Page 29 of The Broken Prince

“Let him rest. That’s all you can do.” He guided me out of the infirmary and back under the sky. The soldiers had lit the torches for extra light, the city illuminated in parts where it hadn’t been destroyed.

I stared at the wreckage, unsure what to do or how to lead my people. I couldn’t help my brother. I couldn’t help my mother. I was powerless to do anything. I moved through the gate and up the hill, approaching the entrance to the castle, the site where my mother had nearly died on the spot. “I—I don’t know what to do.”

“Send a message to your father and inform him what happened.”

“I meant about Delacroix. Did we win the war…or was that just a battle?” I turned to look at him, as if he would have the answer.

“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

“I want to see my mother, but I can’t leave. With Atticus indisposed, there’s no one else to lead.”

His hand moved to my arm again. “There’s nothing you can do for her right now.”

“I don’t want her to die alone—”

“She’s not going to die.”

“How—how do you know?”

“Because all those soldiers pissed their pants when they saw those guys, and your mother asked for their dance card. That woman is made of steel, and she has too much to live for. She’ll pull through.”

My eyes watered because the hope was so tantalizing. I wanted that more than anything.

“If there’s another battle, it won’t come now. We tend to the wounded, repair our fortifications, and rest. Go to your chambers and get some sleep. There’s nothing else you can do right now.”

I wasn’t sure if I could close my eyes, not after everything that had happened, not when the horror still flashed across my mind. My father had trained me for war, but now that I’d seen it firsthand, I realized I wasn’t prepared at all. It was too horrible. “Will you lie with me…?” I couldn’t look him in the eye as I asked, as I exposed my vulnerability to a man who had hurt me with his rejection. But his affection was the only thing that had gotten me through the last hour.

I finally had the courage to meet his stare.

His dark eyes were focused and unflinching, like thoughts were swirling in a cloud in his mind. “I haven’t seen my family in a long time. We have much to discuss.”

“Oh, of course…” So many things had happened today that the sudden appearance of more vampires was forgettable. I felt foolish for asking, for leaning on Aurelias like he was more than an old lover who no longer wanted me.

“I can come afterward.”

All the disappointment was eradicated instantly. “You don’t have to climb this time…just walk in.”

A subtle smile moved on to his lips before he stepped away.

I watched him go, his body powerful in his plates of armor, the man who saved my mother…and my kingdom.

NINE

AURELIAS

I sat at the head of the dining table, the surface covered with all the booze I could scrounge up. We had wine, ale, some of the harder stuff that my brothers and I preferred. There was one thing I knew they would prefer above all—but that wasn’t on the menu.

Cobra sat with his arm over the back of Clara’s chair, his eyes shifting to her from time to time. His dedication to monogamy was clear in how he regarded her.

The door opened, and Kingsnake returned, his wife and snake in tow.

I rose to my feet to look at Larisa, because the last time I’d seen her, she was a weak human who nearly died in the snow, her cheeks pale, her eyes dead.

But she stepped inside in armor identical to Kingsnake’s, Fang around her shoulders even though he was too heavy for humans to lift, and her eyes now held the darkness the rest of us had. Unlike the others, she was an Original—as was I.

Her eyes moved to me, and a smile crept over both her lips and her eyes. “Aurelias.”

“Sister.”