Page 16 of This Is Not True Love’s Kiss

There were many things that could go wrong, but I was sick of sitting back and letting others decide my fate. I was sick of feeling like a shadow of myself.

“Okay,” Ambrose said with a laugh. “That’s grand and all. But how will Lor react?”

“Oh, that’s the best part.” I smiled so big my cheeks hurt. “He’s going to hate it. Every bit of it. He’ll be so miserable by the end of this month, he’ll be begging to give up the crown.”

“You really think it’ll work?” Ambrose asked with a raised brow. “Lor is stubborn.”

“Lor will hate it,” I said, laughing and clapping a hand over my mouth. “He’ll hate all of it. So even if it doesn’t work, that alone will make it worth it.” This whole time I’d been trying to convince Lor to let me be queen, to let me do my job. I’d been asking for permission. But I was done with that. I wasn’t going to ask anymore. I would do everything I’d been wanting to do—and I’d infuriate Lor in the process.

“You’re diabolical, lovely. So what now?”

I put my hands on Ambrose’s shoulders. “Now we plan.”

CHAPTER 7

Lor

Iwalked along the cobblestone street, tall trees with thick leafy canopies rising up behind all the buildings, my brothers on either side of me.

“So?” Cillian said, shaking some of his dark wavy hair from his forehead. “What do you think?”

“About what?” I asked.

Cillian shot a look out the side of his eye toward my other brothers. “The scroll I just read to you?” He held the rolled parchment up.

“What about it?” We passed the blacksmith, forging a sword over molten coals, smoke curling in the air.

I nodded to him.

“Your Majesty,” he said, head dipping.

“Are you going to do anything about it?” Cillian asked as we continued on our way.

“No,” I said. “It’s ridiculous. What am I supposed to do? Beg Aoife to let me be king? She’d never agree. She’s too stubborn. The month will go by, and this edict will expire, and everything will continue on just as it has.”

The thought exhausted me. I was so sick of fighting with my wife while also trying to do what was best for our people. It was draining me, but I saw no other way forward, and I honestly had no idea why Castle even bothered with this. Nothing would come of it.

“You could try?” Nevan suggested, pushing his spectacles up his nose. “Maybe you can be persuasive.”

A tall wooden townhouse stood in the distance, the sun shining over its thatched roof. My newest project.

I’d just had it built, and today was our very first town hall, a chance for citizens to come forward with questions and concerns and be listened to by Aoife and me. I wanted it to be a chance for our community to come together, for Aoife and I to come together.

At least that was what I hoped. Aoife always surprised me in one way or another, and my shoulders bunched to my ears as I thought about what she could do to derail this plan. She could arrive late or not show up at all, but neither of those were the worst things that could happen. She could pick a fight in front of our people. I just had to hope she realized how detrimental that would be.

It wasn’t like she’d actually showed up to any of our meetings planning this entire thing, but I had gotten her signature to move forward with it, so that was something.

“Well, that went about as expected,” Cillian murmured to my brothers, gesturing to the scroll.

A strong, firm hand gripped my arm, and I turned to face my oldest brother. Wolfe’s thick brows pinched together as he stared down at me. “Lor,” he said.

I’d always looked up to Wolfe, wanted to be just like him. He trained me, practically raised me along with my parents. He’d always instilled in me that I needed to do the right thing. He’d raised me to be a hero—and then when I was twenty, I’d gone and disappeared. Let him, everyone, believe I was dead after I’d been kidnapped by our enemy, by the Brotherhood of Magic. I hadn’t intended to stay with the brotherhood. My plan had been to escape. But I’d discovered one of the members was actually a rebel. Arthon had been working against the brotherhood in secret. And he wanted to recuit me.

Flashes of his wrinkled, scarred face appeared in my mind as he told me I had a choice: You can crawl back to your kingdom. Or you can train to be my replacement one day. The new leader of the rebels if something ever happens to me. But you will have to sacrifice, Lor. You will have to sacrifice everything to do this.

I’d failed, in the end. Then Castle had other plans for me, and now here I was, trying to be the king everyone deserved, trying to make up for the way I’d hurt Wolfe, hurt my whole family, when I abandoned them. Trying to make up for ruining Arthon’s legacy, ruining all the years of training and trust he put into me to be the leader of the rebels. To destroy the brotherhood.

“Lor,” Wolfe said again, and I shook my head, shook away Arthon’s ghost, his voice, telling me I wasn’t trying hard enough. That it was my fault Aoife didn’t want to rule beside me, and I had to try harder to convince her.