The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series) (40 page)

              “Right,” she mumbled.

              “Come on, Amelia,” I dropped my voice an octave to appeal to her own rabid, horny, female pieces. “I promise this will be the best tour you’ve ever taken.”

Chapter Thirty-six

              We wandered through the empty Kingsley hallways. Our footsteps and voices echoed off the high ceilings and against ornate staircases. I pointed out the theater to Amelia and then made her laugh by telling her the story of Eden and the blown out windows in front of Sebastian. She hadn’t known that Eden and Sebastian didn’t get along at first. I explained how he was always bothering her and she was always overreacting. I also explained Eden’s temper, something she hadn’t been fortunate enough to witness yet.

              Mrs. Woodsen, I couldn’t think of her any other way. Even though I was now King and she was technically my subordinate, she would always be a frazzled teacher to me. I remembered her especially as Mrs. Woodsen when I stood in her chaotic classroom.

She had boxed up what Eden needed from her collection and placed it all by the door. We carried the boxes down to the Land Rover and loaded them in the trunk. Then I led Amelia over to the Administration Building for the official “tour” portion of our afternoon.

We walked through the lobby and Amelia stopped to look at the pictures of Immortal dignitaries and old Kings that still lined the walls just inside the door. Even though she wasn’t here I avoided Mrs. Truance’s desk. She scared me, plain and simple. I would always respect her attachment and loyalty to Amory, but the woman scared me.

We went upstairs and peeked in office doors, the teachers’ lounge and then paused outside of Amory’s old office. The office was completely different than I remembered it. I appointed Charles Lambert as principal as soon as I was King and he made the place his own. Lucan had made Seraphina’s father head of the school after Amory’s death. Even though Seraphina’s alliance had shifted, her father’s hadn’t and he was on a watch list for Lucan supporters I thought could cause problems.

I was glad the office was different, glad that it no longer resembled Amory and his old world ways. Still, I stood outside the door, not even able to make myself go inside. I was reminded of chats and impromptu planning meetings while I attended school here, or even just stopping by to say hi. I could easily picture him behind his desk, reading old documents in extinct languages or doling out orders to me or Charles Lambert. For the first time in a really long time, I was hit by the injustice of his death and the loneliness of leadership without him.

I sucked in a breath and struggled to get my emotions in check. I wasn’t in danger of breaking down and weeping or anything, but I was very close to forgetting my purpose for bringing Amelia here.

              “Are you Ok, Avalon?” Amelia asked and I hated that my face betrayed any emotion.

Her soft, sweet voice pulled me out of my self-indulgent funk though and my head cleared. I looked down at her and let go of Amory. The ring weighed heavily in my pocket, the same ring he left for my inheritance…. for my future wife.

He hadn’t left me alone, not really.

              “I’m fine,” I sighed. “This was Amory’s old office.” I cleared my throat and continued. “There are just a lot of memories here.”

              “I barely knew Amory,” Amelia admitted solemnly. She peered in the office as if she would find him there and when she turned back to me she was thoughtful. “When he was around my family he spent most of his time with Kiran and Sebastian. Any my uncle obviously hated him.”

              “You would have liked him,” I smiled pushing beyond the hurt of the past and into the promise of the present. “He was a bleeding heart too. You two could have saved the world together.” I took her hand, slipping it into mine when she wasn’t paying attention. Or maybe she was paying attention and was going to let me get away with it.

              “I’m hardly a bleeding heart,” she rolled her eyes at me.

              “Oh so you attend conferences on AIDS research and summits about Human Trafficking out of the cruelness of your heart?” I teased.

              “Showing up at meetings is hardly saving the world. It’s more like a bunch of rich people throwing money at other people so they can save the world. I’m not doing anything personally to help those causes,” she explained humbly. She shot me a look that told me I better agree with her.

              “No, I completely agree with you,” I announced. “Funding the cure for AIDS is probably the worst thing a person can do.” She made a sound that was somewhere in between a long sigh and a grunt of frustration. I moved toward the back stairwell, deciding we could continue with our tour. “Why don’t you wear diamonds Amelia?”

              “Because they’re ugly,” she mumbled and I knew she was lying. She kept her hand in mine but I felt the way she became keenly aware of the connection. I wondered if she would pull away, but she didn’t.

              At least not yet.

              “Amelia….?” I goaded.

              We exited the Administration Building through the back exit and walked slowly along the octagonal path that connected the separate buildings. I guided her toward the bell tower, hoping we would be able to pause and enjoy the nice autumn afternoon.

              And also hoping this would be an ideal spot to lay it out for her.

              AKA propose.

              “Fine, if you must know, I don’t support blood diamonds,” she sighed.

              “But you can buy non-conflict diamonds,” I argued even though I knew where this was going.

              “That’s not the point,” she started to get fired up, her eyes flashing with passion and conviction. She was stunning. “It’s the need, the consumerism that drives the market. If we stopped buying diamonds altogether, there wouldn’t be diamond fields and slaves and children ripped from their homes to work for criminals. Diamonds wouldn’t be in demand and blood-diamonds would cease to exist. Buying diamonds is essentially supporting a cause that murders innocent people for black-market riches.”

              I let that argument process with me and shushed the cynical part of my personality that argued if it wasn’t diamonds it would be something else. There would always be crime, injustice, tyranny. Fighting for my own people had taught me that. Hell, Terletov had reinforced the point. She also had a point of course; maybe a naïve utopian point… but still she had a point. And mostly I just loved that sensitive, caring part of her too much to squash it.

              “That’s a good reason not to wear diamonds,” I finally agreed after much thought. And it
was
a good reason. She was a good person. “See? You’re a defender of the innocent, warrior for justice. You’re a good person Amelia.” My thoughts echoed out loud and I smiled down at her.

“Avalon you make me sound like something I’m not,” she argued. “What you did…. what you do for our people…. that’s…. you’re incredible. I’m just trying to do my small part. It’s nothing compared to what you do.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but words failed me. We were standing under the bell tower in the middle of the Kingsley courtyard. All around us trees had turned brilliant yellow, deep orange or rustic red, and the colorful leaves floated and skittered across the ground around us. The sun was set just low enough in the sky that the unfiltered light lit up the space behind Amelia in a luminous glow that made her hair shine bright and gave her a halo. Her eyes filled with sincerity, her lips pursed in honesty. She was perfection.

This moment was perfection.

It was time to fight for her. But even if I lost her, I would always have this moment. I knew that to my very core. And I would remember her like this for the rest of eternity. I would remember how she made me feel, how she swallowed up my resolve and fears and hopes all at the same time and gave me something more to work for, something more to become. She moved my soul, the very depth of my being and I was helpless against her.

After all I was only a man.

And she was a force of nature.

“What?” she laughed after I stood staring at her for several moments.

“Amelia, I love you,” I blurted out so much less eloquently than I had hoped.

There was a heavy silence that settled between us for several moments while I tried to collect my thoughts and she tried to politely get out of this situation. She glanced around frantically, at every single thing but me.

A lesser man would have panicked.

But I had been in a lot of fights. I knew how to read an opponent and I knew when an opponent was nervous.

I took her lack of eye contact as a good sign.

“And I know you love me,” I declared. Slowly, painstakingly slowly, her wide eyes moved back to mine. Her cheeks blushed the deepest shade of red and her bottom lip trembled. “I was a jackass all those years ago, a complete tool. But my eyes are open now. I know what you are…. who you are…. and I know I’m never going to find this in any other person for the rest of my life. And Amelia, we both know how long that will be.” She opened her mouth to respond, but I kept going. “I don’t know what is stopping you from trusting me and trusting what’s between us, but I do know this. I know that you were created for me. I know without a shadow of a doubt that you were brought to life to exist for me. And I for you. You make me the best version of myself. You make me want to be King and I didn’t even think that was possible!” I laughed a little to try and bring a smile to her face. It only kind of worked. “You open my eyes and make me see pain and suffering and then you make me want to do something about it. You make me want the most out of life. Because of you I’ve stopped sitting on the sidelines watching it all pass me by. I can’t stand the monotony that my life was, but with you it will never be boring again. I have never seen so much life, so much excitement in one person. You are more to me than all of that though, you’re more to me than love. You are
everything
to me. Amelia, from the moment you walked back into my life I have wanted nothing more than to call you mine and to give you myself in return. Please let me love you,” I finished on a whisper and then paused. When she said nothing I finished, “Please let yourself love me.”

She sniffled and then a lone tear slipped from the corner of her eye and trailed down her cheek. “Avalon, I don’t know what to say.”

“Because you’re so moved by my honesty?” I ventured, catching her tear with my thumb. I let my thumb move along her cheek, caressing her soft skin as it went. “Amelia, I love you.”

“Call me, Mimi,” she demanded, taking a step back.

I assessed her carefully. She was so afraid, so unsure of herself that my chest felt like it was split in two.

“Why?” I demanded as gently as I could manage.

“Because that’s what all my friends call me, it’s what I go by,” she explained hastily.

I took a deep breath, wondering where her mind was. “I don’t want to be your friend, Amelia. I don’t think I ever wanted to be your friend.”

“Avalon, that’s just it. You don’t want to be my friend now…. today…. But anything that happens with you is permanent. It’s forever.”

A sigh of relief whooshed out of my chest and I felt the constraints of panic release. “Is that what you’re afraid of? The forever part?”

But then everything seemed to clamp down tighter when she sobbed, “No, it’s not that.”

“Amelia, explain it to me. I feel your magic wrapped up in mine, I feel how you want to be with me. What is keeping you from me, what is making you question what’s between us?” I pleaded with her, so close to dropping to my knees and begging it was a physical ache in my legs.

She hiccupped another sob and inhaled a shaky breath. “Do you know that I didn’t even know there was a problem with Lucan until after Eden took Sebastian’s magic? He was my uncle and he spoiled me…. and I loved him and Aunt Analisa. My parents certainly never had political discussions with me and Sebastian was…. he is a good older brother. He tries to protect me from everything.” She paused to collect her thoughts and I stayed quiet, refusing to interrupt the explanation I desperately needed. “After Sebastian became so sick, Lucan did nothing for him. He kept me close, always, but it was like he wished my brother would just…. die. And then Eden took him. I was terrified and I felt betrayed. I
loved
Eden immediately. The very first time I met her I think I worshipped her a little bit. But then, nobody had caught my cousin’s eye like she had so I knew there was something special about her. Until she took my brother. And at the same time my cousin was
dying
. And I did nothing. Except maybe cry. Even then I didn’t understand the extent of my Uncle’s wickedness. It wasn’t until Sebastian returned to London that I fully understood everything that was going on. But even then I didn’t actively participate in your rebellion. I couldn’t. Part me of me was frozen with fear of my Uncle’s wrath and the other part desperately naïve. When you finally sieged the Citadel I did my part, but it was nothing compared to the bravery Eden showed, or…. you showed. I have been spoiled my entire life, raised completely above poverty and suffering. I have not wanted for anything.”

“What are you saying Amelia?” I pressed gently.

“I’m not worthy to be your wife,” she whispered, her accent thick through her emotion. “I’m not qualified to be Queen. I have lived a cushy, over-protected, indulgent life. The kind of existence you risked your life to save our Kingdom from. You say you love me, but you don’t really know me,” she shook her head frantically and sniffled against the sleeve of her sweater. “I like my toenails painted at all times. If one of them even chips I repaint the entire lot of them. And most of the time I pay someone else to do them for me. I, I own one hundred handbags. Nobody needs that many handbags. But…. I have an addiction. I can’t stop myself, I
love
handbags. I get cranky when a taxi tries to overcharge me and sometimes, on very isolated occasions…. sometimes I have a cheeseburger.”