Page 84 of The Forsaken Heir

“He does seem to have come out more like Freddy than Bastien, that’s for sure,” I said.

Delphine let out an irritated sigh. “I was trying to get you to talk about him, not to compare him to your brothers. You haven’t really talked about how you feel about him.”

“Oh,” I muttered as I plopped down on the grass. “I guess it hasn’t really come up much.”

Delphine flopped down beside me. “Hasn’t come up? You’ve spent more nights in his room than yours, young lady. Sounds like something is coming up.”

“Gross!” I shoved her playfully. “When did you start talking about sex?”

“When the woman I’ve been tasked with watching over has been spending time with a gorgeous prince. That’s when.” She took my hands in hers. “Are things getting serious?”

I looked away. I was in love with Aurelius, but I also knew nothing more than what we had now could ever come of it. He’d need to marry another dragon shifter, a noble lady, and have kids. That was the whole deal with royalty. You had to have kids to continue the line.

“I like him a lot,” I finally admitted. “He’s great.”

Delphine eyed me speculatively. “That isn’t exactly a glowing description. Are you happy?”

“What? Like right now?” I asked.

“No silly. I mean in general.” She waved a hand around like she was swatting a fly. “No more talk about guys. Are you happy ?”

I thought back to my day-to-day life before all this drama started.

Working, shopping, hanging out with Delphine.

It had all been pleasant, if a little boring.

Now that I’d come here, to this place, my life had changed.

Was there fear and terror? Sure, thanks to my jackass family.

But I’d made new friends. I’d found a new life that was way different from what I’d had before. I felt at home here.

“I think I am,” I said, speaking slowly. “I’m happy. Stressed out, freaked out, and worried, sure, but I’ve never felt so good .” Shaking my head, I let out a little laugh. “I know that sounds crazy, with how close we’ve come to dying, but there it is. I’m happy here.”

“Good. That’s all I ever wanted for you.” She leaned even closer and nudged me in the ribs. “You know what I’m most angry about, though?”

“What?” I said, my brows knitting together.

“You and I never got to go on that damn beach vacation. I could use a beach, a pina colada, and some sand between my toes. I really want to punch your brother in the face for that one.”

I let out a laugh. My mother’s offer for an all-expenses paid vacation to the family’s villa in the Caribbean so I wouldn’t attend Freddy’s wedding seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago. “That does sound nice.”

“That reminds me of something I haven’t shown you yet,” she said as she stood.

“What? You’ve already shown me, like, a dozen things,” I said, standing to join her.

“I’ve shown you how to counteract a wolf or werewolf, but I forgot about the third thing. The human form.”

“Wouldn’t a swift kick in the nuts work for that?” I asked, only partially kidding. As I knew all too well, the human body was much easier to damage than the other forms shifters could take.

“It could,” she admitted, “but I was thinking of something more, uh, permanent.”

“Castration?”

Delphine let out the loudest bray of laughter I’d ever heard come out of her mouth. In all the years we’d been together, I couldn’t recall her losing it like that.

“Come here,” she said, “I’ll show you what I mean.”

Obeying her request, I stepped forward, but gasped when she latched her hand on my wrist, and spun me around, clamping her free arm around my neck and squeezing tight.

“I can’t breathe,” I hissed.

“Sure you can, otherwise you couldn’t say that. How would you get out of this? Try to remember some of the things I showed you earlier.”

Even though I knew I was in no danger, her arm across my throat made it hard to think. My brain flipped through all the moves she’d drilled into me, but it was all a blur.

Delphine squeezed harder, making stars flash across my vision. “Hurry. Your life might depend on it one day.”

Finally, like a drowning woman grasping at a life preserver, I remembered a move that might actually work.

Before she could adjust, I bent forward and planted my left leg beside hers.

Using my core to flex back and twist, I managed to free my chin from her grip and pull her arm behind her, twisting until she let out a little hiss of pain.

“Very well done,” she said as I released her. “Now let me show you how to finish that.”

We traded places, and she got me into the same position I’d had her in at the end.

“Watch,” Delphine said, moving slowly and deliberately.

She grabbed my shirt collar with her free hand, released my wrist, and yanked my chest up. When I was upright, she took her other hand and shoved it toward my face, the heel of her palm stopping an inch in front of my nose.

“Boom,” she said, and then tapped the bridge of my nose with a finger.

“If a human hit you like this, all it would do is break your nose. A good way to incapacitate someone, but not enough to finish them. Even though you don’t have full shifter strength, you’re still much stronger than the average human.

You hit them here? Like this? You break that bone above the nose and send it crashing back into their brain. Good night and goodbye.”

“Holy shit , Delphine.” I touched my nose and imagined that happening to me. “That’s a little, uh, morbid.”

She shrugged, and dusted off her pants. “Morbid, but it works.”

I cleared my throat. “Have you, umm, ever done that to someone?”

The thought of sweet, good-natured Delphine actually killing someone felt strangely disjointed. Like I’d found myself in some weird alternate universe.

“Not that I know of,” she said, somewhat offhandedly.

“That you know of?” I gaped at her.

She waved me off. “Stuff happens fast. Most of my fighting days were a long time ago. What’s in the past is in the past.”

“I think that’s enough for today,” I said. “Let’s head back. See what new horrors await us.”

“You have a lovely way with words, my dear,” Delphine said and joined me.

“ H ow was all that?” Sahalie asked as Delphine, and I stepped into the kitchens. We’d built up a raging appetite.

“How was what?” I asked.

She nudged a plate of cookies across the table toward Rasp and Vince. “They said you were training.”

“Great,” I said. “Does everyone know?”

I didn’t know why I was embarrassed. There was nothing wrong with trying to better myself, but the thought of the whole castle knowing I was learning how to fight made me feel strangely uncomfortable.

“Most everyone,” Vince said, taking a bite of his cookie.

Rasp rolled his eyes at Vince. “Word gets around,” he said.

“Are you upset that we know?” Sahalie asked, frowning at me.

“I’m… I don’t know. It was supposed to be sort of private, I suppose.”

The fae girl nodded sagely. “That makes sense. Combat training can be very intimate. Much like sex.”

Rasp coughed, spraying a mouthful of soda across the table. Vince froze in place, his hand hovering above another cookie, eyes going wide. The two men couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable if they tried.

“Bodies thrashing against one another, hands grasping and clutching, sweat-slicked skin grinding against each other.” Sahalie nodded to herself. “It makes sense that you’d want that to be private.”

“Never thought of it that way,” Delphine said, then poked me in the side. “Was it good for you, dear?”

“Gross,” I hissed, swatting her arm. “You’ve been around Rasp too long.”

“Hey,” Rasp said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose and let out a long breath. “Any word yet from Bastien?”

Sahalie nodded. “Yes. Kaskawan and Achakos found me a few minutes ago. We received word that he’s accepted our request.”

“Really?”

Delphine and I exchanged a look of astonishment.

After a couple of days, I’d almost assumed Bastien would simply ignore the request.

“When?”

“Two weeks,” Sahalie said, then ran her tongue along her lower lip as she tried to decide which cookie to select next.

“That seems like a long time,” I said.

“Indeed,” Sahalie said as she picked up a sugar cookie. “We believe they want time to plan the inevitable trap. Your brother is quite predictable.”

“Is everyone okay with this?” I asked, itching to go find Aurelius and discuss the new situation.

“Honestly,” Sahalie said. “This works better for us. It gives us time to gather our forces and get to the meeting place. As far as I can tell, everything is going according to plan.”

She took a bite of her cookie and sighed with satisfaction. Vince gazed at her with unadulterated devotion and rapture. Poor guy was falling hard and fast.

“Is Aurelius around?” I asked.

Rasp nearly made another mess, almost knocking his drink over as he looked at his watch. He grabbed Vince’s shirt and dragged him from the chair.

“Shit, dude! We almost forgot. That meeting starts in like three minutes.” Rasp hauled Vince toward the door, flashing me an apologetic smile. “Aurelius. Sorry. He’ll be in another meeting for a while. I’ll let him know to come find you when he’s done. Okay?”

Before I could respond, the two men disappeared around the corner.

“Come on, dear,” Delphine said. “Let’s get a little something to eat, then we can go back outside and practice a bit more. I’d like to go over that last move a few times.”

I did as she asked, but even as I ate, my mind drifted.

How would all this play out? We knew Bastien was laying a trap, and we were planning for it.

My brother wasn’t stupid, though. He could be planning something to counteract that, too.

Everything that was happening, all the meetings and subterfuge, everything seemed to be for nothing.

If I had to guess, this was all going to come to a head the way history usually said it would.

With blood.