Page 58 of The Forsaken Heir
He was right. Rasp and Vince had kidnapped Elle. For good or ill, that simple act had set all this into motion. It didn’t matter that the two men believed she’d been taken hostage by some sort of enemy—they had brought her to our doorstep. In turn, her family had decided she was too much of a liability. First, a shifter born without an inner wolf, then a traitor cavorting with dragons. They’d decided to get rid of her and frame us for her death.
I loved both men as if they were my brothers by blood, but I had to admit, my father had a point. Rasp was toolaissez-faireto ever be trusted with more delicate and important tasks his family might want. Based on his father’s own underlying prejudices, Vince was too peculiar to be of much use. That left them in this strange limbo in our world, but I’d trust either of them with my life, although I was always worried they’d make some major mistakes in trying to save me.
Deciding to find both of them to see what they were doing, I headed to my rooms first, assuming they were hanging out there as they usually did. Rasp was there, playing a hand of solitaire and dressed in his tux, but Vince was nowhere in sight.
“Hey there,” Rasp said with a grin as I walked in. “What’s up, big guy?”
“Nothing,” I grunted. “Where’s Vince?”
Rasp shrugged. “No clue.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “He’s our shadow. He’salwaysaround you or me.”
“Yeah. It’s weird. I couldn’t find him anywhere earlier.” He shrugged again and went back to his cards. “Came here to chill before the gala starts instead.”
“Damn it,” I hissed. “Let me get dressed, then we’ll go look for him.”
“Sure thing,” he said, but kept his eyes on the cards.
Hurrying to my dressing room, I put on my tux pants, dress shirt, glossy black dress shoes, and tied the bow tie at my throat. I left my official royal jacket and a few other accouterments, like badges of office and the gaudy goldaiguillettethat would hang from my shoulder, in the closet until right before I needed to head to the ballroom. The extra stuff always made me uncomfortable. In my mind, it was too showy, but it was my duty to dress the part of the prince.
After a quick look in the mirror to make sure I was presentable, I went back to the main part of my room. Rasp was tucking the deck of cards back into the box.
“I won,” he said, gesturing to the cards.
“I’m very happy for you,” I muttered, trying not to roll my eyes. “Come on. I bet I know where Vince is.”
Rasp followed me to the library. Sure enough, the big man was standing by a shelf of books, reading a tome and pacing.
“Vince?” I said, glancing up and down at him. “You aren’t dressed. The gala starts in less than forty minutes.”
Vince glanced up from his book, and closed it around his finger to keep his place. He grimaced, then shrugged. “I don’t like parties.”
“What’s not to like, bro?” Rasp said, his words ringing out in the quiet room. “Open bar, dude!”
Vince’s gaze flicked to Rasp. “I don’t drink, Rasp.”
“Well…” Rasp looked momentarily taken aback before smiling again. “I’ll drink your share.”
Ignoring my other friend, I walked over to Vince and took the book from his hands. “What’s the problem? Seriously?”
Vince lowered his head. “Parties are loud. I can’t concentrate. Plus, everyone looks at me weird. It’s because I’m big and dumb.”
My heart cracked in my chest, like a mirror being tapped with a small hammer. I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me.
“Vincent Beatrix, you arenotdumb.” I nudged him and grinned conspiratorially. “A little different? Yeah, but the best people are a little different. Einstein? Tesla? Dali?”
“Right,” Rasp added. “Isaac Newton was weird. He died a virgin!”
I glared at Rasp. “Thank you for that,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I’d rather not go,” Vince said, ignoring our friend. “Is there any way I can stay here? Read and stuff while that’s going on? Dad will be there, and he’ll want me to, like, interact.” Vince began to snap the rubber band on his wrist, over and over in quick succession until his skin was bright red. “I’ll mess up and disappoint him.”
He looked miserable. There was no way I’d force him to go down and try to enjoy the party. An idea came to me then, and I grinned at him.
“Actually,” I said, “there is something you can do. Somethingreallyimportant. I almost forgot.”
Vincent lifted his eyes and stopped snapping that damned rubber band. “What?”
