Her Unwanted Mate On The Throne
Chapter 194

Chapter 194

Chapter 194 A king to many

The next morning, William was gone again before she had the chance to wake. It seemed that no matterhow early she aimed for, he was always ahead of her. Part of her wondered if he even slept at all.

Doris dressed for the day and left the tent as soon as she could. A small flicker of worry always enteredher mind when she woke up alone. It didn’t leave her until she caught sight of William across the campspeaking with Patrick about something that looked rather intense. William’s skin looked dark under hiseyes. She wanted to pull him back in the tent and let him sleep all of his worries away but she knew hismind would never let him rest. William glanced up as if he felt her watching him and she swore a ghost ofa smile touched his lips before he turned away.

“How is our boy doing this morning?” Enzo asked from behind her. It made her almost flinch out of herskin. “Oh, my. I didn’t expect you there.” She breathed. “I don’t think he’s doing well. I’m trying to give himas much space as he needs, but I’m worried about him.”

“Hmm.” Enzo seated himself on a low log and patted the space next to him. Doris slumped down on theseat and tried to keep her eyes off of William for more than a moment. “I think you’re right to let him havehis space. He came up to me earlier and spoke like nothing had happened and when I tried to ask if hewas well, he left right in the middle of my sentence.” Enzo frowned. “Honestly, it was rather rude but alsoexpected.” “He tends to avoid his feelings.” Doris picked at her nails nervously. “But I wish he wouldn’tbury them so deep. He doesn’t look like himself at all.”

“He’ll come around eventually-or I hope he will. Now I understand where all his anger comes from.” Enzowatched William move across the camp. William did a good job in pretending neither of them were thereas he spoke to everyone else that passed him. “That is not a man anyone should go near at the moment.If i were them, I would run and hide in my tent.”

“I’m worried he will disappear inside himself. I already look at him and see he has this hollow version ofhimself on display for everyone.” Doris turned to Enzo. “Do you know if he had his army pulled back yet?We spoke about it last night but he never mentioned it again.”

“Oh, he mentioned it last night but hasn’t made the official call yet. He thinks that it’s too late for him andthere’s no point.” Enzo sighed. “I tried to talk him out of it but he didn’t listen.” “No point? People couldstill be dying out there because of this! He needs to call it off.” Doris went to stand, but Enzo gripped herarm. “He told me he would call it off. Why hasn’t he done it yet?” “You’re right, Doris. You’re always rightbut he needs to come to that decision on his own. If we try to push him, he might only push back. I don’twant him to disappear more inside himself like you said.” “I know he feels regret for how things went. Iknow he wants to undo what has already be done, but he can’t have this war continue because he feelsthis way. He will only pile on more regret if he lets this continue for another moment.” Doris ran herfingers through her hair. “We need to talk to him, Enzo.” Enzo stared at her for a long moment before henodded. He pushed himself off the log and brushed off the dirt from his pants. “Fine, fine. We’ll do theright thing. But if he gets mad at me, you better take the blame for this. I don’t want to end up pusheddown a snowy hill by an angry man.” Enzo muttered.

Doris rolled her eyes and laughed a little as she accepted his hand to stand. William had disappearedinside the main tent with a few of his guards. Enzo took the lead and went right in as if he owned theplace and

spread his arms wide to greet them. “Good day, gentlemen. I need a word with our prince here, if youwouldn’t mind leaving.” Enzo said as he gestured to the exit. Doris slipped in behind him and watched asthe men exchanged annoyed looks before they got up to leave. “Thank you, thank you. You can come bylater to bother him if you insist.” Enzo said with a smile on his face. Doris watched William stare at thetable in front of him as if nobody else was even in the room. Quietly, she went to sit in a chair close tohim once all the men were finally gone. “Are you hungry?” She asked softly.

William lifted his eyes to her and looked little surprised as if he hadn’t even realized she entered theroom. It was strange to even think of that, since he always usually knew exactly where she was at alltimes.

“No.” He finally said. “I ate when I got up this morning.”

“Well, that’s a relief. We worried you were going to pass out with how fatigued you look.” Enzo ploppeddown across from them. Doris lightly put her hand on William’s thigh under the table.

“What is it you need, Enzo?” William sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Me? I don’t need anything.We’re here to make sure you’re okay.” “I’m fine. You can go back to terrorizing the camp with yourridiculous jokes.” William muttered. He moved to stand, but Doris held his thigh a little harder so hestayed. “William, we know you’re hurting. I know that what has happened will stay with you for a longtime and that’s okay. It’s okay if you need days or weeks or months to recover from what you wentthrough. There’s nothing wrong with needing time to heal.” William stared at Doris as if she had grown asecond head. “I’m fine. It’s all fine, Doris.”

“Don’t lie to the lady. She has your baby inside her.” Enzo said as he leaned across the table. “She’s onlytrying to reach out her hand to you.”

William grew silent.

“William, you need to end this war before more deaths occur. You won, it’s over. Having this continuedoesn’t make anything right, it makes it worse.” Enzo said as gently as he could.

“Enzo is right. If you don’t pull back, more people might loose their lives for nothing.” “If they are stillfighting, that’s their fault.” William grumbled. “By now they should have heard what happened and shouldhave stopped on their own.” “William, you’re their leader now! Act like their leader and put an end to this.”Doris gripped his hand. “It’s going to be okay. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but one day it will.” “I don’t

know why you two insist I have won this when I only feel defeated.” William stood, but he didn’t movetowards the door. “I couldn’t possibly make more mistakes than I already have.” “You definitely can,mate.” Enzo said sadly. “If you let more of your people fight for nothing, it’ll end up with more casualties.More lives that didn’t need to end.” William glanced between them. “You told me you would call it off,William. We talked about this and you agreed to call it off.” “I don’t know why I haven’t. I… I don’t know.”William admitted. The broken look on his face cracked her heart. “I know you feel defeated. I know youdon’t feel like you earned this win, but you have. You have to start being Aking to many the king theyneed you to be. They need to see you act like one now or they’ll never believe in you.” Doris said. “Howwould they look up to me when I’m the reason their crown prince is dead? They looked up to Martinsince he was a child! They’re going to think of me as a villain and there’s nothing I can do to stop that.”William paced the small area. It only took him a few steps to get across. “You can’t undo what happened,but you can prove to them that they deserve a king like you.” Doris stood and cautiously approachedhim. “Everything you do from here on out will be judged by them, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a chanceto make your own path as king.” 1 William slowed his steps and looked down at her. Doris cupped hischeeks. “Feel every horrible thing inside you. But don’t let it consume you to the point that you loseyourself.” William leaned into her touch. She wasn’t sure how long they stood there, staring at eachother-but she knew he needed it. Slowly, she brought his hand down to feel her stomach that hadn’t yetgrown a bump big enough to see. “I love you. We love you. Don’t ever forget that.”