Extending Family (House of Garner Book 5)

go on living. I couldn’t live without her, and if she didn’t want me anymore, I would wither and die. Dramatic sounding, but it was the truth.

2
 
My head, heart, and stomach hurt after my “picnic” with Darius. I knew it seemed like I was coming off as a bratty bitch, but I couldn’t think about letting him in again. I’d spent two months mourning what I thought was the end, and then he just announces he wants his wife back like it took two of us to get here. I didn’t walk away, he did.
“There you are, love,” Cerdic greeted, smiling widely at me. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
I did my best to try and hide what I was feeling, wanting the comfort when he opened his arms to me, but warning bells went off. In the next moment one of the daggers I was wearing was in my hand… And pressed against his stomach.
“Princess?” Vitor asked, his voice tense as shock flashed in Cerdic’s eyes.
Except it wasn’t Cerdic.
“Meet Cerdic’s evil twin,” I purred.
His gaze filled with amusement. “How did you know?”
I snorted. “Like I’d tell you so you’d fix it next time?” I batted my eyelashes at him as I stabbed the dagger in his gut. “That’s for betraying your twin.” I pulled it out and did it again. “That’s for pretending to be my fiancé and starting shit in my coven when you weren’t even fucking invited.”
“Shit, love, no need to get nasty,” he groaned as I pulled it out, sinking to his knees as he held his stomach. “Just having a bit of fun.”
“That’s not remotely me being nasty, just agitated. I shoot people when annoyed, so don’t go to that level. I’m a good shot.” I glanced at Tian. “Lock him up.” I nodded I wasn’t kidding because Tian always doubted me. “We have no alliance with his princess’s coven and I specifically said not to trade with the slut.”
“Watch it, love,” Cerdic’s twin growled.
I ignored him and went on. “And he was specifically not invited to the event. So lock him up, or I can keep stabbing him like he deserves for what he did to Cerdic and his family. That might be a bigger mess later but sounds like fun to me.”
“I got him,” Tian sighed.
It didn’t even phase me. Tian wouldn’t be Tian if he wasn’t always disapproving of me. I didn’t much care for him either so it didn’t bother me.
“Hey, you get to be the first to use my new dungeon,” I chirped at the twin. “Aww, I wonder if there’s a prize for that? Maybe a nice torture device to break in on you?”
His eyes flashed shock again. “Are you having a laugh? Everyone says you’re wondrous, so sweet and kind.”
I threw back my head and laughed. “I’m also unforgiving and you fucked with someone I love. I don’t care if he’s your twin, I love him. I want to peel your skin off and send pictures of you to that slut who sent you here and hurt Cerdic too. And then I’d let you heal and do it again and again, but I like Matilda so I’m trying to rein it in for her sake.”
Tian dragged him off, easily able to handle him, and the moment they were gone, Vitor picked me up and blurred us out of there. I had no idea where we were going, but I would guess to where Cerdic was. He set me on my feet and it took me a few moments to recover, glancing around and realizing we were at St. Louis, the dock we used for the nuclear powered merchant ship.
“We have a problem, and she stabbed him a few times,” Vitor told a group behind me. I turned to see the confused and concerned looks on several faces. “You have an evil twin?”
Cerdic’s eyes went wide as he focused on me. “Ceawlin’s here?”
I nodded. “Fucker tried to pretend he was you.”
“How did you know he wasn’t?” Vitor asked.
I wasn’t going to answer but they needed to know. “One, he has a darker sort of mischief in his eyes than Cerdic. Two, his hair is just a tad shorter but almost exactly. Three, he didn’t smell like mint or basil, which Cerdic always does because they’re my favorites, and he jokes I might gobble him up then. This guy smelled like some sort of flowers.”
“Are you okay?” Cerdic whispered, coming over and hugging me.
“I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t stab him more,” I grumbled. “Tian locked him in the dungeon. Are you okay? Hasn’t it been like forever since you’ve seen him?”
“Why is he even here?” Jacob, one of Matilda’s nobles, seethed. “His princess cannot be so stupid as to poke you like this? His mother sent a specific message saying he wasn’t invited and to not embarrass his family coven.”
Cerdic groaned. “Which probably was all the push he needed to come and want to start shit.”
“Wait, I thought you knew she did that?” I sighed when he shook his head. “Everyone needs to communicate better.”
“We need less balls in the air,” Cerdic defended, always my Zen master.
“If I skin him alive, we won’t have to deal with him,” I offered, yelping when he pinched my butt. “Just an idea.”
“You are so amazing,” he murmured, kissing my forehead. “Don’t let him get to you like that. What happened is the past.”
“Yes, but he got off too easy.”
“Agreed, but getting revenge for the past isn’t worth risking the safety of our future and all we’re building,” he reminded me, winking when I nodded. “Thank you, my soon-to-be wife.”
“The ship should be arriving soon with your gifts,” Jacob cut in.
“Gifts?”
“It is a great honor to invite a court to the joining of a