Maid For You 4

Chapter 52

Everything felt very, very still—even my heart. It was like it suddenly stopped. My mind went blank for a moment, completely unsure of how to process what he'd said. I was like a computer so overloaded with commands that I just froze, unsure of how to handle everything all at once.

I stood there, pink sheep pajamas and all, completely and utterly taken aback.

Slowly, the functions in my brain began to wake up, like a series of light switches in a building being flipped on one by one. I found that I could breathe again, that the information was being understood in my head. My eyes concentrated on the ground—I wanted to look at anything but Nikolas.

"What?" My voice came out barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry, Cassie. I wanted to—"

"You're sorry?" I cut in. My voice was now quite a bit louder than a whisper, but it was shaking. Now I made myself look at him, to look at King Nikolas, who stood there quite pathetically. I felt like there was no room to be sad in the moment—all I could feel was anger. "You've proposed? You've proposed to Princess Calista? Sixteen-year-old Princess Calista? When?"

He swallowed. "Just now."

"And I assume you've known you were going to do this for some time. I mean, this is marriage we're talking about!"

"I've known for...for a couple of weeks that I needed to do this," he said. "And, I wanted to talk to you about it yesterday. Before I spoke with Princess Calista. I really, I really meant to, but—"

"Well I guess that would have made it all better!" I snarled. "If you'd only told me yesterday, then it would be all fine and dandy! I'd have made the...the congratulatory toast myself!" I laughed derivatively. "I mean, if you'd only told me yesterday, there would be no problems! It would be great that you've asked Calista to marry you." Tears began to prick my eyes, and my breaths became heavy. "If you—if you'd just told me yesterday..." my lip began to quiver. "Then I guess it just..." Now my vision was really getting blurry. "Then I guess I wouldn't care at all." I covered my face with my hands as tears began streaming down.

I felt Nikolas arms wrap around me, and even though this was all his fault, I still loved him and the person I wanted to comfort me in this mess was him. He was the problem, but he was also who my heart needed. I buried my face in his chest and cried.

"I'm sorry, Cassie," he said. I could hear his voice cracking with emotion. "I truly am. If you only knew...I just couldn't tell you sooner. I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"Why?" I finally asked, my voice muffled against his body.

"It is my duty," he said, holding me tighter.

I took a deep breath, and began to wriggle away, causing him to drop his arms. I swiped at my tears with my hand and sniffed loudly. "Really? Marrying Calista is the only way?" I asked. I shook my head. "You are the king!" I looked up at him, and his eyes were clear through the tears shimmering in them. "You're the king. You can do whatever you want. But you want to marry her. You're choosing to marry her."

He gently took my elbows and guided me towards the couch, setting me down and sitting next to me.

"You make Nikoto sound like it's strong," I said. "Are you so desperate for this alliance? You'll just marry her because?"

"It's more complicated than that," Nikolas said. "Calista, politically, is the best match for me. She understands Nikotan politics better than any princess and her Russian surpasses theirs as well. Aregano is a strong country, one with whom we've had a lot of differences over the years. By marrying her, it would be mending a lot of the animosity between our countries."