Page 98 of The Forsaken Heir
Vincent shook his head and pointed at the approaching dragons. “I don’t know. I hope he’s with them.”
There was no hope for me, only certainty. Aureliuswaswith them. That was all there was to it.
All the men on the roof stared up into the night sky, watching the black shadows of membranous wings sweeping toward the sky. Only seven. Of the sixteen of us who’d made the trip, only seven were returning.
Please let him be there. Let him be one of them.
I couldn’t make out the colors of the dragons until they landed and the light illuminated them. Octavian was the first to land. As soon as his feet touched the roof, he shifted to his human form and collapsed face first onto the ground, exhausted and covered in bloody scratches and bite marks that hadn’t had time to heal during the flight back.
“Healers!” a man shouted, and someone sprinted into the castle to find help.
My heart thundered as the rest of the dragons landed, one after another. They shifted back as soon as they landed, some looking healthier and better off than others. The last to land was Rasp, his emerald-green scales shimmering in the light for an instant before he fell to his human knees and dragged in large breaths.
Cassius rushed toward him while I turned back to the sky, looking for Aurelius. He had to be there. At the rear perhaps, guarding their retreat.
“Raspion?” Cassius shouted, shaking the man’s shoulders, panic edging into the king’s voice. “Where’s Aurelius? Is he behind you? On the way?”
Ripping my gaze from the sky, I turned back, and the look I saw on Rasp’s face nearly sent me to my knees. He looked up at the king, his face twisted and his eyes shimmering with tears. He shook his head slowly, and it was as though the floor haddropped out beneath me. My left leg, then my right, gave way as I fell to the ground.
“Speak, boy!” Cassius shouted, his own voice growing taut with panic.
“He…he held them off,” Rasp said.
“It’s true, Your Majesty,” one of the security guards said. He looked shell-shocked, his eyes wide and his face pale. “He blocked the wolves. He ordered us to leave.”
Rasp nodded and wiped at his face with the back of his hand.
“Aurelius held them all off—Christ, there had to be over a hundred of them—he held them back so we could escape.” Rasp grasped at the king’s shirt. “I told him I wouldn’t leave. I said I wouldn’t go.” Tears flowed freely down Rasp’s cheeks as he spoke. “But he ordered me, Your Majesty. The prince ordered it. He refused to come. He stayed to give us a chance to get out. When I looked back, they were swarming over him.” He dissolved into sobs. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
He kept sobbing those two words, over and over again, falling forward and burying his face in his hands as Cassius took a staggering step away from him. The king glanced toward me, his eyes haunted.
Behind us, a familiar voice rang out. “They dare take the crown prince as a prisoner?” Benedictus bellowed. “This means war!”
Shouts and yells of agreement echoed along the parapet as the king of dragons and I looked up into the dark night sky. A sky that lay empty and desolate.
The man we both loved was nowhere in sight.
PART II
22
BRIELLE
Itraced the wood grain on Aurelius’s desk and did my best not to think about what was happening to him at that moment. All I could do was hope and pray he was alive and unhurt. As much as I tried to block it out, my mind kept filling the empty spaces with his screams and images of his lifeless body lying limp in my parents’ conservatory.
Raspion, Vincent, and Delphine sat awkwardly on the other side of the room, babysitting me like they had since our return the night before. Rasp looked as heartbroken and dejected as he had when he landed on the roof and told us Aurelius had stayed behind. Delphine hadn’t said much, but she kept shooting worried glances my way. She was probably afraid I might break down or have a panic attack. So far, I’d managed to keep it together, but a terror unlike anything I’d ever experienced built deep inside me. I knew exactly how mean and spiteful my younger brother Bastien could be. It made me sick to think of what he might do to someone I cared about. Not to mention the fact that Aurelius was the dragon prince. That alone would be enough for Bastien to want Aurelius dead.
“Are you sad?”
I glanced at Vince, who gazed back at me with that placid expression of his. “Yes, Vince,” I said, barely able to keep from snapping at him. “But more than that, I’m angry.”
He nodded, looking as though he was discussing the weather outside rather than his best friend. “That’s good. If you’re sad and angry, it means you’re still alive.”
I let out a humorless laugh and glanced at Rasp and Delphine. They were nodding along. Vince’s statement, while simplistic, was accurate. Things could always be worse.
I leaned back in the leather chair. “I guess so.”
“Sweetie, you need to eat,” Delphine said, gesturing to the tray of food that sat on the desk. “You need your strength.”
