Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
They were finally responding. I knew that Queen Charlotte had to be in one of those black cars, ready and waiting to come down and gain control of the crowd.
I didn’t know what the queen would do in a situation like this. I knew she was evil, but how far would she go? How far would she make her team go? I knew that if anyone in the crowd so much as got a scratch on their eye, Sebastian would blame himself for eternity.
“Excuse me,” I said as I pushed further up in the crowd, finally making my way closer to Sebastian. But right as I got close, gasps erupted throughout the gathering.
“There she is!” a woman shouted, as everyone turned to watch the queen emerge from one of the cars. She was wearing a long, crystalline-blue gown.
I clenched my teeth. She knew. She totally knew that all of the attention would be on her, the second she came out here. Hell, she was probably treating this like a press event, for God’s sake.
I had always thought that Queen Charlotte was evil, but if she was going to use this opportunity to denigrate her own son, I couldn’t stand by and watch it happen. I had no idea how the hell I was going to get Sebastian out of this situation, but I knew I needed to.
The queen started waving to the crowd, as if she were participating in a pageant. The day had been chilly and sunny, but like clockwork, the second the queen appeared, clouds started to obscure the sun.
People in the crowd started erupting into shouting at the queen.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“You don’t want your son to be in love?”
“Change the rules! Change the rules!”
It was like watching pebbles being thrown at a snowy mountain, though. Nothing seemed to phase the queen. She just scanned the crowd, assessing it coldly.
She didn’t care. She just wanted to make an appearance.
I finally pushed my way to the front of the circle surrounding Sebastian. He was staring at the queen intently, with fire in his eyes.
I’d never seen him look like that. He looked like a wolf, ready to pounce. Something was going to happen.
Right as I was going to reach out and take his hand, he turned around, grabbing the megaphone from Genoveve. He fiddled with the buttons, turning it on. I was so close now that I could see his fingers shaking as he held the megaphone to his mouth.
“Enough,” he said, his voice echoing loudly across the crowd, the road, all the way up to the queen.
The crowd applauded for him and then they went silent, expecting a speech.
“I have—I have nothing to say,” he told them, looking around and shaking his head. “We can’t win. In the face of this power. Of her power. We don’t stand a chance.”
The people erupted into booing and chatter.
“We want King Sebastian!” someone shouted, and then suddenly we were surrounded by chants of “King Sebastian! King Sebastian!”
“I will never be your king,” he said, sorrow filling his eyes. “Because the man I love is not royalty. And I don’t want to be with anyone else, for the rest of my life.”
People applauded.
“But even if I don’t rule, it doesn’t mean I can’t be yours. I am abdicating my right to the throne. Today. But it is my promise to you, that I will never leave these villages. I will never leave you behind, even if I won’t rule.”
The crowd was pure chaos now. Sebastian dropped the megaphone to his side, looking more lost than I’d ever seen him. He turned, and then finally, he saw me, and a single tear dropped down his cheek.
He tossed the megaphone to the side and reached out to me. Suddenly I was being pulled in his direction, and the crowd started to push me toward him.
And then something happened that I never imagined could happen.
I got up on the small wall ledge next to Sebastian.
He wrapped his arms around me.
And then he leaned in, kissing me, completely fearlessly. He held me close, not pulling away. In front of hundreds of people. In front of the press and cameras. And in front of his mother.
A cold breeze whipped past, giving me goosebumps. The wind was suddenly so strong that it rustled through all the trees in a rush of noise that almost sounded like waves on the ocean.
And then afterward, it felt warmer. Maybe just a little bit. Almost imperceptible, maybe only a few degrees different.
But it was warmer. Like a blanket of ice had been lifted away from Frostmonte.
Sebastian’s legacy was forever changed. His heart would ache forever for it. But we had each other, and the support of the villages and the people, even if we had nothing else.
When we pulled apart, the queen was staring at us, her eyes emptier than ever. The wind blew past in one last gust, shaking the fabric of her gown. And then she left in a flash, disappearing into the black car behind her. Soon, all of the cars disappeared, back up toward the castle.