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Only leaving could save me.

“Let’s go,” I whispered. “Please.”

Prince Vale had been stiff, his fists clenched as he faced off with his father. At my word, however, the prince turned. His eyes widened as he took in my trembling shoulders.

Without warning, he lifted me in his arms like a fae would on their wedding night and marched out of the great hall with a hundred eyes drilling holes in our backs.

Chapter 39

Sir Caelo had the good sense to follow Prince Vale from the feast.

“You know your father.” Sir Caelo broke the tense silence shrouding our trio only when we reached the prince’s suite. He opened the door for us as I was still in the prince’s arms. “The feast is far from over, and your actions have likely elongated it well into the night. Gossip will run through the court like dragon fire.”

“Let them talk and distract themselves,” Prince Vale replied. “All the better for us.”

“Same plan?”

“We’ll start at the next changing.” Prince Vale took a step into his suite.

“That’s mere minutes away.”

“Yes. And until then, you’ll remain here.”

“Of course. I’ve got you, brother.”

The door shut behind the prince and me. Once it was just us, he strode to his bed and softly set me down. I allowed myself to sink into the mattress stuffed to bursting with feathers as the prince poured a goblet of wine. He downed it, poured two more, and offered me one.

I took it, still trembling from the humiliation I’d endured at the king’s hands and the anger that was beginning to rise within me, and drank half of the glass. The wine helped ease my nerves a touch.

“Thank you,” I croaked, finding my voice. “You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it more than you know.”

It hadn’t been the first time someone had humiliated me in public, but it had been the most frightening, which said a lot. Vampires were terrifying creatures, and yet something in the way that King Magnus watched me—like a predator about to rip out the throat of his prey—made my heart hammer.

“I did have to.” Prince Vale’s jaw tightened. “My father has mistreated females under his protection before. I’ve always hated it.”

A haunted look flashed in his eyes. His father had a harem, but were those the only females he used and abused?

“We need to talk.” He took another swig of wine. “You’re hiding something, and before I put myself at even greater risk to help you, I need to hear what.”

That, of all things, had not been what I’d expected him to say.

“What do you mean?” I needed to narrow down what the prince was suspicious of.

“Who are you, Neve? The vampire watched you closely at the trial. At dinner too, and I suspect he egged my father on to hurt you, not that the king needs much to act out.” Prince Vale snorted. “Why would a vampire prince be so interested in a fae female? A commoner at that?”

“Don’t they love fae blood?” I asked, feigning like I didn’t know that fact intimately.

The prince studied me like a puzzle to solve. “Yes, but as Lord Riis mentioned, Gervais is well fed with the blood of our prisoners. He could also ask for a living fae if he wished. As he is a royal guest, Father would have to oblige.”

“Perhaps that was his intent?”

“Prince Gervais knows the law of other lands. He’d be given a whore who would be paid. Or drink from a drained living prisoner who would not earn coin. There is no in between unless someone offers themselves to him. And he looked at you like you had wronged him.”

I swallowed. “You’re imagining things.”

He set his glass down and crossed his arms over his muscular chest. “And then there’s the matter that you wish for me to save his human? Why would you want that?”

He had me there. What could I say about wanting to free Anna?