Brotherhood

Chapter 12

Amy paced back and forth across the great hall, never feeling more worried in her life. This was all her fault. Everything would have been decently fine with the werewolf proposal until she gave her father a name. If she never gave her father Geric's name, this never would have happened. This was all her fault.

After what felt like an eternity, Amy watched as her father stormed out of the dungeon with a troubled look on his face before ordering the guards to escort Geric from the palace.

"Father!" Amy gasped, her eyes wide as she crossed the room. "Father, you're letting him go?"

"Banishing him is more like it. I never want to see his face in Colmar again." Part of her felt relieved that Geric wasn't going to get killed, another part felt devastated. If she hadn't made that mistake, this never would have happened. This was all her fault...

A few minutes later, the guards came back out with Geric in tow, dragging him along between them. "Geric!" Amy gasped as she rushed toward him, cradling his face in her hands. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I swear I didn't mean it."

He gave her a brief, sad smile before one of the guards pulled her away and continued pushing Geric forward. Geric glanced back at her one last time before he disappeared completely.

"Father, you can't do this! I love him! Please!"

He clutched his fist tighter as if he were holding something in his palm, either that or he was very cross with her. "Marriage is not about love," he growled. "It's about forming bonds between countries. He can offer you nothing. Now leave it be because I'm not going to change my mind."

Amy's hand flew to her mouth before she darted outside into the sunlight, craning her neck over the crowd that had gathered to try and find Geric. She spotted his head over the crowd but it was already too late. The guards pushed him inside the wagon they had come here with and bolted away, much too fast for her to run after him.

Tears streamed down her face, and she didn't care that she had an audience. But before she could break out in full blown sobs, she turned on her heel and ran up to her room, closing the door tight behind her. She'd let no one in, not even her lady in waiting. Not even any of the maids or her mother or her father. Especially not her father. As much as she loved her father, she really hated him right now.

Amy wiped away her tears with a firm resolve. She was going to go find Geric no matter how long it took. She needed to see him at least one last time.

. . . . .

After waiting about two hours, Amy started to think he wasn't going to show up. But why would he? He didn't even know she was here. On top of that, she could only imagine what he felt right now. He probably felt hurt and alone, and Amy felt so rotten for making him feel that. She didn't mean it to happen. She didn't.

Amy hugged her knees to her chest and stared out over the pond, her heart aching more and more with each passing minute. Maybe she would never see Geric ever again. This was her fault...

Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the bushes and Amy spun around in fear as she stared back into the eyes of a grey and black wolf. But after a moment, the fear passed and she leapt to her feet.

"Geric," she gasped, kneeling in front of his wolf form and putting a hand on either side of his furry face. "I am so sorry! You have to believe me. I never meant for any of this to happen. I was only trying to do something good, and then it accidentally slipped out to my father that I'd rather marry you than Charles and he got so angry. Oh, I've never seen him that angry at me in my life. And I'm so sorry that I didn't ask you first if I could propose an idea like that. I didn't even know if he would consider it in the first place. But I thought that maybe I could kill two birds with one stone by helping my people by being a good queen and have a man that I actually loved by my side."