back in New York?”

He frowned, dark brows lowering. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“You had me on the kitchen counter and you were licking my pussy and telling me how much you missed me.” Her body tightened in response to the memory as much as a reaction to their proximity. She sat up and ran a hand down each of their chests. Galen’s dusky skin had pale scars criss-crossing it, seemingly at random, but Theo’s paler skin was mostly untouched. So different and yet so similar at the same time. She shivered. “You were telling me what you’d been fantasizing about while you fucked Galen.”

His frown cleared and his eyes turned to searing blue flames. “Fucking him while he fucked you.”

“Yes.” A first for them. They’d had each other in so many ways, in all different combinations and positions. Never like this. She didn’t know why they’d held off, but it ended tonight. “That’s what I want.” She twisted to look around, her gaze settling on the large windows. With a little light in the bedroom, they’d turn into mirrors. Meg crawled around them to the nightstand and flicked on the lamp. Yes, like that.

She climbed to her feet and shot them a look. “What are you waiting for?”

Galen moved before she’d finished speaking. He circled the mattress and looped an arm around her hips, dropping her onto her back on the bed. “Look at the window, baby. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

She watched the reflection of him spread her legs wider, watched his big body tower over her prone one, and nearly moaned from the sight alone. “Yes. This is what I want.”

“You heard her, Theo.” Galen braced his hand on the bed beside her neck and slipped his other between her thighs, fingering her pussy. One stroke deep inside her, one stroke dragging over her clit, alternating until her hips moved of their own volition, writhing to take him deeper.

Her gaze went to Theo, still sitting on the edge of the mattress, watching them. She’d never seen him look so tormented, and it made her want to wrap him up with the only comfort he’d allow himself. It wasn’t an option right now. He wouldn’t take her forgiveness, her soft comfort, but he’d take this.

He’d take them.

Finally Theo moved, first to the nightstand to grab the lube Galen kept stashed there and then to the foot of the bed. Meg watched him in the reflection, watched the stiff movements go fluid as Galen guided his cock inside her. It felt so damn good to be filled like this, to be here with them both, to be just one part of a whole. Meg spent so much time fighting for her independence that she never would have expected to find this kind of peace in the act of losing herself.

She knew the exact moment Theo pushed into Galen. It was there in the tension of the bigger man’s body, the way he went still inside her and blew out a slow breath. There was no time to adjust to any of it. It was as if entering Galen broke something in Theo. He pushed the other man down on top of her and grabbed her wrists to pin them at the back of Galen’s neck. Only Galen’s bracing on his elbows kept their full weight off Meg’s body. The move shoved Galen’s cock even deeper into her, and she buried her face in his neck, gasping and whimpering and making noises she had no name for.

“This is what you wanted.” Each of Theo’s words accompanied a savage thrust into Galen, rocking him deeper into her. “You want me off the leash? I’m off the fucking leash, princess.”

Meg turned her head just enough to watch them in the mirror. It was the only movement she was capable of, pinned as she was with legs splayed and her hands trapped. The sight of them… It stole what little breath she had left. Theo was all brutal power as he drove into Galen, and for once the tension had bled out of Galen’s muscles, his body moving in time with Theo’s, pushing back against each thrust. Sweat slicked all their skin, leaving them shining a little in the low light, all askew limbs and shared breaths and rough sliding motion.

This. This is what we need.

To each be part of their whole. To be reminded of what they’d sacrificed so much for.

Her orgasm caught her unawares. One moment she was clinging to Galen and luxuriating in the steadily building pleasure spiraling through her, and the next her body clenched down hard and everything went fuzzy as she cried out. It set off a chain reaction, Galen cursing and thrusting hard into her again and again, driving himself into her and driving Theo harder into him. Theo released her hands and Galen took over, lacing his fingers through hers so he could brace himself to get a better angle and then he was coming in great spurts she swore she could actually feel inside her. He slumped down half on top of her.

But Theo wasn’t done.

He pulled out of Galen and stared down at them. “Don’t move.”

As if they were capable of it at this point. She watched Theo stalk to the bathroom and heard the shower start, but Meg couldn’t do more than nudge Galen off her so she could draw a full breath. “We’re in trouble.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t bother to lift his head.

Good. They’d woken a piece of Theo he purposefully kept hidden, and Meg couldn’t bring herself to regret it. Whatever else the night brought, it’d demolished the walls they’d spent six long months building between each other. Or at least it’d started the process.

Theo walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later smelling of the woodsy soap Galen kept the place stocked with. He pushed Galen’s thigh off Meg’s legs and spread her wide. She bit her bottom lip as he pushed a single finger into her. “He filled you up, didn’t he, princess?”

“Yes,” she breathed. It felt so wrong to talk like that, to have Theo looking at her pussy filled with Galen’s cum with the kind of possessiveness that, in another time in her life, would have sent her sprinting from the room. He looked at her like she was his pet, a favored toy to play with, and his favorite flavor, all rolled into one.

He notched his cock at her entrance and slid into her in a single move. The frenzy had gone from his movements, but there was something in his blue eyes that she didn’t have a name for. Something that turned her on as much as it spooked her. Theo cupped her breasts with rough hands, stroked down her sides, and squeezed her hips.

Knowing her. Claiming her. Marking her.

“One day, princess.” He covered her with his body and laced his fingers through hers the same way Galen had when he came. Theo dipped down and sucked hard on her neck. “One day, when you’re ready, this will be how it starts. Galen will fill you up, and then I’ll fuck you until we’re so mixed inside you, there’s no telling where he ends and I begin. Until it’s just us.” He licked the shell of her ear.

Her mind tried to connect the dots even as she shied away from what he was saying. Meg writhed, unsure if she wanted him closer or to push him away. Galen’s muttered curse only deepened her confusion. “What?”

“You know what.” Another thrust. Another hard suction against her neck. “Someday you’re going to have our baby, princess.”

“Holy shit.” She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything. She twisted enough to look at Galen, trying to ignore the way she instinctively wrapped her legs around Theo’s waist to keep him deep inside her. Her mind might be scrambling to catch up, but her body was already down with every word spilling out of Theo’s mouth. “Is that what you want?”

Galen traced her face with his gaze and then looked at Theo. He tried to throw up his usual indifference, but something raw peered through. Need. Need that took her breath away. He let her look her fill, and then he turned away. “When you’re ready.”

“What if I’m never ready?” The words popped out before she had a chance to reconsider. She didn’t even know if she wanted to reconsider. In all the conversations they’d had, somehow kids had never come up. Looking back, she had to admit that there was likely a reason for that. They’d intentionally left the conversation for—

Theo gave a short pump that took her breath away. She moaned. “You two are such assholes for throwing stuff like that at me when I’ve got one of your cocks buried deep and I’m so close to coming I can’t see straight.”

Theo pressed another of those long, slow kisses against her neck, setting his teeth against her sensitive skin. “If you’re never ready, then you’re never ready.”

As if it was as simple as that.

Maybe, for him, it was.

Meg arched up and kissed him. She didn’t want to talk about babies or the future or what tomorrow would bring. She just wanted this for as much time as they could carve out. Tomorrow would come soon enough.

Tonight. They had tonight.

Theo woke before the other two and put together a particularly strong pot of coffee. He watched the dark liquid drip into the pot and smiled despite everything. Last night had been… cathartic. It might not have rocked the rest of the world from its axis, but Galen and Meg never failed to rock his world. Last night, they’d taken the first step toward fixing what he’d nearly broken in his stubbornness.

Even now, Theo wasn’t sure he’d made the wrong choice.

“You weren’t planning on ditching us and running back to Thalania to face down our enemies alone, were you?”

Theo turned and leaned against the counter. Meg had pulled on one of Galen’s shirts, and the fabric dwarfed her. With her dark hair a wild tangle around her face and shoulders and red marks from their mouths all over her thighs, she looked so fucking tempting, he almost went to her right then and there.

Almost.

But he’d made a promise, and fucking until they couldn’t stand wasn’t part of the equation. The sun had risen, and with it their responsibilities. Their path forward.

He pulled two mugs down from the cabinet. “The thought did cross my mind.”

“Remember what happened last time you tried to send us off to safety while you faced down the dragons? It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.”

“I’m beginning to see that.” He poured coffee into both the mugs and passed one over to her. “I am sorry, princess. I want you two safe. That’s it.”

Meg gave him a sad smile. “That’s not it, Theo. It might be in the top three, but you want your country to flourish. You want your people to be safe and thriving. You want to be king. You want a lot of things beyond just safety. You could have had safety in New York, and it wasn’t enough.”

The words cut right to the heart of him. Theo actually pressed a hand to his chest, half expecting to find she’d drawn blood. “You really think you’re not enough for me?”

“No one is enough for you.” She held up a hand. “That came out wrong. You weren’t destined for a simple life, and I knew that when I signed on. So did Galen. Trying to keep us separate from everything else—trying to keep me separate—is a mistake. The only way this works is if we merge everything together. You have to realize that.”

Even now, even with so much at stake, he resisted the idea. “You have given up everything to be here with us. Asking for more—”

“Wow, Theo, god complex much?” Meg picked up her mug and cradled it between her palms. “I made my choices, and I own them. Yeah, I let myself get swept up in the bullshit, and that’s my bad, and I definitely need to establish some boundaries with Alys. You didn’t club me over the head and haul me home to your palace as your captive. I chased you down. Share the burden, okay?”

Easier said than done. All his life, he’d been painfully aware of the responsibility that came with his birthright. Being king was a heavy weight to bear. His father had taken it seriously and wanted Theo to do the same, so his training had started when he was still too young to fully understand what would be required of him. He’d had thirty-odd years to come to terms with his role and what it required. Meg had had two weeks. Was it any wonder she’d faltered in the last six months?

“I wasn’t as there for you as I should have been.”

“No, you weren’t.” She shrugged. “But I didn’t ask for help, either.”

If Meg and Galen were two halves to the same whole, he’d never stopped to consider the things she and Theo had in common and how it would alter their relationship as time went on. For better or worse, they were both prideful creatures that let the need to not lean on anyone drive them to ridiculous lengths.

He walked to her and waited for her to set the mug down so he could pull her into his arms. Theo rested his chin on the top of her head and inhaled deeply. “We need to check in more regularly.”

“Probably.”

“Definitely.” He held her close and let her steady heartbeat reassure him. “There is no convenient guidebook for this sort of thing.”

“If there was, you wouldn’t read it anyways.” She laughed softly. “Since when do you take any direction but your own?”

“I’m a work in progress.” It was the truth. He’d been the captain of a sinking ship, frantically patching holes to keep it afloat, rather than asking for assistance from the crew standing by. “I’ll learn to delegate if you promise to tell me when you’re feeling overwhelmed.”

Galen walked into the room and snorted. “And maybe pigs will fly.”

Meg turned in Theo’s arms, and he didn’t need to see her expression to know she was glaring at Galen. “I’m capable of asking for help.”

“Since when?” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down. “Was it when you realized it was a smart choice to talk to us instead of going to Noemi fucking Huxley for help? Or maybe it was all those times in the last few months when you admitted you were drowning and reached out?” He raised his eyebrows. “My memory must be faulty because I don’t remember any of that shit happening.”

“Galen,” Theo sank a world of warning into the name.

“No, fuck you with that shit. I’ll get to you in a minute.” He didn’t tear his gaze from Meg’s face. “You’re pissed that we moved on this without you? You shut us out first. You started shutting us out the first time you fucked up at the Consorts’ dinner, and you’ve spent the last six months wedging the door between us farther closed. So don’t fucking play the victim here, Meg. You made the choice, same as we did. It was the wrong choice all around, but you were equal partner in getting us to this point, so you’re damn well going to be equal partner in getting us out of it.”

Meg seemed to wilt in his arms, but he actually felt the moment she decided to step to the line Galen had drawn in the sand. Her spine went to steel and she shrugged out of Theo’s embrace. “Fine. I’ll admit that I need help when you admit you hate being Consort and want your old job as head of security back.”

Theo rocked back on his heels. “What?” He’d known Galen was grappling with the role of Consort, same as Meg, but he hadn’t realized…

He hadn’t realized a lot, apparently.

Meg wasn’t finished, though. She closed the distance between her and Galen and poked him in the chest. “Did you tell Theo that you were miserable? Did you try to find a solution? No need to answer. I know for a fact you didn’t, either. So reconsider throwing stones from that glass house of yours.”

Galen opened his mouth, but Theo got there first. “That’s enough.” He stepped around Meg and positioned himself between them. “If you wanted to be head of security again, why didn’t you just say something?”

“I’m Consort.”

Theo stared, waiting for more, but Galen didn’t seem interested in elaborating. Finally, Theo sighed. “Yes, you are. And?”

“And… I’m Consort. Consort has a specific set of duties. That’s how things work.”

If he didn’t love the man so much, he might actually throttle him. Theo ran his hands over his face. “Galen, we’re already breaking a couple centuries’ worth of tradition by having a royal triad with two Consorts. What is the fucking point of doing this if we’re all so miserable that we’re at each other’s throats?” He held up a hand before either of them could jump in. “This being king and Consorts, not this being our relationship.”

Galen finally looked at him. “You’re serious.”

“Of course I’m fucking serious. I didn’t name you Consort so I could cram the two of you into pre-existing molds. We already broke the damn molds just by existing in public like we do.” He gripped Galen’s shoulders. “Do you want to be head of security again?”

Galen looked away and back, a muscle twitching in his jaw. “Yes.”

“Fuck, was that so hard? We’ll make it happen.”

He shook his head. “After. After we get through this.”

He had a point. Theo nodded. “Then it’s time to talk about what that will take.”

Galen shrugged out from beneath his hands. “Not yet.” He moved until he stood nearly shoulder to shoulder with Meg. “You haven’t grieved for your old man, Theo. You haven’t dealt with any of the emotional shit that comes from being back in this place. You think charging forward and dragging us along behind you will solve everything and it fucking won’t.”

He might as well have punched Theo in the face. He took a step back, feeling as if they had him on the ropes. “That’s not fair.”

“It’s truth.” This from Meg. She spoke with half the volume, but her words hit just as hard. “How are we supposed to bare everything when you are keeping important stuff locked away? It’s okay to grieve, Theo. You loved him and he’s gone and then you were hit with exile immediately after. It’s okay to slow down long enough to feel something, even if it hurts.”

Pressure clamped around his chest, a grinding terrible thing that stole his breath and snapped the ties on his control. “I’ll grieve my father when and how I choose to.”

“Fine.” Galen’s glare intensified. “As long as you do it. Stop bottling that shit up, Theo. You’re going to explode and you’re going to take all of us down when you do.”

Meg elbowed him. “What Galen is trying—and failing—to say is that we want you to be happy and we know this is hurting you. Maybe talking about it will help.”

What would talking do? His father was gone, and he’d never really know if his death was caused by poison or nature taking its course. Exhuming the body was out of the question. His position was already precarious enough without someone taking those actions as ones a madman would put into play and using it against Theo. They had already broken tradition in so many ways—the exile, the triad, the number of foreigners in vital positions within the palace. Adding another to the list might be the tipping point they didn’t come back from.

Maybe they shouldn’t come back from it.

“What if we just left?”

Meg looked at him as if he was speaking in tongues. “What are you talking about?”

“What if we left?” He spoke with more confidence this time, the idea taking hold. “Edward is eighteen. He’s got the training—”

“That, right there, proves what we’re saying. God, Theo are you even listening to yourself? You’d rather drop everything and leave than face your past and the bullshit we’re dealing with now. That’s the height of avoidance issues.” She moved around him and picked up her coffee mug. “Did last night mean anything? You said you want a baby, but how the hell am I supposed to take that seriously when you are talking like this?”

He hadn’t forgotten. Of course he hadn’t forgotten. He hadn’t gone into last night planning to lay everything on the table, but now his words were real and so was the need to see Meg pregnant with their child. Fuck. He ran his hands over his face. “This has me messed up.”

“Imagine that.” Despite her sarcastic tone, she was gentle when she wrapped her arms around him. “It’s okay to be weak sometimes, Theo. It’s okay not to have the answers. It’s okay to lean on us. We lean on you often enough.”

“When I’m actually there to lean on.” Guilt threatened to choke him.

Meg squeezed him hard. “I know this might be shocking, Theo, but you’re human. We’re all human. That means we screw up sometimes.”

She always did this. She could be as prickly as Galen, as prideful as Theo, but when they reached a breaking point, Meg was the one who held them together. She somehow always knew what to say to soothe the fractured bits of them, sanding the pieces down until they fit comfortably. It wouldn’t be that easy this time but… It helped. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t.

Theo rested his chin on her head and met Galen’s gaze. “I miss him.”

“I know.” Galen picked up Theo’s discarded mug and took a long drink. “He was a good man, and a good father.” He stared down into the dark liquid. “I miss him too, Theo. It’s not the same, but—”

“You were just as much son to him as me or Edward.” It didn’t matter to Theo’s father that Galen was the son of a traitor. He’d only ever judged a person by their actions, never the people connected to them. It was part of what made him such a great man. Theo lifted one arm and motioned Galen closer, and then pulled him into the embrace, sandwiching Meg between them. They stood like that for a long time, and he let their arms around him lend the comfort he hadn’t been able to ask for up to this point.

But eventually, the real world had to intrude.

Theo finally took a long breath and stepped back. “We need to talk about what happens tomorrow.”

Meg hopped onto the counter and reclaimed her coffee, and Galen took up his normal spot leaning against the corner where he could see the entirety of the room. Theo poured a third cup of coffee and passed it to him, and then he had their full attention. He met each of their gazes in turn. “We know Dorian is involved, and we also know that Huxley is involved. Whether Noemi is or not—”

“She’s not.”

Theo shook his head. “Whether or not she has anything to do with your attack remains to be seen. We have to smoke them out, and the only way to do that is to make them think their plans are working so they’ll make their move.”

Understanding dawned in Meg’s hazel eyes. “You want me to leave before they have a chance to escalate.”

“I want you to give the appearance of leaving. Despite the evidence, you’re safer within Thalania than anywhere else at this point. If we sent you back to New York there’s a decent chance Dorian would see you as a loose end that needs to be tied up. Without the full protection our security can offer, you’d be vulnerable.” He picked up his mug and set it back down without drinking. “You were hurt because we made a mistake and were too comfortable. I won’t let that happen again.”

Galen shifted. “Neither of us will.”

“Okay.” Meg tapped her finger against her mug, her gaze going distant. “What reason are you giving the Families for dragging them to the palace on such short notice?”

“Honestly? I was considering calling them out and seeing who reacted.”

She shot him a look. “That’s clumsy and you know it.” Meg considered. “But what if… Okay, hear me out. Noemi doesn’t want to be Consort. She wants to be Head of Family. Her father is planning on naming one of her male cousins.”

“Probably so he can keep her free to slip into your shoes,” Galen muttered.

Theo shook his head. “That might be part of it, but Huxley has never gone to its female descendants. It always passes from male to male.” He had thoughts about that, but one of the key pieces of advice his father had drilled into him during his training was that they had to let the Families operate independently within their own power structures. As long as the scheming and backbiting didn’t spill over to negatively affect Thalania as a whole, it wasn’t the monarch’s place to step in.

“Use this gathering to declare Noemi as Head of House. You’ll rock the rest of them, and you’ll earn her loyalty in one fell swoop, which will cut Huxley off from his power base—the Huxley Family. If he’s out of favor that intensely, no one will touch him. Not even Dorian. And it might be enough to scare some of the people who were waffling on whether or not to support you into falling in line.”

Galen snorted. “It doesn’t work like that. He can’t just wave a magic wand and meddle in Family business. It will backfire and then we’ll have a rebellion on our hands in addition to whatever my father is brewing up.”

“Wait.” Theo lifted a hand, thinking hard. It wouldn’t work exactly how Meg had proposed but… He closed his eyes, recalling the various bits of law that applied to this situation. He couldn’t name Noemi Huxley the Head of Family, but… “If she makes the claim and usurps him, the Crown can support that. We can’t step in with interior power struggles, but if she wins, we can ensure it’s public knowledge that the Royal Triad supports her claim and looks favorably on the Huxley Family with Noemi at the helm.”

Meg nodded. “Let me make a call.” She hopped off the counter and padded out of the room.

“This is risky.”

Theo nodded. “I know. We could be playing right into their hands.”

“Don’t see what other choice we have.”

“Me, either.”

A few minutes later, Meg was back. She gave them a particularly vicious smile. “Noemi’s in. She’s making her move today."