The more he stood tall, the more I wanted to beat him down.
“We trusted you with our lives!” my mother called out.
“Forgive me, ma’am, but our country is at stake. I do not understand how you do not understand. We are being overrun by these—”
“Get this traitor out of my sight before I kill him myself!” I hollered.
I felt sick.
So very sick.
“How is this possible...” My mother gasped, squeezing my arm as she looked over my shoulder to watch them drag him away. She released me and stumbled back.
“Mom!” Eliza grabbed her, helping her sit on the chair.
How?
How had someone like him been at our side this whole time, and we did not notice? I did not understand?
“Gale?”
Were we blind?
“Gale?”
Shaking my head, not wanting to see or hear any of them, I walked out of the room. I didn’t know where I was going. I had no real plan to go anywhere...I just kept walking and walking. Until I, somehow, found myself outside my father’s rooms.
Without knocking, I entered to see him lying peacefully on his bed, even snoring slightly. The whole palace was collapsing, and he was sleeping soundly. Completely free of all obligations, duties...pains. There was no turning to him. It was just me.
Slowly sinking into the chair, I placed my hand on the side of my face.
“You will get to a point where all of the world seems to be pressing on your neck, and you feel utterly defeated.”
“I am there, Father. I am at that point.”
Chapter 28