Read Online Bad Boy Prince: A British Royal Stepbrother Romance by Vivian Wood - Free Book Online

we’re sitting in uncomfortable overstuffed chairs, glaring at the golden wall paper in this tiny sitting room. Waiting to be called into the queen’s sitting room.
    Sometimes it hits me suddenly: my life is really fucking weird sometimes.
    “Are you going to tell me why you’re mad?” I ask, staring straight ahead.
    “No. I’m not mad.”
    I glance at him, he’s gripping the arm of the chair so hard that I can see every vein popping out of his hand and wrist.
    “Liar.”
    He doesn’t respond. I wait, but nothing. There’s this horrible tension between us, sucking up all the air, strangling us. I wonder if it’s like an infection, that we need to purge and cleanse in order to heal.
    Then again, what do I really care? My story with Rex ended a long time ago. It’s over and done. I need to start a new chapter…
    What, with a new beau? Alone, traveling the world?
    Am I going to Eat, Pray, Love myself into being a better, happier version of me?
    I give an amused snort.
    “What?” Rex sighs.
    “Nothing. Having my own private thoughts, over here.”
    He scowls, sinking lower in his chair.
    “You are insufferable,” he tells me, completely unamused.
    I cant my head, watching him for a moment.
    “That’s what it is,” I say, my lips pulling into a frown. “You’ve lost your sense of humor.”
    “That’s not true,” he says, pressing his fingertips to the bridge of his nose.
    “It is. What little you have left is morbid.”
    He looks up at me, his sapphire eyes flaring with rage.
    “Well, Lady Katherine , maybe if your best friend had died in your arms, you’d be morbid too.”
    “Oh, Rex, I didn’t mean—”
    “Stop. Talking.”
    I pull up short at his tone.
    “You’re a dick, Alasdair Westwood.”
    He flashes those perfect teeth in a dangerous smile.
    “Now you’re getting it, Lady Katherine.”
    “Don’t call me that.”
    “There’s no making you happy, is there? I already knew that, though.”
    My mouth opens in outrage, but at that moment the Queen’s secretary sweeps the doors open.
    “The Queen awaits you,” he says, giving us a little bow.
    I snap my mouth closed and rise, trying not to fidget. I’ve done all I can to be impressive physically, now I need to dazzle with my personality.
    Assuming that the regents aren’t about to announce that I’m being beheaded, or something.
    Can that still happen in modern-day Courtland? I don’t think it can. I hope not, anyway.
    Rex trails behind me as I sweep into the Queen’s sitting room. To my shock, she’s dressed in a nearly informal steel-gray pantsuit, sitting and waiting…
    With my mother and Prince Archie at her side. Prince Archie is dressed in his usual drab suit, his bald head gleaming in the morning sunlight. Mum is dressed in a conservative navy skirt suit, her hair in a low knot and her makeup subdued.
    It’s a far cry from her usual vibrant sundresses and colorful accessories, that’s for sure. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen her without her trademark faux eyelashes.
    She looks like a stranger.
    I rub my bare arms as I continue into the room, already overwhelmed. The King is nowhere to be seen, presumably too busy for an audience with the likes of me and Rex.
    “Katherine,” the Queen says, giving me a downright regal nod. “Alasdair. Sit, please.”
    I know that I’m twenty four years old and by this age it shouldn’t thrill me to be so close to the Queen herself, but I can’t stop myself from grinning like an idiot as I take my seat.
    Queen Alison folds her hands in her lap and gives us a grave look.
    “You two are in serious trouble, I’m afraid.”
    I literally start to sweat. I can’t help it; this is the monarch of my country .
    I glance at Rex. He is completely impassive, and I find myself itching to strangle him.
    Bastard. How can he walk through the world so unaffected by everything around him?
    “Darling, the press caught every single thing that happened last night,” my mother says.
    She