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CHAPTER 27
Rune
My feet had barely carried me down the hallway from Mina’s bedchamber when I came across Wimfred, who was blocking my way. He was nervously wiping sweat off his forehead with a white handkerchief.
“Has she agreed?” he asked.
I gave him my best glare. He practically jumped to one side so I could continue my way down the hall.
“She has.”
Wimfred sighed and fell into step beside me, his feet moving quickly to keep up with my long stride. “What did you tell her?”
“What she needed to know to let me handle it. I assume they are in the throne hall?”
That’s where I would have held the meeting if I was Louis or my father—with the golden throne in constant sight as a reminder of what was at stake here.
“Yes. But please do slow down. We need to discuss the matter. This meeting may decide the future of our queen.”
This little man was a nervous fellow. He talked too fast and his movements always reminded me of a rabbit. Quick and jerky. But he was loyal and loved his queen, and that was all that mattered.
“There is nothing to discuss. I will make them fuck off. That’s all there is to it. As long as you have done as I told you and prepared the king’s body for the funeral, all will go well.”
Wimfred nodded. “I did, but—” I could see the wheels in his head spinning as he searched for words. But too late. We were already in front of the large, closed double doors of the throne hall.
I stopped. Blocking my way through the doors was my father and his prick of a son.
“Father, how good to see you,” I said in a low voice. Wimfred took a few steps backward as I stepped forward.
“You ungrateful—” Yutrik spat, but my father hit him on the back of his head. That little shit always had a big mouth when he was around our father. Hiding behind him like a little child behind his mother’s skirt.
“Go inside, Yutrik. The men need to talk,” my father demanded.
“But—”
One threatening look from my father was enough to shut him up. Yutrik turned, glancing at me over his shoulder as if to make sure I wasn’t about to throw a knife in his back for his earlier disrespect, then slipped through the double doors and closed them again.
My father looked at me with narrowed eyes, then frowned with a growl. “Let’s get right to the point, ja?”
“Agreed.”
My father stroked his thick black beard. “I know why you want to marry her. Only the dumbest of fools would have turned her down. By the gods, I myself would have agreed had she asked me. So my question now is, how can I stop you?”
I looked at the man in front of me. He had been a terrible father and even worse king. My mother had been dragged through the underworld thanks to this man. Her beauty had caught his eye, and some say he had forced her to be with him. Then he hadn’t even had the decency to provide for her or me. Only when I turned out to be a monster on the battlefield did he approach me—for his own good, of course. I accepted to ease the suffering of my mother. The lands and social standing that came with the title he offered made life better for her. But it was too late; her mind had already become a broken, empty shell. And all of it was his fault.
And yet, looking at this man, I felt absolutely nothing for him. For years, I had hated him. But after all my time at war, I found myself more and more unable to hate. Unable to feel anything, to be precise.
This man was not my father. He was my mother’s captor, and the king I would desert.
“There is nothing you can do to stop me,” was all I said in a cold and detached tone.
My father nodded. “I thought you would say that. So I wanted to make sure you are aware that in that room”—he pointed behind himself—“are the most powerful men in the world. They will make their case for declaring the Rhine Queen insane. If they succeed, you will have nothing left but an engagement to a crazy woman. You will die with the rebels, and your mother will have to spread her legs again for shelter and food.”
My hand shot to the handle of my sword, and I was about to draw it and spear my father like a fish on a stick, when I noticed that he didn’t even flinch.
Rune, you fool, he’s baiting you!Behind that door were probably men waiting for his word to attack. The world would know he’d made an attempt on a king’s life—they’d have my head.
I stared at him, emotionless. My father’s eyes were filled with anticipation. Oh, how he wanted me to make a move.
