"I still wonder about it," I said.
His brow furrowed, eyes searching my expression. "Wonder about what?"
"Whether you're the villain in my story."
~~~~~~~
Mara Monroe is at the center of a war she wanted no part in.
But with her new throne she fac...
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The throne room looked different when I was sitting on the throne rather than standing before it.
I remember standing before my grandmother when she first told me that Brighid abdicated. At that point, I thought that I was merely the crowned princess. Within weeks, however, I became queen. Cedric stood by my side then, and he would again soon.
"Your highness," Maddox interrupted my train of thought and I glanced over at him, "what are you doing in here?"
"Thinking. Waiting. Waiting to think. Thinking about waiting."
Maddox didn't smile but I knew him well enough that I could see the amusement in his eyes. He was still angry with me that I didn't tell him about our unsanctioned trip to the vampire horde.
Cedric probably could've warned him that I had a tendency to ditch my bodyguards when I wanted to. Right now, I was still resisting the urge to run off without telling anyone and storming into the Autumn Keep without any type of plan and dragging Cedric out behind me.
"If he was here, he would advise you not to go."
I nodded. "But if it was the other way around..."
"He'd burn the keep to the ground, I know." Maddox must have been able to read the surprise on my face, because he shot me an exasperated look. "You were not good at hiding your feelings for him, but he was absolutely terrible at it."
A surprised laugh left my lips and I nodded. I suppose Cedric's refusal to leave my side since he returned was a dead give away.
"Still," he added, "I would be remiss if I did not advise my queen against this."
I nodded, understanding why he had to say it to me. At this point, he knew that he couldn't stop me but I still heeded his warning. He was probably right. But this was the only way I could think to get Cedric back.
Are you there?
Still, no response.
The connection between us had gone silent after he first walked through the portal to his father's land. Still, I tried. Once every hour I reached out through my consciousness, yelling and shouting and begging for him to answer. Nothing.
He wasn't dead. Like Brighid, I knew that I would feel it if he was dead. But the fact that I couldn't reach him didn't bode well.
"I hear your warning, Maddox, and I thank you for it." I stood from the throne. "But now that Brighid has returned, I don't think that you'll be my guard much longer."
He arched a brow. "Are you planning on firing me?"
"I—what? No! But you're the head of the royal guard. You protect the Queen. With Brighid back, she'll... she is the rightful Queen."
"'Rightful,'" he repeated the word as if it sounded strange to him, "I do not know what makes her any more rightful than you. Certainly not the order of your birth. If you have another reason, I would be willing to hear it."
