Page 31 of The Crimson Princess (The Ravengale Chronicles #1)

Chapter twenty-three

T he sun crowds the horizon as I join my father and Idris on the edge of the woods, a small group of soldiers mingling just out of hearing range. “I didn’t know you were werewolf hunting with us tonight, father,” I greet.

“I’m not hunting,” he assures me, “but I’d like to know the plan. A werewolf infestation is no small problem.”

One he should have known about and I can’t get that part of this equation out of my head. Was he too busy bed hopping to actually protect Ravengale? Or was my mother the only way he kept a grip on what was going on outside the castle?

“The plan,” I say, “is to kill the werewolves, which is simple enough, but demanding since they’re in excess.” I eye Idris. “I assume you’ve killed your share?”

“I have,” Idris confirms, “but most of our gales have not. We haven’t seen a werewolf in these parts in centuries. I’ve already told them to go for the throat.”

“Their skin is thick,” I remind him.

“They have blades cast with your father’s magic that will do the job.”

“They won’t need their blades near as much if they protect the frostburns. They’ll do a lot of the killing for us.”

“What happens when they attack us?” Idris counters.

“They sense when someone wants to hurt me. In other words, don’t go trying to stab me in the back and you’ll be fine.”

“Where does that assumption come from, Satima?” my father asks .

“It’s not assumption but observation, and since you asked, father, when Bellar showed up during my hunt, they wanted to rip his throat out. When Raven did the same this afternoon, they stood down which is why I invited her to hunt with us.”

My father’s eyes burn with anger, a grit to his teeth as he orders, “Leave us, Idris.”

I can feel Idris’s heavy stare on me, but he simply backs away and joins his soldiers. “Do not speak against your future husband in front of our men.”

“I’m not marrying Bellar, and I’m going to tell you this right now, father.

I’ll play nice with him, I’ll even let him court me, and think he has the chance to win me over, but only while you hunt the sorceress.

I will not be your pawn nor a gift to your enemies.

If you try to announce an engagement, I’ll publicly deny it and you. ”

“You dare stand against me?”

“I’m protecting you.”

He snorts. “You’re clearly not right in the head, girl.”

Girl , I think. Did he really just call me that and say that to me? “What I am is omniscient and an empath like mom. For reasons I can’t explain, I didn’t even want to tell you, which says a lot, considering I should trust my father, and our king. I feel like I have to hide from you.”

“That’s silliness. I’m your father.”

“Who I barely know outside the pain you caused my mother.”

“You’re out of line,” he snaps, his teeth gritting together.

“Then you’ll really hate what I have to say next. Bellar intends to destroy you and use me to help.”

“Nonsense.”

“Are you an empath, too?”

“You know I’m not.”

“Then I beg of you, instead of calling me a girl who is out of my mind, listen to me. I love Ravengale, and despite everything, you, too. I will help you deceive Bellar while you defeat him, but I will not help him defeat you.”

“You will do what I tell you to do. ”

“I’ll leave Ravengale in exile before I marry that druid.”

He stares at me and I can feel the pulse of his fury, I can feel him contemplating devious ways to force my hand.

“Careful, father,” I warn. “I know what you’re thinking, and you will never force a union with me and Bellar and keep me silent.

And I know our gales will be uneasy with an alliance with the druids. ”

“ You , my defiant princess, will lunch with me tomorrow, and we’ll discuss your behavior.”

“I wasn’t aware that protecting my gales was defiance.

As to the lunch meeting, I will have to sleep at some point before tomorrow night’s party and my plan for the hunt tonight, if approved by my king, of course, is to trail any of the weres I can back to the villages where they hide and reveal their locations. ”

“Very well. Meet me for dinner at five p.m. We’ll dine and leave for the party together. Bellar will be in attendance.” He doesn’t wait for my reply. He blinks away.

For a moment, I don’t move. I’m not sure what my father is capable of at this point.

Or what he might do if I truly refuse what punishment awaits me.

I do not want to give up my crown, nor do I think it will serve him well with our gales, but he doesn’t seem to be concerned with the court of public opinion.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be commanding me to marry Bellar.

Idris steps in front of me and there’s a shift in his energy, the agitation I generally feel with him toward me, along with his ever-present arrogance, now erased. “Are you going to marry the druid prince?”

“I’d give up my crown before I’d marry him and allow him partial rule of Ravengale. And that’s what Bellar wants. He intends to take us over. Him and his father. And I will not allow that to happen.”

“Thank you,” he breathes out, relief washing over him.

“And I will offer you my allegiance in return. Not that I intend to stand against your father, princess, but for the first time in the hundreds of years I have served him, I don’t know what he’s thinking.

The druids have never wanted anything but us on our knees.

And I tell myself he has the book, and he knows things we do not, but I can’t find reason in what he plans. ”

“What he plans requires my compliance, and one thing I am not, is compliant.”

He chuckles. “No kidding. It seems your return was just in time.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was too soon, considering I’m the tool being used for our destruction.”

“Princess?”

At the sound of Raven’s voice, I turn to find her joining us. “Hi, Raven. Do you two need an introduction?”

“We know each other,” Idris replies, without looking at Raven.

In other words, he sees her as the queen killer.

I hold up a hand to Raven, silently telling her to back away, and I don’t have to look her direction to know she’s complied.

Idris narrows his eyes on me as if he senses something is coming, even if he doesn’t know what.

“My mother believed there was a reason she felt compelled to save Raven beyond my fear for her,” I explain.

“Either Raven’s to do something that changes our world and beyond or something would have come through that portal that only my mother could stop.

Give Raven the same respect my mother gave her. That I give her.”

His look is perplexed, and he scrubs his jaw. “I never considered it that way.”

“Because my father couldn’t see it that way and that’s who influences you. Frankly, if my father loved my mother, I’d understand his feelings, but we all know he didn’t.”

“That’s not true,” Idris objects. “No. I don’t believe that one little bit. He loved her. Everyone knows he loved her.”

“And yet, he was in everyone else’s bed.”

“Sometimes I think he loved her to the point of feeling vulnerable because of her. As fucked up as it was, I think he felt as if his indifference in the eyes of others protected her.”

I wave that off with a bitter smirk. “That’s nonsense. ”

“Respectfully, princess, despite your obvious knowledge that extends before your time in this world, I’ve been around him far more than you have. He loved her. And he is not doing well right now. I fear he’s in the wrong headspace to navigate the decisions he’s trying to make.”

And yet, he’ll willingly auction me off to a druid , I think, and all but suggest I sleep with Bellar.

I shift us back to the hunt before us. “Raven’s hunting with us.

It’s a good warm-up for the Challenge. The frostburns already like her.

The three of us go in first. If they accept you, Idris, we’ll move your men in per the timeline I sense is right for the frostburns. ”

“And if they attack me?”

“You go home for the night.”

His rejection is instant. “You know that’s not an option.”

“Neither is killing the frostburns. If you stay, you better hope they trust you. The problem for you is they feed off me, and I’m not sure I trust you.”

“How do I prove you can?”

“For starters, stop being an arrogant jerk. Do you know what they call your behavior in the human realm?”

“Do I want to know?”

“Probably not, but I’ll tell you anyway. It’s short man syndrome.”

“I’m not short.”

“No. Because your problem is your magic, not your height.”

“What do you know of my magic?” he snaps.

My lips quirk but I don’t force the subject. I talk around it to save that ego of his. “You know why I think we get our full powers at twenty-three instead of at birth?”

“Why?”

“Because with weaker magic, we have to learn how to stop and think rather than rush into battle with all our fires burning. But sadly, after we come into our full powers many of us forget that lesson and just blast our magic at full force. My mother used to tell me that was a dangerous way to approach war, let alone life.” In other words, he still has the advantage of needing to stop and think.

He should be more calculated than the rest of us and that’s a needed asset.

He stares at me for several beats and I feel the moment he understands what I’m telling him. “Your mother was a special woman.”

“Yes,” I say. “Yes, she was. And she’d want us to go deal with the werewolves.” I wave Raven forward and when she joins us, I lay out the plan for her.

She nods her agreement. “Sounds good to me.”

“Idris,” I say. “I want to have you and your team drive the werewolves to the other side of the forest. Me and Raven will be there, waiting on them. When they shift, we’ll follow them into the villages where they are hiding.”

It’s Idris’s turn to nod his agreement. “It’s a good plan.”

“Make sure you let them think they escaped,” I remind him, certain Idris will still be battling his need to seem as if he’d conquered all and done so on his own. “Make sure your men know the same.”