The Pirate Queen

Chapter 44

A guard led Eric out to where Christian was pacing in the Queen's private garden. He was pacing in the grass and had been for a while if the worn path was any indication. 

Eric approached slowly, half-feeling like he was walking up to an agitated bear. When his father turned and saw him, he momentarily debated running but kept his feet planted. He needed to talk to Christian for Ariel, for Celeste. And himself. More than anything, he needed to talk to his father for himself. 

They stared at each other a moment, and Christian was the first to crack. "You sure know how to make an entrance, son." 

He scoffed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It wouldn't have been such a grand entrance if the meeting had happened when it was supposed to." 

"Somehow I doubt your fiancee would have walked in quietly." 

A smirk tugged at Eric's lips. "No. She probably wouldn't have." 

Again, they regarded each other, unsure where to go from here. They had so much to talk about. Twelve years of hurt and missed connections Eric hoped they could try and make up for now. But where to start? From the moment his mother died and Christian tried to pretend he didn't exist? To his young adult years, burdening him with arduous royal tasks to see if he'd fail, and then being frustrated when he came out triumphant? What about all those times Eric had needed his father, needed love, and been met with cold indifference? How did they talk about all of that?

Eric glanced around them, noting that the bushes surrounding them would flower with the same buds his mother used to paint in her studio. He bit the inside of his cheek and felt, for the first time in a very long time, like a lost boy instead of a prince. 

"Why did you leave?" Christian asked, voice tense. Eric appreciated him cutting to the chase and hated it at the same time. 

Eric let out a soft sigh, refusing to look at his father as he admitted the truth. "Because the idea of marriage to someone I didn't love, to save a kingdom I would die for, suffocated me. I overheard Ariel's mates discussing the Sirena treasure and knew it would be enough to save us if I could find it." His eyes drifted to the ocean and the setting sun, wishing he was looking at the Dauntless and not empty water. 

"I knew it was dumb, but when I learned of the war... I couldn't stay quiet or complacent with that kind of conflict brewing, knowing I could do something about it. So I went." He raised his head and met his father's eyes. "Because I didn't think you'd care." 

The same look passed over Christian's face that he'd had in the meeting—like he was seeing his son for the first time. And maybe he was. Fifteen years was a long time to live with someone without actually living with them. Almost everything Eric knew about his father, he'd learned from someone else. 

"So you thought the best course of action was to run off with pirates?" Christian asked, face turning slightly pink with an anger Eric was familiar with. "The kind of people who killed your mother?" 

Eric glared at him, hands clenched in his pockets. "Ariel and her crew do not mindlessly murder people for shits and giggles. They chose their lives for freedom, not for bloodshed. I knew the Dauntless reputation when I stowed aboard. I wasn't afraid because being on that ship was the first taste of freedom I ever got because it wasn't anywhere near you!" He exploded, tossing out his hands. 

"And after six months away, not knowing if I was dead or alive, you didn't speak to me. You hardly looked at me. And the first thing you do when you deign to acknowledge my presence is berate me. You refused to stand up for me, refused to try and reason with Triton, and seem so insistent on pushing me away from you. And I'll admit, you did a damn good job of it for fifteen years. But here I am, the fool, the daft son,  still trying to understand what I ever did to make you stop loving me."