[GRANT]
"Because, grandma… they are coming to the wedding," Grant said defeatedly, like the world was just so fucked. He could try to say that things would be better, but even he knew that there wasn't such a thing for him.
Life wasn't going to be as easy, and the sooner he accepted that, the easier it would be for him. But was that the kind of bargain he was hoping to strike when he came home? Even so, who was to listen to a bargain that wouldn't mean much to the werewolf king?
And Aurora…
She didn't even ask who was coming.
She already knew he was being talked about.
The only bunch of people who had managed to shake her grandson's belief in himself.
The people who had ripped his world apart, and she had been too powerless to say or do anything.
Gods, if they were coming here, then there would be more chaos. Grant would have to be ready for the worst and everything in between. The worst didn't even seem to come with warnings anymore.
This was madness.
"The Wynters," Aurora breathed like she, too, was desperate to confirm it for herself, the mess her grandson was being forced into.
"The king said that he wouldn't even look at me, that he would be busy fawning over his chosen one, shining like they were meant to be. He made it seem like I never had a chance from the beginning.
"The worst part about it all was that he wasn't even trying to make fun of me. He was just telling it, starting facts like he hoped I would wake up and accept that things had changed and that nothing would ever be the same anymore.
"But Grandma… why does it hurt so much then?" Grant asked defeatedly.
The cup in his hands was shaking now, not from too much usage or even how much of the beer Grant had drowned in seconds. But because of the enforcer's emotions.
Grant Hindley had never felt this abandoned.
This ruined by just a name.
He had never thought that moving on would be harder than going to war against the ruby wolf.
This was the worst possible punishment the realm could have given him, and the way he didn't even have a way out freaked him out because this was not the kind of place he wanted to be in.
This wasn't what he had hoped to come home to, and yet here he was.
This was his doom, and no one would save him.
Hell, he knew that too.
Not even his darling grandma.
"He taunted you, and you fell for it," Aurora stated, like she was talking about the weather and not how pathetic her grandson had chosen to be. Life was already hard enough without the addition of what could be done and what couldn't be done.
Granted, he needed to understand that too because no matter how hard he tried to pretend the word wasn't flailing apart, he had to accept it.
Nothing was ever going to be the same for him.
Absolutely nothing, and the sooner he accepted that, the easier it would be for him to find a way. Then again, where was he supposed to go when all his roads always found themselves entangled with Alanor Wynter?
"But he didn't lie," Grant sighed like he was stuck between the truth and the lies he had been trying to will himself for the past hours. He had tried to hate the king for what the king had said, but then, for a man like King Cassius, nothing ever mattered.
No one even knew there was a prince until he announced it.
That was just how secretive and careful the king was; so for Grant to think that the great king would be affected by his tantrums would just be insane, given that he had worked with the king closely.
Perhaps in another life, things would be fine, right?
"He knows how to hit the target. It's always been a strength of his. But do not let emotions cloud your judgement, son. Remember that he was the one who helped you back up when Alanor's leaving broke you.
"He made sure to send you on every available mission as a distraction, and it worked, for a while. He was there when the tides were not in your favor," Aurora recalled, and Grant sighed.
Of course, he knew that he knew it so damn well he could spell it out by heart.
That king had saved his life more times than he could count on one hand, and that was why, even though Grant was very frustrated, he couldn't exactly walk away, because no one in their right mind walked away from the one person who saved them.
Funny how the king saved him, only for Grant to turn around and break the prince's heart to bits.
That was the cruelest kind of gratitude, even for King Cassius. Yet no one was counting this time, right?
"Yeah. I know," Grant said slowly. He was not sure what the future really had for him, if he was being honest. There had been so many changes in the past few days that he felt like he was about to explode.
But then he also had to keep in mind that there was a prince of the kingdom, heir to the seat he had been warming for the past few months. An heir hidden in plain sight who was watching his every move and waiting for the right time to come out.
Grant needed to really be careful with everything that he did, and that was just adding to his stressed-out state. Perhaps a break would be fine, though it would probably be after the wedding.
Of course, if he managed to survive Lord Lucius fucking Dumont and his obnoxious Lycan protector.
"They won't just come quietly, Grandma. I know them. I know they will be watching me and all that I will be doing. And if I breathe wrong…" Grant groaned in frustration as he paced the room.
He couldn't find it in himself to be still, and it was honestly understandable.
The Wynter Nine were a lot to handle. They were crazy and didn't care what they did to get what they wanted. And with their enemies, the Wynter Nine were worse than any enemy that Grant had ever heard of in the history books.
They were the villains and heroes of their own stories and made sure everyone felt their impact.
Grant was already under way too much pressure to perform with the wedding, but with the Wynter Nine, he had to be extra careful.
He had to keep himself ready.
He had to remind himself that this was for Acrod because Alanor was now a consort of the king of Udrad. Alanor could decide to burn down Acord, and there wasn't much that Grant would do about it.
Well, Nour would definitely not agree to show bets formed during the home he was building with Alanor's twin, but the complexities were still not known to Grant just yet. The man was stressed.
"Then don't give them that chance. Don't let them humiliate you, because otherwise they will burn you out of whatever is left of the Acrod throne. They will ruin you, and all that Acrod stands for, and that is something that Cassius won't accept with ease.
"Then there will be a war between Acrod and Udrad, one with stakes higher than that has ever been seen before," Aurora said softly.