Seven Years Ago
PAYTON GATHERED HER books and threw them in her bag just as the bell rang. Her driver would be waiting out at the front of the high school to take her home, but if she had her choice, she wouldn’t go home. She’d disappear altogether.
Her sister, Annis, had met her mate and would be bound in just over a month. Then she’d be off to her new life in Iceland with Baldvin Daðason, who was the youngest son of one of the oldest and most prominent clans in Iceland. His father had connections with another family that was close to the king, which excited her mother more than the fact that her daughter had found her mate. Now Payton’s mother had a way to get close to the royal family on a personal level, not just through her husband’s work.
The house was in an uproar of excitement, what with the family’s anticipated status with the royals, and Payton either found herself in the way or at the end of her mother’s disappointment for not being at Annis’s beck and call.
Payton swung her bag over her shoulder and followed her classmates outside. She wore a jacket over her uniform even though she wasn’t cold. It was for appearances, because instead of a private Cauld Ane school, Payton went to a human high school—granted it was one of the oldest in the country, but still, it was public.
“What’s going on?” she asked the girl next to her.
Molly Adams was a pretty blonde, petite, with a curvaceous figure and outgoing personality. She was checking her phone. “Mass text,” she said, distracted.
Payton rolled her eyes. Mass texts with varying information often went out to several of the “in” crowd, which, of course, Payton was not part of.
“Fallen Crown,” Molly squealed.
“What about them?” Payton asked as she zipped up her jacket.
“The drummer’s here!”
“What? He can’t be,” she muttered.
“Well he is.”
“Niall MacMillan’s really here?” Payton asked.
“Aye,” Molly said. “I’ll see you later.”
Molly took off toward the mob and Payton couldn’t keep from grinning. If any of them knew that Niall was a friend of hers, they’d probably wet themselves, which is why she was pretty sure the information was incorrect. If Nye was going to be at her school, he would have told her. She checked her phone and didn’t see a text from him. Tenting her hand over her eyes to avoid the sun, she looked around for her family’s car but couldn’t see it. Her driver was never late, and she did mean never. Her father wouldn’t stand for it.
“Payton McFadden!” The familiar voice of Niall MacMillan sounded over the crowd.
He really was here.
“Pay! Over here!” he called again.
She turned to find Niall jogging toward her, the collective gasps and dropped jaws of students caught in his wake.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought someone had started a rumor about you hanging around the high school.”
“Nah, it’s true,” he said as he closed the distance between them.
Niall MacMillan was one-fourth of the biggest band in Scotland and a close, personal friend of Paul Hewson, lead singer of the biggest band in Ireland. Niall and his brother, Max, were both tall with dark hair and blue eyes. They’d formed their band, Fallen Crown, in the late eighties, and had quickly become world-famous, especially in the last ten years. Women swooned everywhere they went, which was why Niall generally avoided situations like a high school full of rabid fans.
“Hey, you,” he said, wrapping his arms around Payton and lifting her off her feet in a bear hug. “This’ll give your idiot schoolmates something to talk about.”
Niall knew of her struggles with fitting in at school, and not just because she was Cauld Ane and the rest were human. She wasn’t big on drama, which meant close relationships with girls who lived for theatrics just didn’t work for her.
Payton giggled. “What are you doing here?”
He lowered her to the ground and took her bag from her. “I come on behalf of a certain princess we both know.”
“What? Why?”
“Come on. I’m your driver today.” He grabbed her hand and led her through the crowd, walking in front of her so he could shield her from the hands shoving pens and pads at him. “I’m here to pick up my favorite person in the world, everyone. How about I send some signed pics with her to school tomorrow? I’m sure some of her friends will be willing to wait until then, eh?”
Payton nearly laughed out loud when the group moaned in disappointment. Then Molly pushed her way to the front, drawing Payton in for an awkward hug. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” she said.
“You just saw me a minute ago,” Payton pointed out, shaking her head at Molly’s obvious attempt to act like besties.
“I know.” Molly flicked her hair back and fluttered her eyes toward Niall. “I thought you were right behind me.”
Payton rolled her eyes. She had to give the girl props. Molly was a master at keeping all of her options open. She certainly couldn’t be considered a close friend, but she had always been nice to Payton… well, civil, anyway.
Molly offered Niall her million-dollar smile and then focused back on Payton. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Niall,” Payton said, “the drummer of Fallen Crown. You know, the guy you just told me about?”
Molly shot Payton a quick scowl, obviously not enjoying being called out on her lie.
“And we’re in a hurry. Excuse us,” Niall said as he pushed Payton gently forward. He pulled the car door open and she slid inside.
“But”—Molly raised her hand—“I had hoped we could chat.”
“No time. Sorry, lass.” Niall threw Payton’s bag in the back and jumped into the driver’s seat. “Don’t trust that girl, Pay. She’s not right.”
“Well, duh, Nye.” Payton secured her seatbelt. “I don’t trust her. Never have.”
“Seventeen, right?”
“What?”
“You.” Niall started the car and took off. “I forget you’re smarter than your age.”
“If the music thing doesn’t work out, you really should try comedy.”
Niall laughed.
Payton shifted in the seat to see him better. “So, why are you here? Oh, and how did you get my father to agree to let you pick me up?”
“Fiona finagled it, actually. She thought you might want to go shopping with her, so she told your father she’d make arrangements to have you picked up.”
“Sneaky.” Payton grinned. “I like it.”
“Not really. You are going shopping with Fi.”
“What? Seriously? Why would the princess want to go shopping with me? She’s hundreds of years older than me and we don’t know each other very well.”
“Maybe she just wants to get to know you.”
Payton groaned. “Does this have something to do with Annis?”
“Why would it have anything to do with Annis?”
“Because mum is pushing this whole ‘Annis is the chosen one’ thing, and now I’m expected to be friends with all these people I don’t particularly like, for the sake of appearances.”
“You don’t like Fiona?”
“No.” Payton sighed. “I mean, yes, I do like her. It’s the people who hang onto her for dear life I have an issue with.”
Niall chuckled. “Who could you possibly not like?”
“That Shannon Fraser for one,” Payton admitted.
“Right.” Niall nodded. “I don’t particularly like her either.”
“She’s a snake.”
“Aye, she is,” Niall said with a grimace.
“What?” she asked. She didn’t like his tone.
“Shannon’s going shopping as well. As is your sister.”
“What?” Payton squeaked. “You can’t be serious! Ooh, I can see my mother’s hand all over this. Will Angus be there?”
“And spend time with both your sister and your mother?” He snorted. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Yeah, right.” Payton sighed. Angus had never been a great fan of her mother, and even less of her sister. “I guess it’s too much to ask for you to just keep driving. Maybe to Africa or something?”
“Can you drive to Africa?” he joked.
“You take the Moroccan Highway,” she retorted.
Niall laughed again.
Payton squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t believe I have to go shopping with royalty in my school uniform. I can’t stand my family sometimes. Honestly.”
Niall laughed. “What’s the big deal? You don’t typically care what other people think of you. Why the meltdown now?”
Payton shrugged and stared at her hands.
“Pay? What’s up? You can tell me.”
She sighed. “It’s just that it’s Fiona Gunnach.”
“And?”
“And, she’s Brodie’s sister.” Payton bit her lip. “I guess I just don’t want her to hate me.”
“That would be impossible,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re easy to like, buddy. I promise.”
Payton groaned. “Don’t make me go, Nye. Please? Just say you couldn’t find me at school or something.”
He smiled gently. “I have a better idea.”
“Oh, please share, Nye. Because so far, your lack of input leaves much to be desired.”
He rolled the car to a stop at a red light. “Shall we make a pitstop and you can change?”
“Into what, exactly?”
“Oh, I don’t know, perhaps we can find something at Jenners’.” Niall turned right when the light turned green and headed toward Payton’s favorite store.
Payton felt the stress dissipating. “Ooh, yes. I need new jeans, anyway. I don’t have much cash, but I can pay you back later in the week.”
Niall rolled his eyes. “My shout. Consider it an early birthday present.”
“Nye, you don’t have to do that. Really. It’s almost a month before my birthday, and you’ve been paying for a lot of things using that excuse.”
“So? Means I get bonus points for remembering.” He smiled. “I have something that might make today better.”
“I’ll take anything. Tell me.”
“I told Fiona she’d need to serve your favorite ice cream or I’d not help her with her ruse.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “I did.”
Payton giggled. “Fine. Twist my arm.”
She knew it was pointless to argue. And he really had been paying for a lot of things over the past three years, but was annoyingly tight-lipped about it. She’d asked him why and he’d said that he had the money and that’s what friends were for. This then prompted a conversation about mates, but Niall insisted he wasn’t hers.
Niall grinned and headed for the private entrance to Jenners’.
“You sneak. You called ahead, didn’t you?” Payton challenged.
“Guilty.”
She smiled. “I suppose you’d get mobbed if we went in the main entrance.”
“Sure. Let’s go with that.”
Payton clapped her hands. She’d heard about the personal shoppers at Jenners’ but had never experienced one herself. She supposed her family had the money to shop there if her mother was so inclined, but she was as miserly as they came, and refused to spend money on unnecessary luxuries.
“In other news,” Niall said as he parked the car, “I got a letter from Brodie yesterday.”
“You did?”
“Aye. He mentioned he’d been writing to you.”
“I’m sorry?” Payton said in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Brodie said he’s been writing.”
Payton frowned. “To me?”
“Aye.”
“No he hasn’t.”
Niall unbuckled and faced her. “Really?”
“Aye.” Payton unbuckled as well. “Why would he write to me? Did you say something to him? Niall, I will skelp you if you said anything!”
“I would never ever say anything about how much you love him, and how you want to kiss him…” He winced when she punched his arm. “Ow, you’re strong for a girl.”
She blinked back tears of frustration. “What did you tell him?”
Niall took her hand. “Hey, honest. I would never betray your confidence, Pay. Promise. Brodie just mentioned the letters in passing.”
Payton tried to keep her excitement in check. She’d dreamed of Brodie Gunnach more than once… okay, more than a million times since he left, the memory of her vision at the welcome home party sparking hope in her heart. The idea that he would actually write to her was too much to dream of, but if he had, then what happened to the letters?
“Weird,” Payton said, taking a deep breath and trying to appear nonchalant. Niall knew she had a crush on the prince, and teased her accordingly, but she didn’t want to admit just how deep her feelings went.
“Very.” Niall climbed out of the car and walked around to her side.
Payton slid out of the car and followed him to the private entrance of Jenners’. They were met by an excited young woman, ready to sell them whatever they needed. Niall took a seat on a bench outside the room and slid his phone from his pocket as Payton gave the saleswoman her size and was ushered into a private changing room.
* * *
Brodie stomped his feet to shake off the caked-on snow and then slipped out of his arctic weather clothing. His unit had just taken a small break from their hectic schedule to watch a polar bear cub play with its mother. He couldn’t help thinking how he wished he was sharing this moment with Payton, which led to more thoughts of his mate, which inevitably led to the heartache that came with his homesickness.
He shook off his thoughts and opened his locker. His heart raced when he saw the light blinking on his satellite phone. His brothers and Niall were the only ones who had the number, and the only reason he and Niall interacted was to keep tabs on Payton. Brodie entered his pin and pulled up a text from Niall.
*Payton hasn’t gotten your letters. What do you want me to do?*
Brodie swore. He shouldn’t have committed to five years. The past three had been near torture and with another two to go, he was sure he’d never survive it. Payton turned eighteen in less than a month, but he’d wanted to give her more time before they started a relationship. Maybe it had been a bad idea to keep tabs on her these past years. It simply kept her constantly in his thoughts. He rubbed his forehead in an effort to think of what could have happened to his letters.
*Find out what happened to them. Is Payton okay?*
*Aye. She’s great, She’s spending your money.*
Brodie grinned. He’d opened a special account for Payton that only Kade and Niall had access to. He knew how tight her mother was, and he wanted Payton to have whatever her heart desired. His mate would want for nothing.
*Keep me posted.*
*I will. Gotta go.*
“Food’s up!” Joey, Brodie’s wing commander, poked his head into the locker room.
“Thanks,” Brodie said, and set his phone back into the cabinet. “Coming.”
He made his way to the main hall, where the entire group, including civilians, ate together. Taking his place in line, he stepped aside to let one of the ladies move in front of him.
“Ta,” Pippa said, smiling the same smile she’d smiled for almost a year. The one that indicated she’d be his… he just had to say so.
Brodie didn’t deny she was beautiful. Tall and brunette, the native Australian was adored by pretty much every man there. But even if technically he was single, Brodie’s heart was owned by a petite redhead, and he’d never do anything to betray her.
For the next hour, he endured small talk, all the while consumed with thoughts of Payton and who would be trying to sabotage their correspondence.
* * *
Payton arrived at Fiona Gunnach’s home to find the Who’s Who of Edinburgh—of Scotland, really—and that now included Annis and their mother. Payton truly hated the insincere, rich-girl talk of the group. She’d never been very good at making small talk anyway. She never felt quite right in most groups, and certainly didn’t feel pretty. She had horrible eyesight, bad enough that contacts weren’t enough to correct her vision. So she was stuck with glasses. And she was sure she was one of the shortest females of their kind. Cauld Ane women were typically a few inches over the average human height, and at five-foot-five, Payton was considered tiny by their standards. Fiona was the only other woman she’d met close to her height, and she was still an inch taller.
Payton studied the group. Shannon Fraser was tall and blonde; stunning would be the best way to describe her. She had a body that men waxed poetic about, especially when they thought no one else could hear them. She stood with Annis, giggling about something trivial, Payton was certain. Annis never discussed anything deep. She’d always said her life was for fun, not work.
Fiona caught sight of Payton and grinned, walking purposely toward her. “Payton, love! I’m so glad you could make it.”
Payton didn’t quite know how to respond. She’d had all of two conversations with Fiona Gunnach, and although they had been pleasant, she was still taken aback by her warm reception. She gave a quick curtsy. “Thank you for inviting me, Your Highness.”
Fiona waved her hands in dismissal. “Oh, please, let’s be done with all of that nonsense. Just call me Fi.” She hugged Payton and whispered, “Save me from these horrible women. I want to slit my wrists with a spoon right now.”
Payton couldn’t stop a snort when she giggled, and quickly covered her mouth with her fingers. “Sorry.”
“Bless you,” Fiona said, and then winked. “I do hope you’re not getting a cold.”
“No. I’m fine.” Payton bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.
“Thanks for picking Payton up, Nye,” Fiona said. “Any word from my brother?”
Payton couldn’t help but perk up at the mention of the prince.
“Brodie’s doing well,” Niall said.
“You’ve heard from the prince?” Payton’s mother asked, feigning interest. She didn’t really care much about Brodie, but if she appeared interested, it would help her chances with the king… or so she said. “Payton, what are you wearing?”
“Jeans, Mum.”
“I see that. Where did you get them?”
“At Jenners’.”
“Payton!” her mother snapped. “Where did you get the money?”
“I paid for them, Mrs. McFadden,” Niall said.
Her mother frowned, but then schooled her expression. “Oh. Well, we’ll pay you back.”
“No need, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” Payton’s mother glanced at Annis and then back to Niall, her voice taking on a pinched quality, as though to appear nonchalant. “So, you’ve heard from the prince, is that right?”
Payton tried not to roll her eyes in disgust. The fact that her father and brother were trusted by the king wasn’t enough in her mother’s eyes. Angus kept Phyllis at a distance, and she wanted to be “in” with the royal family, even if she had to pretend to care about someone as lowly as the third prince.
“I have.” Niall raised an eyebrow. “In fact, he mentioned something about writing to a few people, including Payton.”
Payton watched her mother’s face lose color.
“Oh?” her mother said.
“It was so strange,” Niall continued, “Because when I asked Payton if she’d gotten anything from Brodie, it seems she hadn’t. Perhaps his correspondence got lost in the mail.”
“It must have,” her mother said. “I haven’t seen anything come through.”
Payton narrowed her eyes and tried not to scream in frustration. Her mother was lying.
“No matter,” Niall said. “I may end up playing postman for him. My mail seems to arrive just fine.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” her mother countered. “I’ll ask Aileen if she’s seen the letters. Sometimes, I find things in the strangest places after she’s cleaned the house.”
“Mum,” Annis called from her place by the window. “Come and see Shannon’s new shoes.”
Niall took advantage of the distraction, dragging Fiona and Payton further from the group. “Interesting how your mum said letters. If she hadn’t seen anything, how would she know there was more than one?”
“Nye,” Fiona admonished. “Be nice. Don’t jump to conclusions. Maybe they really were lost.”
Payton sighed. “No. It’s okay. He’s probably right. Niall’s been on the short end of my mother’s insanity.” She took a deep breath. “But, I’m pretty sure her deception has delayed the further tongue-lashing I was sure to receive about the new clothes.” She ran her hands over her new jeans. “So, it’s a positive.”
“Not if she read the letters,” Niall argued.
“Oh, please. What could Brodie Gunnach write in a letter that would offend my mother? The man doesn’t even know me.” Payton raised an eyebrow. “I can only assume he wrote to congratulate me on my sister’s news. Connall emailed the same thing a few weeks ago.”
“You’re probably right,” Niall said.
“Let’s go play nice, shall we?” Fiona suggested, and pulled Payton toward the group, the subject of Brodie’s letters officially dropped.
Payton spent the rest of the afternoon attempting to appear engaged, but her thoughts kept roaming to the letter… or letters… Brodie sent. Perhaps he misses me. The thought sent a thrill through her. Could she even allow herself to hope?