The Royal Curse

Twenty Six - Midnight

Ashe Knightley

Kace had under an hour before the lords left the Palace, and he had no plan on what he would tell them.

I hardly knew what to tell him regarding the will.

Kace crossed his arms, leaning back against the office chair. His entire demeanor changed from when I first talked to him, and it was because of that napkin and whoever wrote it.

"Why did you pardon Father, Nick?" he asked again.

"What are you going to tell him, oh great Nicholyn?" the man's voice echoed in my mind. "You cannot tell him the truth."

"As much as we dislike our father, he did well ruling over Entorre. The economy was stable—"

"You never gave a shit about Father's wonderful policies. Don't feed me that," Kace bit out, his hand tightening around his bicep. "You've hidden much from me, but you cannot hide this."

"King Lius may have kept the economy stable, but I would bet he kicked puppies on the side." The voice laughed on the other end. I did my best to hide my facial reactions. "Here's an idea: announce to the lords that you're the late Prince Nicholyn!"

"Because I did not want you to be the king," I finally said, touching the bracelet.

His stare was blank. "Excuse me?"

"I did not believe you'd be fit to be the next king, Kace."

The timing on my line was absolutely awful, because next thing I knew, Kace threw a medallion at me. "I literally taught you in most of our courses. All you did was help me in fencing, and you have the nerve—the gall—to say I am not fit to be king?"

"I never claimed I was a better candidate."

"You were next in line—"

"I hardly wanted to be king. I couldn't care less about the monarchies, the hierarchy system, or anything related to politics. I care about people, which is something"—I pointed at him—"you lack. We both know this, so don't act like this is a surprise. You would've made worse choices than me. You would've acted on the best interest of Entorre and not the world."

"That's..." He inched his head down, as if every word I said was an arrow aimed at him. "You are quite the hypocrite."

"Am I wrong?" I leaned back, my hand still gripped tightly to the bracelet.

"Since you are so emotionally tuned now, Ashe Knightley, do enlighten me: what the hell do you know about my life? You left us for years. You lied."

I had to force myself to lower my voice. "I don't need to know about your life since Nicholyn died. I know enough about you."

He physically recoiled at my words. Whenever we argued, Kace would easily give into my point—or he'd get up and leave, acting as if he were the bigger man. But this time was different. He shook his head, not a hint of any reaction I was used to seeing. "Every choice I've made is for the betterment of Entorre, you are indeed correct. I will never jeopardize my citizen's lives. I would never allow outside influences to dictate how I create my policies. And believe me"—he grabbed my shoulder, his grip firm—"that includes you. The next time you try to question me, I won't hesitate to order my men to hunt you down and kill you."