The Snow Prince - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,66

a moment, and then he lifted one eyebrow. “You proposing to me already, baby?”

I let out a long laugh that was a relief I hadn’t realized I needed badly. I took Henry’s hands in mine, squeezing his fingertips. “When I do propose to you, it’s certainly going to be a lot cooler than that.”

“Oh yeah? What if I propose to you first?”

“Don’t make it into a race!”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m just saying. If the time feels right to me someday, I’m not going to wait around to propose.”

“Henry,” I said.

“What?”

“Have I told you that I fucking love you?”

“You have,” he said, wrapping his arms around me. “And I hope you keep doing it for a very long time.”

He stroked his palm up and down my spine, pressing small kisses to my temples, my jaw, my collarbone.

“I’m going to do it, though,” I whispered. “Tomorrow. I’m telling my mother that if I can’t marry you, I’m never going to be king.”

Henry leaned back, looking me in the eye. “Who does become king or queen, if you aren’t there to take the spot?”

“My cousin Mattreg,” I said. “He currently lives in Norway.”

“Mattreg?” Henry said. “What the hell kind of name is that?”

“You don’t even want to know the names that some of my distant family members have.”

He nodded. “So it’ll be King Mattreg instead of you,” he said. “Is Mattreg a nice guy?”

“Mattreg is a two-year-old baby,” I said. “If his royal ruling style is anything like his current interests, it will certainly include playing with wooden blocks and laughing hysterically any time someone blows bubbles.”

“Oh dear,” Henry said.

“Yep.”

“You don’t have to do it right away,” Henry said. “If you aren’t ready. Sleep on it for a week. Or for a month.”

“I’ve already slept on it enough,” I said. “And I don’t think I’m ever going to be ready to tell her. Not really.”

“Because you don’t want to give up your legacy to someone who still wears diapers,” Henry said.

“I really don’t,” I said, pulling in a long breath. “But I’m going to. Tomorrow morning. Nine o’clock. I’m going.”

“Okay,” Henry said. “Then I support you.”

I bit my lower lip. “Good. Because I’m probably going to be a fucking mess.”

15

Henry

I knew something wasn’t right when I got Sebastian’s phone call the next morning.

I’d been in the middle of sanding and staining the backyard fence when I got his call. It wasn’t weird that he had called me—it was weird that he called me three times in a row, and each time, he barely said a word. I heard commotion and yelling when I picked up the phone each time.

“It may take me a while longer,” he told me during the first phone call, which ended abruptly with a dropped signal. The second call came a few minutes later, and Genoveve spoke.

“There’s a situation at Frostmonte,” Genoveve said.

“Situation?”

“Yes. A… gathering. But Sebastian is very safe.”

“Gathering? What the hell?”

“I’m so sorry, Henry, I’ve got to go—”

Genoveve hung up quickly and I didn’t get a third phone call for another fifteen minutes.

“Um, Henry?” Sebastian said. The noise level behind him sounded much louder now.

“Sebastian, what is going on?”

“You might want to try to come up to Frostmonte Castle,” he said, speaking loudly over the noise. “As fast as you can.”

“Are you okay? What is going on?”

“There’s a protest,” Sebastian said. “Please. I need you here.”

“I’m already leaving,” I said, hanging up and shoving my phone in my pocket before running out to my truck.

The boat of a car puttered its way up the long, sloping roads that led to Frostmonte Castle. But after a certain point, I wasn’t able to continue up the long driveway at all.

When Sebastian had mentioned a protest, I’d expected a few dozen people at most. But there were hundreds upon hundreds of people here. People had hand-painted picket signs: Wicked Queen. Stop the Hate. No Queen of Mine.

It was unlike anything I’d ever seen in any of the villages surrounding Frostmonte, let alone right outside of the castle itself. And right at the center of all the chaos, surrounded by a circle of people, was Sebastian.

Fear shot down my spine as soon as I saw him. He looked so small, somehow, standing on a short wall while so many people crowded around him. Over the years, Sebastian had honed his ability to seem princelike. The first couple of times I saw him as an adult, he wasn’t intimidating, but I could see why some people might think he was.

But he