Page 61 of Royal Hunt
I was reminded of a similar expression that he’d worn the night I gave myself to him.
Jerk.
I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “Besides, someone promised I could be queen.”
His smirk vanished.
I smiled, and stalked up the hill toward the castle, ignoring every screaming muscle in my body.
* * *
We made it up the hill to the castle gates together. I needed a bath. I needed new clothes. I needed to sleep.
“Eve! Daughter!”
Shock coursed through my veins as my father struggled to catch up to me, looking gaunt and aged as he huffed and puffed up the steep incline. Ellis took a step in front of me as I froze in shock, drawing himself up to his full height and glaring. Every inch of him embodied the king his bloodline gave him the right to be.
“Stand down, Crestwell.”
I shivered at the sound of my surname on his lips. My father’s face, however, twisted from one of mock concern to irritation at the improper address.
“That’s Lord—”
“You are no longer a lord,” Ellis interrupted. “You are an enemy to the crown and a danger to my people. All of your titles and assets transfer to your daughter, the soon-to-be Queen of the Northern Realm. It is a fitting wedding gift and the least you could do, isn’t it? Now, beg my fiancé for the right to live in her house like the squatter you now are.”
I turned to stare at Ellis as my father fell to his knees, joints popping and groaning. An ugly look twisted his face, but I only had eyes for my … fiancé. Ellis’s face was stoic and set with anger: anger on my behalf. Fury was set in every muscle in his frame, and heat flooded to my core at the possessive hold as he wrapped one hand around my hip and squeezed.
Oh.Oh.
“P-please may I continue to live in the manor?” my father spit out, all attempts at playing the concerned father abandoned. I had no sympathy for him; he’d stacked his deck of cards and lost. And yet … I didn’t care. I wanted him away from me and out of my life. I was exhausted from all of it.
“Yourhighness,may I please reside inyourmanor?” Ellis corrected, violence screaming from every sharp angle of his body.
My father looked like he was going to protest, but then his eyes lingered on the black glittering crown and the swords as our sides.
Coward.
“Please, daughter,your highness, may I please stay and continue my life in … inyourmanor?”
I didn’t realize my hand was shaking until Ellis’s hand closed gently around it, his hard gaze never leaving my father.
“Burn it to the ground for all I care,” I sneered at him, stepping over him and walking into the castle. I refused to look back. I never wanted to see him again.
Instead, I focused on Ellis’s hand in mine, and the open gate to the castle with both doors ajar.
Not an auspicious start.
* * *
I gasped as we crossed the threshold of the castle and took in the damage. Everything that wasn’t physically bolted down in the castle had been looted or destroyed. Shredded banners bearing the royal seal lay discarded on the ground, and the large wooden tables and benches I’d last sat at for the feast were smashed and broken. Judging from the char marks in the corner, someone had attempted to set fire to the castle and failed.
I grabbed Ellis’s hand and squeezed tightly. I couldn’t imagine the horror of seeing your home desecrated like this on top of witnessing your family’s murders.
“I don’t understand,” Lily muttered. “Why would people do this if they planned on living here themselves?”
“Because they are cowards who like to feel some semblance of control,” Ellis bit back, fire in his eyes. The crown on his head gleamed.
“Come on, let’s see if there are any guards left.”
