Page 100 of The Forsaken Heir
“I will.”
As I wandered the halls aimlessly, my two shadows tailing close behind, I tried to imagine ways Icouldsave Aurelius, each one more fantastical and ridiculous than the last. Maybe I could find some old magic in the castle that would let me grow dragonwings to fly to him; I could try to figure out how to use hypnotism to get Vince and Rasp to go along with my plan; I could try selling my soul to the devil.
Tossing the rest of the croissant into a waste bin, I let out a sigh of disgust. It was all pointless. Not only did I have no way of getting to Aurelius, but even if I got there, I couldn’t shift. I had no internal animal, nothing to give me that extra boost I would need to save him. That thought alone pissed me off. I’d learned long ago to believe I was enough even without an inner wolf, yet here I was, once again thinking I was broken in some way. It irritated me beyond belief.
In the spirit walk Jolon had led me through—before his murder—I’d come to grips with all of that. I’d come out of it renewed and rejuvenated in my understanding that I was complete without a wolf. Somehow, through the shitshow Bastien had orchestrated, I’d slipped back into those old feelings of inadequacy again.
The mansion was much more active today than at any other time. Not surprising. It wasn’t every day that the heir to the throne was taken captive. From what I could see, every dragon shifter within a six-hour flight had come to Cassius’s aid. Noblemen and women, servants, and security patrolled the halls and spoke in hushed murmurs, though they tapered off as soon as the three of came near. Still, I caught a few snatches of conversation.
“Rumor is, the prince is already dead.”
“The king is holed up in his room, preparing for negotiations.”
“War. We’re going to war.”
“The wolves will be launching some sort of attack any day now.”
“Lady Brielle is safe, but what of the prince? How could they leave him behind?”
“Lord Beatrix has said the only way out is through a preemptive attack.”
It grew tiresome, and I led Rasp and Vince to a quieter part of the house, away from the whispers and rumors.
“These people have no idea what they’re talking about,” I finally said when we were in the old castle. “All they’re doing is repeating bullshit rumors.”
“Some are.” Vince shrugged. “Somehaveheard true intel from court members.”
“Really?” Rasp asked. “Like what?”
“War,” Vince said without hesitation.
I spun to look at him and saw the embarrassment slowly dawn on his face. He wasn’t supposed to say that—not to me.
“Really?” I said. “The king is going to war? How? Your numbers are too small.”
He opened his mouth, but I waved him off before he could speak.
“Screw it,” I said. “Let’s go to the source.”
Before either of them could say anything, I stalked off toward the throne room.
I found exactly what I knew I’d find: all the members of the dragon court huddled in the room, and a haggard-looking, exhausted King Cassius in his chair, listening to the chorus of voices arguing, pleading, and demanding.
“This is not to be taken lightly,” Benedictus said, slamming a fist on the table. “How dare the wolves take Aurelius hostage? No. We can’t sit back any longer. We must attack. If they want war, then war they shall have.”
“Lord Benedictus,” another man said in a conciliatory tone. “You understand what that would entail, don’t you? The wolves outnumber us to amassivedegree. Rumor is they’ve been making inroads with other less powerful shifter races as well. Bears. Panthers. You know they have little love lost for us. Not after how things went when we first arrived from the old world. It will be a bloodbath.”
“I don’t care.” Benedictus clenched his teeth so hard that tendons stood out on his neck. “A single dragon is worth half a dozen other shifters. I don’t care if they bring a hundred grizzly shifters to the battlefield. Bears burn just as well as wolves do.”
There was a hearty round of agreement with his statement. I couldn’t gather enough excitement to even pretend to agree. A thirty-foot-long fire-breathing dragon was a hell of a fighter, but even a rattlesnake could be taken down by a swarm of fire ants if the swarm was big enough. The numbers werenotin favor of the dragon king’s forces. If they were right about my family trying to recruit other shifters, then the battle would be bloody and violent, but in the end the wolveswouldwin. Not only that, but the dragon numbers would be so depleted that it would take centuries to get back to where they are now—if they ever did. What it most likely would mean was the end of the dragon race altogether.
“Benedictus,” Cassius said with a sigh. “I know you want what is best for our people, and I trust that you have good intel. If war is to happen, then we mustn’t rush into battle. We need to wait while we gather our forces.” The king glanced across the roomat me, giving me a slightly weary smile. “As some have said, the wolves aren’t all we should be worried about. We have the humans to account for as well. This must be undertaken with high caution.”
“Caution be damned!” Benedictus jumped to his feet. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, they have takenyour son?—”
“Do you think I don’t know that?”Cassius roared, standing from his own seat.
His rage was terrifying, and I took a step back in fear. Cassius looked like he was about to breathe fire into the entire room.
