CHAPTER 12
Cort
“I’m afraid we are out of options,” Alex said with defeat in his voice.
I glanced up from the book I was trying to read. My head was starting to throb with the nonstop stress and strain of dealing with the council. The council was standing firm by their decision, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they would try to get the parliament on their side. Normally this issue was not a government matter, however, I was tempted to bring it to parliament myself and have the people decide what they wanted.
“Keep searching,” I said.
Alex sighed heavily. “My Prince, there is nothing else to be done. You will have to find a bride and do it soon if you hope to accept the throne. You are trying to cram years of constitutional debate and amendments within the span of a few weeks. It can’t be done. The only ones who can make exceptions to this are the council, and they’ve made it clear that they are not budging.”
I threw the book across the room, narrowly missing Alex’s head. It slammed into the wall and scattered across the floor. I hadn’t meant to get that close to my trusted advisor’s head, but the frustration was overwhelming. I wanted to scream and tear something up. I wanted to grab every member of the council and beat some sense into their old heads.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “We tried.”
With that, he left the room.
I laid on the couch for several minutes trying to collect my thoughts. My mind was racing, and I felt like he was going to fall into either a full-blown panic attack or an anger fueled rage. Why did it so often feel that the entire world was against me? My moronic uncle was going to be in charge in a few weeks unless I went against every single instinct and married a woman out of convenience. I would probably have children with her, while always resenting the decision I made. Would I even be able to bring myself to have kids out of a marriage of convenience? A marriage born out of nothing more than politics? Deep down I knew I would love the children no matter what, but I doubted I could ever force myself to love my wife.
The only woman I ever felt truly close to was Teagan.
The thought flashed in my mind, somehow cutting through the mess of chaos and confusion that surrounded my thoughts. Teagan… A woman I’d known for only a few hours before she basically blew me off. A woman who would not answer my phone calls. Who might have even been back in America now, never to be seen again.
But was she the one?
I rubbed my eyes in anger until my vision was momentarily blurry. How could I be that in love with a woman who was a total stranger? The logic of it was absurd. It was like something out of a Shakespeare play, and everyone knew how tragedies played out.
“I feel like I’m living in a tragedy,” I muttered to myself.
It was true. I was being forced to marry someone I did not love, meanwhile I was pining for a woman who I didn’t even know and didn’t know how to get in touch with. Of course, I could find her, if I used everything I had at my disposal. But what was the point? She’d made it abundantly clear that she did not feel the same way I did by not answering any of my calls. I hated to think that she’d just used me, but it did feel that way.
Oh, if Teagan were there with me right now…
Maybe she would be interested if she knew who I really was? Or would she be angry that I lied to her? She would probably laugh in his face if I tracked her down and proposed marriage to her so that she could become queen of a country she knew very little about. The whole idea was laughable.
But it was possible…
I could imagine her sweet body on top of him right now riding up and down on his hard cock, pushing deep inside her. I wanted to taste her again, to feel that tightness that fit him perfectly, wrapping around his body as if they were designed for each other.
As I closed my eyes, the fantasy took me over completely. I could literally feel her quivering over top of me, calling out my name.
I awoke covered in sweat suddenly, my whole body shaking. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep. The dream was so vivid, and it felt so real. Tears threatened to sting my blinking eyes, and I fought them back with fiery passion. My world felt as if it were all crumbling down around me.
I knew then what I had to do. It was so obvious. I’d known all along what was going to fix everything. I just had to get out of my own way and do it.
I wouldn’t be able to rest until I had Teagan in my arms. She had to know how I felt about her. I had to be with her.
If it was the last thing I did, I was going to talk to her.