Royal Return by Michael Pierce

Author:Michael Pierce [Pierce, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-13T05:00:00+00:00

26

Victoria

I couldn’t talk Johanna out of coming with us. She was adamant about not being left out this time and had as much to be vengeful for as the rest of us. I didn’t believe that, but I wasn’t about to get into an argument with her over who’d been more displaced.

Johanna stuck curiously close to Kale, and I noticed a number of minute glances between them. He was more opposed to her coming with us but didn’t fare any better than I did in that argument.

The hardest part of leaving again was hearing Mina’s air-sucking sobs—now aimed at both of her sisters.

“We’ll all be okay,” Johanna had said. “There are plenty of people here to protect you while we’re gone. We’ll be back before you know it.”

“Mom promised to come back too,” Mina cried.

That comment hit us both hard, but for me, it was an exceptionally brutal punch to the stomach.

“I’ve always come back to you,” I’d said, wrapping her tightly in my arms. “And I’m not going to stop now.”

She wouldn’t let me go, and it was Kimera who finally pulled her off and allowed her to continue crying in her own arms.

“Thank you,” I said to Kimera, and that, more than anything, was our cue to leave.

I’d locked eyes with Princess Amelia across the room; she was now seated in a green fabric recliner and nodded to me. This fight was as much for her crown as it was for our safety. And she’d confided in me how petrified she was of our success—how she didn’t know if she’d ever feel worthy of wearing her mother’s crown. She was certainly getting stronger physically but emotionally was still locked away in the Sub-levels of the palace.

All these goodbyes had dried up the entire reservoir of tears I had left. I didn’t have any more to shed and wasn’t certain if I’d ever have more again. Maybe it was exhaustion setting in, numbing all my senses.

Now we were in the car, headed back to Duke Nobel’s house, everyone was quiet. I sat in the back with Jane while Johanna sat in the front with Kale. After this, we’d still have a long drive back to the palace. It was the long calm before the storm, something we all wished we could get over with faster.

I knew Prince Byron wasn’t keen on this plan, but he was as anxious to end this as I was—and this was the opening we needed. I didn’t want to consider the odds too closely. If I did, it would probably be wiser to simply escape the Kingdom and make a new life in the Outlands. It could be what Prince Byron had said on our first date that he always wanted—to start a new life away from all the obligations and responsibilities. But would we ever really be free of them or would they hound us wherever we went? I felt like I’d been running or trying to escape my whole life, and so

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