Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 96695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96695 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“Hugo would remain here with me and agree to be my husband.”
“No! Absolutely not!” Everand bellowed. He took one step forward, and guards swarmed, pulling him back.
“He would vow to remain loyal and at my side for all of his days, no matter what. Never to step foot in Branem again,” Victor continued speaking as if Everand’s outburst never happened. The angrier Everand became, the calmer Victor was. He clearly wanted Everand to feel the same suffering and heartbreak he had over the years.
Hugo lurched a step, but stopped before Captain Ryze could rein him in. The room felt as if it were spinning. Nothing was making sense. It was chaos. His face was hot, but his hands were ice cold. Nausea sloshed in his stomach, or maybe it was hopelessness. He thought he might have been making progress with Victor, but he hadn’t. “Why? What’s the point? You don’t love me!”
“Does he?” Victor scoffed, tossing one hand in Everand’s direction.
“I love him!” Everand shouted. He jerked against the guards, but this time he was trying to get closer to Hugo rather than the king.
Everand’s dark-blue eyes sparkled in the room’s light and tears that clung to his eyelashes. He leaned toward Hugo as far as the guards would let him. “I love you. I should have said it a hundred times by now, but I had this crazy idea that the first time would be this romantic moment with swans or rabbits. Maybe a cake that would have made your dad proud. I don’t know. It would have been the first time I had ever said those words to anyone, and I thought it had to be special. But I missed the point. Saying those words to you would have been special because of you. Every second I’ve spent with you has been special. Every laugh and smile and tear you’ve shed, I’ve treasured. I’ve burned the sound of your voice into my brain. The feel of you in my arms. The smell of your warm skin. Everything about you I love, and I never want to spend a minute away from you.” Everand ripped his gaze away from Hugo and locked his eyes on Victor. “You can’t have him.”
“Then you’re prepared to send thousands of Branem soldiers to their death over him?”
“Yes—” Everand hissed, but Hugo shouted louder as soon as he could get his tongue working.
“No!”
They weren’t paying attention to him. Hugo tried to step forward, but Captain Ryze wouldn’t release him. Hugo twisted around and turned pleading eyes on the soldier. “Please let me go. I won’t hurt him, but someone needs to talk some sense into him before it’s too late. You’ve got to know this is insane.”
Ryze hesitated, but at last, released his hold on Hugo’s arm. “You get one shot.”
Hugo hurried away from Ryze, positioning himself between Everand and Victor, who’d continued shouting and arguing about his fate without him.
“Enough!” He pointed at the king and, gods help him, he was sure he was about to lose his head. “You said it earlier, and you were right; it’s been enough. The fighting and dying on both sides have gone on for too long.”
“Hugo,” Victor growled in warning.
“Don’t, Victor!” The king jolted back a step at Hugo’s audacity. “You just claimed you wanted me as your husband. Well, then you need to face what that life would be like. A future of listening to my opinion about how you run our country.”
Victor’s eyebrows jumped, and every sound in the room stopped. The very air became charged as if lightning were about to strike. Hugo was sure that the guards even ceased breathing, as if they couldn’t believe what they were witnessing.
But the king surprised Hugo when his eyebrows lowered, and he smiled. “That’s exactly what I’m searching for in a husband. A partner. Someone who wants to be actively involved in the betterment of Wulia.”
Hugo licked his lips, his train of thought faltering for a second. That was not how he’d expected the king to react to his words, but he wasn’t willing to give up. This hadn’t been about making himself into an undesirable mate.
“Please, think about what you’re doing. How are you breaking this cycle of pain and letting our countries heal at last? Yes, taking me from Everand might be briefly satisfying and pay back the debt of Victoria being stolen—”
“Grandfather did not steal my grandmother!” Everand broke in.
Hugo spun and pointed a finger at Everand. “No. This isn’t the time for that. In fact, the exact details of the past don’t even matter anymore.”
“What?” That single word slammed into Hugo from two directions as both a prince and a king shouted at him.
“Come on! The people who know what happened and why are all dead. Those are the same people who need to apologize for their actions. I’m not saying either side’s pain doesn’t matter. Only that an apology from the survivors will never be enough.” Hugo turned to Victor and took a step toward his desk. “And you know this plan will continue the cycle. You’ll let the past go because the debt is paid, but what about Everand? He will now fester with the same anguish and rage that his grandfather felt. New wars will start under the guise of trade disputes or bandit problems, but it will all tie to how you forced Everand and me to separate.”