Romancing the Throne by Nadine Jolie Courtney

Author:Nadine Jolie Courtney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-03-27T04:00:00+00:00

fifteen

Every year, our family throws a lavish dinner on Christmas Eve. Sometimes extended family will drive in, but this year our only visitor will be Nana, my mum’s mum and our only living grandparent. She’s taking the train down from York.

I’m particularly excited to see her because Nana is hilarious. She can be exhausting, and the most revolting things occasionally come spilling out of her mouth—but I still love her to bits. Even though I disagree with the majority of what she says, I have a feeling her politically incorrect bombs will distract everybody from the fact that I’m still not speaking to Libby. Catching Libby and Edward in the act was like a dagger through my heart. I’ve turned the moment over and over in my head since last weekend, sleepwalking through my final exams because I was so distracted and confused and hurt. Libby has tried to apologize, but I refuse to hear some half-baked apology. What if I hadn’t caught them? Would they have spent months sneaking around behind my back? I still don’t understand it. How could they?

I would never steal my sister’s boyfriend. And I would never get together with my ex-boyfriend’s brother. I don’t know who to be angrier at.

In my more charitable moments, I remind myself that Edward and I were broken up. Libby and Edward are friends, they got drunk, and Edward couldn’t help kissing her. Libby’s beautiful and kind. What guy wouldn’t be attracted to that? She probably didn’t mean for it to happen. It just did.

But then my heart tightens again, and I think: That’s no excuse. She’s my sister. She should have known better. Edward’s face pops into my head, and I get even angrier: What a piece of shit. Swapping one sister for another? Who does that? Of all the entitled, manipulative, arrogant guys, he takes the cake. Prince Charming, my arse.

On the train back to Midhurst, Libby sat next to me, but I got up and moved to a different seat. We gave each other a wide berth for the rest of the ride home. We’ve managed to ignore each other for almost a week now.

Mum and Dad refuse to take sides, although I suspect my mother agrees with me.

Meanwhile, I feel like a volcano. I’m trying to ignore Libby for my parents’ sake, but if I don’t let off some steam, eventually, I’ll explode.

I decide to take a walk into town and buy some Christmas decorations. Doing things that require concentration always calms me down—and I take my party planning very seriously.

Our house is on the outskirts of town: a good twenty-minute walk from the high street. Although we didn’t move to Midhurst until I was a bit older, I consider it my hometown. Sure, I’m biased—but I think it’s the prettiest town in England.

I turn out of our front gates, walking up Selham Road and then making a right toward town. The Spread Eagle, one of the best hotels in town, is dusted with a light coat of snow, making it look like a gingerbread house.

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