Royally Rugged by J.P. Sterling

Author:J.P. Sterling [Sterling, J.P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-05-08T00:00:00+00:00

eleven

Reeves

Heading toward the castle exit, I was amazed at how tonight had gone. I had gotten so much time to talk to the King, and I think I’d impressed him. He didn’t say he would sell me the land, but some of the other stuff he said intrigued me. He had spoken about hiring a central farming manager to coordinate rotations between his farms. The questions he asked seemed like a job interview. Would I be interested in something like that? I wasn’t sure, but then again, it would put me further in line for acquiring more land and getting in even better favor.

There was nothing wrong with that.

Davis, the butler, handed me my bundle of work clothes, while gesturing to the clothes I had been lent. “Just keep the suit.” He escorted me to the foyer, but when we rounded the corner, I got a glimpse of Erralee, who also appeared to be on her way out.

Both her feathered brows sprang high when she saw us. “I was, ah, going to get some air.” She had huge tears running down her cheeks, but she quickly slapped them away when she saw us. All the triumph I had over my evening instantly dissipated with the sadness etched into Erralee’s face.

“It’s dark out, my lady,” the butler reminded her with an air of suspicion in his voice.

“Perhaps, I can have a minute of your time.” I stepped forward, my heart pounding out a rhythm that only comes when it’s filled with adrenaline. Time was running out . . . Erralee had expressed to me how upset she was about this marriage, but tonight I got to witness it. It wasn’t right. You don’t win wars with unjust marriages. My heart wrenched so strongly for her, I struggled to speak. “This is probably a final goodbye.”

“Sure.” Her eyes snapped to the butler, and she mumbled, “I’ll just be outside.” She swung open the door as if busting out of jail and I followed her. As soon as the door was shut, she let out a sigh like she was painfully falling, before bursting into tears.

I didn’t need to ask her what was wrong, because I had seen the whole night play out. To say she wasn’t matched well with King Aswell was a massive understatement. The little she tried to engage him, he seemed to almost belittle her. She appeared repulsed by him, and he did nothing to soothe her. I wasn’t a Casanova, but it didn’t take Romeo to see everything about their arrangement was off.

She had held her head high through dinner, but her family refused to see under her poorly acted façade. Burying her face in her hands, she wept for several beats before finally speaking through broken sobs, “How am I ever going to do this?”

The urge to comfort her took me by surprise. I dared to step closer to her. Pausing an arm’s reach away as I was sure someone was watching us. My sunbaked lips parted but I made no sound.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.