Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“So if you think,” I went on, “you’ll get in the way of me and my boyfriend—”
“Boyfriend? Oh, now he’s a boyfriend? I thought he was just someone you’re interested in.”
Only just that, really.
However, as I considered this new plan, I realized it would only work if Keeg was more than some guy I kissed in a bar during the festival.
“Yes, we’re actually an item, whether you like it or not.”
He winced, looking as suspicious as ever. “It seems awfully quick that you’re together with someone you just had a kiss with in some random bar, and per my background check, he’s only been here for a few days. So I’m curious to know how you’ve had this secret love affair going on all this time, enough to call him your boyfriend.”
“We met online,” I lied, which earned an arched brow from Lucas.
“Met online? Really. How long ago was this?”
“A few months.”
“So the other scandals that happened in the meantime—”
“We weren’t officially together. We were doing whatever. We didn’t think it would end up where it is. But then we started to fall for each other.”
As I defended my story, I could see Lucas growing increasingly agitated, especially in the way he chewed at his tongue.
He surely knew I was full of shit. He’d long since learned how I lied, having grown up with me and knowing perfectly well when I was being honest or deceitful.
“Well, it seems the damage is done anyway,” Lucas said.
“What damage?” I asked, my voice laced with contempt for how he could suggest that simply expressing interest in the same sex was enough to cause such a catastrophe in a country that was not so unaccepting of our very own LGBTQ+ community, which included our flesh and blood.
“You have made a public spectacle of our family’s silence.”
“The Crown can use this as an opportunity, Lucas. You can come forward and say that we stand by equal marriage.”
“This is going to look like the most calculated move in royal history.”
“Everything has been a calculated move,” I pushed back. “Everything we have stood for, everything we have done on the political front since I was a child has been orchestrated just as much, if not more than this. Talk to your advisors. The family can agree to go along with this or not. But regardless of what you decide, Keegan and I are together, and we’re going to do those things that boyfriends do, publicly, for everyone in the world to see. So you can be the asshole who pushes back against us and makes a real mockery of the acceptance that this monarchy has always stood for, or you can join us in the 21st century, approve of your brother’s sexuality, and send a clear message to people that they need to put pressure on the parliament to do the right thing.”
He took a breath, clearly pondering my words. “It seems I don’t really have much of a choice in this anymore. You have made a farce of this crown upon my head. I’ll talk to my advisors and see what they say. However, make no mistake about who is King.”
“Lucas, how dare you make this about a power play? Are you really so upset that one action I have taken goes against a decision you have made while you sit on the throne?”
“No. I’m disappointed at how you went about it, about how you turned your back on this family because, as always, your own selfishness has usurped your common sense.”
I understood why he said that. Most of my life had been lived that way. But regardless of what he may have thought, it wasn’t the case this time.
“I assume my boyfriend will be taken care of on his stay in the palace?” I added.
“Your boyfriend has been put up in a very nice room, and he will be treated as any guest would be treated here. I will be learning more about who this American boy is and how you managed to find him, I assure you of that. But I sincerely hope you think very carefully about the world you are pulling him into.”
It was evident his comment spoke to the calculated ruse I’d concocted during our chat.
And he was right.
If I really followed through with this plan beyond this chat, the young gay American tourist would be in over his head. Of course, he already was that much since he’d had to discover himself outed across the Internet in under an hour, but he had no way of really understanding the consequences of sharing this burden with me.
Hell, I didn’t even know if he’d go along with my scheme.
However, I had a gut feeling, just like when I’d left Cassie with him, that Keegan was a good guy, and if he knew how important this was to our nation, he would be willing to help.