When she turned the corner, Tia nearly took out Nick.
“Whoa,” he said, and steadied her.
She took a moment to catch her breath.
“Where have you been?” There was no accusation in his voice, just a general inquiry. Tia felt a stab of guilt for ignoring her brother. But then so much had happened in the twenty-four hours since he arrived she still couldn’t deal with it all.
“With Aleksi and in the lab.”
“Did I hear the prince is sick?”
He kept pace with her as she stalked up the hall. Normally a calm person, she now considered taking up running. This pent up energy was ridiculous, but with the wells not clean, Aleksi maybe not his father’s son, and now with him so sick, Tia wanted to curl up in a closet somewhere. Or run to the ends of the earth. She hadn’t decided on which option yet.
Instead, she had taken up a new sport – pacing the long hallways of the palace. “Aleksi has a virus, so yes, he’s pretty sick.”
“You’ve been sitting with him?”
“Sort of.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“We believe Aleksi just wants to be alone, but we’re trying to force liquids into him. So some of us have taken turns staying with him.”
“I see,” he said, and stared at the ceiling. He kept pace with her, which was nice. She had long legs, but Nick’s were longer, so this shouldn’t be a stretch for him as they approached a door. They swung around and paced back down the hall. “Could we find a nice comfy set of chairs in there?” He used his thumb to indicate the doorway to a small lounge about midway down the hall.
“Yes, we could,” Tia answered and followed him through the door. She dug into the beverage cooler and extracted two bottles before she plopped into one of the chairs.
Nick sank into the one beside her, accepted one of the drinks, and eyed her with brotherly concern. That was an expression she’d never seen before. “What?” Her voice sounded a little defensive, but then these feelings of surliness weren’t new these last few hours.
“So, what’s going on between you and Aleksi?”
If she’d have just taken a sip of the iced tea in her hand, there was little doubt she would have choked. “What?” ended up being the only word she could utter.
“What’s up between you and Aleksi?” he repeated patiently. Like he was a dad or something.
“That’s what I thought you said, but I’m not sure why you’re asking me this question.”
“Because I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”
There appeared to be a lot of that going around. Tia slanted another glance at him. “I don’t understand where you’re going with this questioning?”
“We want you to be happy. But none of us want to see you get hurt. You look like you’ve really fallen for this guy.”
“You could tell that?” She had to learn how to cover up her feelings better. The day an Ape could tell how she felt was the day she’d lost her grip on reality.
He rolled his eyes. “It was pretty obvious.”
A complete feelings makeover had suddenly become necessary.
“I like him a lot,” she said after a long pause.
“I could tell that. But what are his intentions toward you?”
“Intentions?” She repeated blankly.
“Is he intending to marry you?”
“I don’t know.”
Nick frowned. It was a fierce, brotherly frown. She hadn’t had much occasion to see that particular expression either.
“Why would you fool around with a guy whose intentions you don’t know?”
“Did you know Macy’s when you started fooling around with her?”
“Macy and I didn’t fool around,” he refuted piously.
Laughter welled from nowhere, but Tia enjoyed the merriment anyway. “Yeah, right. You were panting after her from the moment she moved in.”
“Actually, from the moment I first set eyes on her. But we didn’t fool around.”
“Don’t lie and tell me you never kissed her.”
His cheeks turned bright red.
“Right, Nick. Nice try,” she said and patted his knee.
“If you’re kissing this Prince Aleksi, he’d better have good intentions toward you.”
“Nick, I’m an American.”
“Yeah, so?”
“European princes do not marry Americans.”
“The Prince of Monaco married Grace Kelley. She was from Philadelphia.” Wow, she was impressed he actually knew that. Hmm, maybe there was hope for him after all.
“So what? I’m from Hershey, and I’m not graceful, I’m not pretty, I don’t have good social skills. Plus I hate pink, high heels, and makeup.” She still wanted Aleksi with every cell of her being. A ray of hope beamed through her gloomy thoughts. If Aleksi wasn’t his father’s son, then he wouldn’t be the prince any longer and that meant she wouldn’t be his princess.
He frowned at her. “What do all those things have to do with you marrying this guy?”
She gaped at him. Tia knew her mouth had fallen open, but for a few moments, she couldn’t seem to work the proper controls to shut her flapping jaws. When she did finally seal her lips, she couldn’t think of a rebuttal because his question was so ludicrous.
“What?” he asked again, sounding confused.
“Nick, this is Tia you’re talking to. Your sister. Me, marry a prince?”
“What’s wrong with you marrying a prince?” He still sounded confused.
An Ape was trying to convince her it was okay to marry a prince. She glanced around the room, waiting for her other brothers to leap out of the ornate wainscoting to remind her of what a geek she was.
When neither Bryan nor Josh showed, she peered at Nick’s face, trying to figure out whether he had just consumed a dose of cough syrup. It did funny things to him, which might account for this weird conversation. “Nick, I’m Tia Morrison, your sister, remember? I’m not princess material.” Even to her own ears her voice sounded disbelieving and maybe an octave too high.
“Why aren’t you princess material? You have a Ph.D. in microbiology, which makes you smart. Macy has pointed out several times that you look like a supermodel in hiding, which by the way, I’ve finally noticed. You’re kind to everyone, you know which fork to use at any meal, and you’re healthy. What part of that makes you a non-princess?”
This time, Tia forgot which muscles closed her mouth. She couldn’t do anything more than stare at him, mouth agape. Yeah, this was princess material. She might have choked, but she fortunately couldn’t remember how to swallow, either.
“Hello?” He waved a hand in front of her face.
“Nick, I hate the color pink, I’m allergic to makeup, and I can’t wear high heels to save my life.”
He waved a hand. “You could learn to wear high heels. A few minutes with Starla and you’d be a professional. By the way, we’ll be sending her to you once she hits puberty.” Nick grinned when she frantically shook her head no. But he kept up his litany, “I’m sure princesses can wear colors other than pink, and you don’t need makeup.” Her brother stared at her like she’d sprouted another head, with fangs.
Maybe she still hadn’t managed to close her mouth, but still. This was not a conversation she had ever imagined having with one of her brothers.
Was he endorsing her relationship with Aleksi?
Had aliens come down and kidnapped her brother, leaving a nice guy in his place? Stranger things had happened, she was sure, but this seemed beyond even that realm.
“Honestly, Tia, Macy said you had some self image problems, but I didn’t understand what she meant until now.”
Gaping seemed the new norm for her. This was crazy. “Nick, it’s not like you and the boys were encouraging during my growing up years,” she blurted.
He sighed. “Macy also informed me a good portion of your problems were my fault. Tia, I had no idea you thought you were ugly.”
“I don’t. But I am a nerd, and nothing is going to change that.”
“We don’t mind nerds.” He sounded so serious. “But the thing is, Tia, you are beautiful. Truly. Macy said that like Savannah, you look good in most clothing, and you have manners that will see you through every difficult situation. That sounds like princess material to me.”
“I’m really attracted to Aleksi,” she finally whispered.
“That seals the princess bit.” Nick sounded firm. Tia had dubbed that voice his “dad” voice.
“Not necessarily,” she said, thinking about his mother’s declaration. Aleksi might not be the prince. Which left her where? She would marry him the minute he asked, but what if he didn’t want her now? With that kind of revelation, he might need to take a year off and reevaluate life.
Her heart seized at the thought and she pressed a hand against her breast, trying to stop the painful movements.
Nick’s face darkened. “What, you don’t think he’ll marry you? That skunk has been playing with you but won’t marry you?”
“No.” Tia reached out and grabbed his wrist, keeping him in his chair, when he half rose like he was going to go pound Aleksi. Not a good idea. “No, he’s a very honorable man. The problem is that he’s only just heard some news that he’ll have to deal with in his own time. Where before he might have been thinking marriage, this news might have altered that.”
“But he’s honorable?” Nick’s voice was hard.
“You’ve met him.” She sounded exasperated, which must have gotten through more effectively than her yelling, because Nick subsided.
“Yeah, I thought he was a good guy.”
“He is. He’s just had a few nasty blows lately.”
“I can understand that. But I want you to know that Bryan, Josh, Mom and Dad, the kids, Macy and I all believe you’d make an excellent princess. Although Josh was sure you’d wimp out.” Nick’s eyes crinkled at the corners and Tia saw how attractive her older brother was.
She had to notice that or she’d cry. “You all support my attraction to Aleksi?”
“We all support you loving and marrying him, yes. We all think you’d make a gorgeous princess, if that’s what you want.”
“It’s not what I want, but I want the man,” she whispered. It was then, thinking about Aleksi that she realized there as a huge possibility she had fallen totally in love with the man. Where did that leave her?
“That’s why you’d make an excellent princess.” Nick nodded to himself as though coming to a firm decision. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go call home and report in. Macy should be awake by now.”
“You’re totally in love with her, aren’t you?”
Nick’s face was solemn when he turned back to her. “Yeah. And I was so stupid I nearly messed up with her. Don’t let fear or pride hold you back from the greatest experience you could have with another person. I don’t know what I’d do without Macy. She really does complete me. She’s my other half. Love is a privilege, Tia.”
“Nick, that was beautiful.” Tia actually had to brush away a tear.
“So are you, Tia. Don’t ever forget that.”