Page 143 of The Forsaken Heir
I squeezed his hand. “Okay. I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
He left along with Benedictus and Vince, though Vince never actually made itoutthe door. Rasp yanked him back by the scruff of his neck. Aurelius had moved over to talk to his father, and I stood off to the side, watching the interaction.
Rasp escorted Vincent over to the envoy group, but bypassed the older members and made a beeline for Sahalie. Doing my bestto remain inconspicuous, I moved over, curious as to how this might go.
“Sahalie?” Rasp said, tugging what looked like a horrified and scared Vincent over. “This is the friend I was telling you about at the gala.”
Sahalie smiled at Vince. “Yes. I remember.” She stretched her hand out to shake. “I’ve seen you a couple times, but we’ve never been properly introduced. As your friend Raspion said, my name is Sahalie.”
Vincent bobbed his head up and down and held his hand out. When Sahalie took it, a wide grin stretched over his face. “Uh…umm…nice to meet you.”
Sahalie tilted her head to the side. “I’ve heard about the dragon king’s libraries. Is it true he hasfive?”
Vince blinked as if coming back to his senses. “Well, yeah—oh, no, that’s not right. There’s actually six.”
You would have thought Vince had told Sahalie that Santa was real and in the next room over.
“Could you show me?” she said, her eyes bright with excitement. “I’d love to see that. I’ve heard some of the books are nearly a thousand years old.”
Vince shrugged and shook his head. “Not really. I mean therearesome that date that far back, but they’re reprints and copies. Paper doesn’t have a very long shelf life. Have you ever heard of booklice? They’re little bugs that actually eat the pages. They leave these long tunnels in the books like termites do to wood.”
Vince took her arm and walked toward the door.
Sahalie grinned up at him. “Ilovebugs. Tell me more.”
“Holy fucking shit,” Rasp said as he walked over to me. He bumped my shoulder playfully with his fist. “Did you see that? I knew those two would get along.”
I laughed. “It did seem like they hit it off.”
The thought of Vince finding someone made me all warm and gooey inside. Vincedeserved to be happy. Maybe Sahalie could do that. At least I hoped so.
Over the course of the day, I started feeling thankful that my family had frozen me out of the political side of things. Meeting after meeting, discussion after discussion, and argument after argument took place in multiple rooms around the manor. I didn’t even get a chance to speak at half of them. By the end of the day, my head was spinning, and mental exhaustion had begun to set in.
Aurelius and his father acted as though a lot had been decided on, but to my uneducated ears, it all sounded like rich, powerful men and women talking gibberish. After listening to a heated discussion between Benedictus’s friends, who wanted to plan a surprise attack, and a contingent of dragons who thought defense was the best scenario, I excused myself.
“You look exhausted,” Delphine said as I shuffled into our room.
“I am.” I flopped down on a chair. “Is it always like this?”
“Is what always like this?” she asked, tucking a bookmark into her spot and setting the novel aside.
“This,” I said, waving my hand around. “Political disasters? War? Alliances? Everything.”
Delphine gave me a sad smile. “Unfortunately, yes. Usually.”
“God, I can’t even tell if they’ve decided on anything yet—oh wait, that’s not right,” I said sarcastically. “Titus did confirm with the Hikshil that their people can stay in the older areas of the castle. Apparently, there is an old military barracks there from back when there were enough dragons to need one. I guess I was wrong there.”
“This is how it works,” Delphine explained. “Lots of talking, lots of round and round, and then, if you’reverylucky, a few small details will be hashed out after a day or two.”
“Ugh,” I groaned, throwing my head back. “It’s ridiculous.”
A knock sounded at the door, sending a spike of irritation through me. I rose and stomped toward the door. “I swear to God, if this is Titus asking me to join another meeting, I’ll lose it,” I said through gritted teeth.
It was Titus, but he hadn’t come for political reasons.
He bowed. “My lady. Prince Aurelius has asked if you and Lady Delphine would join him in his room for dinner?”
