Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“I know more than you give me credit for.” She smiles, but it fades when she looks at me. “There are only a few things that have eluded me over the years.”
The door to the suite slams open, startling all of us, and when I turn, my father is standing on the threshold, his expression furious.
“Thorsen!” he roars. “What have you done this time?”
“Why don’t you tell me.” I sigh.
He spills into the room with Lavinia, Magnolia, and Narcissa hot on his heels. When I lay eyes on Lavinia, my stomach sours. She has a bruised face that certainly wasn’t there when I left her last night, but I suspect I already know where this is going.
“Did you get drunk and rough her up last night?” the king demands.
“It’s okay, Your Highness.” Lavinia smirks at me before she bows her head. “He was having a difficult time, and things just got out of control in the bedroom.”
Calder jumps up to defend me, but my mother cuts him off.
“Thorsen?”
When I see the alarm on her face, tiredness seeps into my bones, and I just know I can’t fucking lie to her anymore. I can’t play the villain in this scenario even if that’s what would be best.
“It isn’t true, Mor.”
“Bullshit.” My father stomps toward me, shaking his finger while the vein in his forehead throbs. “I should cast you out of this family! I should have sent you away as a child. You have always been trouble. You worthless, pathetic excuse of a man. You aren’t fit to be king!”
“Then take your crown and shove it up your ass.” I hurl my chair back and step toward him in challenge. “I don’t fucking want it. Give it to Calder.”
“I don’t want it either.” My brother joins me at my side. “Let the family name die with us.”
“I will ruin you for this!” My father comes at me, drawing his arm back at the same time my mother screams at him to stop. I wait for the blow, but Calder strikes first, surprising all of us when he knocks the king on his ass with a single punch.
Before I can blink, he’s launching himself at our father with an untapped rage I never knew existed in him. I’m frozen, watching it all unfold as Calder pummels Elias Lykken in the face over and over again.
“You never protected him!” he snarls. “This is all your fault!”
“Calder.” I haul him off our battered father, and he shoves me away. When Elias stumbles to his feet, he’s breathless and shocked as his eyes move between the two of us.
“What do you mean, Calder?” my mother demands. “What do you mean he never protected him?”
Calder’s eyes have taken on a life of their own. All these years, he’s carried my secret, and I never knew how much of a burden it was until now.
“It’s time, Thor,” he says. “If you don’t want to hear it, I suggest you leave the room. But either way, I’m telling her now. She deserves to know the truth.”
My protest dies on my lips when I look at my mother. She’s clinging to every word desperately, and Calder has just confirmed what she always suspected. Something happened, and she won’t rest now until she knows the truth.
I turn away and head for the door, pushing past my father and Lavinia. When I stumble down the hall to the kitchen, I consider raiding the liquor, but I can’t imagine that will benefit the situation. Instead, I find a quiet seat in the drawing room, where I kick back and stare up at the ceiling.
For a moment, I find myself wishing that Ella was here, but then I regret that. I don’t want her to witness all this ugliness. I only want her to know me separately from my father, so he can never taint her vision of who she thinks I am. Because even when I’m cruel to her, she still looks at me like I’m her hero.
I close my eyes and allow the quiet to consume me, but inside, my head is loud again. Those dark thoughts get stuck on repeat. A knife in the kitchen. A roof on the palace. I could just get in the car and leave, see what happens.
“Thorsen.” Dr. Blom’s voice startles me, and when I open my eyes, I’m met by the sight of him and Calder together.
“I thought it would be best to have Dr. Blom help us navigate this one,” Calder says quietly. “He’s ready to go with you. Mor wants to see you.”
My eyes move over the man in the wire-framed glasses. For years, he has tried to help me, and for years, I have pushed him away. I could never figure out why he kept showing up, seemingly with a genuine interest in my life and my well-being. I’ve only ever been a miserable bastard to him. But right now, something becomes so painfully obvious I’m ashamed that I never allowed myself to notice it before.