Page 58 of A Half-Blood’s Escape
"Let me go, and I will."
I shook my head again.
"We aren't bargaining here."
"No, then what are we doing right now?" she asked back.
She really could be such a smart ass, but it only amused me. It would never be boring around Lara. She would keep me on my toes. I found that amazing. No one challenged me like she did, but she wasn't scared of fighting back.
"Talking," I said.
"It isn't really talking when you won't listen to me," she said.
"I listen, little wolf."
She continued to look at me annoyed, but then sighed and lowered her arms.
"Some woman called Arianna," she said. "Your future queen."
"You're my future queen," I told her and made sure she could hear the seriousness in my voice.
I didn't want there to be any doubt. Lara was my future queen, and no one else.
"She doesn't seem to think that way," she said. "And I bet others think like she does."
"I don't care about others."
"You should. You're king," she said.
"And as king, I should be able to make my own choices."
"When in history has the king really made his own choices? Let us not forget a king is nothing without his people."
So smart. It was all I could think, but she was also guarded, and that was a problem. It stopped her from believing in this and letting me in. I couldn't fight this alone if she wasn't willing to even accept me.
"I don't care about the crown."
"But you should," she said.
"Why?"
"Because if you don't carry it, and neither does Ace or Gabriel, you know who will truly rule, and it won't be fun," she said.
It was what had stopped me from abdicating because I knew neither Ace nor Gabriel would take on the throne. No, it would all just go to the power-hungry males on the council. There was no way I could allow them to gain complete power, even if I didn't act much like a king.
"I'm surprised you think I'm the better choice," I said.
It really was a surprise to hear when Lara just kept wanting to run away from me. It didn't make me think she liked me very much.
"Well, it is between two bad choices. I just choose the one who seems to make the world less of a hell for people like me," she explained.
My smile grew. I should have expected an answer like that.
"I see."
"We both know you need the people, and the people need a queen. A queen that isn't me."
Her voice lowered towards the end of her sentence, and even if I wasn't completely sure what it meant, a part of me believed, Lara might just want to accept me, but it was this right here that stopped her from it. She really believed she couldn't be my queen, that she wasn't good enough for it. Well, as I had told the council, I would train her. She would be as good at being a queen, as my mother was. My mother was very loved, and a very kind person. Lara was such a good person too. I did not doubt that. She just needed to believe more in herself.
