Page 158 of The Forsaken Heir
“Never thought of it that way,” Delphine said, then poked me in the side. “Was it good for you, dear?”
“Gross,” I hissed, swatting her arm. “You’ve been around Rasp too long.”
“Hey,” Rasp said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose and let out a long breath. “Any word yet from Bastien?”
Sahalie nodded. “Yes. Kaskawan and Achakos found me a few minutes ago. We received word that he’s accepted our request.”
“Really?”
Delphine and I exchanged a look of astonishment.
After a couple of days, I’d almost assumed Bastien would simply ignore the request.
“When?”
“Two weeks,” Sahalie said, then ran her tongue along her lower lip as she tried to decide which cookie to select next.
“That seems like a long time,” I said.
“Indeed,” Sahalie said as she picked up a sugar cookie. “We believe they want time to plan the inevitable trap. Your brother is quite predictable.”
“Is everyone okay with this?” I asked, itching to go find Aurelius and discuss the new situation.
“Honestly,” Sahalie said. “This works better for us. It gives us time to gather our forces and get to the meeting place. As far as I can tell, everything is going according to plan.”
She took a bite of her cookie and sighed with satisfaction. Vince gazed at her with unadulterated devotion and rapture. Poor guy was falling hard and fast.
“Is Aurelius around?” I asked.
Rasp nearly made another mess, almost knocking his drink over as he looked at his watch. He grabbed Vince’s shirt and dragged him from the chair.
“Shit, dude! We almost forgot. That meeting starts in like three minutes.” Rasp hauled Vince toward the door, flashing me an apologetic smile. “Aurelius. Sorry. He’ll be in another meeting for a while. I’ll let him know to come find you when he’s done. Okay?”
Before I could respond, the two men disappeared around the corner.
“Come on, dear,” Delphine said. “Let’s get a little something to eat, then we can go back outside and practice a bit more. I’d like to go over that last move a few times.”
I did as she asked, but even as I ate, my mind drifted. How would all this play out? We knew Bastien was laying a trap, and we were planning for it. My brother wasn’t stupid, though. He could be planning something to counteract that, too. Everything that was happening, all the meetings and subterfuge,everythingseemed to be for nothing. If I had to guess, this was all going to come to a head the way history usually said it would.
With blood.
36
AURELIUS
“Afew hundred. That’s our best estimate at this time,” Octavius said.
Leaning back in my chair, I heaved a sigh. Another member of the war council voiced my frustration.
“A few hundred fighters? That’s all?” he asked. “I thought we could muster at least a thousand.”
Octavius spread his hands in surrender. “We’ve put out the call, but that’s all I can say for sure.”
“We have farmore men of fighting age than a few hundred.” Benedictus pounded his fist on the table. “Where are the rest?”
“Some are ineligible,” I said.
