Page 7 of The Only King to Claim Her

“I lost my whole family. I lost my way of living. I was a prisoner, knowing that my only hope in all the world was, someday, for someone with more power than I to change things. Now I have power. I have a plane. I have a title. That means something. I will not sit back. Not ever again. And if I must die for my actions, then I will. But I will not wait. Not anymore. I am not a coward. And I am very angry that I have had to act the coward in order to wait until I might be most effective. You, I do not fear. I fear a life spent free where I still behave as if I am in a dungeon. That is what I fear.”

He found the most grudging respect burned inside of him for Annick. Grown men feared him. As well they should. And this little Princess had kidnapped him. Something stirred inside of him, and the reaction gave him pause.

For he was not immune to feeling here.

Though for years now he had been.

Like tonight. Nothing, not a single thing, had stirred inside of him when Arianna had touched him. He couldn’t get a thrill out of the job he did in the public eye. He could not even get an adrenaline rush out of pulling a gun on anyone. But this, this was interesting. This was something new.

What angered him was the fact that she thought she was in control.

“If we are to work together,” he said, “you do not get the control. You cannot force me to do anything.”

“Eh, but I can,” she said. “With chloroform.”

“You cannot possibly lug me around to every event you have planned.”

She nodded her head slightly. “It is impractical, yes.”

“At a certain point you will need my cooperation. And let us dispense with your threats to my family. I don’t believe that you would do anything to put innocent lives in danger.”

She looked regretful. “I would not want to.”

“I don’t think you will. Because that would be the real tragedy, wouldn’t it? That they were able to make you into a monster such as them. Monsters who care only for their own goals.”

“My goals are the welfare of my people.”

“Every villain thinks they’re a hero.”

“Unfair,” she said.

“I didn’t realize we were playing fair.”

“We are not playing at all,” she said.

“I lie to the public to protect the images of shallow, silly people. I work in secret to rid the world of the truly vile,” he said. “So the bottom line is, I’ll do pretty much anything to line my pockets.”

She looked at him, her eyes glittering.

“Not true,” she said. “Or you would kill a bit more indiscriminately.”

“I follow orders, but I make sure that I am fighting for the good of humanity. I’m not loyal to any one country, but to freedom. Human freedom. Human dignity.”

“And that is what I want. Bring that to Aillette. Bring it to my people. And I will give you money.”

A chance to liberate an entire country in this way was an interesting one. And in truth... He was getting tired. He was getting tired of all of it. Of the farce that he ran every day of his life. Of the wars he was waging behind the scenes.

Of seeking out atonement when he knew he could never have it.

When it came to dealing with the military, his tenure with them was much more on his own terms now than it had been in the beginning. And the unit he was part of didn’t exist in an official capacity.

It was up to him what missions he did and did not take. If he wished to make Annick his mission for a time, that was up to him.

After all, if he left Annick in peril, everything he’d done up until now was a lie.

“There was an attempt on my life,” she said softly. “I worry. And coming up is my coronation. I am to become Queen, not just a Princess. What will happen then, I do not know.”

“You’re worried they’ll try again.” Instantly, all of his instincts sharpened.

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