Viktor

While I’m aware I should be greeting wedding guests, instead I’m gaping at my brother in my office. “Are you quite certain?” I finally ask.

“It’s the translation,” he insists. “Language nuances lost in English that are clearly there in both the German and the Italian.” He pushes the thick, ancient tomes across my desk. “Put Leonie’s feet to the fire, and she would say the same. As would the Prime Minister.”

“The Love Laureate—” I start.

Alexander shakes his head. “She wouldn’t doubt you. And even if she would, you’ve every right to sack her. She was Roland’s pet, not yours. I should have read the original laws myself in the first place.”

We’re interrupted by a knock at the door, and it swings open instantly. “Sir, you cannot—” Leonie says, but the rest of her statement is drowned in Zeus Berger and Manning Frey attempting to shove each other out of the way to get through the doorway first.

They’re both grinning like loons. “Your Majesty, delightful to see you,” Prince Manning says while he takes an elbow to Zeus’s gut.

“Get out of my way, you little fucker,” Zeus tells him.

Zeus is one of few men in the world who would dare call Manning a little fucker. The prince can hold his own and is rarely mistaken for small.

“I see being teammates is going well for you,” I say to the both of them.

“’Twould be, if this ogre were more like his bro—oof,” the prince reports.

Alexander shifts a glance between me and the two hockey players. “You lived with this for your year in the States?”

“Every day,” I confirm.

“No wonder the staff issues haven’t fazed you a bit.”

Manning pulls back from the fight, and Zeus nearly topples into the room. It’s a youngest-child trick, I’m certain, as I’ve seen him do the same thing to his brothers. He then steps around Zeus and pulls a thick packet from inside his jacket. “From the Casper County Courthouse, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you.” I’d inquire how his hockey season was going, but I’ve been keeping track of the scores these past months, and I know the Thrusters are on track to repeat their Cup-winning performance, especially as they managed to convince Zeus to delay retirement by a year to join the team. I’m quite sad to be missing their antics, truth be told.

I introduce Zeus to Alexander, who’s not the least daunted by the giant of a man, as he’s aware of Zeus’s terror of spiders and also that Zeus Berger is more teddy bear than grizzly. Off the ice, at any rate.

“Settling in well?” Manning inquires.

“As well as one can.”

“Ready for your big day?”

“Certainly.”

“He’s become quite adept at all this pomp and circumstance,” Alexander reports.

“’Tis merely another day,” I agree. “I’m already quite married.”

“But, dude, we get to see Peach in a dress. That’s gonna be fucking hilarious.” Zeus grins. “I hope it has bows.”

I merely hope she shows up.

Because I have a feeling that when I inform her of the changes in our situations—both in the paperwork Manning has brought and the news Alexander has uncovered—I may well lose her forever.