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He chuckled. “Yes. Let’s go.”
I let him lead me down the stairs, along a hallway and down another set of stairs.
“How big is your home?” I asked, glancing at everything around me.
The furniture, the paintings, the rugs on the stone floors. It really was a castle. “This place is amazing.”
Anthony chuckled. “It’s big. How big? I have no idea.”
He pushed open a large, carved door and preceded me into a large dining room with a roaring fireplace.
“Wow.” I stared at the stone dragon carvings around the fire and the portrait atop the mantel.
A man and a woman, with two small sons.
It was... glorious. There was no other word for it.
Marienne walked toward me, a huge smile on her face. “Nice to see you up and moving, Charity. Are you feeling better?”
I nodded. “A lot better, thank you.”
A man walked toward us, slightly taller than Anthony and with an aura about him that wasn’t quite as warm.Hardenedwas the word that came to mind when I stared at him.
Anthony’s father. Which meant he must be the king.
I stepped closer to Anthony and the king stopped beside Marienne.
“Charity, this is my father, King Erik.”
I nodded my head, not sure if I should curtsey, or even if I knew how to curtsey. “So nice to meet you.”
“And I you.” His tone was more formal than I’d expected.
“Come eat.” Marienne reached for my hand and pulled me toward the massive table. “If there’s anything you’d like in particular that isn’t here, please let us know.”
I gawked at the spread before me. “Ah... is it Christmas Day or something here?”
Anthony snorted out a laugh while Marienne frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
Anthony held out a chair for me. “This is a normal breakfast for us.”
“No way.” I shook my head as I stared at the plethora of food in front of us. “This is more food than my mom would make on our birthdays and Christmas combined.”
Not to mention the fact that, for me, breakfast was usually a coffee on the way to work. At one p.m. in the afternoon because I always seemed to work nights.
Everyone sat down and began loading up their plates with pancakes and fruit. Roast meats and potatoes. Pies and stews.
I didn’t even know where to begin.
“It’s perhaps my fault that we eat so well,” King Erik began, his deep tone even more pronounced now. “I didn’t grow up in the castle.”
“Dad grew up poor and starving,” Anthony said, cutting to the chase. “He’s always made sure that my brother and I were well fed, and he changed all the laws in the kingdom once he became king so that no-one goes hungry. Not in our town.”
I shivered at the emotion behind the words. Anthony was proud of his dad, and I could see why. I simply couldn’t imagine the huge man in front of me starving as a child, but it brought a tightness to my chest to even think about it.
I swallowed hard. “It sounds like you turned something horrible into a blessing for everyone else. That is something to be commended.”
The King didn’t say anything, but his lips turned up in his first smile since I’d entered the room.
