Page 21 of Daddy King

Mina stays stiffly on my lap, I rub her thighs under the table to soothe her frayed nerves. She steals my moving hand and locks them in hers, squeezing and shaking in anxiousness. She has nothing to fear as I am her protection, her shield to knock down threats that pose harm to her.

“I was poor and I didn’t know how I could take care of you when Raine passed away, and I was afraid that you would never forgive me for taking away your mother.” Conner sighs, eyes darkening in clouded regret.

“I thought that maybe if I could find a better job, then I would be able to support you. You deserve more than cold bread and dirty water, I want to get enough money for you to grow up comfortably.”

Mina trembles in my chest, meekly asking the question she had asked me. “Why didn’t you come back?”

“Oh, sweet girl,” the man smiles sadly, “I wanted to, but I was so ashamed.”

She cocks her head in confusion, I silently watch their interaction and gauging on the unspoken colonel. Emotions flickering in his eyes, Phillips drinks the cup of water in two gulps. A nervous tick comes on the corner of his mouth, I narrow my eyes in suspicion.

“Shamed of me?” Mina whimpers with a small wet hiccup.

Conner shakes his head frantically, “Oh, no, never you. Never you, I would never be ashamed of you. I was ashamed of myself. I worked and worked, and the next thing I know, it’s been eight years. I spent more time believing you hate me for abandoning you, for making you think you’re an orphan.”

Mina jerks in my lap, “No, never! I don’t hate you!”

Conner smiles gratefully, “Oh, thank you, sweet girl.”

He takes his teacup and sips, “I wish I made more effort to see you, but things have been so bad at home.”

The word ‘home’ sets Mina on edge, she freezes and shrinks back to me as I curl my arms protectively around her. Home is not Ennis or with Mina, but his home is in the Northern Kingdom. Mina must feel so conflicted because her only familial member called a different place home when she and her mother had been in Ennis for years and it’s their home over there.

I can hear Mina’s thoughts as she is too predictable. She thinks that he would rather be in the North and call that home than make an effort to connect with Mina. If he is really worried and really wanted to reconnect with his daughter, he would have done everything in his power to get some message across that he is alive and that he would want his daughter back.

“I-is everything okay?”

Bleeding heart Mina gets caught in the net of deception, but I haven’t. I let the conversation flow with the lies Mina is eating up, maybe they are lies or maybe they aren’t because Conner is good. He is good at making words form in a way that gets a reaction from Mina.

“Our nation is hurting, and civilians are trying to overthrow our king. He doesn’t have many manpower left, we are being surrounded by angry civilians who think that our nation is corrupted by greed. I thought I could ask King of Sosis for help, but...” Conner purses his lips, smiling distressingly sad at Mina who leans forward.

She’s buying every single word.

“Is that why you want me to marry into the North?” she asks.

Conner nods jerkily, “I know it sounds bad, and I didn’t want our first meeting to be like this. I wanted to get to know you and maybe hope for our relationship to be better in the future, but this looming threat is dire, and it needs immediate attention.”

Mina laces her fingers in mine.

“I thought that you could marry my boy Peter here.” he gestures to the man beside him, “Once the trouble settles, you could divorce and go your own ways. It’s just the support from Ennis East would be a great help.”

My beautiful girl is speechless, I squeeze her hand to let her know that I’m still here and I will help her as soon as she says those words. I should never underestimate how strong my little girl is, she returns my grasp with a firm grip that she is still mentally sane and not overly emotional.

“But, I’m marrying Leon,” Mina said.

My chest puffs up in pride, I would purr at her declaration if it’s not for the gleam in Conner’s eyes.

“Oh, I see,” he dejectedly whispers.

Mina falls for it.

“Leon could help you!” she spins around her head and looks up at me with big doe-eyes.

“Can’t you?”

I love her blue eyes, it’s light and goes hypnotizingly big. I hate the same shade on Conner’s eyes, it’s like good and evil split cleanly between father and daughter. They are the complete opposite, Conner is too cunning and shrewd, he is one of the commanders of the northern lands and he’s not this pathetic to beg for saviors.

“I can,” I said, Mina grins happily, “But I won’t.”

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