He heaves a sigh, but doesn’t look away, his hands planted firmly on his hips.
“Remmington was my best friend. I couldn’t let anything happen to his daughter.”
My mouth goes dry.
Weston is my father’s best friend and his guard.
I knew from the moment I saw you.
Not only has he known I am the princess of his kingdom, but he’s known I’m Lennox Holt, the daughter of his friend.
My mind thinks back to what Stassia said, how stressed he was the day I showed up on the island. Everything is starting to make sense; why he followed me around the island, why he risked his life to save mine, why he wouldn’t let me out of his sight.
It’s everything a First Guard would do.
“I never lied to you, princess,” he says, his voice low and soft. “I just wasn’t ready to deal with everything you being here meant. An entire life has happened while I’ve been trapped here.” He heaves a sigh and his arms drop to his sides. “I didn’t want you to know who I was. I’m just Weston here, but I couldn’t help but do everything I could to keep you safe.”
“Stop calling me that,” I say angrily as I swipe away tears that dared to fall. The twitch of his hand catches my eye, like he was stopping himself from reaching out toward me again.
Taking in deep, shuddering breaths, trying to still my anger and pounding heart, everything I just learned flies through my mind, until I snag on one detail.
“Who are you here for, Weston?”
His eyes soften. He knows I’ve figured it out.
A woman, a friend. Someone he would give his life to protect.
“I’m here for your mother.”
I feel like I’m drowning, like a hole has opened up in the ship and the sea swallowed me into its depths.
He came here to save my mother. He lost years of his life, trapped in this place, all for the chance to heal her. Dane almostkilled him and left him for dead. Any opportunity for a normal life was stolen from him the moment he couldn’t return. The island deemed him unworthy, the same as me and everyone else on this ship, and now both of us have to deal with our failure and wondering if she wasn’t ever meant to be saved.
My eyes snap to his as I remember one late night conversation, me asking about his scar, and him asking about…me. That’s why he wanted to know how old I was. He was trying to find out how long he has been gone.
Twenty-one years.
“You sacrificed your entire life for your friend? For your queen?” I say, my eyebrows drawn in, giving away my sheer disbelief.
“It wasn’t a sacrifice. It was my duty to protect them.”
“It wasn’t your duty to give up your life, Weston,” I say harshly, my voice rising again.
“I didn’t. The day I step foot back into Blackwood, it will be like no time has passed. I’m the same person standing in front of you right now that I was twenty-one years ago the day I called the Guardian. The only sacrifice I made was the life I had with them. I didn’t sacrifice mine.”
“But why you? Why did you choose to come here?”
He glances down at the ground between us, and doesn’t look up again when he responds.
“I couldn’t let him leave you alone,” he grumbles.
My chest aches. Weston knew about me, knew I existed. That’s why he knew who I was the second he saw me, because if he knew my father, he knew my mother too.
“My father was going to go.”
He nods. “We discussed it. In the end, it made more sense for me to try. He couldn’t leave the kingdom or you alone.”
I scoff. “He doesn’t give a shit about leaving me alone.”
