Page 35 of The Forsaken Heir
“Stand, Karinius,” Dad said. “Tell us what our friends the Laurents have to say about our…” He glanced at me. “Little mistake.”
Karinius stood and again glanced at me, then Elle, and back to my father.
“Sire.” He frowned and shook his head. “I’m not sure how to say this.”
My father leaned forward, all semblance of a smile vanishing. “Have they declared open war? Are they requesting a hostage in return? What is it, man?”
Karinius’ frown deepened, and the lines around his eyes tightened. “They, uh, they don’t care, Your Majesty.”
“Don’t care about what?” I demanded. “About our apologies?”
“No, not that, sire,” Karinius said and threw Elle a miserably uncomfortable look. “They don’t care that we have Brielle Laurent in our custody.”
“Excuse me?” I took a step forward. “What do you mean by that?”
“Yes,” Dad said. “Explain.”
Glancing over at Elle, I found an even greater surprise. Instead of looking confused, she was staring at the ground, arms crossed, a plaintive look on her face.
Karinius took a deep breath before beginning. “When I arrived, I informed them that I had pressing news about their eldest daughter, thinking that would get me an audience quickly, but I was told to wait until today. Their staff woke me at dawn and brought me before the patriarch, matriarch, and heir apparent of the Laurent family. I explained all that had happened, the misunderstanding and the kidnapping. I gave them our deepest apologies and offered them a time and place of their choosing to return her to their custody.”
“And?” I said.
“They didn’t hesitate,” he said, lowering his voice. “They told me they ‘decline to accept the political prisoner’. When I pressed them on what that meant, they said… Uhm, they said we could keep her if we wanted to. Your brother Bastien informed me they had no use for a”—he cast a sideways glance at Elle again and lowered his voice—“broken and worthless thing.”
My father and I shared a look, our faces twisted in horror.
Elle let out a bitter laugh. “I knew this would happen.”
8
BRIELLE
Iwanted to crawl in a hole and die. Aurelius, his father, and the messenger guy all looked aghast. Heat flooded my cheeks. I shouldn’t have been ashamed, but knowing that I was seconds away from having to tell these men my deepest secret still filled me with that strange childhood fear. Like telling your parents you’d broken something or gotten an F on your report card.
“Elle?” Aurelius said hesitantly. “What’s?—”
“I can’t shift,” I blurted. “Happy?”
Aurelius’s face became a mask of confusion. “What?”
Here it was. All on the table now. Once he knew how worthless I was, he and his father would be disgusted. I should have been used to it by now, after all the shit I’d gone through before being banished. Shifters, especially wolf shifters, were repulsed by abominations like me.
“I have no inner wolf. I never have, and most likely, at this point, never will,” I said, my voice shaking. “I’ve never been able tocontact her or shift, which means I’m broken. I am pathetic and worthless.” My eyes stung, ready to spill tears down my cheeks. It was only through a powerful strength of will that I held them back.
The shame faded, and fear took over. How bloodthirsty were dragons? The flirting and laughing had been fun, but now that these men saw me for what I was, would they have me killed on the spot? I would see the prince’s true colors. He’d look at me with that same disappointed disgust my parents had when it became clear I’d never shift.
Keeping my head lowered, I glanced around, trying to plan the best route for escape should it come to that. Would I be fast enough? I could only hope.
Finally forcing my eyes up, I looked at the men in the room. Aurelius, Cassius, and Karinius were looking at me, but what I saw in their eyes was not what I’d expected. There was no derision or disgust. Instead, they all looked a bit befuddled.
“You can’t shift?” Aurelius asked, stating the obvious.
“No,” I said, again glancing at the door. How soon before they attacked? Would they be tying me up first? Let Vincent try his knots again? Perhaps I’d be executed as an abomination at nightfall?
“Is this a serious matter?” Cassius asked, a hard line creasing his forehead.
I blinked at him, suddenly off-kilter. “Excuse me?” Was he playing with me?
