A Cursed Throne by D.M. Simmons
Chapter 1
Declan
London
Three Years Later
“Well, look at what the cat dragged in,” Kai says with a smirk. He’s sitting at the kitchen counter, nursing a cup of coffee. “How was your night with the not-so-hard-to-get, Catherine Demarche?”
I ignore his question and take a cup out of the cabinet and reach for the French press on the counter. “Is this fresh?”
“Come on,” he shakes his head. “Who are you talking to?”
We have a top-of-the-line espresso machine in the gourmet kitchen of the house we share, but Kai refuses to use it. Says it’s too much work for a cup of coffee. “I mean, is it hot?”
“Yes, bitch,” he waves a hand. “Drink it. Looks like you need it.”
He’s right. At this point, I don’t care if it’s lukewarm, I just need it to be strong. Still, I can’t let his response go without a half-hearted, “fuck you.”
He eyes me curiously as I pour a cup, skipping the cream. “Bad night?”
“That’s putting it mildly,” I grumble.
“Really?” He arches a brow in surprise. “Ms. Demarche wasn’t as good as she looks?”
“No,” I take a sip of coffee.
The socialite with a notorious sexual appetite and endless bank account had been after me for months. Last night, she got what she wanted. But like all the rest, she was forgettable.
“Damn,” he clicks his tongue. “I could have sworn that one would have been fun. Looked like she’d be part kitten, part alley cat.”
“Try feral,” I say dryly. “But have at it if you want. She’s all yours.”
I could trick my body for a bit, but my heart and mind always knew better. Kai and Luca on the other hand, seemed to work their way through the who’s who of London’s young society with no problem.
“Nah,” Kai shakes his head. “I want a lady on the street, and a freak in the sheets.”
“Yeah,” I huff and take another sip of coffee. “I’m aware.”
He may look like Prince Charming, with his golden-blonde hair and brown eyes, but Kai could turn into a real demon at a moment’s notice. He had two moods–good and bad–and if you fucked with his bad side, he’d tear you apart.
Kai looks at me, curious. “What’s got you moodier than normal this morning?”
“I’m tired,” I say plainly.
“Aw,” he offers me a mock sad face. “Running a nightclub too much for a mere mortal?”
“Screw you,” I roll my eyes.
It used to bother me that he and Luca are immortal, and I’m not, but I was over it now. Kai was busting my balls, as usual. The three of us were like brothers, and it’s what he did. What we all did.
In all honesty, running Styx, the club we owned together, was easy. I handled the business side, Kai the entertainment, and Luca marketing. It was a well-oiled machine and in the two years since opening, it had become exactly what we wanted–an exclusive playground for the young elite.
The reason for my mood this morning wasn’t because of the club. It was for another reason entirely. In fact, Kai wouldn’t be so happy this morning, had he and Luca not left when they did last night, and been slapped in the face by the past like me.
“Where’s Luca?” I lean back against the counter and grip the back of my neck, trying to ease the tension. I’d barely slept last night, and my shoulders were pulled so tight, it felt like my neck was stapled to my shoulders.
“Not up yet.” Kai looks upstairs to Luca’s floor and grins. “But man, I’m dying to get a look. It’s like that game,” he snaps. “What’s it called?”
“Wheel of Fortune?” I suggest.
“No, Russian Roulette,” he smirks.
I shake my head and take a sip of coffee, unable to stop my own sliver of a smile.
The ladies love Luca. They take one look at him, and it doesn’t matter what line he’s feeding them, they’re putty in his hands.
With his brown hair and hazel eyes, he appears every bit the gentlemen. But the Luca they see is different from the one they get, and that’s the game. Which will they spend the night with–the one who likes ropes, or the one who prefers chains?
I don’t judge. We each have our vices and the women he brings home, don’t seem to mind, either. They wear the marks around their wrists, and indentations in their skin, like a badge of honor.
“Well,” I clear my throat and take another sip of coffee. “When it’s just us, we need to talk.”
“Oh yeah?” Kai looks at me with excitement. “Finally ready to discuss expansion?”
We opened the club with one goal in mind. Create a place where London’s young heirs could release their pent-up, privileged stress, for a price. And we’ve succeeded. Styx is the place they escape to when they need to give in to their darker sides.
While it was meant to be a single enterprise for a specific purpose, the success we’ve had is staggering, and Luca and Kai have been pushing to open another one for months.
‘Why fight it,’ Luca said when he and Kai broached the subject for the dozenth time the other night. ‘We wanted an empire, and now we have it.’
He’s right. We’d always dreamed of building an empire together. I had no interest in the one I inherited. It destroyed my family and as far as I was concerned, someone else could have it. But that future we dreamed about would only happen when we were all together again, and for now, Styx had to be the focus, so that it could happen.
“No,” I look down into my coffee, trying hard not to think about the very real possibility everything we’d done had shredded that dream beyond repair. “Something else.”
“What?” he asks, curious.
I wasn’t sure how to tell him or Luca what happened last night. Shit, I could barely come to terms with it myself. Nev, the one we had done all of this for, was back, and seeing her didn’t just fuck with my mind, it rocked me to the core.
For the past two years she’d been in Paris, working at her father’s company–away from us and safe, out of harm’s way. Then suddenly, like a dream, there she was. Our best friend. The one we would, and had, done anything for, back in my orbit, as if no time had passed.
I couldn’t move as I watched her from the window of our office. It was as if everything stopped, and I was back in time. I could taste her on my lips and smell her on my skin. It was like I was back in the stables, in that perfect moment.
Then, in the blink of an eye she was gone, leaving me to question if she was even there at all. I tried to chalk it up as reminiscence; an imprint from the past, haunting my present. But no matter how much I drank, or how hard Catherine Demarche tried to please me with her willing mouth, I couldn’t get the image of Nev out of my mind.
I clear my throat, gripping the cup tight. “When Luca’s here, I’ll tell you.”
As if on cue, the click of heels in the foyer catches our attention, and Kai shoots me a mischievous grin. Good. It’s showtime, and I could use the distraction.
It takes a minute, but finally, a tall leggy blonde crosses the open floorplan living room and walks into the kitchen. A shirtless Luca follows, with his well-defined obliques on display.
“Good morning gentlemen,” he smiles, while wrapping his arms around the girl from behind.
She squeals in mock protest, but I know she’s lapping it up. She believes, as they all do, she’s landed one of what SCENE, London’s top society rag dubbed, ‘the most eligible bachelors in London.’
“Morning,” Kai takes a sip of coffee. “And whom do we have the pleasure of meeting this morning?”
The blonde flashes him a bright smile and sticks out her hand. “I’m Alice.”
“Well, Alice,” he sets his cup down, and pushes up from the stool. “I trust you had a good night?”
She looks over her shoulder at Luca, who winks, then turns back to Kai. “I did,” she tosses her hair back.
“That’s good.” He reaches for her hand and kisses the back of it gently. “If I may have a word before you go.”
He motions for her to come closer, shooting Luca a smirk over her shoulder, and she pulls her clutch close and leans in.
Kai whispers in her ear and I don’t know what he’s saying, exactly, but I know it’s something to the tune of ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’ Only it’s not Vegas, it’s this house, and the warning if it doesn’t, worse than a rough night at the poker tables.
Kai explained it to me once as a kind of mind manipulation. Something the Fallen used on mortals for thousands of years, to get them to do what they wanted. As children of the Fallen, he and Luca had inherited ability, and the two used it more than they should.
Kai pulls back and Luca kisses her on the cheek, then spanks her behind. “Well, this was fun. Let’s do it again sometime.”
She makes her way out of the kitchen as if in a trance, and when she reaches the door, Kai is already there to both open and close it.
Once she’s gone, Luca strolls over to the counter, and pours himself a cup of coffee. “For the record, chains on legs that long,” he lets out a low whistle and shakes his head. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
“You can tell us all about Alice in Chains later,” Kai smirks at his own clever play on words and turns to me. “Luca’s here now, so spill it. What did you want to talk about?”
“Is this business?” Luca lifts his coffee and takes a sip. “Because I need—”
“She’s back,” I blurt out, unable to hold it in any longer.
Luca freezes, and the smile on Kai’s face falls. “Who’s back?” he asks, gripping the back of the stool vacated just minutes ago.
“You know who,” I reply crisply.
“Where?” Luca asks. Gone is his mischievous smile and his eyes are hard.
“At the club,” I set my coffee down and take a deep breath. “Last night after you two left.”
He shakes his head, clearly taking this as hard as I had. “What was she doing there?”
“Don’t know,” I cross my arms. “She didn’t stay long. Came in, had a drink, and then left.”
“Well, did you talk to her?” Kai asks.
I know he’s hungry for details, but he knows the answer to that question. “Did Hell freeze over?”
“Well shit,” he shakes his head. “Did her dad tell you she was coming back?”
“Nope,” my jaw ticks. “If he had, I would’ve told you.”
I’d always had a good relationship with Nev’s parents, but they’d kept updates on how she was doing these last few years to a minimum.
“Well shit,” Luca shakes his head and looks at Kai. “Did your dad say anything, because mine sure as hell didn’t.”
Kai’s dad, Sam, and Luca’s dad, Caro, were both close with Nev’s parents. They fought alongside them to end Luke, and having kids around the same age, had only tightened their bond. Along with Vinny and Lila, her parent’s best friends, and Viper, her mother’s first in command, they were a close group. If Nev was coming home, they’d know.
“No,” Kai shakes his head. “How did she look?” he asks, clearly irritated that his father didn’t say anything.
“She looked good,” I admit, hoping to sound as if seeing her hadn’t ignited a part of me that had been dormant, for far too long. But it was an understatement.
Nev had always been attractive, but now she possessed the kind of beauty that could bring men to their knees.
“Why do you think she was there?” Kai presses as Luca crosses the room and looks out one of the back windows. “Do you think she came to see us? She must know it’s our place and that we might be there?”
“I don’t know,” I look up. We made sure Nev would never want to see us again. Hell, I’d made sure, in the most painful way possible. So why she was there, I hadn’t a clue.
He rubs his jaw, and I can tell his mind is spinning. “And you’re sure it was her?”
I know why he’s asking, and I don’t blame him. If she knew it was our place and didn’t seek us out, it meant that door we hoped she would one day walk back through, was closed, and that idea was too painful to bear.
“Yup,” I nod. “It was her. I checked the security footage before closing. Came in at midnight and left about thirty minutes later.”
“Shit,” he looks down. “Luca and I left only a few minutes before that.”
I nod, knowing how that must feel, and we all fall quiet as we process the fact she was so close, after all this time.
“She can’t be here,” Luca says finally, turning from the window.
The tightness in his voice matches the tension in my shoulders. “I know,” I shake my head.
“No,” he looks from Kai to me, brows pinched, and eyes haunted. “She can’t be here,” he says again. “Then everything we went through will have been for nothing.”
“Everything we went through?” I look at him incredulously. “What about her? We hurt her. You know that don’t you?”
“Because we had to,” he says somberly.
“No,” I say with righteous indignation. “We could have found a different way. But instead, we pushed away our best friend, without explanation because it was easier for us.”
We were so hung up on what we were losing, that we didn’t stop for a minute to think about how cutting her from our lives had affected her. But I know how much it hurt her because I heard the sadness in her voice that night in the stables.
“We did it for her,” I shake my head, “but the way we did it, was for us.”
“You’re right,” Kai agrees. “She deserved better.”
In an existence that demanded everything of Nev, we were the only ones who never expected anything of her. She was the best thing about each of us, and when we lost her, we lost the part of us that was good. Or, maybe, it was the way we separated ourselves from her–cold and without explanation–that gave life to the darkness we each now possessed.
Regardless, her absence in our lives left a hole nothing or no one could fill, and we’d each changed because of it. Whatever vices we embraced, we did so to fill that void. The loss of her, brought out our worst demons, and I sometimes wondered if when the time came for all this to be over, would it be too late for any of us.
But the worst part of all this was that Luca and Kai think the regret we carry is the same. That we share equal guilt. They don’t know mine runs deeper, or how much I hate myself for hurting her the way I did that night after what we shared.
“But you’re right,” I say to Luca. “She can’t be here.”
Nev couldn’t waltz back into our lives and undo all we’d done. Not when she was the reason for all of it. She had to be as far away from Styx as possible.
Kai blows out a charged breath and pushes back from the stool, tipping it over. “Fuck!”
“Look,” I hold out a hand, wanting to keep Kai’s Mr. Hyde from making a breakfast appearance. “Let me talk to her parents and see how long she will be in town. Then we can get back to business and stop beating ourselves up. Okay?”
He looks at me and takes a deep breath before nodding. “Luca?” I look over to where he’s standing.
“Fine,” he says crisply.
“Good,” I take a deep breath. “Hopefully, this will all be over soon, and it will be like none of it even happened.”
“You think it will be that easy?” he asks wryly. The way he’s looking at me tells me he has doubts, and honestly, I did, too.
“What choice do we have?” Anything worth saving was worth the fight, and Nev was worth everything. No matter how painful or long that fight was, we had to do whatever needed to be done. Her existence depended on it. Even if it meant keeping her out of our life.
“We could tell her the truth now,” Kai suggests. “She came to see us. Maybe—”
“No,” Luca and I say at the same time.
“We made a deal.” I stick my hand out, flashing the tattoo I had inked when all this started. “We said we would do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. Remember?”
They look at their own hands that bear the same promise. “We can do this,” I say with reassurance. “We got this.”
Luca takes a deep breath and presses his fist to mine. “Okay,” he nods, then looks to Kai, who does the same.
“Now,” I take a sip of my coffee, needing to change the topic quickly. “Do we need to have a Leggy Blonde night at the club?”
A small smile pulls at Luca’s lips as Kai lets out a soft laugh and I know the subject of Nev is closed for now. But I can’t stop myself from thinking about the very question that’s nagged me since all this began–what if she doesn’t forgive us when all this is over?
Deep down, I had to believe she would because the alternative is unbearable.