Page 37 of A True King

Our shouting startles birds in a nearby tree and they take off, causing a fluttering and rustling to our right. We both glance over at them and then back at each other.

“I can’t deal with you right now. I’m going for a walk,” she says, her voice laced with anger.

“Brilliant. Go for a walk. That’s gonna totally fix everything,” I call out after her as she turns to leave.

“We should be better than this,” she hisses quietly, so quietly I almost don’t hear her. “We should be out there. Helping to find these people and end this threat. Not hidden away. I’d rather die knowing I tried than live knowing I didn’t.” And with that she turns the corner and disappears behind a wall of boxwood, leaving me standing with pure frustration coursing through my veins.

Part of me wants to run after her, to tell her we can go; that we’ll try to help fix this. Part of me wants to tell her about Anna and the baby. There are so many things I need to tell her.

I walk over to the bench where her book still lies.

Hamlet.

I shake my head. Always the classics. She’s not wrong. I’m also reaching a breaking point. I want more answers; I want all the answers. Maybe it’s time to go home. I still can’t shake the feeling that there are more connections to be made, that puzzle pieces are missing. Hell, I don’t even know what information Anna, Pete, and Jack have. They are telling me on a need-to-know basis, and I get that they don’t want to give me information that isn’t confirmed. No one wants to backpedal to the prince.

I’ve spent my whole life living for others. Duty before self. I do what I’m told when I’m told. I’ve learned the art of manipulation, but I’ve never used it outside of politics. I’ve never once questioned things as much as I have over the past month. I’ve watched my brother prance around the world without a care before settling down. I’ve watched my sister be defiant in her royal duties. I’ve done neither.

Shit, maybe Mia is right. Enough living under the cloak of protection afforded me. Time to shake the tree. I rise and head to find Mia. If I’m going to do this, I’m doing it with her by my side. No more standing down, time to stand the fuck up, take control and be the leader I was born to be. Time to be a true king.

Chapter Twenty-One

Mia

I trudge through the ferns scattered amongst the trees. I have zero ideas where I’m going. Fucking Christian. I know it’s only been two days since we arrived back here. And I know he’s depending on a lot of very intelligent people to provide him with information so he can make decisions. But I can’t sit by and do nothing any longer. He needs to step up and take control. He’s the next in line to the throne for God’s sake. He’s in charge. For someone who can be so bossy at times, so demanding and overbearing, he’s not portraying any of those qualities in this situation and I’m left wondering why.

We’ve unpacked so much over the past few days. Our baggage could fill a seventy-forty-seven aircraft.

My mind swims with an ocean of memories as I find a small creek and sit down on a rock along the edge. I grab a handful of rocks and begin tossing them in one at a time. I watch each one make a ripple in the otherwise calm pool of water along the edge of the stream. How many ripples did my actions make? Is everything happening just a ripple from someone else’s decisions?

The crunching of leaves behind me makes me jump. Turning, I find Christian leaning against an old oak tree, his arms crossed, his face expressionless.

I swivel and face the water again as I grab another handful of pebbles. “What do you want?” I ask like a petulant child.

“You’re right.”

I freeze mid-throw, bringing my arm back to my lap. “About what?”

His shadow pervades my line of sight as he steps toward me. He doesn’t speak again until he’s settled on a rock next to me.

“I am the future king and it’s time I act like it. I didn’t want to admit that before. I wasn’t ready to see that my time is nearly here to be the leader of my country. It’s overwhelming. It always has been. But Dad buffered me for a long time. He let me…flounder and figure things out with as little responsibility as possible. I see that now. But playtime is over. No one is here right now. It’s just me. And I’m going to have to take control, alone.”

His words don’t surprise me as much as they should. I guess I’ve always known he was a true leader, he showed that in so many other ways. I press my lips together as I remember some of the ways he did that in the bedroom.

“What changed?” I ask as I toss a stone into the water.

I hear his deep breath before he speaks. “When my mother was killed, I remember watching my father. He was so stoic. He shed a single tear at her funeral, but I think that was more for our loss and not his. He was this pillar of strength for all three of us and every other mourning citizen of Norddale. I was an angry teenager. And the fact that I believed his position as the king didn’t allow him to grieve his wife, made me even more upset. I questioned everything. I even questioned if I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

“Do you?” I question.

He stares at a fish in the water before turning to me. “I do. Maybe it’s because I want all that I went through to matter or at least my mom’s death to not be in vain. Or maybe it’s because I’m ready to be a leader now. I don’t know. It could be all of that. I never walked away from my duties like my siblings have, yet even they have come back to take important roles in our country. But I have taken time to think and learn and stay out of the limelight while I struggled to become the man I am today. I don’t know if I’ll ever truly be ready, but maybe that knowledge itself means that I am.”

Christian has never opened up about this topic before, not like this. I can see his inner struggle clearly and I don’t envy him.

I’m still angry, but I can’t deny my need to touch him. Reaching out, I place my hand on his and squeeze it. I open my mouth to say something when the silence of the streamside is broken by a boom.

Pieces of the tree next to me splinter and go flying, as Christian launches himself at me, pushing me to the moss-covered forest floor. His strong body covers mine as a second shot rings out, the bullet whizzing overhead.

We lie still for what seems like an eternity. Birds squawk in the distance. Blood rushes through my veins with such force I can hear it in my ears.

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