Page 145 of The Forsaken Heir
“Nah.” Rasp nudged my shoulder. “You don’t believe that.”
I sighed wearily and took a sip of my coffee. Usually, I was more positive, but after everything Bastien had done, worry gnawed at me. Elle’s brother was a lunatic. Not only that, but her parents were enabling him simply because they thought he was the strongest person to lead their family. All that money, strength, and political sway thrust behind a maniac made it more difficult to anticipate things. The fact that there’d been no official or even unofficial response to my escape worried me more than I wanted to admit.
“Not really, no. Where’s Vince? I haven’t seen him since yesterday morning.”
Rasp grinned at me. “I bet he’s still hanging out with Sahalie.”
“Sahalie?” I frowned. “The seer? The one who said she saw Bastien in her mind or something?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, and took a large gulp of coffee. “She’s a different kinda chick, but Vince is a different kinda dude. When I met her, I figured they’d be perfect together.”
“Interesting.” I looked back out at the rolling hills and tried to picture Vincent in a romantic relationship. The man was kind and loving and loyal almost to a fault, but he’d never shown much interest in women. I’d never been sure if that was simply because he either had no romantic desire, or if he was too shy and embarrassed to ever approach a woman. The idea made me smile. I hoped Rasp was right. It would be good for Vincent to have someone.
The day really was beautiful. I couldn’t argue with that. In a perfect world, I’d take Elle out for a stroll on the grounds and a picnic or something. Unfortunately, that was out of the question. There was too much to plan.
“Let’s get going,” I said, turning from the window. “We’ll be late for the military council.”
Rasp rolled his eyes. “All seven of them?”
“Nine, including us,” I said.
At one point in time, the military had been tens of thousands strong. There were old stories of a battle that took place above the fields of England back when it was still called Albion. It was said that the sky was as dark as night with the number ofdragons flying in. Now, the best we might be able to summon was a couple hundred. If we grew truly desperate, we could command all the dragons across the globe to come and aid their king, but that would barely increase the number. Sure, one dragon was as good as five wolves, but when the wolves outnumbered you more than ten to one, the odds weren’t great.
Rasp and I entered the conference room that sat a few doors down from the throne. Octavius and several other high-ranking members of my father’s security forces were already seated.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” Octavius said, rising and bowing as I entered.
“Have a seat,” I said, and took a chair near the head of the table. “Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.”
“Our people are prepared for battle,” Octavius said. “We can mobilize our forces within five minutes should the Laurents attack.”
“Protection spells?” I asked. “I know the Hikshil and some of the fae we have on staff here said they’d begin working on more robust protections.”
“They went out before dawn to increase the protections around the estate grounds. Though,” Hadrian, my father’s personal guard, said, “the Laurents have fae on their side as well. Perhaps none as powerful as the Hikshil, but they’ll be able to pierce the protection spells given enough time. At best, they’ll buy us… I don’t know… half an hour?”
“I figured.” I looked at Octavius again. “Humans?”
He shook his head. “Our intelligence operatives within the local human government say they’re all unaware of anythinghappening. So far, as we’ve done for centuries, this little melodrama is playing out under their noses. Good for us, I suppose.”
“Do you have any intel on the Laurent lands, Highness?” a woman asked. “You were held for quite a while. Anything we can use in case a full assault on their holdings will be needed?”
“I spent most of my time being tortured in a ten-by-ten foot closet.” Everyone in the room winced and looked down at the table. “I do recall most of the area between their mansion and the waste treatment plant had no security. Nothing but open roads. In fact, if not for our bad luck in coming across that security team, we most likely would have gotten out completely unseen. That area might be a good spot for us to infiltrate if it comes to that. Of course, after my escape, they may have allocated more men to that area. We can’t know for sure.”
Octavius waved a sheet of paper at me, and the crinkly sound worked on my nerves. “Have any of you seen the estimated numbers the Laurents have?”
I sighed. “I’ve seen the figures. It’s not good.”
Octavius jabbed a finger at the paper. “We’re talking about nearly a thousand in the Laurent lands alone. That’s not counting any other wolf families they can bring to their side, much less if they can sway some of the smaller shifter races to join their cause. Add a few hundred panther, bear, moose, and elk shifters? You’re talking another two or three thousand.” He shoved the paper away and shook his head.
Not only were our numbers low, but most of our fighting force had families. Older families without young children, sure, but it didn’t change the fact that many of these people would neverreturn from an all-out battle. Their mates and loved ones would never see them again. With each light snuffed out, our numbers would grow that much smaller.
Too depressed by the situation to continue, I waved my hand. “That’s enough for now. We can reconvene tomorrow if there’s any new information.”
As they filed out of the room, I sat back and thought about all the bad things that were coming. At the moment, I couldn’t think of a good way out of the situation. I needed something to clear my head. A ray of sunshine to blast away the thunderclouds gathering in my mind. I needed Elle.
I rose and went looking for her. I finally found her and Delphine in one of the informal dining rooms, finishing up a meal.
“Hey there.” Elle’s eyes brightened when she saw me.
