Chapter 23
Chance
Chance did not speak as the heavy doors of his father’s throne room shut behind them with a hollow, echoing finality.
The sound reverberated down the stone corridor like a verdict already passed.
He could feel the tension in Randi beside him like a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse on the verge of exploding.
Randi walked a few paces ahead of him. Her spine was rigid and her hands were clenched at her sides.
He could tell by the set of her shoulders exactly what she was feeling.
He knew her well enough now to recognize the difference between anger that burned hot and loud and the kind that settled deep and stayed there.
“He thinks I’m a liability.” She spun on her heel to face him once they exited the outer door of the castle.
Her voice was steady in a way that made it worse than if she had shouted because there was no mistaking the hurt buried underneath it.
No matter the situation, there was no mistaking the fact that she had expected better, if not from Gunner as the king, then at least as Gunner his father.
Chance exhaled slowly and dragged a hand through his hair as he tried to gather something that might soothe her.
He didn’t want to make the situation worse by telling her that she was right.
The truth was that his father did see her that way and likely weighed her not as a person but as a risk he intended to control so that he could control his son.
“He doesn’t know you,” Chance said, though even as the words left his mouth, they felt insufficient. He quickened his pace until he was beside her. He put his hand on her shoulder, unwilling to let distance grow between them when everything else seemed intent on pulling them apart.
“That’s not the point,” Randi replied. There was a sharpness in her eyes that made his chest tighten. He knew it wasn’t directed at him and yet he felt it all the same. “He doesn’t need to know me to decide I’m expendable.”
Chance flinched almost imperceptibly at that word, because expendable was exactly the kind of calculation his father excelled at.
It was the kind he had been raised to understand even if he had never fully accepted it.
His brother and his mother had been expendable, and Gunner had made it happen.
He didn’t have to try hard to hear Gunner’s voice in his mind, cold and certain, speaking of power and sacrifices.
“You’re not expendable.”
Randi let out a breath and shook her head as she resumed walking. “That may not be how you see me, but it’s how he sees me, and whether we like it or not, that matters if we think we can stay here.”
Think we can stay here.
The words hung between them and Chance found that he already knew they couldn’t. It had been solidified in that throne room. His father was out for blood.
“If we stay, we’re not safe.” Chance pulled her arm. “I don’t care about me, but I can’t let anything happen to you.”
Randi slowed to a stop and turned fully toward him. “Chance, I’m not afraid of your father,” she said quietly, “but I’m not going to be stupid and just sit around waiting for him to decide when I’ve outlived my usefulness.”
A flicker of something fierce and protective rose in his chest at that and cut clean through the frustration and anger. Whatever else he felt about the situation, whatever conflict still twisted inside him when it came to his father, there was one thing that had become painfully, undeniably clear.
He wasn’t willing either.
“We won’t,” Chance said with no hesitation in his voice. It was the only choice and he wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. “I should have known better than to come back here at all. We’re not staying.”
Randi searched his face for a moment. “Stagholt,” she said. That single word carried with it both a question and a plan. They both knew why it was their best option.
Chance nodded. “Sven will help us figure out what to do.”
“And he won’t see me as a liability,” Randi finished, unable to hide the trace of bitterness in her voice
Chance allowed himself a faint smile. “Bryn will see you as a valuable asset before you’ve even finished your first sentence.”
That earned the smallest hint of a smile from her in return,and it felt like a victory far greater than it should have in a moment like this.
“Then let’s go,” Randi said, her resolve firmly into place.
Chance glanced once over his shoulder, back in the direction of the throne room. “Yeah, we should leave now. They may not be expecting us to duck out so soon.”
“Yeah,” he said, turning back to her, his expression set. “We should.”
And as they began walking again back toward the hotel to gather their belongings, the path ahead was uncertain but undeniably their own, Chance felt the anger toward his father settle into something colder.
“You know my life in Tampa is pretty much over, right?”
Randi nodded. “I was thinking that. If you take your father out like Sven and Jakob want, you’ll have a throne to sit on and a kingdom to run.”
He wanted to ask her if she would stay with him, but he didn’t. It wasn’t fair when she had just started her life over again after leaving Stagholt.
“You don’t have to stay with me while I do this.” That was the crux of the problem. If his father had him as a target right in his own back yard, he might leave Randi alone back in Florida.
She looked at him like his eyes had popped out of his head. “If you think I’m going to tuck my tail and run, you’re crazy so just give it up.”
He grinned despite himself and let it go.
By the time they crossed back into Stagholt, the tension from Noriveille hadn’t eased, it had only settled deeper. The train ride had been quiet, even with Randi there beside him the entire time. His father’s words still echoed loud and clear even in the silence.
Now, standing in the familiar stone hall with Sven and Bryn facing him, everything felt even more real, if that was even possible.
Sven stepped forward as if he’d been waiting for Chance to cross the threshold back into Stagholt before shifting from concern to command. His gaze flicked briefly to Randi, then settled fully on Chance.
“We don’t have the luxury of time,” Sven said. His tone wasn’t urgent but it didn’t need to be. “Your father is already calling for support. Rulers who were undecided before will start choosing sides now that you’ve shown yourself.”
Chance exhaled slowly. “That assumes he sees me as a threat.”
Bryn folded her arms. “If he doesn’t,” she said, “then he’s already dismissed you. And that’s worse.”
Chance glanced at her. “Worse how?”
She met his gaze evenly. “I may not be a king, but I know things. A threat gets dealt with quickly. Someone irrelevant gets ignored until it’s convenient to remove them entirely.”
Randi’s brow furrowed as she looked between them. “He let us walk out so he doesn’t see us as much of a threat yet, mostly because I don’t think he has any idea about my connection to this kingdom. But either way, he’s not just stepping aside and handing you the throne.”
“No,” Chance agreed. “That’s definitely not his style.”
Silence settled over the room, the kind that came when everyone reached the same conclusion at the same time and didn’t particularly like it.
Sven led them to his meeting chamber where maps and markers were already laid out. “Jakob will be here soon. I asked Lucas to come from Crystafalls, but his wife is expecting a child any day. He will join when he can.”
“We could try to negotiate,” Chance offered for the lack of anything else to say. He was a CEO, not a military planner. Even as he said it, he knew how pointless it sounded.
Bryn’s lips twitched. “You already did as much as possible.”
Sven tilted his head slightly. “And you know how any negotiation ends,” he added. “At best, he stalls. At worst…” He didn’t finish the sentence.
He didn’t have to.
Chance looked down at the map, but he wasn’t really seeing it. He was seeing Noriveille and his father’s expression that he had already decided how this would end.
“We take him out,” Bryn said.
Chance waited to feel something as they talked about his father’s death as if it was just another day in the park. But nothing came. Not one little bit of guilt.
As if she read his mind, Randi rubbed him on the back in silent support. He wanted to lean into her, but instead, he took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“Overthrow,” Sven corrected mildly, though there was no real disagreement in his tone. He stepped closer to the table and rested his hands against its edge. “Removing a king isn’t a single act. It’s a process. One that requires planning, allies, and precision.”
Randi leaned forward and studied the map with a focused look. “Then we figure it out because as it is now isn’t an option.”
Sven straightened. “We start with the court. Do you know anyone who would remain loyal to you? And do you know those who are only loyal to the crown?”
Bryn pushed off from her spot and moved closer to the table. “And more importantly, who’s dissatisfied enough to be persuaded. Power shifts make people reconsider their loyalties.”
Chance shook his head. “I’m so far removed that I don’t know anyone in Noriveille anymore. I wasn’t much more than a teenager when I left.”
Sven sighed. “Then we move carefully and build support before your father realizes how much of it you have.”
“And when he does realize?” Randi asked.
Bryn’s gaze flicked up. “Then it’s already too late for him to stop it.”
Chance let out a slow breath. If nothing else, he was extremely appreciative that he wasn’t walking into his father’s hell alone.