Page 32 of The Broken Prince

Kingsnake turned to look at me.

Cobra exchanged a look with Clara.

I continued. “You guys can go, but I have to stay.”

“But you don’t have to stay,” Kingsnake said. “We can leave right now, and no one will stop us—”

“Then let me rephrase my words,” I said quietly. “I don’t want to leave.”

Kingsnake had never given me a look like that, like he didn’t recognize his own flesh and blood. “The girl…”

I stared into my glass.

Cobra folded his arms over his chest. “But you hate humans…”

“Not this one,” Larisa said.

“They don’t have a chance against…whatever the fuck these things are.” Not only was I the strongest kind of vampire, but I’d had lifetimes of experience with the blade, and even I had struggled to meet the might of their swords.

“And neither do you,” Kingsnake said. “If we hadn’t shown up, you’d be dead right now.”

“He’s right,” Cobra said. “A single vampire isn’t enough to make a difference.”

“But an army of vampires might.” I lifted my gaze as I took a drink. “I promised King Rolfe our army in exchange for my freedom.”

“And that agreement is now void after you saved his queen and his daughter,” Kingsnake snapped. “Delacroix would have a new king and all the humans would be dead right now if it weren’t for you. You don’t owe him a damn thing. The best way to protect the girl is to take her with us.”

“I don’t want to take her with me,” I said. “And she wouldn’t come anyway.” She wouldn’t leave her family or her people. She had the honor of kings, finding death preferable to dishonor.

Cobra stared. “You could turn her—”

“I will never turn her.” I stared into my glass.

My brothers went quiet again.

“So let me get this straight,” Cobra said. “You don’t want to turn her, which means you don’t want to be with her, but you’re willing to sacrifice your life for her protection? Yeah…makes a lot of sense.”

I lifted my gaze and stared him down. “When you return, ask Father to send the armies.”

“Why?” Kingsnake asked. “He gets nothing out of it, so why would he agree?”

“Because I asked.” And I had faith that my father would accommodate any and every request that I made.

“This isn’t our war,” Kingsnake said. “We just fought in a war. We’re not sending our people to die for a cause that has nothing to do with them. Aurelias, do you realize what you’re asking?”

Cobra jumped in. “You’re asking your people to sacrifice themselves for humans.”

“Whom you despise,” Kingsnake added. “Whom Father despises.”

I continued to stare into my glass. “They’re good people.”

“You returned his daughter, and he locked you up in a dungeon,” Kingsnake snapped, growing heated. “He sounds like a maniac.”

“He’s only a maniac when it comes to his daughter,” Aurelias said. “And I respect that.”

“That’s not enough reason, Aurelias,” Kingsnake said.

“The queen is brave,” I said quietly. “She has more spine than men twice her size.”