Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
A strangled sob escapes my lips as I realize that everything I thought was real was just my own wishful thinking. My body trembles with the force of my emotions, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Somehow, he found out who I am. He knows I'm the princess he was supposed to marry. Maybe he even knows about the curse and how only the man destined to love me could break it. He knows he's been controlled by something greater than himself.
My one true love…hates me.
He sent this man to kill me to ensure that he never had to see me ever again. To ensure that he couldn't be forced or controlled.
When he said hell would freeze over, he meant it.
"He doesn't have to kill me," I sob. "If he d-doesn't want me here, I'll leave and never return. H-he'll never have to see me ever again. I'll n-never l-look for him. I'll n-n-never contact him. You can t-tell him that you k-killed me."
He doesn't have to shoot me to destroy me. He already did that. Troy did that.
I won't beg him to love me. If he didn't want me, all he had to do was ask me to leave. Instead, he chose to send this man to kill me.
Deep down, I know this isn't who he really is. This is the man I feared he'd become—cold, unfeeling, and tyrannical like our fathers. The one I made him promise he'd never let himself become.
Is this what I turned him into?
A defiant voice in my head screams that it isn't true, that Troy would never do this. He would never let himself become this, no matter the reason. But as I stare down the barrel of the gun clutched in this man's hands, it's hard to believe anything else.
This man said himself that Troy sent him—that he's done with me.
Why would he lie? Troy is the only one who doesn't want us married. My father—Troy's father—wouldn't send this man to kill me. They'd send him to bring me home, perhaps. But not to kill me.
As much as my heart screams for another explanation, I don't see one.
"Get dressed and go," the intruder says. "Never come back here again. Never step foot in Stonehaven. If you do, I'll kill you."
I scramble to gather my clothes, tears streaming down my face as I realize that, in a kingdom where everyone lives out their fairytales, mine has turned into my worst nightmare. With shaking hands, I throw on my clothes and flee, leaving behind the shattered pieces of my heart in the very room where, just weeks ago, I thought my dreams had finally come true.
Chapter Twelve
Troy
By the time I arrive back at the cabin, it's after midnight and I'm fucking exhausted. The only thing on my mind is crawling into bed with Thalia and making her scream my name until her sweet voice breaks.
Her father knows she's with me, though I adamantly refused to tell him where. I wouldn't tell my father, either. I'm not taking any chances on either of them trying to locate her. I don't trust either of the bastards as far as I can throw them.
Phillip Rosewood seemed relieved to know that she's with me, however. Apparently, he's been frantic with worry about his daughter. Or so he says. He wasn't frantic enough to tell my father she's been missing for two weeks. He was too busy trying to hide that fact to save the contract.
He and I got a few things straight. If he wants to see his daughter ever again, he'll treat her with the fucking respect she deserves. If he ever threatens her again, it'll be the last mistake he makes.
My father and I got a few things straight too. I'm not his goddamn puppet and I won't be. He claims he was only trying to do me a favor—that he wants me to find what he had with my mother. I'm not entirely sure I believe that. I still believe this was about merging the Stonehaven and Rosewood dynasties. But at the end of the day, regardless of what he wants, I still end up with Thalia.
And the marriage contracts have been renegotiated. The Rosewood Kingdom stays the Rosewood Kingdom. The Stonehaven Kingdom stays the Stonehaven Kingdom. Thalia will be protected, no matter what. We rule both only until our children are old enough and then pass them on—the Rosewood Kingdom goes to our eldest daughter. The Stonehaven Kingdom will go to our eldest son.
I don't have to ask Thalia to know it's what she'd want. She has no desire to rule. She simply wants her freedom. I know because it's precisely what I want. Our fathers thought they could force our hands but they woke a sleeping giant instead. No one threatens my princess. No one.
Since they have no other heirs, they have fewer choices than we do. We can simply walk away. I'm prepared to do it. Thalia already has.