The Snow Prince - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,68

like a wolf, ready to pounce. Something was going to happen.

Right as I was going to reach out and take his hand, he turned around, grabbing the megaphone from Genoveve. He fiddled with the buttons, turning it on. I was so close now that I could see his fingers shaking as he held the megaphone to his mouth.

“Enough,” he said, his voice echoing loudly across the crowd, the road, all the way up to the queen.

The crowd applauded for him and then they went silent, expecting a speech.

“I have—I have nothing to say,” he told them, looking around and shaking his head. “We can’t win. In the face of this power. Of her power. We don’t stand a chance.”

The people erupted into booing and chatter.

“We want King Sebastian!” someone shouted, and then suddenly we were surrounded by chants of “King Sebastian! King Sebastian!”

“I will never be your king,” he said, sorrow filling his eyes. “Because the man I love is not royalty. And I don’t want to be with anyone else, for the rest of my life.”

People applauded.

“But even if I don’t rule, it doesn’t mean I can’t be yours. I am abdicating my right to the throne. Today. But it is my promise to you, that I will never leave these villages. I will never leave you behind, even if I won’t rule.”

The crowd was pure chaos now. Sebastian dropped the megaphone to his side, looking more lost than I’d ever seen him. He turned, and then finally, he saw me, and a single tear dropped down his cheek.

He tossed the megaphone to the side and reached out to me. Suddenly I was being pulled in his direction, and the crowd started to push me toward him.

And then something happened that I never imagined could happen.

I got up on the small wall ledge next to Sebastian.

He wrapped his arms around me.

And then he leaned in, kissing me, completely fearlessly. He held me close, not pulling away. In front of hundreds of people. In front of the press and cameras. And in front of his mother.

A cold breeze whipped past, giving me goosebumps. The wind was suddenly so strong that it rustled through all the trees in a rush of noise that almost sounded like waves on the ocean.

And then afterward, it felt warmer. Maybe just a little bit. Almost imperceptible, maybe only a few degrees different.

But it was warmer. Like a blanket of ice had been lifted away from Frostmonte.

Sebastian’s legacy was forever changed. His heart would ache forever for it. But we had each other, and the support of the villages and the people, even if we had nothing else.

When we pulled apart, the queen was staring at us, her eyes emptier than ever. The wind blew past in one last gust, shaking the fabric of her gown. And then she left in a flash, disappearing into the black car behind her. Soon, all of the cars disappeared, back up toward the castle.

All that was left down here was us.

16

Sebastian

It was another three hours before I was able to make it up and into the castle. The crowd had slowly dispersed, disappointed but accepting that there was no changing the queen.

When I stepped into the castle, I was alone.

Henry and Genoveve had wanted to stay with me. I was pretty sure Henry might have truly thought my own mother would kill me if I walked into the castle, but I assured him it wasn’t the case.

As I went inside, I knew it was the last time I would ever walk the halls of Frostmonte. This home that never felt like a home. That was a prison for so long. And of course, now, I only felt exhausted.

I jumped when I saw that my mother was already waiting, right in the first great room, sitting on the sofa. The chandelier above her cast her in a strange light.

For the first time, I felt like I was seeing my mother as a person, instead of a symbol of power. Power over me and over everyone around her.

She looked frail, almost.

“I’ve tried for a long time, you know, Sebastian,” she said, lifting her eyes to meet mine.

I stood frozen in place.

She’d been crying. A lot, apparently, from the look of her eyes. They were sunken and swollen around the lids. My mother almost never cried, let alone showed any emotion.

Something was different.

“Come. Sit,” she said, nodding at the sofa opposite her. I walked over slowly, sitting down.

“I’m not going to change