Fairy Tale Treasure (Book Two: The Road to Ever After)

Chapter Twenty-Five

The palace settled back into some sort of normalcy. Queen Adeline was revived by smelling salts and the voices of her loved ones. Robert and Jarryd assisted her back to her throne where she now rested, dazed but mainly okay. Gillroy reacted with the sensibility of the best father. Once his wife was in good hands, he escorted the Pirate King and Sarah out to the gardens for the interview of the century. Robert and King Darrick kept a curious watch, peeking out the window every few minutes to see how the trial of the Pirate King was commencing. So far, there were no raised voices or flying fists. The trio below were behaving with composure, which was a tad disappointing to those watching from above.

Since King Gillroy was occupied with Hurley and Sarah, the duty of holding Adeline's hand fell to Jarryd. If only someone could have understood the irony, so painful and so delicious, concealed beneath the simple act of consoling the queen. In another time, this position should have been Jarryd's right. He should have been the king supporting Once-upon-a Time's mistress with all his body, soul and strength. How it thrilled and killed him to be sitting here, filling in for her husband, replacing the man who replaced him at the altar. Jarryd knew the old feelings would never wash away. He would never stop loving the weak, compassionate princess that enriched his impoverished heart two decades before.

If this was the case, then Jarryd knew what he must do, at last. This could not continue. It was wrong, so terribly false to keep loving this woman who was married to another man. His constant devotion tainted every relationship, even his pure love of the two children he adored as if they were his own. But they were not his, nor could they ever have been. Every stage of their lives occurred exactly as they were meant to. Jarryd finally saw where he fit in the larger scheme. There was a reason he lost Adeline twenty-two years earlier, and the reason was so he might save her children's lives on this momentous day.

"Adeline," Jarryd murmured out of a haze. He blinked in her direction and was met with her tired smile. That serene smile that brought sunrise and songbirds into the darkness of his soul.

"Yes, Jarryd."

"Adeline, I have to tell you something," he started meekly.

Adeline leaned her head towards him. "You know you can tell me anything, Jarryd. No need to be cryptic. What is it?"

The tall, dark ex-prince almost lost his will to speak. She was not prepared for this. It was not fair to dash this upon her on such a trying day. Her easiness with him was trusting as only the deepest friendship can be. It was utterly impossible for her to believe he could ever wound her. But that was precisely what he was about to do. It was what Jarryd must do to fulfill his life's purpose.

"I'm going away, Adeline."

"Jarryd," her blue eyes laughed. "You always go away. And then you always come back to us. You are as constant as the winter stars."

"This will not be like usual, Adeline," Jarryd explained. He could not stop repeating her name. It would be some of the last opportunities to enjoy the pleasure. "I won't be coming back."

The fright was settling into Adeline like a fog upon a valley. She slipped her hand out from under his without escaping the lock of his gaze. She was remaining calm, but wary.

"What do you mean, Jarryd?" her normally lilting voice turned to a line of freeze.

Jarryd paused. "I had a weighty choice to make, Adeline, and, until just now, I was torn. But Sarah's news has settled everything for me. I know what I must do, and I've found the courage to do it."