Page 32 of The Forsaken Heir

Titus inclined his head. “All the families will be in attendance. Most are already on their way for the evening’s festivities and will arrive within the hour.

It is a bit worrisome that they are all so intent on being there.

This will be the first gala held on dragon lands in over two centuries.

It makes me wonder if, perhaps, the Laurents have pushed their agenda even further within the wolf families.

They may all be excited to come and watch House Decimus fall to accusations of murder and assassination.

” Titus shrugged helplessly. “There’s no way to know.

Either that, or they may simply be excited to traverse dragon lands for the first time in a long time. We can do nothing but wait and see.”

“I doubt they just want to have a leisurely walk around our controlled lands,” I said, my voice low and angry. “They want to see what we have to say about Brielle’s alleged murder.”

Tensions had grown taut over the last two weeks.

In fact, we’d had word that wolves had attacked one of our transportation routes five days before.

Without proof of Brielle being alive, we really had no way of showing we’d had nothing to do with the assassination.

The houses of the dragon court had all been sworn to secrecy, and so far that had been held.

It made our plan more dramatic and explosive in the long term, but the short term had been terribly inconvenient.

Most dragon families had chosen to hunker down in their own estates rather than venture forth and risk being attacked in areas we didn’t control.

All-out war and fighting hadn’t begun yet, but anger and resentment simmered on a low boil.

I was grateful the gala was tonight, because this couldn’t go on much longer.

After this evening, everything would be settled and behind us.

“Are we positive they don’t know our plan?” Dad asked. “Their assassins obviously returned empty-handed and with a story of you and Vince swooping in to rescue Brielle. Can’t they assume we have her safe and sound? It’s been eating at me since their first declaration of Brielle’s death.”

“That occurred to me as well,” I admitted.

“What I believe, as awful as it sounds, is that they assume we think of her as an equally big liability. If I have the Laurents figured out, I think they assumed Vince and I didn’t arrive to save Elle, but that we showed up to kill her ourselves.

It’s the way these people think. Brutality first, compassion second.

” I snorted in disgust. “Or maybe fifth or sixth. That could be even further down on their list of priorities.”

My father bobbed his head back and forth. “I suppose you may be right. It would explain the way they’ve acted. It also shows what they would do if you were in their hands,” he said, eyeing me. “The Laurents would probably slit your throat before we even had time to negotiate your release.”

“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “They’d never try anything tonight. Not on our land in our castle. They’ll never get me, anyway. They even try ? They’ll pull back a stump.”

Dad grinned. “That’s my boy. Speaking of the Laurents, what exactly was the response from the Laurents with our previous offering? About Bastien? In all the drama and haste, I’d never asked.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Karinius said their eyes were as big as saucers,” I said. “When he told them we’d offered to make Bastien Laurent the guest of honor for the gala, they nearly fell off their chairs.”

Dad let out a belly laugh and clapped his hands. “Good! It was the best way to guarantee they would come.” He pointed at me. “It was a good ruse. I bet they wanted to spit fire. Too bad we’re the dragons and not them.”

Titus grinned ruefully. “It also helps that we sent word to all the other shifter families across the globe that Bastien was to be the honored guest. Hard to decline attendance when everyone expects you to be there. Hell, it may be why so many are coming. The historical nature of it. Bastien will be taking over as head of the family soon, if he hasn’t already begun. ”

Dad leaned back in his throne, nodding as if to himself.

For several seconds, he stared off into space.

Titus shifted his weight in his chair. He always grew uncomfortable when my father fell into silent introspection.

My father was the most powerful man in all of dragon shifter society.

If I weren’t his son, I’d probably be intimidated too, regardless of how kind he was.

Through the window, past the dusky light, a line of limos and black SUVs had begun pulling up the main driveway—the first guests arriving for the epic gala.

“All right.” Dad let out a deep, weary sigh.

“Let’s keep everything in order and go from there.

” He pointed at Titus. “Head down and double check with the kitchen staff. The guests have already started arriving, and the damned thing isn’t supposed to start for another hour.

They need to go ahead and get some hors d’oeuvres out for the guests.

” He turned his gaze to me. “Stay on top of security. Have them do one final run-through before things pick up later.”

“Will do, Father,” I said.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Titus said.

“That’s all for now,” Dad said, glancing at his watch and sighing. “I don’t know what else we can do. You two need to prepare for the gala anyway.”

I was almost out the door before my father called out to me.

“Aurey?”

Wincing at the childhood nickname, I turned back. “Yes, Dad?”

He looked like he didn’t want to say whatever it was he was about to say.

“Umm… Raspion and Vincent?” he asked, an embarrassed expression on his face.

My stomach dropped. “Yes?”

“I know they are your closest friends, but, well, part of this is their fault. Please keep a short leash on them. Especially during the gala tonight.”

“Understood,” I said, giving him a single nod before departing.

He was right. Rasp and Vince had kidnapped Elle.

For good or ill, that simple act had set all this into motion.

It didn’t matter that the two men believed she’d been taken hostage by some sort of enemy—they had brought her to our doorstep.

In turn, her family had decided she was too much of a liability.

First, a shifter born without an inner wolf, then a traitor cavorting with dragons.

They’d decided to get rid of her and frame us for her death.

I loved both men as if they were my brothers by blood, but I had to admit, my father had a point.

Rasp was too laissez-faire to ever be trusted with more delicate and important tasks his family might want.

Based on his father’s own underlying prejudices, Vince was too peculiar to be of much use.

That left them in this strange limbo in our world, but I’d trust either of them with my life, although I was always worried they’d make some major mistakes in trying to save me.

Deciding to find both of them to see what they were doing, I headed to my rooms first, assuming they were hanging out there as they usually did. Rasp was there, playing a hand of solitaire and dressed in his tux, but Vince was nowhere in sight.

“Hey there,” Rasp said with a grin as I walked in. “What’s up, big guy?”

“Nothing,” I grunted. “Where’s Vince?”

Rasp shrugged. “No clue.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “He’s our shadow. He’s always around you or me.”

“Yeah. It’s weird. I couldn’t find him anywhere earlier.” He shrugged again and went back to his cards. “Came here to chill before the gala starts instead.”

“Damn it,” I hissed. “Let me get dressed, then we’ll go look for him.”

“Sure thing,” he said, but kept his eyes on the cards.

Hurrying to my dressing room, I put on my tux pants, dress shirt, glossy black dress shoes, and tied the bow tie at my throat.

I left my official royal jacket and a few other accouterments, like badges of office and the gaudy gold aiguillette that would hang from my shoulder, in the closet until right before I needed to head to the ballroom.

The extra stuff always made me uncomfortable.

In my mind, it was too showy, but it was my duty to dress the part of the prince.

After a quick look in the mirror to make sure I was presentable, I went back to the main part of my room. Rasp was tucking the deck of cards back into the box.

“I won,” he said, gesturing to the cards.

“I’m very happy for you,” I muttered, trying not to roll my eyes. “Come on. I bet I know where Vince is.”

Rasp followed me to the library. Sure enough, the big man was standing by a shelf of books, reading a tome and pacing.

“Vince?” I said, glancing up and down at him. “You aren’t dressed. The gala starts in less than forty minutes.”

Vince glanced up from his book, and closed it around his finger to keep his place. He grimaced, then shrugged. “I don’t like parties.”

“What’s not to like, bro?” Rasp said, his words ringing out in the quiet room. “Open bar, dude!”

Vince’s gaze flicked to Rasp. “I don’t drink, Rasp.”

“Well…” Rasp looked momentarily taken aback before smiling again. “I’ll drink your share.”

Ignoring my other friend, I walked over to Vince and took the book from his hands. “What’s the problem? Seriously?”

Vince lowered his head. “Parties are loud. I can’t concentrate. Plus, everyone looks at me weird. It’s because I’m big and dumb.”

My heart cracked in my chest, like a mirror being tapped with a small hammer. I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me.

“Vincent Beatrix, you are not dumb.” I nudged him and grinned conspiratorially. “A little different? Yeah, but the best people are a little different. Einstein? Tesla? Dali?”

“Right,” Rasp added. “Isaac Newton was weird. He died a virgin!”

I glared at Rasp. “Thank you for that,” I said through gritted teeth.