Page 56 of The Forsaken Heir

Before I could say more, a massive wolf clamped its jaws around him, nearly swallowing him whole, and dragged him off into darkness.

“No!”

I sprinted after him, but the giant wolf was too fast. I had to get to him. Thinking it might be quicker, I began to leap forward, jumping in giant frog-like hops, floating through the air with each jump. Still, I was too slow.

Maybe if I flew? That thought brought along a Peter Pan -esque floating sensation, and I floated through the shadowy darkness toward the sounds of Aurelius screaming.

The shadowy, murky surroundings opened into a large room.

The glass ceiling glittered with light, and a massive cast iron cage stood in the center of the room.

Aurelius sat hunched over inside it, his hair dirty and matted, a scraggly beard covering his face.

His flaming eyes were gone now—only dark pits remained, as if the fire had gone out of his soul.

He turned those black, soulless cavities upon me, and didn’t smile at the sight of me.

“I’m here because of you,” he said. “All this is because of you.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I cried as I rushed to the cage.

With trembling fingers, I tried to pry the bars apart, but they wouldn’t give. It was like trying to bend the world itself.

Aurelius reached through the bars and put his hands on mine. Looking up, I locked my gaze on the black bottomless pits that were his eyes.

“I’ll save you,” I said, my eyes burning with tears.

“Elle, wake up,” he said.

“If you help, we can bend these bars. Hurry, Aurelius. Please.”

“Elle, you have to wake up. Calm down. Wake up, sweetie,” Aurelius murmured, but his voice sounded strange now. Feminine in some way.

“What?”

“Wake up.”

My eyes snapped open, and I found myself in my bed, the sheets twisted around my body and nearly suffocating me. Bright early morning sunlight shone through the window, and Delphine peered down at me worriedly.

“What kind of dream were you having?” she asked, looking at me in horror. “You’ve been moaning and muttering in your sleep for an hour.”

As I rubbed at my face, the vestiges of the nightmare slowly faded and became hazy. It had something to do with Aurelius—I knew that much, at least—but the rest was fading fast.

“Nothing,” I said. “Just a nightmare. That’s all.”

“Well, that’s fine,” Delphine muttered and turned away.

Frowning, I watched her walk toward the chairs in the living area. It wasn’t like her to be that short.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Delphine sat and shrugged. “Yeah. Sure,” she said, then quickly averted her eyes, going back to her book.

Heaving a sigh, I climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Whatever I’d dreamed had put me in a terrible mood, and Delphine acting strange wasn’t making it any better.

After taking a shower and brushing my teeth, I came back out dressed in fresh clothes. Delphine still sat in her chair, but instead of reading her book, she was staring off into space. In all the time I’d known her, I’d never seen her look so apprehensive.

“What’s wrong?” I said, stalking forward to get in front of her gaze. “You’re acting super weird.”

Delphine blinked and shook her head, then focused on her book again. “Nothing. It’s all fine.”

I yanked the book out of her hand and tossed it aside.

“Elle, what?—”

“Spit it out. I’m done playing games. Why are you being weird?”

She looked up at me, but didn’t meet my eyes. It was like she was looking at my mouth or forehead instead of at me. A worming sense of unease filled me.

“I should really wait for the king to tell you this,” she said at last.

“Tell me what ?” My knees felt weak, and I put a hand out to the wall, steadying myself.

“We received word from Bastien before daybreak,” she said.

Word?

“And?” I prodded.

Delphine swallowed. “Good news and bad news.”

It was all I could do not to scream at her for being so goddamn vague. Why wouldn’t she just spit it out?

“Go on,” I said, making a spinning motion with my finger.

“Aurelius is alive. He was taken prisoner.”

A sigh that sounded more like a sob burst from my chest, and I collapsed into the chair across from her.

“And the bad news?” My lips suddenly felt numb.

“He has been branded a terrorist,” Delphine said. “The letter Bastien sent declares him an open enemy of the Laurent family and wolf shifters in general. It sounds like they’re trying to bait King Cassius into open war. They say Aurelius will be executed on all charges within days.”

“Executed?” I clamped a hand over my mouth as bile rose in my throat and stood up so fast that the chair fell backward, knocking against the back of my knees. “I need to…uh…I need to walk.”

Before Delphine could stop me, I rushed out of the room.

Out in the corridor, I leaned against the wall, forcing air into my lungs.

I had to stay in control. Deep down, I’d assumed if Aurelius had survived the fight, Bastien would use him as a token.

Something to be traded. Maybe he’d demand access to the dragon wellspring, or maybe even one of the many companies the dragons owned.

In my mind, Aurelius was more valuable alive.

It appeared my brother thought differently. He wanted war. He wanted death.