Page 78 of The Forsaken Heir

AURELIUS

“ N ice day, right?” Rasp asked.

We were in my office, looking out at the grounds. The sun glinted off the mountains in the distance. After being locked away in that cell, I’d never take the orange glow for granted again. Even so, I couldn’t shake the ominous feeling in my gut.

“It is. Or it would be if it didn’t seem like the whole world was ending.”

“Nah.” Rasp nudged my shoulder. “You don’t believe that.”

I sighed wearily and took a sip of my coffee.

Usually, I was more positive, but after everything Bastien had done, worry gnawed at me.

Elle’s brother was a lunatic. Not only that, but her parents were enabling him simply because they thought he was the strongest person to lead their family.

All that money, strength, and political sway thrust behind a maniac made it more difficult to anticipate things.

The fact that there’d been no official or even unofficial response to my escape worried me more than I wanted to admit.

“Not really, no. Where’s Vince? I haven’t seen him since yesterday morning.”

Rasp grinned at me. “I bet he’s still hanging out with Sahalie.”

“Sahalie?” I frowned. “The seer? The one who said she saw Bastien in her mind or something?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, and took a large gulp of coffee. “She’s a different kinda chick, but Vince is a different kinda dude. When I met her, I figured they’d be perfect together.”

“Interesting.” I looked back out at the rolling hills and tried to picture Vincent in a romantic relationship.

The man was kind and loving and loyal almost to a fault, but he’d never shown much interest in women.

I’d never been sure if that was simply because he either had no romantic desire, or if he was too shy and embarrassed to ever approach a woman.

The idea made me smile. I hoped Rasp was right.

It would be good for Vincent to have someone.

The day really was beautiful. I couldn’t argue with that. In a perfect world, I’d take Elle out for a stroll on the grounds and a picnic or something. Unfortunately, that was out of the question. There was too much to plan.

“Let’s get going,” I said, turning from the window. “We’ll be late for the military council.”

Rasp rolled his eyes. “All seven of them?”

“Nine, including us,” I said.

At one point in time, the military had been tens of thousands strong.

There were old stories of a battle that took place above the fields of England back when it was still called Albion.

It was said that the sky was as dark as night with the number of dragons flying in.

Now, the best we might be able to summon was a couple hundred.

If we grew truly desperate, we could command all the dragons across the globe to come and aid their king, but that would barely increase the number.

Sure, one dragon was as good as five wolves, but when the wolves outnumbered you more than ten to one, the odds weren’t great.

Rasp and I entered the conference room that sat a few doors down from the throne. Octavius and several other high-ranking members of my father’s security forces were already seated.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” Octavius said, rising and bowing as I entered.

“Have a seat,” I said, and took a chair near the head of the table. “Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.”

“Our people are prepared for battle,” Octavius said. “We can mobilize our forces within five minutes should the Laurents attack.”

“Protection spells?” I asked. “I know the Hikshil and some of the fae we have on staff here said they’d begin working on more robust protections.”

“They went out before dawn to increase the protections around the estate grounds. Though,” Hadrian, my father’s personal guard, said, “the Laurents have fae on their side as well. Perhaps none as powerful as the Hikshil, but they’ll be able to pierce the protection spells given enough time.

At best, they’ll buy us… I don’t know… half an hour? ”

“I figured.” I looked at Octavius again. “Humans?”

He shook his head. “Our intelligence operatives within the local human government say they’re all unaware of anything happening. So far, as we’ve done for centuries, this little melodrama is playing out under their noses. Good for us, I suppose.”

“Do you have any intel on the Laurent lands, Highness?” a woman asked. “You were held for quite a while. Anything we can use in case a full assault on their holdings will be needed?”

“I spent most of my time being tortured in a ten-by-ten foot closet.” Everyone in the room winced and looked down at the table.

“I do recall most of the area between their mansion and the waste treatment plant had no security. Nothing but open roads. In fact, if not for our bad luck in coming across that security team, we most likely would have gotten out completely unseen. That area might be a good spot for us to infiltrate if it comes to that. Of course, after my escape, they may have allocated more men to that area. We can’t know for sure. ”

Octavius waved a sheet of paper at me, and the crinkly sound worked on my nerves. “Have any of you seen the estimated numbers the Laurents have?”

I sighed. “I’ve seen the figures. It’s not good.”

Octavius jabbed a finger at the paper. “We’re talking about nearly a thousand in the Laurent lands alone.

That’s not counting any other wolf families they can bring to their side, much less if they can sway some of the smaller shifter races to join their cause.

Add a few hundred panther, bear, moose, and elk shifters?

You’re talking another two or three thousand.

” He shoved the paper away and shook his head.

Not only were our numbers low, but most of our fighting force had families.

Older families without young children, sure, but it didn’t change the fact that many of these people would never return from an all-out battle.

Their mates and loved ones would never see them again.

With each light snuffed out, our numbers would grow that much smaller.

Too depressed by the situation to continue, I waved my hand. “That’s enough for now. We can reconvene tomorrow if there’s any new information.”

As they filed out of the room, I sat back and thought about all the bad things that were coming. At the moment, I couldn’t think of a good way out of the situation. I needed something to clear my head. A ray of sunshine to blast away the thunderclouds gathering in my mind. I needed Elle.

I rose and went looking for her. I finally found her and Delphine in one of the informal dining rooms, finishing up a meal.

“Hey there.” Elle’s eyes brightened when she saw me.

“Hello.” I nodded at Delphine. “Elle, are you free?”

Her brows raised. “I think so. Is something wrong?”

“I guess…” I shook my head. “I need to get out and about. Would you like to go for a walk?”

“I’d love to.” She glanced at Delphine. “Are you good if I go?”

Delphine waved a hand. “You go. Have fun. I’ll find something to occupy my time.”

I took Elle’s hand and led her out the door.

We walked in silence like that, my hand in hers, enjoying the silence.

Outside, the sun was warm, but the wind was a bit crisp.

I inhaled deeply, smelling the sweet scent of fallen leaves.

The estate and the mountains around it had turned to a glorious palette of reds, oranges, yellows, and browns.

It was one of my favorite times of the year.

The gardens, however, were steeped in magic and was still bright green. Flowers, fruits, and vegetables continued to bloom even with the chilly mornings we’d had the last few weeks.

“Do you want to talk about it, or are we gonna play charades?” Elle asked as we stepped into the waist-high hedge maze that lay at the center of the gardens.

I snorted a laugh. “I suppose we could, but that might be tedious.”

Her smile faded. She squeezed my hand and stopped walking.

“Seriously. What’s on your mind?”

Shaking my head, I sighed. “It’s a lot, that’s all. There’s a lot that can go wrong. So much that already has . I’m worried. That’s all. I needed to get my mind off it a bit.”

“You know it’s okay to be worried, right? I know not everyone is the great Aurelius Decimus, prince of dragons, but the rest of us are worried too.”

I groaned. “Don’t call me that. It’s damned pretentious.”

“Would you prefer something more grandiose?” She poked me gently in the side.

“Certainly not,” I said, tugging her along.

“I’d rather just be Aurelius while I can.

I’ve already got enough nicknames. Trust me, hearing people call me The Peacemaker doesn’t fill me with as much pride as it used to.

Not when it looks like war is inevitable.

Hell, it may have already started. History will most likely look back and say it began that night in your parents’ conservatory. ”

“All right, that’s it,” Elle said, slicing her hand through the air. “No more talk about that shit. Let’s talk about something totally pointless and irrelevant. What’s your favorite sitcom?”

The laugh that burst from my mouth was like a breath of fresh air. Unexpected, refreshing, and cathartic. Finally, I said, “That’s actually pretty easy. The Golden Girls .”

Elle looked at me like I had three heads. “ Seriously? That show is like fifty years old,” she said.

“Hold on there,” I said, raising a finger. “First of all, comedy knows no time. Second, it’s a classic. Third, it’s really freaking funny. Besides, I’m gonna live for a couple centuries. I can’t get bogged down in what’s old and new .”

“Okay, okay, fair enough,” she said.

“What’s yours? Since you think mine’s ridiculous.”

She shrugged. “Can’t go wrong with The Simpsons .”

I made a pfft sound with my lips. “Hang on, you just said my show was too old to be good. Your show is nearly that old.”

“Yeah,” she said, holding up a finger. “But it’s more culturally significant because it’s been on for like forty years. It’s lasted multiple generations.”

Already, I felt better than I had only a few minutes before finding her. Elle really did make everything better. My inner dragon was inexplicably drawn to her. It was a sensation I’d never really encountered before, and even after all these weeks together, I was trying to figure it out.

Rasp leaped out from behind a thick wall of grapevines heavy with fruit. “Hang on,” he hissed, keeping his voice low.

“For fuck’s sake, Rasp, you scared us,” I growled. “What’s going?—”

“ Shh, ” he said, jamming a finger to his lips, then pointed down the hill.

Elle put her hand to her chest and grinned. “They look so sweet.”

She wasn’t talking about fruit. She was talking about Vincent and Sahalie. Vince was lying with his head in Sahalie’s lap while she read to him. Seeing my friend like that with a woman was both strange and heartwarming.

The smile on Elle’s face filled me with love.

I would have given anything to spend the rest of my life lying on a blanket with Elle, just like Vince and Sahalie were doing.

A life of leisure with the woman I loved and who loved me in return.

Sadly, I was a prince. I had duties, obligations.

One of those was having an heir. Bitter melancholy swept through, and I quickly shoved it aside.

“I saw you guys coming,” Rasp explained. “Told them I needed to talk to you about something. I used it as an excuse to get away so the two of them could have some alone time, you know?”

“Does she like him?” Elle asked, tugging on Rasp’s sleeve.

He grinned so wide I could see almost every single tooth in his mouth. “I think so, yeah. From what I can tell, anyway. They’re, like, made for each other, dude. It’s freaking perfect.”

Vincent did look really happy. His eyes were closed—face turned toward the sun—as Sahalie’s hand rested on his chest. This was life. This was what we should strive for. Not war, not power or money. Love, life, happiness.

Vince was one of the most powerful soldiers we had other than me and Octavius.

If war came, he’d be on the front lines and might not make it back.

That thought sent a bitter pang through me.

He didn’t deserve to be nothing more than a lifeless corpse on a battlefield.

He deserved to be in the arms of a woman who cared for him and made him happy.

As the three of us walked back to the castle, I tried to think of a way to get us out of all this.

I had to stop this from escalating and becoming a full-blown disaster.

But for the life of me, I couldn’t come up with anything.

I would, though. I had faith in myself and my people.

If there was a way out of this without bloodshed, by God, I’d find it.