Chapter 24 The Seed

• Bryan
• Shawn's fury surged through me, threatening to take control. I shoved him down and locked him away in a cage deep within me. I was unwilling to battle his rage on top of everything else going on. There were no answers to Leora's condition, no solutions laid out before me, and that left only one brutal choice — to decide my next move. If she couldn't regain her strength, if her weakness put the kingdom at risk, then rejecting my mate might be the only path forward. A harsh truth, but one I might have to face.
• Leora had brought happiness into my life that I didn't know was missing. Just knowing she was upstairs waiting for me was enough to lift my spirits. Thinking of her gave me the drive to push through everything standing between us so I could get back to her. It had been that way from the moment I brought her home, and the thought of losing her was something I couldn't stomach. But as king, the weight of tough choices rested solely on my shoulders, whether I wanted it to or not.