Page 118 of A Sword of Ice
Like attack his father for carrying out the law.
And Uric would do it, this Valerio knew as surely as he took his next breath. Uric would throw himself within the path of destruction for his prince.
“Unfortunately, you are my only heir, and I cannot kill you.” Valerio hated how he sounded so disappointed by that. “However, I cannot let this slight go unpunished.”
“Father, I did what was right.”
A snarl ripped from the king’s throat. “You will address me as ‘Your Majesty’, cretin. We are not equals, and you are no longer a child sniveling behind your mother’s skirts. You had no respect then, and it seems you have no respect for my authority now.” He rounded the table until he was before Valerio.
The prince had been expecting it, and yet the slap still caught him off guard with its sting.
“Useless.” The king sneered at his face. “The fact of the matter is you have ruined the carefully constructed plans I have laid out. The emperor will see this action as a slight against him, and the Fae will suffer for it because of you.”
“We arealreadysuffering—”
“I know very well what my people are suffering. Do you really think me so foolish as to not know what is happening? Do you really think I do not have my own infiltrators feeding me the emperor’s plans of destruction?”
At this, Valerio froze.
“You have spies in their midst?”
The king’s lip pulled back. “Not that it is any concern of yours, but yes. I have managed to slip a trusted Fae in the soldiers ranks.”
Valerio blinked.
For years, he thought his father had done nothing but sit behind the walls of Castle Aileach, sending Valerio on missions to find Fae and hop them from safe house to safe house, if only to build his numbers back up and go back to his former, rich glory.
He never imagined he was actually plotting for a war behind the closed doors with his advisors and the other High Fae. That he had actually set something in motion.
“Why did you not tell me?” he demanded, feeling sudden anger surge through his system. “If you included me in your plans—”
“My plans are my own, boy. You need to know only what you are told.”
“No, you need to include me in this!” Valerio finally lost his temper, found his words rising. “Had I known—”
“You would have followed orders?” His father stepped back and snorted. “You should do that anyway.”
“But—”
“Shut up,” he hissed, whatever vestiges he had of patience left were fraying. “I grow tired of this conversation. You are a child, Valerio, and still act like one. Which leads me back to the point. Punishment. I think a whipping should do very nicely.”
Valerio gritted his teeth together. He wanted to scream at his father a little bit more, but it was useless. Talking to him was useless because he didn’t understand what things were really like out there. Even if he was plotting, he was doing it without really going out and living what the Fae were living.
It was easy for him to exclude Valerio from his plans, because he feared Valerio was right.
Yet he could not say that. He had already surpassed the line that lay between them, the one that separated the great King Ashera from his lesser offspring.
He had questioned his father; even worse, he had disobeyed a direct order.
Now, he would suffer the consequences.
“Fine,” Valerio conceded. He began to shrug off his cloak and shirt.
“Wait,” Uric interjected. “Let me take the punishment in his place, Your Majesty.”
Cold swept over Valerio’s body until he felt like he was burning and shivering at the same time from the inside out. His hands froze against the strings of his shirt. “I am the one who gave the order,” he said, careful to keep his voice neutral, lest his father hear what he was really feeling.
Though judging by the widening of his smile, Valerio feared he was too late.
