Page 12 of The Broken Prince

It was a dreadful revelation, and it took a moment for me to process the horror of it.

“He walked up to me in the pub—and told me to leave her alone.” He came back toward me, his shoulders tense like he would pull out his sword and stab me through the gut. “My own fucking wife.” He threw down his arm and let out a yell that shook the stone foundation of the castle. “Motherfucker. He’s lucky all I did was remove him from service. I should have fucking killed him.”

“Ian…” I wished I had something better to say, but I was empty.

“That’s why I demoted him. That’s why I’ve stripped him of his armor and weapons. That’s why he’ll live with dishonor among his own people—one, for crossing me, and two, for bedding someone else’s wife.” He started to pace again, his arms swinging like he needed someone to punch.

“Were you bothering her?”

“What?” He jerked back toward me.

“Why did he tell you to leave her alone?”

His eyes narrowed viciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ian—”

“I wasn’t bothering her.”

“Ian, I want to respect your privacy, but now that this involves the general of HeartHolme, I need to get involved. Was his warning warranted?”

The light left his eyes as he listened to the implied assumption. “Wow…”

“Ian, I’m just trying to get the full picture before I make my decision—”

“I wasn’t bothering her—”

“Ian—”

“I went to her place because I was upset about Harlow, and one thing led to another, and we spent the night together.” He came at me fast, getting right in my face. “That is no one’s business but ours, but now I’ve betrayed her privacy because you wouldn’t leave it alone.” He threw his arms down and walked away again.

I gave a quiet sigh. “Protecting her privacy and being a gentleman are two different things. She clearly told him what happened, and that was why he confronted you. So, she’s not the one asking you to leave her alone…he is.”

Ian turned back to me, his gaze furious. “Now you understand why I’ll make his life miserable as long as I live. Fucker shouldn’t have fucked with me.”

I moved to one of the armchairs and sat down, watching my brother stare out the window, his breathing elevated with rage. “Ian. I admit General Macabre shouldn’t have come at you like that, but we’re on the precipice of war and can’t afford to lose any soldiers.”

He slowly turned to look at me.

“If we replace him with someone else, it may impact communication throughout the army, and we simply can’t afford that right now.”

He slowly walked toward me, like I was about to be his next victim. “Of all people, I expected you to stand with me on this.”

I got to my feet and met his gaze. “And in times of peace, you know I would—”

“I can be the general of HeartHolme. The general follows the orders of the steward, so nothing has really changed—”

“The general is down on the front lines while you’re orchestrating events through the aerial sight of your dragon or from castle walls. You know you can’t be everywhere at once. I’m sorry that this has happened, but we can’t let it affect—”

“What if the situations were reversed?” he snapped. “What if General Macabre were fucking your wife?” He was obviously deranged to even suggest the idea and provoke my wrath.

“You know my duty is to my Kingdoms and my people. That must take precedence over my personal vendettas. You’ve known me longer than anyone, and you know I always put everyone else before myself. We can’t afford to lose the general right now, but once the war is over, you can inflict your wrath then.”

He breathed hard as he stared at me, like he might hit me in the head with the hilt of his sword.

“Have you spoken to Avice about this?”

His jaw clenched. “No.”

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