The Muse of Two Brothers

On the night the royal ball laughed at me, two men chose me at the same time.

That night, I was a sorry sight.

A worn cream gown. A small string of pearls.

And a birth that everyone now knew. The bastard of a fallen noble house.

Someone gave a small laugh.

"That gown, did she make it over from one her mother used to wear?"

"How did she even get an invitation?"

I lowered my head.

When I could bear no more and fled to the balcony, someone called my name through the cold night air.

"Are you crying?"

It was Edward Blake.

The man every lady in the kingdom dreams of, at least once.

His black coat drew his broad shoulders and straight bearing into something even colder, and beneath his neatly swept-back dark hair, his blue eyes were as chill as a winter lake.

Quietly, he held out a handkerchief to me.

"If you don't want to go back inside, then stand beside me."

I looked up at him, startled.

"No one will laugh at you while you're at my side."

In that moment, a lazy laugh came from behind me.

"My brother always seduces in the most boring way."

It was Leon Blake.

His loosely undone white shirt, his tousled blond hair, the playful glint caught in his amber eyes, all of it made him dangerously beautiful.

Easily, he took my hand.

"Stand beside me, and it'll be a little different."

Leon bent and brushed his lips across the back of my hand.

"Because I'll keep you laughing."

Edward looked at Leon, cold.

"Let go of her hand."

Leon laughed.

"I'd rather not. I'm the one who took it first."

Their eyes clashed in the air between them.

And there, in the middle, was me.

Me, a fallen bastard.