Royally Matched by Jenna Brandt

Author:Jenna Brandt [Brandt, Jenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-03T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Gunfire could be heard across the open field. Max and Lily stood side-by-side as they watched the soldiers in the Class “A” formal uniforms firing their weapons into the air.

When the 21-gun-salute was finished, the king took to the podium in front of the freshly built Triolan War Memorial. The tall, black, granite monument listed hundreds of soldiers who died during wartime from the creation of the country five hundred and fifty years ago to the present.

Two rows of the crowd were filled with the families of fallen soldiers who were there to hear their family member’s name read.

The king took the front of the makeshift stage set up in front of the memorial. “Welcome, my fellow Triolans. On behalf of the royal family and the Triolan government, I want to thank all of you for coming out today for the official unveiling of the Triolan War Memorial. I know that many of you have lost loved ones in the past wars our country has been involved in. Today we honor those soldiers for their sacrifice. I know that all of you are used to me speaking at events, but today, I thought you might want to hear from your Crown Prince, Maxwell Gerard Beaumont.”

Silence greeted Max as he switched places with his father. At least they weren’t hurling insults at him as they had last week. He adjusted his coat firmly around his body, took in a deep breath before he spoke.

“Most of you know that my younger brother, Prince Gregory, was killed when his airplane went down during the war in northern Europe five years ago. Not a day goes by that I do not miss my brother, and his loss is felt by the entire royal family. I hope, however, to honor him by serving our country as king one day, supporting our military, and never forgetting the sacrifice Triolan soldiers have made to keep our country independent. Today, this memorial stands as a reminder of that ultimate gift.”

Respectfully, the crowd clapped as Max stepped back, took the giant scissors from one of the nearby workers, and cut the ribbon tied around the memorial.

Next, the king stepped forward and slowly read the names out loud of the fallen Triolan soldiers. As each name was read, Max could feel emotions stirring inside him. Between losing Lily, and then two years later his brother, Max had kept moving, not wanting to care about anything or anyone ever again. But as the names continued to tumble from his father’s lips, Max realized he wasn’t the only one who had suffered a deep loss. In his grief, he had acted foolishly, focusing on numbing the pain rather than dealing with it.

Once the ceremony was officially over, Max stepped down from the stage and made his way over to the widows, widowers, and orphans of the men and women who had lost their lives in service of the country.

“Thank you for your family’s sacrifice,” Max said, taking the first woman’s hand and shaking it.

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