The f*******n Crown

Chapter |3|

This is officially the worst birthday ball I have ever had. It even tops the chocolate fountain volcano that erupted during my 12th birthday and ended up hitting a visiting Prince.

"27 years, grey haired bat on the right." I follow Ajax's gaze, and let out a loud enough laugh that her head turns.

Fuck. We quickly turn away, sniggering into our fruity punch.

"Are you two seriously still playing this game?" Damien chides, stealing my punch and passing me a champagne glass instead.

I pull a face.

He knows I hate champagne.

Leaning in, his lips brush against my ear. "It's rum." I grin, taking a sip of the rich liquid. He even added a splash of lime, my favourite.

Ajax swings his arm around him. "When did they last f**k, is a beautiful game Damien and you would enjoy it, if you ever actually took part." I watch him survey the bustling ball room.

"Goatee with the curled moustache...9 days ago with him." He gestures with his glass to the old war general, sporting a monocle.

I spit out my rum, choking on a laugh. "How do you know that?"

"I know everything, Emmy. Also I may have f****d him too. He thinks we're friends and keeps me up to date with his current love life." He downs his champagne. "Like I give a fuck."

I ignore the tinge of jealousy that slices through me. "He's probably just trying to make you jealous."

"I don't really care enough to feel anything about him. Anyways, tonight is about you. Having fun?" I stare at my best friends that tower over me, even though I'm a relatively tall girl wearing heels.

"You know I'm not. I miss Daph," Daphne is my closest girlfriend, and also my cousin. She's the life of the party so the fact she couldn't be here tonight really sucks.

"She would have come if she could."

"I know, anyways let's just keep playing the game." This time Damien joins.

Five round of When did they last f**k, and four drinks later, I'm being dragged out of the depleting party towards the great hall.

"Guys, I'm tired. I just want to go to bed."

And try and forget that my next birthday will probably be spent having to pick out wedding .

Guests loiter in the lobby, guards trying to force them out so the cleaning staff can move in and tidy up. Sometimes it's like these things never happen. I wake up the next day hung over, and the Palace is spick and span, not a crumb in sight.

"You'll like this surprise we promise." They share a salacious grin, pulling me faster towards the towering set of double doors. Together they let go of me to shove it open.

"Surprise!" The room yells, confetti bursting out of robust canons that sprinkles into my hair.

Disco balls hang overhead, glittering multicoloured lights around the historic room, whilst familiar faces wave glow in the dark sticks in the air. "What the..."

"Welcome to your real birthday party," Ajax announces, slipping a light up crown onto my head.

I burst out laughing in disbelief as I'm pushed further into the party. My friends, cousins, and practically anyone under 30 within the palace is here. I notice Mal in the corner and gesture her forward, knowing she probably played a hand in this.

"I only helped with the catering." She tries to shout over the blaring music. Damien swings his arm around, already passing me a fruity drink.

"She's too modest. Without Mal, we wouldn't have these gorgeous canopies and waiters." Damien grabs one of the pigs in blankets, the floating waiters serve, flashing the girl a flirty wink.

I frown into my drink.

His sexuality has always been a mystery, always made me curious. He's slept with guys, and girls, but not once do I think he's ever physically been attracted to me the way I know Ajax is.

Or maybe once I thought he was...that night.

Mal blushes furiously, clinging onto his arm.

Yep, Damien has that effect on most people.

"There's my favourite cousin." That voice, that confidence, that wildness. It could only ever be one person.

I turn, blinking back tears as I almost don't believe my eyes. "Daph," She's there alright in the flesh, all in her 6,2 glory.

Neon paint is smeared over her body that is scantily clad in a latex pink dress, her tumbling curls wild around her face.

"You did this too? You all...you all helped."

"Don't get all mushy on me, Em." She points to my best friends. "They had the idea, convinced your parents, the advisors. Then they called me, the unofficial party planner. I guess they know I have good taste. Sorry you had to suffer alone though at the ball, I had to make sure everything was ready."

Only Daph truly understands my position in this world. She's a certified Princess of her own Kingdom, with her own people to lead one day, and a marriage contract she must fulfil.

I stare at Damien and Ajax, my gratitude shining bright. "I wasn't alone, and I wasn't suffering. This might actually be my best birthday yet."

"Damn right it is." She hooks her arm in mine, dragging me away from them and towards a secluded area of the room. I glance over my back, watching Ajax and Damien disappear within the throes of people. "So, what do you think?"

I look back at Daph. "Huh?"

"I said, what do you think of the fire breathers? Hot, right? But I swear I only hired them because it sounded cool." My eyes one of the guys shooting fire out of his mouth.

"Yeah, cute." Daph stares at me weirdly and then pulls me further away from everything.

"You've only been away from them for a minute and you're already displaying signs of separation anxiety."

"From who?"

"Who do you think? The two guys who have stalked you everywhere since they were old enough to walk. I mean seriously, what is going on with the three of you?"

"Nothing. Nothing. I swear, we're all strictly friends."

Daph gives me that look that reads, don't spew me your bullshit. "Friends don't go inside other friends, and I know you and Ajax haven't stopped f*****g, it's all over you, but what's happening with Damien?"

"Nothing is happening...I mean sometimes I feel...I feel things for him, but also Ajax and god, it's so confusing. I enjoy s*x with Ajax because it's just easy. It's always easy between us but even a conversation with Damien, and my head is spinning."

I reach out to pull a sequin off her cheek. "He mind f***s you. Ajax is actually f*****g you but Damien is mentally f*****g you, which means he wants to f**k you, but he's scared."

"Scared of what?"

I want Damien. I want Ajax, and right now, it's easy. I have Ajax and he has me, I would never sleep with somebody else, even if we aren't exclusive.

"Scared s*x with you isn't meaningless. Scared of what happens when it's time for you to end things, because you will have to...eventually."

Even though Damien and Ajax are considered high up within the social circle, they are nowhere near the nobility or the wealth that I will have to marry to secure one day. Just the thought of having to end things with Ajax feels like a knife jabbing me in the chest.

"So what do I do? You think I should stop sleeping with Ajax?" I should be all healed up. All pieced back together from my horrible break up, but I'm scared of being alone. Of giving up such intimacy and connection, I lacked before. Ajax fills the void I'm too scared to face.

"f**k no, girl, get that d**k and from the miniscule details I've been given, I heard it's good dick." I grin, thinking of all the times Ajax has f****d me. Not once have I regretted it, not once has he left the room with me anything other than satisfied.

"But you've got a big problem. They both want you, and you can't have them. At least, not forever."

I find them both near the bar. Ajax laughs at something Damien says, shoving him lightly in the chest. I don't ever want to ruin that. Their friendship. With me gone soon, they still have each other.

Within our trio, I'm the dispensable one.

"What if I find a way out of the marriage clause?"

She spits out her drink, the liquid narrowly missing me. I quickly hand her a bunch of napkins on the table, patting her chest and chin. "That's f*****g impossible."

"Not if we did hard enough, look at my parents, my grandparents..."

"Yeah but that's different. They has to do that, they were following protocol at the time and thank f**k that it has changed Em. It was dehumanising, and Dahlia has changed now for the better. Your marriage will solidify that growth."

"But isn't marrying for love, showing that Dahlia can become more progressive. A kingdom that is both liberal and runs on the basis of freewill."

"I don't know Emmy. The advisors, the courts...we could both lose our positions."

"Think about Calla," I implore. Daph tenses at the sound of her ex girlfriend. "You love her, and I know how hard it was to let her go but reversing this rule would mean you both could be together, freely this time."

"She broke up with me because of it. You really think we could do this? Together?" I nod desperately, my mind spinning cogs for a way to see this through. She grabs my hands in hers. "Look, I'll talk to my mom about this, you know she hates this stupid rule more than anyone and I'll see what we can do, but it's your birthday. You're not Princess Emmeline right now, you're my friend, my cousin, the birthday girl and you deserve to have some fun."

Her hand snatches two shots off a tray, and we down them. The harsh liquid singes as it makes its way down my throat. The music finally switches to a song we both know, and her eyes light up. "f**k, I love this song."

We shove our way onto the crowded dance floor, our heels digging into the hard surface as we move to the beat. A guy I've never seen before sidles besides Daph, grabbing her waist with one hand and grinding against her a*s. I'm all prepared to go full protective mode, but she smiles, leaning into his hold and meeting his eyes with a smouldering gaze.

Daph loves her ex girlfriend, Calla. I know that Daph knows that but they can't be together right now and to forget that fact she seeks comfort in others. I should do the same, find a hot guy to f**k with no string attached. M

It's what me and Ajax are pretending to have, but the web we weave every time we kiss, fuck...even holding each other is another entangled string we can't escape.

A body presses against me, skinnier than either Ajax or Damien, that I know instantly he's a stranger. "Can I dance with you, Princess?" His voice is...familiar. A servant or guard, perhaps?

I glance at Daphne for advice, and she nods with a smile, before disappearing into the crowd with her new lover. Turning around, I slide my arms around his necks, noting his subtle attractiveness; electric green eyes, sharp features with a slightly crooked nose and a mole besides his lips that I find weirdly cute.

"Of course we can dance..."

"James. James Sailor, I'm posted with the 23rd regiment." A guard. So that means Ajax might know him. Knowing his guard soothes my fear, lets my walls crack...a little, so I smile, biting my lip in what I hope is a flirtatious remark.

"And just call me Emmeline." His smile widens, hands gripping my waist as the lights dim and the song switches.

To something slower, darker.

Couples gyrate against each other, shoving us closer together. Our pelvises in line, he grinds against my front, his hard erection rubbing my mound in a way that incites fire through my body.

I look up and it's not James anymore, it's Ajax, gripping me the way he wants, rubbing against me to incite moans only he ever drags out of me.

I blink again. He's gone, replaced by Damien and his dark features with a gaze strong enough to cause me to burn.

His lips enter my view, full and soft, I just want a taste...a tiny taste.

My toes rise, sinking my hands into his hair, so I can drag him down to me. He kisses me, softer than I ever imagined, it's sloppier too...uh and wet. I shove him back, only for Damien to disappear and merge into a man I don't want.

James breathes heavily, sad lips downturned. "What's wrong?"

He was supposed to be an escape, a way out but I can't ever escape them.

Can I? They'll always be there around every corner I turn, in every room I'm in. There is no escape from obsession.

I turn, gulping as I notice them both still at the bar, girls draped around them, clinging to their arms, and one even has her tongue in Ajax's ear. Yet, they're watching me. Out of hundreds, only me.

I watch as concern bathes in their gaze, and slowly they push off from the bar. They walk towards me, as though James is the biggest threat towards me.

But how do I tell them it isn't him?

That my mind doesn't even allow a thought of another man to enter my mind because it's always consumed with them.

Grabbing the train of my dress, I turn and run away from them, knowing that even if I can outrun them, I'll never be able to escape the fact I want them. Both of them.

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A/N: Thoughts on Daph?? Her mother is Delphine from the previous two books.

What do you think about Emmeline's internal dilemma?