Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Theo scrubbed a hand over his face. “Let’s go.”
“No.” Meg shifted on her seat like the car might explode around them. “Theo needs to get the birth certificate.”
Theo spun on her with a curse. “We talked about this. You need a fucking doctor and probably a blood transfusion.”
“Probably.” She sank back into the seat and closed her eyes. “But I’m just going to keep fighting with you until you do what you need to do, getting weaker all the while.”
It was a brilliant play.
Theo glared at Galen, but he just shrugged. The truth was they needed that damn birth certificate and as much as he wanted to gather up them both and get the fuck out of this country, they’d come here for a reason. The cause was greater than all of them as individuals. But he knew his friend and he knew that Theo wouldn’t agree to shit without some kind of compromise. “We know a doctor.”
Theo’s jaw went tight, his thoughts obviously following the path Galen’s had taken. “Not her.”
“She’s all we have.”
“Fuck. Fine. Call her.” He turned back to Meg, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Hurry.”
Galen made the call, got the address. It was two villages over, which was the only silver lining in what had become a shitshow of a day.
“She’s asleep,” Theo murmured. “Tell me.”
“One man. He was trained too well to give up who sent him, and I didn’t have time to convince him to see things my way. He went for his knife. I got to mine faster.” He kept his voice monotone. Theo didn’t like the lengths Galen was willing to go for him—for them—but Galen had made his peace with his role a long time ago. No monarch made it through their reign without getting their hands bloody. He spared Theo as many of those hard decisions as he possibly could.
It was the least he could do after what Theo had done for him.
“It’s not safe to go back to the house.”
Galen checked the rearview and kept driving. “I’ll take care of it.” He didn’t trust this doctor, but he could bank on her hating Phillip enough that she wouldn’t turn over information about them. That was all he could bank on. After they dealt with the marriage certificate, Galen could stash them somewhere to rest and circle back to the house to get the things they needed.
They weren’t going to get far without their shit.
“No. No more risks. You’ve done more than enough. I’ll do it.”
He tightened his grip on the wheel. Theo wasn’t normally squeamish about letting him handle shit, but this morning had shaken all of them. When he’d wrestled himself out of the seatbelt and turned around to find Theo unconscious and Meg bleeding out from a huge gash in her arm… Galen hadn’t known fear like that in years. Not since they were nineteen and Theo’s horse had thrown him.
He shuddered at both memories. “We can’t risk you, and you damn well know it. Learn to delegate.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me about delegating. You would carry the whole fucking world if I let you, and it’s not right. If something happened to you—”
“You would keep going.” Galen took a turn and entered the village. It was larger than the last one, more of a town really, sprawling at twice the size of the place where he’d picked them up. “You are more important than any one part, Theo. If you fall, then Phillip wins. Edward becomes puppet king to your uncle, and Phillip twists him into a man of his own making. He’ll marry Camilla off to some douchebag who will break her spirit, because he can’t afford for anyone to rise up against him.” Not that Galen could see sweet Cami leading a rebellion, but stranger things had happened.
Theo was silent for several breaths. “Stop throwing my role in my face like it makes me special. I have a job to do, same as anyone. Just because you’re not a Fitzcharles doesn’t mean you’re expendable. You are not fucking expendable, Galen. If something happens to you…”
“It won’t.” He had no business making promises, and he knew better than to try. “And even if it did, you’d finish this. You’d connect with the other people loyal to you and you’d see this plan through.” He parked and turned to meet Theo’s gaze. His blue eyes were filled with anger and something like despair. Galen leaned forward and lowered his voice. “You are going to be the motherfucking King of Thalania, Theo. Every single person can be sacrificed except you. Every. Single. One.”
For a long moment, he thought Theo would argue with him. But he finally gave a short nod and sat back. “Let’s get this over with.”
It wasn’t a win, not by a long shot. In fact, this whole day was a mark in the loss column. They were down and hurt and Phillip had obviously decided to stop pussyfooting around and take out Theo directly. All of that translated to one undeniable fact.