Page 55 of The Only King to Claim Her

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ah, the Playboy. How nice for me. I will meet him again at the altar tomorrow. And he had better look exceptionally sharp. Had better do me proud. In my country.”

“As trophy husbands go, you have a very good one.”

“And one who could ward off the threat without so much as breaking a sweat. I am quite fortunate, I think.”

“You look angry.”

“I am angry. All the time. Aren’t you?”

And tired. Just so damn tired.

“I’ll see you in the morning. My very angry bride.”

“See you then.”

But when she went to sleep, she no longer felt filled with that momentary joy she’d experienced. That sense of wonder that she was getting more than she had ever imagined she might. Now she felt overwhelmed by the realization that what she wanted was the love of the man who had no heart left to give. The love of a man who did not even know who he was.

And wanting Maximus’s love was as impossible as wanting the love of her parents.

For when he said that his love, his heart, was gone, she believed it.

So she wrapped herself up in a blanket on her bed and then wrapped herself even deeper in a blanket of impossibility and futility, and she would not allow herself to weep.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

IT WAS A beautiful day for a wedding. Too bad she still felt so terribly sad. But her gown was sensational, and even though her heart was sore, she looked like she ought to.

It was only her feelings that were not quite where she hoped they would be.

She had thought a lot about those feelings. Love. Of course, it was natural that she wanted love. But that did not mean she was in love with him.

That would be the saddest thing of all. It was only that she was lonely. And when he held her, it felt like something special. It was good she had not let him hold her last night. His arms contained a kind of magic that made her feel happy, but also sadder all at once.

And now they would be married.

She walked down to the chapel all on her own. It was different than the day of the coronation, when she had had Maximus to escort her. She held the bouquet of flowers that had been provided for her and looked down at the blossoms. A curl of blond hair fell into her face as she did, and she felt a strange cracking sensation about her heart. Her father should have been here. He should have been here to give her away. To place her on the arm of Maximus King, a man who would care for her. She felt a presence behind her. And she turned. It was Maximus.

“Are you ready?”

“Aren’t you meant to be inside?”

“Probably. But I came to find you.”

Her heart nearly flew from her chest. He came to find her.

She remembered being in that dungeon room. Being in the dark. Seeing him.

Knowing somehow that he would be her salvation, but she had not known it would be this.

Even though she had been too afraid to do it at the time, she reached her hand out for him, and he took it.

He was here.

He had come to find her, just now.

He would be her husband and she... She was happy about that.

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