I'd Give Up The World For You

Daisy hated being on the road. When she finally arrived back at the capital the first thing she did was head straight for the military base. Exasperated as she was with him, she needed to see Leo. She had sorely missed him. 

"Excuse me, is Lieutenant Colonel May in his office?" she asked the soldier behind the front desk. 

His eyes widened. "Mrs. May! What are you doing here?"

"I just got back in town after visiting some family and I wanted to see my husband before I went home. Is that a problem?"

"Not exactly…he isn't here."

Daisy frowned. "Where is he then?"

"Uh…he's at the castle," the soldier hedged without meeting her eyes. 

"When will he be back?"

"He won't. He's kind of in charge of it now." 

"What?!" 

The soldier sighed. "He conducted a coup and now he's the king. I honestly don't know much about it since I wasn't involved. All I know is that he let me keep my job. I really don't care who the king is but I think he'll do a better job than the last one."

Daisy couldn't believe this! Juliet said Leo would destroy the world but she had known he would never do that. 

She knew he was up to something but overthrowing the entire government and making himself king? What was he thinking?! He had been a farmer then a military man! He didn't know anything about running a country!

Although…she didn't know who he was before. Maybe he did know a few things. Still! This was completely crazy! She needed answers but specifically she needed them from her husband. 

"Can you get someone to take me to him please?" Daisy asked in a calm voice that hid her frustration. 

Leo taking over the country while she was gone was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard of. How could he have kept something that big from her? Did he think about how finding out after everyone else would affect her at all?

She would be freaking out a lot more if Juliet hadn't told her he was plotting something. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting since it wasn't this but she had been expecting something to happen sooner or later. How had he taken over the entire country so quickly though?!

"Absolutely, ma'am. Or um…I suppose I should call you Your Majesty."

Daisy's eyes widened. That was so weird! But if her husband was the king now she supposed that automatically made her the queen. A former foster kid who had spent no small amount of time homeless was now the queen of this fictional country. It was so ironic she barely managed not to laugh hysterically. 

"That really isn't—" 

"Lamar! Escort the queen to the castle. Be sure to carry her trunk for her," the soldier hollered at someone passing by. 

Lamar looked like a deer caught in headlights. He clearly never expected to encounter royalty, let alone royalty so casually dressed. "Understood, sir. I'll do that now. Please allow me, Your Majesty."

Daisy followed him to the castle in a daze, her mind going a million miles a minute. Despite all of the thoughts in her head she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to think. This was all too bizarre!

"Who goes there?" a royal guard called down to them from a watch tower when they arrived at the castle gate. 

"Third-rank Soldier Lamar, sir! I come escorting the queen as she has returned from her trip. Please grant us entry," Lamar yelled back. 

The royal guard in question came down personally to see if what he said was true and Daisy was surprised to find that it was one of Leo's men. It made sense though. After conducting a hostile takeover he would need to surround himself by people he trusted. 

"Ermes!" 

"This is definitely the queen. I'll take her trunk. Thank you, Lamar," Ermes said before shooting Daisy a somewhat nervous smile. "Good afternoon. I take it you wish to see the king?"

"Yeah. As soon as possible," she said in the calmest voice she could muster. 

"Follow me. I'll get someone to take care of your trunk as soon as we're inside." He took the trunk and began walking inside. 

The castle gate shut behind them and though Daisy had come in through it before it had never felt so ominous. Or so big. Visiting the head gardener was a lot different than being ushered in as the queen!

First she was stunned looking at all the opulence she never had a chance to before since she had only ever been on the grounds. Then she noticed that the few people who were milling about were Leo's men. How many people did he have on his side? How long had he been planning this? And how many people knew who he was when she hadn't had a clue? 

The more she thought about it the angrier she got. Did he trust her at all? She hadn't told anybody what he looked like, about his magic, or that he was on the run and he still hadn't bothered to tell her who he was or what he was planning. 

When they arrived at the throne room Ermes tried to announce her but she wasn't having any of that. She was an ordinary person before she was a queen and right now she needed to chew out her husband for being a secretive idiot and letting her hear that he had taken over the entire country from someone else!

"What in the world have you been up to while I was gone?" Daisy spat. 

Leo looked like he would rather be anywhere in the world but here right now. He knew he was busted. 

"I'm sorry, I tried to stop her—" Ermes began to explain but he cut him off. 

"Don't worry about it. My wife is allowed anywhere anytime. Thanks, Ermes. Close the door behind you on your way out and don't let anyone else in." 

"Yes, sir! I mean sire."

He nodded awkwardly before leaving the room and Daisy found herself alone with her husband so she rounded on him. "Well?!"

"I uh…accomplished my goal," Leo said nervously. "Could you hear me out before casting judgment? It's kind of a long story but I have a very good reason for doing this and I'll have you know that hardly anyone got hurt in the process. Most of my enemies are in jail now." 

"…and the others?"

"You should sit down first."

He wasn't wrong, especially considering her condition, but she was annoyed that he was showing any degree of concern after leaving her out of the loop. Especially after doing something so dangerous that probably involved killing people. Even if it was only a few murders was still murder!

Daisy sat with her arms crossed over her chest on the throne next to his and barked, "Talk!" 

Leo let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. She had been so angry a moment ago she hadn't fully processed that he had his proper hair color again and wasn't wearing his eyepatch in a semi-public place. He had done this as his true self. 

The person he had been hiding from had been the king after all. Or she should say the former king. Right now he was the one sitting on the throne, which was difficult to wrap her head around. 

"I had to kill the king but only because he destroyed my entire country and every single person in it died except for me. Someone like that couldn't be allowed to continue being in charge of such a powerful military. I didn't want anyone else's country to meet the same fate, which is why I intervened in Zel. 

"As soon as I got there I struck a deal with the wind mages and their clan leaders so no one else would have to die. The whole thing was a sham and in return for my help they assisted me with taking over the castle and the royal army headquarters. We're allies now," he said a bit sheepishly. 

Daisy had already known about his country and being the sole survivor. Juliet had clued her in on that much but hadn't given any other details aside from calling his tragic backstory "gruesome" and insisting that his revenge mattered more to him than anything else as a result. 

She hadn't known about Zel though she was slightly relieved even though she heard he had killed the king. He hadn't killed innocent people in Zel. She knew he wasn't a bad person!

That was about all she knew though. She didn't know if anyone else had died in the process, who he was, or what exactly had happened with his country. She would need to know these things so she could wrap her head around what he did. 

"Look, I already knew something terrible must have happened to you and I get wanting to get revenge but why did you take over the country? Wouldn't it have been enough to kill the king?" Daisy asked as she rubbed her forehead to ward off a headache. "Who are you, Leo? Has this been your goal all along?"

"Yes," Leo said quietly. "It wouldn't have been enough to kill the king because too many people were involved in the slaughter of my country. They didn't care. I've talked to some of them and they made worthless excuses if they bothered at all.

"Everyone involved has to pay for what they did and that wouldn't be possible unless I was in charge. This may not have been the role I was born to play but I have to do it to honor my family's legacy. I don't want them to be forgotten and this is the only way to ensure they live on."

Not the role he was born to play? With the talk of his family's legacy he had to be royalty. He had mentioned before that he had two older brothers.. He wasn't very high up in the succession for the throne of wherever he had come from.