Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
A musician comes to play for the court. I watch in agony, desperate for this moment to be over so I can fix this unfortunate situation. So I may speak to Cora and see where her heart truly lies.
It feels as if it has been hours when he finally takes his leave of the great hall, gesturing for me to follow him to his private sitting room. The king remains standing near the hearth. A relief, because I do not think I could speak these words sitting down.
“I have spoken with Princess Cora,” he begins and my lungs seem to falter. “She has shared with me some things about your courtship that I did not know, as well as…other connections she has made.”
Stunned for a moment, I am silent.
Clearing my throat, I manage a sincere reply, “I am truly sorry for risking Cora’s reputation, Your Majesty. Truly. I hope you will believe me.” I push down the shame I feel at having been so bold as to take her the way I did. “I should not have put her in such a precarious position. But…”
“But?” The king raises an eyebrow.
“But I love her.” The words burst out of me. It takes everything I have to keep control over my voice. “I fell for her. My heart belongs to Princess Cora. I was so sure of what we might have together…” My voice catches. “I was sure of my affections for the princess, and hers for me.”
The king looks at me, his gaze steady. “You did not know about your brother.”
It pains me in a great way that he knows. That he would judge my brother for such things. While the rest of the palace may not yet know what it is Casen and I argued about in the sunroom, the king certainly does.
It seems the princess and her father are closer than I realized.
“I wanted Casen to protect the princess before I arrived. I never thought he would…intervene.” It is difficult to swallow my anger. There is so much more I want to say about my brother, but it would go beyond disrespect, and I will not stoop to that level before the king. “Never.”
“I thought the two of you were close.”
“Very close.” My voice rises again. “We have relied on each other since we went to war. We needed each other after Casen was injured. It was our intention to rule our kingdom together, even if only one of us would wear the crown.”
“There is more than one kingdom at stake now,” the king reminds me mildly. “When I pass, the crown will pass to my daughter’s husband. Our kingdoms will be forever bound. If…” The king pauses meaningfully. “If there is a marriage to tie them together.”
A marriage. How are we to proceed with a marriage now? Is Princess Cora to flip a coin? Is she to choose between my brother and me? If he had only waited a day—a single hour to put himself before Cora, all of this might have been so much simpler.
I thought I was prepared to stand before the king. I sat through dinner praying for the meal to end so I could have this very discussion, and now I can hardly hold myself together. There is nothing I can say in reply to the king that would not insult him or my brother, though I am not sure why I care, given that my brother has already insulted me gravely.
“Your Majesty,” I begin, without knowing what else I might say.
I’m interrupted by the door of the sitting room opening. It is not thrown open, but it is opened with force. My brother comes through, his jaw set and his eyes hard. He strides across the room to me, bows to the king, and offers me a note.
I don’t want to take it. I don’t want to know what more Casen has to say to me. What I want is to be able to argue with him the way we once did. Now, I am the only one who can shout at him. Casen may deserve it, but no one else will see it that way.
I swallow my grief over the past and take the note from him. Casen crosses his arms over his chest and waits for me to read it.
I’m not sorry. I love her as well.
I glare at him over those words.
Casen gestures at me to keep reading.
I love Cora, and she needed someone. I know this to be true. If I had not been with her, you might never have had a chance to know her at all. Hate me if you must, but if you will only think for a moment, you will see I only saved her for us. I can be her lover and give her the child you need. You can be her king. I will tell no one. It will be as you planned.