After dressing for dinner, we arrive on the first floor. The silk skirt of my black dress swishes against my legs as Liam takes me by the elbow and leads me down a wide hallway. I’m entranced by the huge portraits on either side, gawking wide-eyed at the larger-than-life forms of what I assume are the Brotherhood’s ancestors.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“How did the Zodiac Brotherhood begin?”
He stalls in the middle of the hall, attention on the portrait that has captured me so.
“That’s Evangeline Castle. She was my grandmother by several degrees of greatness. And I mean that in every sense of the word.” Letting go of my arm, he tangles his fingers with mine, and I hide a wince because my palms are still tender from his punishment. “She was only eighteen when she set sail with a group of explorers. They would have never discovered the island without her unusual skills.”
“Unusual?”
He nods toward the portrait of his ancestor. “She knew the nighttime sky better than most men. The constellations and planets, and their position depending on the season. At first, the explorers believed she was a superstitious soul, but after she predicted two potential catastrophes, they started listening to her.” He sends a cursory glance down the hall. “She led them here, and by doing so, they escaped certain death in a storm. Got rich in the process too, because the island was uninhabited and abundant with gold.”
He wanders down the hall a few paces, pulling me along until we’re staring at a portrayal of a group of men from what appears to be the 17th century. “Are these men the explorers?”
“Yes. Evangeline was a progressive thinker. An Amelia Earhart of her time. But they couldn’t deny there was something special about her.” He tilts his head, and our gazes lock. “There were twelve explorers, one for each zodiac sign.”
“That’s quite a coincidence.”
“We don’t believe in coincidences, Novalee. The explorers didn’t either. Evangeline became their prized queen, shared among the twelve but locked away in a tower.”
“Why did they lock her up?”
“She wanted to leave the island. They didn’t.”
“So she was their prisoner?” Sickness rises in my gut at the thought.
“Their prisoner, their queen, and the mother of their children.”
I gape at him, my mind spinning through the implications of what he just said. “She’s not just your ancestor, is she?”
“No. All twelve of us are descendants of Evangeline Castle.”
“But you bear her surname.”
“She took the last name of the explorer born under Aries. Legend has it she favored him the most.”
“So you’re telling me this entire island was founded and bred from one woman? What about incest?”
“Evangeline’s direct descendants have always brought in outsiders to marry. It’s tradition, just as it’s tradition to compete for a queen’s hand in marriage at the start of a new Brotherhood.”
“And how is the new Brotherhood chosen?”
His lips curve into a grin. “You’re full of questions, aren’t you, my sweet girl?”
“I’m just trying to understand it all.” Slowly, we move down the hall once more.
“The Brotherhood shifts power every twenty-five years or so. Each house bears the duty of producing a male heir born under its zodiac sign. Once all twelve heirs come of age, the tradition renews, and a new virgin queen is found.” He gives me the side-eye. “This is privileged information.”
“It sounds like a tradition based on superstition.”
“Men have tested the tradition over the years. The outcomes were never good.”
“How so?”
“Disease and death, mostly. When we follow tradition, we prosper. When we don’t…”
A shiver takes hold of me. Or was that an actual cold draft hitting my back? Suddenly, I wish I’d chosen a dress that wasn’t backless—or at least left my hair down. Gooseflesh erupts on my skin.
“Why is the queen always a virgin? Evangeline wasn’t a virgin to all twelve.”
“She was a virgin to only one.”
“Which one?”
A shadow seems to cross his face. “The House of Leo.”
I’m curious about his issue with Leo, but I don’t want to risk shutting down this conversation. We take a few more steps toward the open doors leading into the dining room, and I wait for the furrow between his dark brows to disappear before asking my next question. “What happens if one of the houses can’t produce an heir?”
“If fertility issues arise, we do whatever is necessary to produce an heir. Surrogates have been used in the past. So have mistresses.”
Something close to possessiveness rushes up inside me, and I imagine the man I’m to marry in bed with another woman. I don’t like that idea at all. And I don’t like that the man in my hypothetical vision is Liam. I’ve only known him for a day, but I’m becoming…attached.
How will I navigate the next twelve months without crushing my heart in the process? The potential for total annihilation is too great. No matter the outcome, someone will get hurt.
Several someones.
“What if a member of the Brotherhood is the one with the fertility problem?”
Liam stops, and the look he gives me is so intense, I’m tempted to take a step back. “That’s never happened, Novalee.”
“That’s…improbable at best and impossible at most.”
“The tradition hasn’t let us down yet.”
He urges me forward, and we arrive at the entrance of the formal dining room where my ladies are waiting. As Faye greets Liam with an air of coldness degrees below her usual aloofness, I suddenly remember my conversation with her before my bath.
The bath.
The one he interrupted and punished me for.
How could I forget, even for a moment, how absolute his power is? He pulled me in with his history lesson in the hall, seducing me with the mystery of the Brotherhood’s origins. Liam stimulates my mind as much as he stimulates my body.
What a dangerous combination.
“Ready to go in, ladies?” Liam gestures for us to enter first. I step into the elaborate dining room, my ladies on either side of me, and take in the circular space. Above a giant round table hangs a massive chandelier. There are no windows in this room, as we’re deep in the middle of the tower on the first floor.
It’s a stifling place, especially with eleven sets of eyes gawking at me from their thrones around the table.
Liam moves us forward, and I realize the table is sectioned into twelve slices. He clears his throat. “I’m pleased to present our queen, Novalee Van Buren and her ladies, Faye and Elise.”
I bow my head in a show of respect. Liam gestures for me to take a seat, then he settles into the chair on my right as my ladies sit on my left. We’re all connected at this table—a continuous circle that never ends.
“Before we make formal introductions,” Liam says, “I’d like to present Novalee with a gift.” He waves a hand at Selma, who crosses to the table carrying a tray with a white round box. Liam picks it up and opens the top before setting it on the table.
A humongous diamond ring glitters under the light of the chandelier.
His brown eyes are warm, and there’s a hint of a smile on his lips as he takes my left hand in his. “Every member of the Brotherhood will present you with a gift at the beginning of his time with you. This ring is mine. It symbolizes the Brotherhood’s commitment to you and your duty to us.”
He slides it onto my ring finger, and I can’t help but gawk at the brilliance of the stone. It’s beautiful and weighs down my hand as much as the next twelve months weigh on my shoulders.
But I’ve recently learned that beautiful things come with hard realities.
“It’s stunning,” I whisper.
“So are you.” He raises my hand to his lips, the one he just put a ring on—the one he punished earlier that evening—and places a kiss there.
And he says I’m an anomaly.
Liam is a contradiction of harsh and tender.
“Gentlemen,” he says, facing the men at the table, “please stand and announce yourselves in the order of your houses.”
The man sitting on the other side of Faye rises. His dark hair is cropped close to his head, the line of his nose aristocratic.
“Heath, House of Taurus.”
There’s a stoicism about him that makes me uncomfortable, and I’m already dreading the following month with him.
The next man in the circle stands, and I narrow my eyes as I try to recall how I know him. Technically, I met all twelve of these men six years ago, but this man—with his emerald eyes and easy-going smile—seems especially familiar.
“Landon, House of Gemini.”
Then his smile widens, and I remember. He was the eldest of the twelve, and he laughed at me, taken aback by my young age. He still seems to laugh at me, eyes twinkling in some private joke of which I’m not partial.
A man with a blond ponytail takes the floor next. “Vance, House of Cancer.” His smile isn’t as inviting as Landon’s, but I sense a gentleness in him that puts me at ease. Vance reclaims his seat, and my attention lands on the man next to him.
His blond hair sticks out in careless abandon, and his rumpled clothes make me think he fell out of bed and threw on the first pair of jeans he found. There’s an air of haughty boredom about him as he rises to his feet.
I’m taken aback by the hostility in his blue eyes. They bore into me, and I remember the way he taunted me the first time I met him.
“Sebastian, House of Leo.”
The lion. I should have known. I expect him to settle into his seat again now that he’s introduced himself, but he doesn’t.
“How do we know she hasn’t spread her legs already?” the lion asks, directing the question at the chancellor, though his obvious distaste of my existence shreds to the soul. My jaw hangs open, and I’m about to object when Liam squeezes my knee in a silent command to stay quiet.
“Watch your mouth, Sebastian. The queen has done nothing to earn your scorn. She deserves your respect.”
“Respect is earned. Isn’t that what our fathers always told us?”
“I’m done with this conversation.”
“But you never answered my question, Chancellor. Just because her uncle promised us a virgin doesn’t mean she hasn’t fucked half the male population of her nation.”
Liam slams a fist onto the table. “Enough!”
Vance clears his throat. “Tomorrow, I’ll examine her to confirm virginity.”
“And what about her willingness to cooperate?” Sebastian says. “I have no interest in babysitting a brat.”
The rage wafting off Liam is tangible. “Her obedience has been tested.”
“I need my own reassurances.” Even as he says the words, I sense Sebastian is only trying to provoke the chancellor.
“Then you’ll get your damn reassurances,” Liam snaps. “Tomorrow, during the examination, you’ll all have the chance to confirm her virginity and test her willingness. Satisfied?”
Sebastian smirks. “For now.” He settles into his chair with a vibe of smugness that pokes at my indignation.
I’m barely present, my mind spinning in righteous anger at the man whose aqua gaze is still burning a hole through my armor.
A chair scrapes the floor, and a voice startles me to attention. “Let’s get back to the introductions, shall we? I’m Miles, House of Virgo.”
Then the next stands. “Pax, House of Libra.”
One by one, the remaining members of the Brotherhood arise and announce their names and zodiac signs…as if I’ll remember them all after the argument that just took place.
As if I can concentrate on anything but the festering hatred of the man sitting six seats to my left.
Determined to do just that, I force my gaze on each man as he stands, studiously ignoring the lion and his display of contempt.
“Ford, House of Scorpio.”
“Tatum, House of Sagittarius.”
The houses of Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces close out the round of introductions.
Oliver.
Hugo.
Sullivan.
Twelve gorgeous men, dressed in everything from expensive Armani to Levi denim, and at this overbearing roundtable of testosterone and power, only one other thing besides the zodiac unites them.
Me.