Broch agreed that he was, but he didn’t want to think that it was the wrong assumption. He did believe that she would go along with it.
“She will agree to marry me.”
“Well, you have my blessing, it’s just Christin that needs to give you yours.”
That was all Broch wanted to hear. He had hoped for that to be his answer, but he wasn’t sure. Now, he knew that he could go to her confidently and the two of them could finally be together. In his mind, they already were.
“I also think you should know something before you ask her.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“I am going to be giving her the crown and title. I don’t want to be king anymore. I wanted Phillip out of my seat, but Christin will do a good job. You will have two clans to run simultaneously if you get together. It would be a lot, but I know that the two of you could do it.”
Broch was shocked by the last part. It was a lot, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He had wanted the two clans to be allies, but could they be more than that?
***
“I told you, Broch, it’s a bad idea. Now that she is going to run that dragon clan, she won’t be able to be a queen to our people too. She can’t do both. She is going to have to denounce her role or something. You know it as well as I do.”
Broch wasn’t sure that he knew that. He didn’t want to admit it if that was really the case. What he wanted was for there to be some warning when Leonard was in one of his moods. Broch knew that Leonard was still upset about his parents’ death, but he needed to move on. He needed his second in command to do the same. They had a lot of ground to cover and its wasn’t going to happen the way that things were going.
“I can’t ask her to do that. She has suffered a lot for that title, and I think she deserves it.”
“What about your people, Broch? What are your people going to think when they are pushed to the side? You said that we are equal, but you are so quick to push us to the side.”
Broch looked at Leonard and really saw him. The man he had worked with and known for years was not acting like himself at all. No matter how much Broch tried to change it, he couldn’t see any of it the way that Leonard did. It was a shame too, because the two friends had seen eye to eye for years. Broch wanted that then. He wanted Leonard in his corner, where he was supposed to be.
“What are you talking about, Leonard? I am in love with her, no one is getting pushed to the side. I haven’t had a woman ever make me feel the way that Christin does. I haven’t pushed anything to the side, I have just been happy. Is that what makes this so hard for you? Do you not want me to be happy?”
“You can’t love her, Broch; you barely know her.”
Broch disagreed, he loved her. He knew the feeling and he definitely loved her. He had never been so sure of anything in his life. Why couldn’t Leonard be happy for him? Was he jealous or something? It didn’t make any sense to Broch. He didn’t get why Leonard was so intent on blaming Christin and her family for everything.
“I do love her, Leonard, and I wish that you were behind me on this one. You know that I have never acted this way before, so why are you pretending like this is a run of the mill sort of thing? It isn’t.”
“I am hearing grumbles, Broch. People aren’t happy that you have become so buddy-buddy with the dragons.”
“Yeah, I wonder who is rumbling?”
Broch didn’t even have to ask. There were always a few people who didn’t like something or everything that he did. It was never ending, the ways that he was or wasn’t supposed to do something. Usually, his second would field all of those complaints, but now it was different. Broch didn’t know why it was different, just that it was.
He left Leonard with a bad feeling. He didn’t know what was going to happen but recognized that something was. He wanted to think that Leonard was on his side, he had always thought so, but now, it felt like Leonard was on the opposing side. He wanted him there when he made the announcement but decided that maybe he didn’t need him. He was just going to make it worse, and Broch didn’t need any more complication than there already was.
Chapter 31
Christin
Christin didn’t know what was going on with Broch, but he was acting different. She tried to see if he had some excuse for how he was acting, but he didn’t give her one. Christin could see that something was wrong, but she didn’t want to ask. They were still in the honeymoon faze of their relationship and Christin was interested in one thing. She was interested in the pleasure that he would give her, and Christin was hyper focused on it. It was all she could think about, so when he told her that he wanted to do something special, Christin wasn’t sure what it was. It had to be something big though, because he was acting so out of place.
She watched him straighten his shirt for the tenth time and finally she wanted to know what they were doing.
“Picnic in the woods.”
Christin grinned and said something about how it was dark, but that fact didn’t bother Broch at all. Apparently what he had in mind, they wouldn’t need all that much sunshine for. Christin wanted to know what was in the basket he was carrying, but he wouldn’t let her see. It just piqued her attention even more and finally, Christin told him to spill it.
“Just follow me, Christin. I promise that you’re going to like it.”
“That’s a lot to promise.”
