“Why?” Mary Fitzcharles had died something like twenty years ago. Theo couldn’t have been more than ten when it happened—far too young to be held responsible.
“Alexis holds to the belief that my mother used my father to get out of her abusive relationship, but she never had any intention of staying, until they realized she was pregnant with me. Which is when my father married her, apparently despite the fact she was still married to her first husband.”
To blame an innocent kid for something like that… “That’s bullshit.”
“Maybe.” His phone beeped and he paused. “Galen’s got our stuff and is on the way back. It’s time to go.”
13
Pressure built in Theo, a great crushing monster he couldn’t deny. Seeing Galen walk through the door, whole and hale, helped. A lot. But every time he looked at Meg, too pale and determined to power through the weakness caused by her injury, he wanted to break something.
This was his fault.
Galen hustled Meg out to the car—a different one than what he’d left with—and Theo went to find Alexis. His aunt stood in the backyard, smoking a cigarette, her eyes on the clouds overhead. “You’re determined to see this through.”
“I don’t have another option. I never did, despite what you want to believe.” Once Phillip got a taste of power, he’d never stop. He might be content to play the puppeteer behind the throne now, but eventually that wouldn’t be enough. Theo’s brother and sister were vulnerable now that their father was gone. He was raised as the heir, with no veil over his eyes when it came to how things worked. They were sheltered and kept coddled. When Edward hit eighteen, that would have changed, but their father died before he could ease them into the realities of being part of Thalania’s ruling family.
Theo couldn’t abandon them any more than he could abandon his country.
“I have to do this,” he said.
Alexis exhaled a long stream of smoke and looked at him. “You might get both of them killed.”
He tensed at the very idea of it. Galen could take care of himself, but he thought of Theo first, rather than his own safety. Meg was smart and savvy, but she was out of her depth in this situation. A world without either of them would be unthinkable. “I won’t let that happen.”
“You’re so much like your father, it makes me sick.” She shook her head and took another drag from the cigarette. “You’re not a god, Theodore. You can’t save everyone.”
He could stand here and argue with her until he was blue in the face, but she would never forgive him for being the reason her sister stayed in Thalania, or for having that country’s stamp all over him. Theo was who he was. And Alexis might not believe it, but Mary had been happy until she died. However his parents’ relationship started, it ended in mutual affection and love. He couldn’t say as much to his aunt, though, without being accused of lying.
Instead, he went with the reason they were in Germany to begin with. “Will you give me a copy of her birth certificate?”
“You should let this go. Settle down with your cute little polyamorous life. Have babies or don’t. Grow old at a normal pace instead of accelerated through the stress of holding an entire country together.”
Theo held onto his patience by his fingertips. “Phillip is actively trying to remove me from the equation now, Alexis. He won’t stop, because as long as I’m alive, I’m a threat—even if I’m living what passes as a normal life. This is as much about survival as it is about reclaiming my birthright.” He paused. “And my mother deserves to have her reputation cleared.”
Alexis gave a bitter little laugh. Her blue eyes, so like his mother’s, held no warmth or sympathy. “Mary’s dead. Who gives a fuck about her reputation?”
“I do. And I think you do, too.” He glanced over his shoulder. Galen would have Meg in the car by now. They were waiting. “Alexis, please.”
She sighed and walked to a small table situated between two wicker chairs to snuff out her cigarette. Alexis bent and pulled a faded blue folder from beneath one of the chair cushions. She handed it to him. “Next time you’re going to bring violence down on us, don’t involve my son.”
“I won’t.” It was the least he could agree to. “The renovation is complete, as agreed. Thank you for the use of the house.”
Alexis shook another cigarette out of her pack and lit it. “I’m still contemplating burning it to the ground.”
He bit back a protest. The house belonged to her, and as such, it was her choice. No matter how little he liked it. There was no guarantee Theo would make it back through Germany again any time soon, but hell if he wouldn’t have bought that house from her outright if he thought for a second she’d sell. They’d only been there for roughly twenty-four hours, but the memories he and Meg and Galen had created within those four walls would stay with Theo for the rest of his life.
He flipped open the folder and read the equally faded birth certificate for one Mary Mortimore. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m assisting in your determination to get yourself killed.” She turned away.
There was nothing else to say. He’d got what he came for, and there was no mending bridges when it came to Alexis. There hadn’t even been a bridge to begin with. “Stay safe, Alexis.”
“Go.”
He went.
Theo made sure the door was locked behind him and then walked to where Galen had a beige Audi station wagon running and slipped into the back seat next to Meg. Galen barely waited for the door to shut before he took off. “You got it.”
