Page 74 of The Forsaken Heir
“I can, and I will,” Aurelius said, then cast his gaze around the room. “Is there anyone among you who would stop me?”
Benedictus sighed wearily and rubbed his hand across his forehead. “Prince Aurelius, you and I have had our disagreements, and we also don’t see eye to eye on much, but sending the crown prince, the heir to the dragon shifter throne, into the Laurent pack lands is suicide.” He looked to the king, extending a pleading hand toward the monarch. “Your Majesty, please talk some sense into your son. None of us wants Lady Brielle harmed, but this is beyond foolhardy.”
I wanted to agree, but I couldn’t. I was frozen to the spot, staring at Aurelius, and wondering how it had all come to this. I’d assumed he’d send me with some sort of entourage of bodyguards, but I never thought he himself would try to accompany me.
The king’s eyes bounced from Benedictus, to me, and finally to his son. The two men looked at one another for a long moment—father and son weighing and measuring, each thinking over what was about to happen, what needed to be done, and what repercussions might erupt from the choices.
Finally, the king gave a sharp nod.
“Aurelius will be the king soon enough. I will not cut his legs out from under him on this decision.” He looked at Aurelius sternly. “You may accompany her, along with a small retinue of retainers and bodyguards. But remember this,” he said, holding up a finger. “There is more at stake here than one or two lives. If the crown prince were to fall, there would be no heir apparent. You have a duty to more than”—he swiveled his eyes to me for a half second—“your friends. An entire kingdom and its people will need you when I’m gone.”
Aurelius paled a bit, but his jaw was set. “I understand, Father. I will return alive and well with Elle. I swear it on my mother’s name.”
“Very well,” the king sighed.
Most everyone in the room looked bewildered, but some looked angry while others were shell-shocked. Honestly, I was just as conflicted. It was dangerous, but it was secretly a brilliant idea. Even with the lower numbers the dragons had, the assassination of their prince would embolden them and make any fighting that broke outmuchmore difficult for the wolf shifter faction to win. Maybe with him by my side, it would actually end up being the safest thing for me.
The court members slowly trickled out, until it was only me, Aurelius, and his father left. The king looked at his son with dark and brooding eyes.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Aurelius. To tell you the truth, I don’t agree with you.” He waved a hand around at the empty room. “But it’s like I said. I couldn’t say no in front of the entire court. Not when you’ll be sitting here in a few years.” He banged his fist on the throne.
“I understand that, Dad,” Aurelius said wearily, “but if you were in my place, would you allow Elle to go alone without you there to watch over her?”
The king cleared his throat and looked away. “I suppose not. Please be careful when you go. I already lost your mother. I can’t lose you as well.”
“Don’t worry,” Aurelius said as he took my hand. “I’ll be fine. We both will be, and we’ll come back safe and sound.”
“Very well,” Cassius said. “Go on. Rest up. I’m going to go have dinner.”
“What the hell?” I said, glaring at Aurelius as we stepped out into the corridor. “You didn’t tell me you were going to do that.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t know I was going to say it until right when it came out of my mouth. You didn’t think I’d let you out of my sight so soon, did you?”
Goosebumps rose along my arms and back at the way he looked at me, like a meal to be devoured.
I sighed. “I guess not.”
He grinned and led me down the hall. “Good. Come on, then.”
We returned to his quarters to find Rasp and Vince already there, both of them pacing the floor and looking worried.
“What’s happening?” Vincent asked. “I just got back from delivering the gifts to the Hikshil tribe ten minutes ago, and everyone is being weird. Rasp says you guys got attacked at the gala, and war might be starting.”
“You must have driven fast,” Aurelius said with a smile, and lifted an eyebrow. “Did you drive the Maserati?”
Vincent’s face went red, and he lowered his eyes, a smile forming on his lips. “Maybe,” he mumbled. “But when I got the call about what happened, I flew back. It was way faster. Honestly, I didn’t really care if humans spotted me. Uh, the uh, Maserati is still with the tribe.” He shrugged helplessly. “I guess they got a bigger gift than we intended?”
Aurelius snorted a laugh. “That should make them happy, I suppose.”
“Seriously, Aurelius,” Rasp said, his face tight with worry. “Are we going to go to war? What did they say in the council?”
Aurelius gave me a sidelong glance before responding. “We’re sleeping on it for the moment. As of now, Elle will still be going to the Laurent territory for the fae ceremony that will prove who she is. I plan on accompanying her along with a small security force, as well.”
Rasp turned wide, terrified eyes on me. “You can’t, Elle. That’s too dangerous.”
“He’s right,” Vincent said, sounding even more distraught. “They’ll hurt you. I know they will. Rasp told me how your brother acted toward you. Your parents, too. You, too, Aurelius. They might want you dead even more than Elle. Please don’t go.”
He sounded so distressed that it tugged at my heart. These two men had become like brothers to me since they’d kidnapped me. No blood bound us, and we’d only known each other a short time, but they treated me more like family than my own blood relatives did.
