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“I was distracted, Annick. Because of that, you nearly paid the price. It will not happen again. Never.”
“It was not... It was not anyone’s fault—it was only that...”
“It was my fault,” he said, his voice rough. “My fault. I will remain here. I will be your guard, but that is all it can be. A husband in name, but not...not in truth. All of tonight I should have been watching. I should have been prepared. But I was not. And you...you nearly died for it.”
“I wouldn’t trade anything about tonight.”
“I would trade everything,” he said. “It’s nice for you that you’re willing to sacrifice yourself, but I never will.”
“Maximus...this has nothing to do with anything that—”
“It does. It has everything to do with it. This is finished. We will not discuss it any further.”
“You don’t get to decide. You don’t get to decide everything about my life.”
His rejection was so final. So complete. He was still standing in the room but she could feel the separation. Could feel how absolute it was.
His face was stone. And in that moment, he was The King, and none of the man remained.
She did not know how to reach him. Didn’t know how to touch him.
And he was no longer going to allow it.
“Then you put us both in prison.”
“Better in prison alive and free than dead.”
He turned away from her and went back into the corridor. He was barking orders. Demanding to know how this had happened. There was practically a full-scale military operation happening in the front of the palace by the time she took her next breath.
And she just sat on the bed. She started to tremble. She should be most upset about the fact that she had nearly been killed, but she was mostly frightened of what the future looked like without Maximus. He had retreated. Gone away behind this war-general facade.
She knew that she would not be able to take him now. Chloroform would not be sufficient to subdue him. To bring him to her.
No.
If she was ever going to have him, he would have to choose. And she didn’t know if he ever would.
Annick had spent all of her life in a state of hope. She’d had to. If not for the hope inside of her, she would have lost herself completely while she had been captive. But now she could not find it.
Because how could you hope for a man who had no hope for himself?
She had been wrong, perhaps. Perhaps his darkness was so black it drowned out her light.
Annick had never felt so hopeless before.
In the moment, Annick felt like she was Queen of nothing except her own broken heart.
And there was simply no triumph to be had in that.
* * *
In the weeks since the attempt on Annick’s life, Maximus had waged a full-scale tactical war against any forces that might seek to oppose his Queen. He had made sufficient threats toward Lackland, and he knew that they would not be pursuing her ever again. Already, he had banded together with Monte Blanco to ensure that the Lacklanders would be punished. That steep sanctions would be introduced.
The alliance that he had with his brother-in-law was strong, and he was grateful for it. He had hardened his heart against everything. Everything but seeing to Annick’s safety. Shoring up the borders of the country. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.
And he... He had been a fool. A fool to believe that he could let the beast out. That he could somehow let his guard down for even a moment. Yes, he had been a fool.
He was not even bothering to pretend that he was the man he’d been in California, not anymore. He had transformed. And there was something comfortable about the position. About being a war general.
