Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“Enjoying these quarters a little better?” he asked with a smirk, like he was trying to make me laugh, and I couldn’t help myself.
“Yeah, I was just about to jump on this big-ass bed before you interrupted me.”
“You did contact your family and friends and let them know you were all right?”
“What? Of course I did. I wasn’t actually about to jump on the bed.”
He seemed surprised by my remark. “I figured you were kidding about that. I was making sure you’d taken care of that before I talked to you.” He inhaled. “We seem to have a really difficult time understanding each other, despite speaking the same language.”
“Today’s been a lot for me,” I admitted.
“Well, do you mind if I come in so we can talk about it?”
“Be my guest.” I opened the door wider, and Owen stepped in and shut the door behind us.
Something about being alone in a bedroom with Owen stirred all sorts of intense fantasies—the sort that weren’t really practically possible. I imagined him lunging at me and making out with me the way we had at the bar. That, of course, would have naturally led to so much more. I allowed myself a moment to enjoy these reveries.
He pointed to the edge of the bed. “You mind if I sit down?”
All my fun daydreams vanished in an instant as I took in the stoic expression on his face. “Are you about to give me bad news? You look like you’re about to give me bad news.”
“Not at all. Everything’s fine. At least I hope everything’s fine. How are your injuries?”
“They feel better, now that they have some antiseptic on them.”
“I’m sorry for how horribly you’ve been treated.”
“It wasn’t horrible. The tasing was bad, and I’m still a little shaky, but seems like I’ll live. I talked to my mom and my brother just now.”
“And?”
“They’d heard the news, but I came out to them, and they were…as cool as I figured they would be about it.”
“Keeg, that’s incredible news. I’m so glad you had a chance to do that, but so sorry it had to be under these circumstances.” I eyed him for a moment, and he seemed surprised by the way I was studying him. “What is it?”
“To be honest, Prince Owen Hawthorne III,” I replied, saying his full name if only to help myself grasp how surreal our situation was, “I have the most conflicting images of you in my head: One version wants to punch my lights out. One’s worried out of his mind about his niece. One’s a fucking liar about his name and who he is. Another is all concerned, tending to my injuries and trying to make sure I’m all right.”
“I think you’ll find I’m a terribly complicated man.”
I wanted to make a joke about how I could be fairly easy, but I could still tell he wanted to discuss something with me, so instead I said, “Okay, let’s sit, and just be out with this bad new shit you have to tell me.”
We sat beside one another on the end of the bed.
“Is it that I need to leave? I’m fine with going. I have a hotel room with my friends. I’m only in here because this is where the guards took me and I don’t want to wind up getting in more trouble for not doing what they say.”
“What? No. Of course that’s not it. I’m not trying to scare you off, but actually quite the opposite.”
“Oh, really?” I asked, intrigued.
“In the dungeon, when I told you about the issue around equal marriage? What we did, being such a public affair now, creates a major statement to our citizens—an important statement. Considering you are a gay man yourself, and your own country’s history with the subject, I’m sure you understand the importance of this parliament vote coming up in December.”
“I totally understand. Hell, we’ve had that battle in America, and it came down to a Supreme Court ruling to get it through.”
“Yes, well, this is a particularly personal issue for me…”
“Because you’re bi?”
“That too, but for so many more reasons—to do with my family and country. I wasn’t supposed to address the subject publicly, but as you can see, that’s happened, and now we’ve done the honorable thing by representing the right side of this debate.”
“I’m happy to have helped.”
“But would you be happy to help me more, if you thought you could?”
“If you need me to fill out some sort of poll or something…”
His forehead scrunched up. “A little more than that. I told my brother, the King, that we were together…romantically.”
My mouth dropped open. “You what?”
“I said you’re my boyfriend.”
I could hardly process the thought. “Are you some sort of pathological liar?”
“No…and yes…just for today, though. I figured if we were together, if we did things boyfriends do, then it would be impossible for our people to look away and not acknowledge our relationship, and my family couldn’t ignore the subject anymore. And in the process maybe influence the people to encourage the parliament to make the right decision on this.”