Brotherhood

Chapter 24

If Amy had thought she had distractedly wandered the castle after she had met Geric, that didn't even compare to how she felt now. She felt as if she floated on a pile of clouds, remembering last night vividly. Geric's touch. His kisses. His love. Every part of loving him was absolutely wonderful and she knew that she couldn't give him up for anything. She would fight to be with him, oh, she would fight so hard with everything she had.

"Ameline," the king said from behind her, startling her out of her thoughts. Amy turned around, trying not to allow her father to see what happened last night in her eyes. But her father looked haggard, almost as if he hadn't slept all night himself. "I've been in meeting after meeting all night and all morning. I need to have one more with you before I get a couple hours of sleep or I'm going to collapse where I stand. Come out with me to the gardens with your mother for tea."

A heavy weight dropped in her stomach. This must be bad. Her father rarely had that many meetings back to back like that.

She followed her father outside and kissed her mother's cheek before taking a seat in their normal spot around the round table with the flowers in full bloom all around them. Even her mother didn't look that great and Amy suspected the worst.

"I suppose you know what this meeting is already about, Amy," her father started as he stirred his tea around in his porcelain cup. "We have much to discuss, and as Colmar's future queen, you need to hear all of it."

"What's going on, Daddy?" she asked carefully, trying to disguise her worry.

Her father chuckled humorlessly. "We're walking on a double-edged sword. I suppose we have ever since your mother and I accepted the proposal for Charles to become your husband, so half of this is our fault. You told us from the beginning that Charles was no good for the kingdom. We should have listened."

"What your father is trying to say," her mother cut in, "is that Minnings has declared war. Even though they honestly have no grounds to do such a thing, it cannot be stopped now. Their king has agreed to cease fighting if we submit willingly and give up the crown for Charles to take over, but if we do that, they've also called for all three of our heads."

Amy swallowed hard, her hands trembling beneath the table out of fear. "Why not fight back? Don't you believe we can hold our own?"

The queen shook her head. "Their army is five times larger than ours. They will crush us and that will be more bloodshed than we can afford. Our mistake was allowing Charles into our home in the first place. We cannot allow our people to pay for our mistake."

Shaking her head, Amy replied, "Don't blame yourselves. I have a feeling that Minnings planned this all along. They wanted to take over our country whether through war or through marriage. It wasn't anyone's fault."

Both the king and the queen fell silent, and that's when Amy realized that there was something else going on. "What is it?" she asked fearfully.

"Well, that's the other side of the sword," her father said exhaustedly. "The werewolves want our blood too. One of our soldiers, who shall remain nameless, has tipped us off of the werewolves' plans to attack. I don't suppose you'd know anything about this?"

Amy looked into her lap with a guilty expression. "I need to be completely honest with you, Daddy. I know that it wasn't the most responsible decision ever, but at the time, I thought it better to elope with Geric than to allow my kingdom to fall to shambles by marrying Charles."

Her mother gasped. "Amy! You didn't!"

Shaking her head, Amy said, "No, I didn't. Because Geric and I were caught up in something bigger. Geric had no idea, mind you. But we found out that the werewolves planned to attack a few days ago and take over the throne. They wanted Geric as their king. There was no stopping the werewolves. They wanted our blood so badly, making me realize that a union with them was more important than ever. Geric managed to hold off the attack by placating them with the idea that a marriage with me might be the best option. But the werewolves are growing restless, Father. Geric is losing control of them. But Daddy, understand this. No one is the bad guy here. Werewolves are treated so poorly, they don't deserve that. You can see the world of difference that has been made just by allowing Geric into the castle. The humans are not as afraid anymore."

The king sighed into his hand. "You're much too wise for your age, Ameline. But we really, truly are on a double edge sword. If we don't comply with Minnings' demands, we will be annihilated. If we don't comply with the werewolves' demands, we will also be annihilated. No matter which way we turn, we've got two armies on our hind ends."

Even Amy didn't know what to do. Everything would have worked out fine if it were just Geric and her placating the werewolves, but there was no way she could have foreseen the issues with Minnings.

"Can't we give them something else that they want instead of our kingdom? Make a trade of some sort?"

Again, her father sighed. "We've tried negotiating. They won't listen."

"What do your advisors say about this whole issue?"

"They say to hold our ground," he answered. "To die fighting with honor, and in the slim chance that we survive, to live with pride and honor. I've informed our soldiers, giving them an option to leave or fight for our kingdom. Many have left, but even more have stayed. Our allied countries have heard our plea for help, but none will arrive in time before the attack. We're caught between a rock and a hard place."

This news was a giant weight on her heart, especially because she didn't know what to do about any of it.

"Father," Amy said quietly as she put a gentle hand on his arm. "You need some much needed rest. I'm ordering you back to your bed chambers to get some well-deserved sleep."

He didn't need to be told twice. He stood up and three guards accompanied him back to the castle.

"Mum, you too. I'll take care of anything that happens in the next few hours, okay?"

She nodded and stood up. "I'm too young to die."

That fact was very much true. Her father had married her mother when he was twenty-five and she was seventeen. But she was still much too young to die an early death.

"Go get some sleep, Mum." Amy watched as her mother wept her way toward the castle, and each step she took was another cloud that shrouded Amy in darkness. No matter how she might have changed her actions in the past, it looked as if her and her family's downfall was inevitable. Perhaps all her efforts had led her nowhere.