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Chapter Thirty Nine

Evelyn's POV

"Slow down. What happened?"

"H-He sent him away. That bastard!" The sobbing princess pushes away my comforting hand, then pulls it to her chest to hug it.

"He as in..?"

"My stepfather! He sent Jordan away." She breathes out slowly in an attempt to calm herself down. "We told him I was pregnant and now he wants to get rid of the baby, but they'll be the only permanent reminder I'll have of him." She blinks back tears. "It's all my fault. If only I wasn't such a wh-"

"Don't say it-"

"Whore, then none of this would have fucking happened!" She raises her arm to slam her fist on the desk, but I grab it before she can.

"Courtney, it's okay. You are not a whore, you hear me? You are a beautiful and highly respected young lady who deserves so much more than what you're getting right now." I look her in the eye firmly.

"He doesn't listen to me," she murmurs, bottom lip quivering violently. "He doesn't even listen to his daughter; only Archer." Sending me a tiny, sad smile, she adds, "Congrats on the engagement, by the way. He told me. Nice to know that at least someone is having luck on their side with their love lives. Then again, what chance did Jordan and I ever have? I'm a princess, for God's sake, and he's six years older than me, and he's my tutor. I love him, but it would have never worked."

Sighing out, I pull Courtney's head into my lap. "It's going to work itself out." Don't be so dramatic, I want to snap, but I know she's in a fragile state. "How about I talk to Archer for you? To get him to try and persuade his dad's mind."

She blinks up innocently at me. "You'd do that?"

"Of course. I'm your best friend." I brush her silky blonde hair out of her eyes. "I'll go talk to him now."

"Thanks.." She sighs as I stand up. "Take care."

I nod and make my way to the king's room, stopping in thought before I decide to knock. The door opens almost immediately, and Archer seems to be in shock when he sees me.

"You scared me!" He proceeds to make a joke, but I shake my head quickly, placing my hand over his mouth gently.

"It's very important. May we speak inside?" I request, my eyes wide.

Archer lets out a sigh but nods anyway, letting me walk in. "What's wrong?" he asks me as he shuts the door, and we both take a seat on his bed.

I pause for a while before deciding to just say it as it is. "Courtney.. Courtney is pregnant."

"Pregnant?!" he asks in disbelief.

I nod immediately. "Yes, with Jordan's baby. Your parents banished him to Maize, and now I'm scared for Courtney. Your father already hit her loads of times, and I was hoping you could talk to th-"

Archer barks out a laugh filled with irony. "You want me to talk to my parents?"

"Yeah, Courtney and I were hoping that..." I look into Archer's eyes, and then study his facial expression. His mouth is wide open, as if he can't believe I'm asking him to do this. "Wait, what's the matter?"

"He hates me," he mumbles in response.

"But Courtney told me that you get all the attention from him."

The corners of Archer's lips move into a cruel smile. "Only in front of the family, my dear, and if he shows me any real affection, it's only because I'm his only son." He sighs out before pulling off his shirt casually, gesturing towards his stomach. "Here, see anything?"

I let out a loud gasp. A burn mark resides just on the right of his bellybutton, and it seems fairly new. "Archer, what happened?"

"My father, of course. He was stoking the fire when I went up and told him that I'd proposed to you. Oh boy, he went ballistic. Turned towards me and struck me with it after he was done yelling." Archer shrugs his shirt back on, blinking furiously as if to stop tears from falling. "It's not the first time either. So many times he's done things like this 'on accident', and so many times he hasn't even apologized to me afterwards."

It takes all my willpower not to get up and do to the king what he had done to his own son. "What about the queen?"

"She doesn't hurt me like that. But do you really think, after treating her biological daughter like that, she'll be fair to me?" He folds his arms. "Even if I'm king, they're still around. I'm afraid there's no hope for Jordan."

I open my mouth to say something, but close it again quickly, changing my mind. Instead, I utter, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," he replies quietly. He places his hands on my cheeks and fixes my hair, bringing his lips to mine. "Let's change the subject. When would you like our wedding to be?"

I frown in thought. "July-ish?"

"Done. And where would you like to go for our honeymoon?" He waggles his eyebrows teasingly, and I let out a giggle.

"Iceglow? A change of scenery will be good."

"I'll start making arrangements first thing tomorrow morning." Archer kisses me tenderly. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." I look towards the door. "Better get going. Have a good night's sleep."

"Goodnight, darling."

A/N

Sorry! Had a bit of a writer's block.

This book is coming to a close soon, so if there are any suggestions plot-wise then we're welcome to taking them. Otherwise, we'll go with our evil plan :))))

~ Zalie :3