Page 57 of The Forsaken Heir
“What of the Hikshil tribe?” Titus asked. “Any word?”
I nodded and smiled grimly. “They’ve agreed to send an envoy group to the gala.” I shrugged. “They tell me they will be here at the appointed time, though I have no ideahowthey will arrive tonight. Their tribe is old. Indigenous to the Americas from tens of centuries ago. They have no real understanding of the gala like the fae from the old world do. This will be the first time they attend. They havenoidea what to expect or what’s even being celebrated, but they said they’ll be there.”
“Good,” Dad said, a smile finally flickering to life on his lips. “It will be nice to see them watch the Laurents and other wolves squirm when Brielle reveals herself and fingers her own family as the would-be assassins.”
“And the other wolf families are all coming?” I asked, glancing at Titus. “Even with it being onourlands?”
Titus inclined his head. “All the families will be in attendance. Most are already on their way for the evening’s festivities and will arrive within the hour. It is a bit worrisome that they are allso intent on being there. This will be the first gala held on dragon lands in over two centuries. It makes me wonder if, perhaps, the Laurents have pushed their agenda even further within the wolf families. They may all be excited to come and watch House Decimus fall to accusations of murder and assassination.” Titus shrugged helplessly. “There’s no way to know. Either that, or they may simply be excited to traverse dragon lands for the first time in a long time. We can do nothing but wait and see.”
“I doubt they just want to have a leisurely walk around our controlled lands,” I said, my voice low and angry. “They want to see what we have to say about Brielle’sallegedmurder.”
Tensions had grown taut over the last two weeks. In fact, we’d had word that wolves had attacked one of our transportation routes five days before. Without proof of Brielle being alive, we really had no way of showing we’d had nothing to do with the assassination. The houses of the dragon court had all been sworn to secrecy, and so far that had been held. It made our plan more dramatic and explosive in the long term, but the short term had been terribly inconvenient. Most dragon families had chosen to hunker down in their own estates rather than venture forth and risk being attacked in areas we didn’t control. All-out war and fighting hadn’t begun yet, but anger and resentment simmered on a low boil. I was grateful the gala was tonight, because this couldn’t go on much longer. After this evening, everything would be settled and behind us.
“Are wepositivethey don’t know our plan?” Dad asked. “Their assassins obviously returned empty-handed and with a story of you and Vince swooping in to rescue Brielle. Can’t they assume we have her safe and sound? It’s been eating at me since their first declaration of Brielle’s death.”
“That occurred to me as well,” I admitted. “What I believe, as awful as it sounds, is that they assume we think of her as an equally big liability. If I have the Laurents figured out, I think they assumed Vince and I didn’t arrive tosaveElle, but that we showed up to kill her ourselves. It’s the way these people think. Brutality first, compassion second.” I snorted in disgust. “Or maybe fifth or sixth. That could be even further down on their list of priorities.”
My father bobbed his head back and forth. “I suppose you may be right. It would explain the way they’ve acted. It also shows what they would do if you were in their hands,” he said, eyeing me. “The Laurents would probably slit your throat before we even had time to negotiate your release.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “They’d never try anything tonight. Not onourland inourcastle. They’ll never get me, anyway. They eventry? They’ll pull back a stump.”
Dad grinned. “That’s my boy. Speaking of the Laurents, what exactly was the response from the Laurents with our previous offering? About Bastien? In all the drama and haste, I’d never asked.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Karinius said their eyes were as big as saucers,” I said. “When he told them we’d offered to make Bastien Laurent the guest of honor for the gala, they nearly fell off their chairs.”
Dad let out a belly laugh and clapped his hands. “Good! It was the best way to guarantee they would come.” He pointed at me. “It was a good ruse. I bet they wanted to spit fire. Too badwe’rethe dragons and not them.”
Titus grinned ruefully. “It also helps that we sent word to all the other shifter families across the globe that Bastien was to be the honored guest. Hard to decline attendance wheneveryoneexpects you to be there. Hell, it may be why so many are coming. The historical nature of it. Bastien will be taking over as head of the family soon, if he hasn’t already begun.”
Dad leaned back in his throne, nodding as if to himself. For several seconds, he stared off into space. Titus shifted his weight in his chair. He always grew uncomfortable when my father fell into silent introspection. My father was the most powerful man in all of dragon shifter society. If I weren’t his son, I’d probably be intimidated too, regardless of how kind he was.
Through the window, past the dusky light, a line of limos and black SUVs had begun pulling up the main driveway—the first guests arriving for the epic gala.
“All right.” Dad let out a deep, weary sigh. “Let’s keep everything in order and go from there.” He pointed at Titus. “Head down and double check with the kitchen staff. The guests have already started arriving, and the damned thing isn’t supposed to start for another hour. They need to go ahead and get some hors d’oeuvresout for the guests.” He turned his gaze to me. “Stay on top of security. Have them do one final run-through before things pick up later.”
“Will do, Father,” I said.
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Titus said.
“That’s all for now,” Dad said, glancing at his watch and sighing. “I don’t know what else we can do. You two need to prepare for the gala anyway.”
I was almost out the door before my father called out to me.
“Aurey?”
Wincing at the childhood nickname, I turned back. “Yes, Dad?”
He looked like he didn’t want to say whatever it was he was about to say.
“Umm… Raspion and Vincent?” he asked, an embarrassed expression on his face.
My stomach dropped. “Yes?”
“I know they are your closest friends, but, well, part of thisistheir fault. Please keep a short leash on them. Especiallyduring the gala tonight.”
“Understood,” I said, giving him a single nod before departing.
