Overwhelmed and irritated.
I never did give my father enough credit for how much he had to deal with on a daily basis. The meetings and handholding, everyone wanting your damn opinion on everything, right down to the color tablecloth for dinner. I wanted to punch the next person who walked through the door.
Father had been gone for twenty-one days, but who was counting?
I’d drank myself into passing out, slept with multiple ladies-in-waiting whose names I couldn’t remember, and I’d fenced my energy out with the guards. It was the only way I knew how to grieve him.
We tussled and settled on many topics, but he was the role model of the king I wanted to be, with little tweaks here and there, starting with the ‘ruining of other people’s personal lives’—that shit would cease. It stopped before he was put in the ground. And as I tried to settle into my position, Ava kept me moving.
I was waiting for Mother, who told me she needed to talk to me, and she was late. I wasn’t surprised, though. She had been attached to my ass for weeks, checking up on me, telling me how to run this and that. I wanted to send her on a trip, just to get her out of my damn hair. She sauntered in my study, with her normal, obnoxious smile.
“Morning, my dear,” she said, and I cringed inwardly. “Been busy?”
“Always,” I muttered, moving my papers in a neat pile so I could give my mother my full attention and get her out of here.
“You’ll get used to it eventually,” she advised, taking a seat in front of my desk. “Soon, everyone will know how you operate and they won’t bother you as much.”
“Can’t wait for that day.” I folded my hands in front of me. “What was it that you wanted to speak about?”
Mother crossed her legs and clasped her hands together.
“I know this has been a trying time for you, George, and I’m not trying to add more to your plate.” I tried not to roll my eyes. “But we need to discuss the future of Telliva.”
I leaned back in my chair. “All right, you have my full attention.”
“A wife. You need a suitable wife.” Her eyes locked onto me with a serious expression. At least she’d waited almost a month before bringing it up. Or maybe it was because I was dodging her as much as I could.
I sighed. “We’re back at that again?”
“Madelyn has been dead for months. You fought me about Ava, and I gave you space to think about it. But now Edward is gone, and you need heirs.”
“I’ll think about it,” I offered, but she didn’t take it, her brown eyes narrowing.
“There isn’t anything to think about.”
“Mother, I have a lot going on right now. Can we wait until I’ve caught these rebels terrorizing our people?”
“No,” she replied flatly, standing. “You need to keep the throne moving by marrying.”
I scowled at her. “The throne won’t be here if we are overrun by these terrorists.”
“You are being melodramatic.” She waved her hand in the air, obviously in complete denial of the reality of the situation.
My temper started to ramp up more and more, and I was about to lose my mind on her.
“My overreacting is rightly put because those men killed my father,” I hissed. She stood there, emotionless as a stone. I wondered, in that moment, if she ever loved Father, or if she even cared that he was gone.
It was me who found him dead on the floor.
In this room, his study, blood pooled all around him from several stab wounds to the chest. His eyes were still open in shock, and I still imagined the last thoughts he may have had in those last moments.
A full investigation found that they had slipped through the hidden hallways within the walls, covered his mouth while stabbing him—so to not alert any guards—and left him there to bleed to death. Garrett and I knew it was a message. A message that they were closer.
Too close.
Close was near Ava and Hara.
I had all entrances to the hidden entries nailed shut. It angered me that I hadn’t thought of it before. Those corridors were just a welcome sign to make a move—a brutal move.
“Ava is readily available here for you.” My mother continued gabbing. “Your father wanted it, and so do I.”
I felt my jaw twitch. It would be the biggest betrayal to Ava if I even pondered on it. I was going to continue to hold my ground on this subject, especially when Garrett told me that they were now engaged to be married.
“Not going to happen.”
“I don’t see the issue here. Ava and you have always been close. You’d be lucky to have such a marriage.”
“Ava doesn’t want it. I don’t want it. We’ve spoken about this before; we’ve done enough to the woman.” I’d recalled this several fucking times. “Get it out of your mind, Mother. You’ll keep disappointing yourself if you don’t.”
“Then what master plan do you have?” She leaned toward the desk. “We need to rebuild the power that sits behind this throne.”
I shrugged. “I don’t have one.”
“Then I’ll help.”
“No, thank you.”
“You’re not being reasonable. I’ll work on it, give you some ideas, while you and the bastard find the traitors who killed your father.”
“If you write any letters to any suitors about my interest, Mother, I will—”
John came through my study, the door hitting the wall. He walked straight toward me, and I noticed the paper in his hands. He looked pissed.
“Your Majesty,” he said, bowing before my desk.
I’d told him a million times to stop doing that, having known John for years, and the man had done more for me than I could conjure up in my head.
“I need to speak with you immediately.”
“Of course.” I looked at Mother, silently dismissing her. She rolled her eyes and sauntered out of the room. John took a seat and slammed the paper on the desk.
“What is it?” I asked, turning it over so I could skim through it.
“This a signed agreement from King Edward, agreeing to the marriage of Garrett and Sophia,” he said in a disgusted tone.
The fuck!
I quickly scanned it, pointing out the words “bound through this agreement” and “forever united.”
“What the hell is this?!” John sniffed and shook his head. “Where did you get it?”
“Was given to me by one of the Parliament assholes.”
“Has Garr seen this yet?” He shook his head again, rubbing his forehead with the palm of his hand. “This can’t be real,” I said.
“Looks real to me.”
“It could be a forgery.” I threw the paper across my desk. “He’s been dead almost a month, and now it shows up?”
John stood from the chair. “I don’t know how Parliament runs, but I do know there is a powerful judge’s signature on there, next to a dead king’s.”
“I need to get it examined,” I stated, not wanting to touch it. It held my brother’s life in the balance. A life he wanted with Ava.
“If that is real”—John’s voice cut through my thoughts—“you can’t break it. Lord Chitwood is so deeply networked in Parliament that no one will side against him.”
I was the fucking King of Telliva, and I couldn’t bypass an agreement that was signed by my dead father?
“This is bullshit. There has to be a way, John. I’m a damn king! What the hell can I do, if not get rid of this?”
John said nothing, which made me nervous. This was ridiculous. Garrett protected and looked out for me all this time. I wasn’t going to let him and Ava down.
No one would ruin their happy ending.
Garrett
Chapter 37
“Did you have a nice time with Ava?” George asked me, as I took off my riding boots in my bedroom.
I had more than an enjoyable time with her. We had a picnic near a small creek, with the warm sun beaming its heat while I ravished my fiancée under it. I swear, it’ll never get old.
My fiancée.
That would never get old either.
“I did.” I threw my boots next to my bed. “We are having dinner tonight with Hara and my mother. Come.”
“That sounds good,” George replied, taking a seat in my black leather chair. “I’ll be there.”
“Ava would like to see you there.”