Page 96 of The Forsaken Heir

brIELLE

T he gigantic moose shifter nearly trampled me as I rolled away beneath its crushing hooves.

When he’d passed me, I jumped to my feet and prepared for it to attack again.

Huge branching antlers swung around as it turned to rush me again.

Before I could allow my panic to take over, I ran forward, angling right toward the thing.

It lowered its head, ready to gore me with the huge horns, but at the last moment, I jumped, placed my foot on its head, and thrust down with all my weight. With its balance shifted too far forward, it let out a deafening roar of surprise a moment before its face slammed into the ground.

Leaping free, I turned right as it shifted back to its human form. The bulky looking man rose to a knee and cradled his head.

“I’m gonna beat your ass, little girl. I hope you’re?—”

His words were cut off when my kick—a roundhouse I’d learned from Delphine—exploded against his face. The man’s head snapped around, and he fell to the grass, unconscious. Standing above him, I smiled grimly, proud of what I’d done, despite the savagery.

When a hand grabbed my shoulder, I spun, fist raised ready to attack.

“Hang on! I’m a friend.” The woman held her free hand up to ward off my attack.

“Who are you?” I growled.

She glanced at the man on the ground in disappointment. “I’m in his clan.” her eyes widened as she saw the anger flare in my eyes. “Wait, no! I’m not with him, though. Come on. Not all of us want to hurt you.”

Glancing over, I spotted a group of bears, moose, and panthers fighting alongside the Hikshil and other fae, Vince, Rasp, and several of Aurelius’s reinforcements.

The woman beckoned me to join them, and before I could respond, she half-shifted, becoming a seven-foot-tall muscular mixture of human and moose. She used her giant horns to intercept a Laurent wolf, sending the beast flipping through the air.

Good enough for me. I joined her, hurrying toward the others.

Sahalie, Achakos, and Kaskawan were casting spells, doing their best to pin the attacking wolves in, but there were so fucking many of them.

All the fae looked tired, and even though we appeared to be winning, if even a few of those magic users were hurt or killed, the tide would turn fast. I gazed around at the battlefield, horrified at the destruction.

One of Aurelius’s men, still in his dragon form, writhed under a mound of wolf shifters that bit and clawed at him.

He gave one final swipe of a wing, and his head sagged into the steadily growing pool of blood.

My heart ached at the sight of it. All this death and destruction tore at my soul.

We had to finish this. More would die if this kept on any longer.

I couldn’t allow that. This had to end. Now.

In the distance, I could barely make out the forms of Aurelius and my brother fighting. A group of wolves were running straight toward Aurelius. He’d need help. Bastien needed to be stopped. That was the only way to end all this for good.

To my left, Vincent—in his full dragon form—slashed out, nearly decapitating a wolf, who only survived by throwing itself to the ground.

“ Vince!” I screamed, cupping my hands around my mouth.

He swung his huge head toward me, a questioning look in his emerald-green eyes.

“Take me to Aurelius,” I shouted, pointing toward the fight.

Of all the dragons in the Decimus household, Vince was the fastest, and when he bobbed his big head and came rushing toward me, I grabbed the heavy scales of his back and hoisted myself up before he jumped into the sky.

Three quick flaps of his wings sent us bolting along. God, he was fast. We were nearly upon Aurelius and the group of gathering wolves before I had time to blink. Vince unleashed a terrifying screech of rage as we approached.

Nudging Vince with my knees, I urged him onward, bypassing Aurelius, and heading straight for my asshole of a brother who was doing his best to make it to the cover of the woods. The wolves that had been about to attack Aurelius bolted. Seeing what I was doing, they went to protect their lord.

Vince swooped in and landed with a bone-shaking thud on the ground in front of Bastien. Leaping off him, I landed more gracefully than I’d imagined possible. When he saw me, his eyes went wide with surprise, but a moment later, he began to laugh.

“Really? You? Is that what you think this is? Some final showdown? Brielle, there is nothing you can do to beat me. You understand that, don’t you?”

“All I understand is that I’m here, and I’m ready to do whatever is needed to end this,” I said.

The wolves surrounded us in a semicircle, their jaws open and growling, their eyes malevolent as they stared at me like a hunk of fresh meat.

“Stand down,” Bastien said, raising a hand. “I don’t need help with my sister. After all, she’s not even a real shifter.”

That was it. I was done with him, with all of this. It was now or never.

Stepping forward, I raised my voice to be heard over the dying rumble of fighting.

“My name is Brielle Marie Laurent. I am the oldest child and rightful heir to the noble house of Laurent. I challenge you”—I leveled my finger at my brother—“Bastien Pierre Laurent for the right to lead our house.”

Bastien’s jaw dropped. He truly couldn’t believe that I actually planned to go through with this.

“You stupid girl,” my mother’s voice cried out. “What right do you have?”

Turning, I saw my parents rushing out of the forest. Apparently, my audacity to try and take control of the house was enough to drag them from their hiding place.

“I have every right,” I said, glaring at my mother.

In a twist of fate, Delphine reemerged from the opposite side of the forest. The only woman who’d ever truly treated me like a mother should.

She was my friend, and more than that, she was the one who’d loved me over the years.

Catching sight of her gave me even more confidence to stand up to my parents.

“Shut up,” my father said. “Your brother is the leader of our house now. That is final. Get your little dragons and leave now, before this ends badly for you.”

Aurelius stepped forward, a deep growl rumbling from his chest, and pointed at my father. “You’ll watch your mouth, Laurent. You don’t speak to her like that. You lost all rights to tell her what to do when you tossed her out on her own.”

My father looked like he wanted to tear Aurelius apart, but we all knew how that would go.

All around us, the fighting had ceased. Everyone wanted to see what was about to happen.

Dragons, wolves, fae, and the indigenous shifters all surrounded us, looking on with curiosity.

Most were covered in wounds or blood, but for the moment, the hostilities had been forgotten.

“You think you can best me, sister?” Bastien said, a cocky smile spreading across his lips. “This will not go well.”

“It doesn’t matter,” my mother screamed. “Even if you trick Bastien and beat him, we will never give you control of the house.” She seemed to be taking this worse than anyone.

“That’s not true, Mother,” Freddy said as he stepped into the circle.

“When Father retired, he bestowed all rights and leadership upon Bastien. It is legally binding. If Elle defeats Bastien, that constitutes a legal change. These rules have been in place for centuries. It won’t be up to you.

” He shrugged casually. “Maybe you should read the rules before handing the reins of our house over to a jackass who doesn’t deserve it.

“Disowned,” our mother hissed, glaring at Freddy. “You’ll be disowned when Bastien defeats her. Disowned at best . At worst, we’ll have you killed as a traitor.”

Freddy gave her a sad smile. “I wish you were a different person. It would have been nice to have a mother who cared about us as much as she cared about power.”

She flinched back as if he’d slapped her, but she didn’t say another word.

Turning back to Bastien, I said, “Well, little brother? Are you scared to fight me?”

He sneered, which only made him look even more like a spoiled brat than he was. “I’m not scared of anyone, much less a pathetic, broken thing like you. Take a moment to say goodbye to your prince. It’ll be the last time you get to see him.”

I didn’t bother responding. Instead, I marched over to Aurelius.

“What does this mean? What’s happening?” Aurelius asked as he put an arm around me.

Delphine patted his arm and gave me a worried look.

“It means she’s legally requested the chance to fight Bastien for leadership of House Laurent.

It’s an ancient and legally binding ceremony.

One will come out the winner, with all rights and privileges to the great house, as well as access and total command of their fortunes, staff, and holdings. The other…”

“A fight to the death, then?” Aurelius asked me. The panic and fear in his face was even greater than what I saw in Delphine’s. He shook his head. “No. Not a chance. We’ll fight him together. Let him add a second. That will make it more fair. I can help you.”

“You can’t,” Delphine said. “No weapons, no assistance from anyone, just two shifters going head-to-head. If you were to interfere in any way, Elle would forfeit. The only thing we have in our favor is all these witnesses. The Laurents can’t possibly do anything to help Bastien.

This is a deep and ancient tradition. Hell, many of the House Laurent servants would turn on them if they thought they would try to renege or alter the fight.

It has to be Elle against Bastien. Nothing more. ”

Aurelius didn’t look like he could accept that answer. His arm tightened around me. I could practically feel his heart thundering as I pressed into him.

“It’ll be fine,” I said, reaching up to touch his cheek.

Sahalie pushed through the crowd, reaching us a moment before I turned to face my brother.

“Take this,” she said, slipping something into my hands.