Her Unwanted Mate On The Throne
Chapter 43

Chapter 43 It's been torn apart

Doris slowly opened her eyes when the carriage stopped completely, Prince William had hergripped tightly beneath him, it took her a moment to realize the carriage was on its side and theywere laying against the wall of the carriage. He held onto her as if she might break if he let go, sheblinked away her surprise The door was now above their heads, one of the guards ripped it openand Doris squinted up at the light that shined in. Her skin started to burn from pain where PrinceWilliam held her. “Your-William, are you alright?” The guard cleared his throat as he correctedhimself. Prince William leaned back to look at Doris, his eyes seemed to scan every inch of herbefore he pushed himself off her and helped her stand. “We're fine. What happened?” PrinceWilliam demanded. He gripped the side of the door and pulled himself out. Doris frowned and triedto do the same. A second later, his hands reached down to grab her waist and pull her out of thecarriage as if she weighed nothing. “Oh! Thank you,” Doris gripped his hands to steady herself asshe carefully stepped off the carriage and into the snow. Prince William only let go of her hand onceshe was safely on the ground. A flash of pain rushed through her side where her bruising was theworst, she bit down on her lip to keep in her groan. His dark gaze immediately turned to assess thescene before them. Their carriage laid sideways in a snowy ditch with one of its wheels layingdetached

she rarely came across the royal guard at the palace. Not that they seemed to want to introducethemselves, she supposed. It would still be nice to know what to call them if she needed to “Alright,then let's eat.” Prince William tumed and the rest of the guards moved all at once as if they hadbeen waiting for his order. Several guards immediately went to push the carriage up right againwhile others made an area for Prince William to rest. The rest of the guards stood watch asdiscreetly as they could manage without looking like the guards they were. To Doris, it wasimpossible. They clearly had the demeanor of guards rather than casual travelers. “Doris, if youcould help me prepare some of the food to hand out, I would be grateful.” A younger guard with agentle face appeared at her side. Doris smiled and nodded her head. “My name is Erik-" “Doris is torest, not help you.” Prince William interrupted. She turned to see him standing behind her with hisgaze fixed on the guard. “If you've already forgotten, she just got out of a crashed carriage.” “Ofcourse, sirl I mean-William. Of course.” Erik bowed quickly to both of them. “I apologize forsuggesting otherwise. I wasn't thinking.” Prince William only stared at him until he turned and left asquickly as he could. “I could have helped -"Doris started, her words died in her throat when theireyes met. “You should sit for a minute.” He said it more like a demand, she couldn't help but frown.Lately the tip of her tongue was desperate to snap back at him for once, but she always stoppedherself just before. Doris stilled when he suddenly reached out his hand to brush the snow from herhair. His fingers

lingered for a moment before he finally dropped his hand back to his side as if it never happened. Itstartled her enough that all of her thoughts vanished as well as anything she might have wanted tosay. “I—I'll sit.” She breathed and went to rest on a log that had been recently cleared of snow. Herhand ached, but she could hardly feel anything but the numb coldness that started to take over herbody. At least nothing else ended up broken. The clearing was quiet, she could hear the crunches inthe snow from those that stomped by but not much else. The air made her cheeks red and fingersalmost blue. She tucked her hands beneath her arms and watched her breath fog in the air. "Howlong have we been traveling?” She asked. She could sense him behind her still, she didn't have toturn to know he was there. “Hours, it's now mid day.” He said evenly. Doris quickly turned to look upat him. “I was asleep for that long?” Prince William only lowered his chin in confirmation. Dorislooked away and rubbed her hands together while trying to keep her teeth from chattering. Herpain had subsided for the time being, perhaps the cold was good for that if anything. She couldn'twait to get back into the warm carriage and out of the blustery wind. A soft weight fell on hershoulders after a moments silence. His black cloak warmed the sides of her cheeks, she almostinstantly nestled into the fabric in relief. When she turned to thank him, he was already halfwayacross the clearing. She closed her eyes and held it tight around her with a small sigh. The warmthwas a luxury, she didn't understand how he would ever give it up.

Perhaps he was warm blooded and didn’t need the extra warmth, but she doubted it in weather likethis. Why would he ever give it to her of all people? Erik came by to hand her a plate of dried fruitand bread. “Thank you, Erik.” Doris smiled. “You're welcome, Doris.” He said with a cheeky grin. “Ihope the carriage crash didn’t hurt you too badly.” “Oh, no. I thought it would but I don't think Ihave a scratch on me.” “It's probably because of the hold William had on you, he must have takenmost of the impact.” Erik glanced to where Prince William stood, Doris followed his gaze and sawhim watching them while in a conversation with someone else. Erik cleared his throat. “Well, let meknow if you need anything else.” “Thank you—" Erik waved and hurried away before she could sayanother word. Prince William had taken most of the impact? That couldn't be so, he didn’t look hurtin the slightest. Besides, why would he ever risk himself to save her? Doris studied him across theclearing for any hint of injury, but he stood tall and-normal. The other men that hovered aroundhim barely came up to his shoulder, they looked at him as if he was their god and they weredesperate to please. Prince William's eyes caught her staring, she turned away and shoved morebread in her mouth to distract her thoughts. “William!” A guard came racing through the snow asfast as it would allow him. Doris stood in concern he would pass out when she saw how out ofbreath he was. Prince William pushed through the guards that surrounded him and neared theone who seemed

close to fainting by the time he reached him, “What is it? Keep your voice down!” He hissed andgrabbed his shoulder roughly. “Th-the decoy.” The guard whispered, Doris leaned in a little to hearhim. “The decoy carriage has already been torn apart by the rogues.”

Her Unwanted Mate On The Thr