Page 79 of The Promised Prince
“I was only fifteen, and I was in awe of the New Hope Government Center. The wealth, the parties, and especially...” Her eyes dropped. “Especially the prince. Bryant was eighteen at the time. We were young, stupid, and after two years of sneaking around, wildly in love.”
Renna swallowed hard. Why had her mother never told her this before?
“Bryant was the younger brother. He wasn’t supposed to be elected king. I was all that mattered to him.”
Renna bit her lip, her nerves rising. She wanted to hear her mother’s story. She wanted answers, but somehow she knew the truth would hurt.
Her mother continued. “Then things started to unravel. Bryant’s older brother came down with a terrible fever. Within a few days, he was gone. King Dayton’s thirty-year reign would be ending in the next few years and Bryant was now the only choice in their family to go after the crown. To help Bryant win the election, King Dayton entered into a marriage contract with the kingdom of Northland. Bryant was to marry Princess Isadora. The walls were closing in on us, and we were desperate. So we made our move and ran away together.” She shook her head, scoffing. “We were so foolish. We had no money, nowhere to go, and no feasible plan.”
So many questions gnawed at Renna, but she let her mother keep talking.
“We didn’t get very far, of course. We didn’t even make it out of the city before a group of guards found us and dragged us back to the Government Center.”
Mariele paused, then spoke again in a quiet voice, as though the memory frightened her. “The king was furious. Bryant had almost ruined his chances in the election and had jeopardized the marriage contract between New Hope and Northland.”
“We told the king how much we loved each other, begged him to let us be together, but he refused. Within a week, he fired my father from his government position and married me off to one of his soldiers.”
“Kimball Degray,” Renna said softly.
Mariele nodded. “To save the prince’s reputation, King Dayton ordered us as far away from New Hope—and Bryant—as possible. The Degrays owned a small farm property on the east edge of the kingdom, and we were sent to live there. At Wellenbreck.” Her eyes pooled with tears. “A couple of months later, Bryant married Isadora. I was devastated. Three years later, he was elected king.”
This was a lot to take in, to process. Her mind spun, but Renna settled on a safe question. “Did you ever hear from Bryant again?”
“Yes. There were letters.”
“What letters?”
“Cypress helped Bryant get letters to me.” She flashed a small, grateful look at Cypress standing at the foot of the bed. “Bryant still loved me, but his brother had died. His family wanted him to be the next king, whether he liked it or not. We couldn’t run away together. We were both married, and he was about to have a child.”
Seran, Renna thought.
“So we wrote to each other, year after year, and hoped that one day we would be together again.”
“Did Dad know about the letters?” Renna asked curtly.
“I believe he did,” Mariele admitted. “But he never said anything to me about it.”
“Why him?” Renna asked, her words clipped. “Did King Dayton just choose my father randomly from a regiment of soldiers?”
“Your father volunteered. Kimball insisted that it was an honor to serve his country this way.”
“I don’t understand.” Renna shook her head, her voice rising slightly. “Why would he do that? Why would he sacrifice his entire life for you?”
“He...” Mariele faltered, tears slowly falling from her eyes. “He was Bryant’s friend, and...and mine. He wanted to help us.”
Renna’s thoughts whirled. She thought back on her father, how she watched him care for her mother over the years, how he comforted and quieted her during her anxious fits and silently carried her responsibilities when she fell into gloom. Years of this, and all because he wanted to help?
There had to be more. “Was he in love with you?”
Mariele didn’t answer, but the guilt in her eyes told Renna everything. Her father had married a woman he loved to save her, hoping she would love him one day, too. But she never had. Renna breathed in sharply as a stab of pain pierced her heart.
“Renna.” Mariele shifted and reached for her hand, squeezing it earnestly. Renna let her but didn’t squeeze back. “Your father was an incredible man. I appreciated him, I respected him—”
“But you didn’t love him.” A stray tear trickled down Renna’s face—unnoticed and unwanted.
“I loved him with all I had left to give.” Mariele squeezed Renna’s hand again, pleading.
Renna pulled her hand away. “So I guess everything worked out nicely when Dad died.” Renna couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.
