Page 247 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
That harkened my father’s voice.You’re not a passive person, Amy.Don’t act like one.
“But they still want me to marry Briar. He still wants to marry me.” As far as I knew. “What should I do about that?”
Pete blinked at me, dark eyes growing darker. “Don’t marry him.”
I almost deflated in relief. That wasn’t just advice he’d given me. Or even a request. It was a full-fledged directive. “I—I won’t,” I promised.
His eyes instantly lightened.
“But they’ll try—”
“Nobody can force you into marriage, Shorty, and they can’t force you off the throne. No matter what they tell you. It’s all in the royal charter. I’ve read it. Front to back.”
“What? When?”Ihadn’t even read the royal charter yet, this crucial document that dictated major portions of my life.
“On the road somewhere during a shite. Printed on a pamphlet, it was, in tiny script. But I have mighty sharp sight, and I like to occupy my mind during a shite. Otherwise, it’s just me squatting there, watching the clouds, and counting my farts.”
And just like that, we’d reached the stage in our romance where not everything he said was charming. Or even necessary.
“Way too much detail about the shitting, dude. Can we get back to the charter, please?”
Pleased with himself, Pete agreed. “If memory serves, it states that a sovereign has the final say in their own marriage, though there may have been nuptial agreements formed prior to said sovereign’s coming of age. And well before that, it also states that succession will fall to the sovereign’s first born, and none shall dispute the heir’s claim unless the sovereign does so formally at court. And in your case, Shorty, your father did not dispute you.”
I smiled. “He didn’t.”
We delighted together in these revelations, but the heavy subject matter soon weighed upon us. Eventually, Pete exhaled. “I ken you don’t want to be queen. That you’d rather live here in peace until you’d choose to join your parents in the Isle. I cannot and will not fault you for that. Christ, I’ve wished the same peace for myself. But weneedyou, Shorty.” Something painful flitted through his gaze, and I felt like he’d forced himself to say this. Forced himself to say the words that would make me leave him. “The people here are suffering. Remember, too, all those beyns from Humwater Dell. They need you.Maggieneeds you.”
Wanting to cry foreveryone, I whimpered, “I know.”
“And if Myrrdin thinks there’s something you can do to prevent more strife from befalling people like me, then I say,yes, Shorty. Yes. Fly to the Spring Palace and do your damndest to stop it.” He opined this with such conviction, such passion. Such grief.
“I’m afraid I must leave here soon, anyhow.” His shoulders slumped with the declaration, and my guts clenched.
He was going whether I decided to leave or not?
“It’s near the time now that Gentian will realize I’ve rebelled, if he hasn’t already, and he’ll be on the chase for me.” Grave, Pete shook his ankle to bring his shadow tether to light. Inky tendrils like snake tongues licked his skin before vanishing. “I must make the fatal move and burn this off—run for shelter—before he follows it. If he finds me here, everyone in Eden is done for.” He rubbed his forehead, a bit droll in the face. “Seeing as you’ve forbidden me to sacrifice myself for you, I think I’ll make my way to the Winter Court. I’ve heard the governing reeve there detests Gentian. Mayhap he’ll grant me asylum.”
My breath stuck in my throat as Pete fell silent, assessing his options. He seemed so resigned, so calm. But I was already freaking out. What if the reeve of Winter didn’t grant him asylum? Then he’d be a sitting duck in a pond full of harbingers and death poppies.
What if he had no intention of going to the Winter Court at all? What if he was still determined to martyr himself for my safety and had posed this story of asylum as a smoke screen? I glanced aside at my book bag, lying slumped on the floor beside Sionna’s bed. Was Andy still lounging inside? Pete didn’t lie easily, but if he thought he was saving my life—
I wasn’t about to let these shit questions haunt me. Mother save me, I knew I shouldn’t go where my mind had led me, that I shouldn’t broach this subject now when we’d never discussed it before. I knew I shouldn’t get my hopes up. But I also knew I was going to do all these things. Right then and there.
“For the sake of argument,” I started, my eyes doing a nervous bounce from him to my knees. “Let’s say I’ll go. That I’ll pack up and head off to the Spring Palace to take on this corruption, Gentian, and anyone else who wants a piece of me.”
Pete laughed. “Interesting adage.”
I gulped. “If I did that—”
He waited, blinking and clueless.
“Would—would you follow me? If I asked you to?”
I might as well have walloped him with a frying pan. He bleared at me as if I had.
Could a person strangle themselves if they swallowed with enough force? I feared I’d find out if he didn’t say something soon.
A range of emotions flitted across Pete’s face, my hopes straining further with each moment. At last, I couldn’t take it anymore.
