Chapter l374

Chapter 0374

Nicholas

I pushed my errant brother through the door of the first nearby empty room. It was a library with floor to ceiling bookcases.

I shoved Joyce into the center of the room and he fell to his knees. The King and Queen came in behind me, with Julian sauntering in last. Nathan closed the door to the room and stood outside of it, protecting the shattered remains of our privacy.

Joyce whimpered where he sat on the ground. He wiped at his eyes were genuine tears were beginning to well. His face was a mix of fading determination and building sadness and stress.

“Joyce, you absolute tw at,” Julian said, and there was unbridled fury in his voice. Fury I couldn’t quite bring myself to feel for my youngest brother.

I had never hated my brother. He kept to himself, but seemed thoughtful and well-educated. Perhaps his lack of social awareness led to his downfall here. As furious as I was, for his accusations against Piper, I felt angrier at myself for being unable to protect his weakness.

As an older brother, I failed him.

“I wasn’t lying,” Joyce said. His bottom l*p trembled. “I slept with Piper.”

Our father rubbed his forehead and growled with annoyance.

Our mother was softer. She knelt down and spoke softly, “Joyce. We know that’s not true.”

I shot a quick glare to Julian, who pointedly avoided looking at me. Yes, I was relieved that he had stood up and announced Piper was with him, even though it was a horrible, horrible lie. This protected Piper’s reputation from the tarnish of being with all of the princes.

But facts were, Piper was still a virgin. And the only one here I would tolerate her being with was me.

Even if we couldn’t be together. Even if everything was a big mess…

No. I should protect Piper from me too.

Joyce shook his head vehemently. “Maybe she left Julian and came to me. I don’t know. But she knocked on my door in the middle of the night and then… She was

+15 BONUS

The King looked first at Julian, then at me. “How well do we trust Piper?”

“Implicitly,” I said at once. Piper’s honor would not be questioned here. I’d da mned well see to that.

I might have failed Joyce, but I would not fail Piper.

The King stared at me for a long moment. I held his gaze, matching his ferocity with my own. He would see that I’m serious.

His gaze then switched to Julian. Julian didn’t waver either.

“And she was with you?” the King asked.

“Does it matter, really?” Julian deflected. “What we know for a fact is that she wasn’t with Joyce. I’m not sure they’ve even had more than two conversations together.”

“So he hallucinated?” the King asked.

“I didn’t imagine it!” Joyce said, outrage overtaking the tears for a moment. Our mother touched his shoulder. “I didn’t,” he said softer, to her. “She was real.”. He sniffled. “She was my first.”

Go d da mn Jane. She would pay for this.

I thought this outburst would thaw Julian’s frozen heart toward Joyce, as it had done for me, but Julian just glared at our youngest brother.

“You are a good actor,” Julian said. “If I didn’t already suspect you, I might have bought what happened tonight same as the rest of the family.”

“I’m not!” Joyce said.

The King’s words were sharp, “This is no time to fling baseless accusations, Julian.”

“What’s so baseless? We all saw what he did tonight,” Joyce said. “That’s not something Joyce would have thought up on his own.”

A sinking pit opened up in my stomach. “What are you talking about, Julian?”

Julian considered me. “Whether or not the story tonight is concocted…”

“It wasn’t!” Joyce cried.

“It could have been black magic,” the Luna said. “Someone disguised…”

“You can’t mean the underground is behind this!” the King said, fired up now.

+15 BONUS

going to need it. His face was already red.

“They manipulated my baby,” the Luna said. “It’s the only explanation.”

Joyce avoided our mother’s loving gaze. He was the most spoiled of us three princes. He received the most attention from our parents, particularly the Luna. Usually he ate it up. But this time…