Wilder
"Kristoff, well done," King Titus said, pleased. Titus set his cold, heartless eyes on Lydia and Wilder felt a thread of fury run through him. "You have brought me my prize."
Wilder lunged for Kristoff. King Titus waved his hand and two of the soldiers behind Wilder caught hold of his arms as Kristoff flinched. Lydia didn't move, didn't blink, didn't even seem to breathe. She stood there, staring at the throne.
"You scheming bastard," Wilder spat out.
He jerked his arms but the soldiers' grip on him didn't waver. He burned with fire, muscles straining, eyes blazing. The King chuckled as if Wilder were an unruly child. Wilder didn't even look at the King, his gaze trying to impale Kristoff.
"And who is this?" Titus asked.
"Wilder, Commander Ror's son," Kristoff said.
Titus eased back in the throne as if settling in for a long time. Lydia sucked in a breath but Wilder could do nothing to help her right then.
"Your father gave us a lot of trouble," Titus said.
Gave? Did that mean...No. Don't think. Buy time, buy time. He'd heard the warning bells. They had rung as they entered the throne room. The bells meant Zavier and Quinn were in the West Isles. Hopefully the bells meant they were inside the palace right that moment. If that were so, Wilder only needed to buy them time to arrive in the throne room.
Without knowing he had Zavier and Quinn's aid, Wilder could do nothing. North Isles soldiers lined the walls and one stood beside Titus's throne. Slade claimed the position on Titus's right. A place of honor, a place for a Commander, a place where his father stood. Wilder shoved the thought away. Not now.
"You worked with this King," Wilder shouted at Kristoff. "You devised a plan to murder your family?"
"No," Titus said, sharply. "Kristoff couldn't have engineered such a scheme."
Wilder finally turned his focus to the King. Buy time, buy time. He narrowed his eyes, skeptical.
"You created this plan? From what I heard of you I don't believe you have the cleverness."
Titus smiled though it was a brittle thing.
"You think I'm not clever enough to know that seizing a kingdom through the guise of friendship is more effective than by force." The smile morphed into a two-edged sword. "I have taken this Kingdom without a revolt from the people. They believe their Crown Prince to be struggling to recover."
He pressed a mocking hand to his chest. "And I am here to offer support. And when he sadly passes on, Kristoff will be named regent." He turned mockingly kind, possessive eyes on Lydia. "And will rule until our Princess becomes of age. I will have two Kingdoms under my command and the people here will not even know I control the crown."
Wilder growled and lurched towards Kristoff again who stayed stone-faced at his outburst.
"You willingly betrayed your niece," he snarled.
"He was given no choice," Titus said. "It was do as I command or die."
Wilder fought again against the hold he was in. "Call your men off and pick up your sword, Kristoff."
Where was Zavier? Where the blazes were the Lorian soldiers? There were too many for Wilder to try to take on. Keep the fool King talking. Buy time.
Again Titus let out an amused chuckle. "Those men aren't loyal to Kristoff, they belong to me. How else would I be able to make sure the Prince didn't try to slip away? My soldiers were always with him."
Pathetic. This King, so clever in his own mind but yet he didn't recognize the truth. The soldiers around Wilder and Lydia weren't North Isles soldiers. The King only saw uniforms, not the Lorain soldiers that filled them. The King's men were safely back in Loria, locked in a cell.
"You should have chosen death!" Wilder shouted, again trying to break free, or appearing to be trying.
More time. They needed more time. The warning bells had rung, Zavier would have been given the signal, so where the blasted hell were they! Kristoff shot a look at Wilder who threw everything he could back in his look.
"I am happy he didn't," King Titus said, beaming on Kristoff as if he were a prized performer. "When all attempts failed to capture our dear Princess, I knew a familiar face would succeed."
Wilder glared at the King while inside he smirked. Kristoff wasn't a traitor, he'd never betrayed Lydia.
Once Wilder had forced King Titus's guards to leave the war room, Kristoff had explained exactly what Titus had commanded him to do. Kristoff told of how he accepted Titus's demands planning all the while of how he could keep Lydia safe.
In the end, he'd wanted to lock away King Titus's guards and find some way to hide Lydia. Only it had been Lydia who stood up and suggested they use the King's demand against him. Giving them a way into the West Isles and the palace.
Now they needed to keep surviving until more soldiers came.
"Why?" Lydia's voice cracked on the question.
Despite the fact that no one was talking, the room stilled. Wilder wanted to shout at Lydia. The last thing he needed was more attention drawn to her. He could see that she barely held herself together, her hands tight fists, body rigid.
When Titus smugly explained why he killed her family, Wilder found he could barely hold himself together. Greed. Such a common desire and that was what this man had wanted, more power, more wealth. All it took was the slaughter of a family.
Wilder shook with rage. He wanted to kill this man. He didn't think this man's death would haunt him. Even if it did, he didn't care. He wanted to act, attack this King.
But he had to wait until Zavier and Quinn arrived with their soldiers. Where were they?
**********************************************************************
WHAT THE WHALE! 🐳
KRISTOFF WAS GOOD THIS WHOLE TIME!?!
*smirks* Gotcha!
Go ahead and explode your thoughts into the comments, I'll happily clean up the mess! 🏹⚔️🛡
I know most of you thought he was bad, but I realized playing the the uncle-is-actually-the-bad-guy trope is so over done. Though, it had been my plan when I first started the book.
But since I realized once I mentioned an uncle everyone would be suspicious of him then it would make for a poor story. But knowing you'd easily be suspicious I played into that.
I made him show up out of nowhere and at a very coincidental time.
From then on all I needed to do was make all his actions sincere and you'd see them as him being creepy and evil!
You played into my hand. So plot twist: I'M THE EVIL GENIUS!!!! MAWHAHAHAHA! 😏
But honesty, it was a relief that you all hated him so much because I needed you to for this to work. And it did! Except for the two readers who wanted to believe in him and see the good, they looked for hope! Go you!
Vote, comment, follow because you know it's worth it!