Page 28 of The Broken Prince

I tried not to cry. Tried not to assume the worst. My father was gone. My mother might be dead. I couldn’t afford to lose Atticus too.

I continued my search, moving across the field in the expectation of finding his dead body. Tears were in the backs of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Though, the more I fought them, the harder they burned.

Aurelias appeared before me. “Atticus is in the infirmary.” He wasn’t gentle with his words, didn’t cushion them with affection or kindness.

“He’s alive…?”

He nodded. “But he’s badly hurt.”

My eyes started to water with tears, hardly able to stand any longer. My family had been ripped apart by these…whatever they were. We may have won the war, but it felt like an empty victory… after the price we’d paid.

He came close, his hand sliding into my hair. “You are not alone, Harlow.” He said the words I needed to hear most, as if he knew exactly how I felt, as if he could hear me speak the words even though they never left my lips. “I’m here with you.”

My fingers grabbed on to his wrist, and I closed my eyes, tears streaking down my cheeks. “I’ve never been so scared in my life…”

“I know, baby.” His thumbs wiped away the tears through his gloves. He guided me into his chest, letting me rest my face against his armor where I could cry in private, his arms hooked around me like steel bars of a cage. His chin rested on my head, and he cocooned me like the outside world was too harsh for my delicateness.

We stayed like that for a long time, and I sobbed, sobbed my heart out. My mother might have suffocated to death. My brother might succumb to his injuries. My father might return, and it’d just be the two of us…living with the ghosts of those we loved…or he might already be dead.

Aurelias held me with the patience of a saint, granting me the kind of affection we had never shared before. He was gentle. He was kind. He was supportive rather than ruthless and cold.

Once I’d had the time I needed, I pulled away, my eyes in pain from all the tears. I could feel their puffiness, feel the sting in my cheeks, feel the embarrassment for giving in to my grief in public when others were suffering just as much. I was surrounded by dead bodies that very moment, people who would be missed by those who loved them.

Aurelias kept his hands on me. “You alright?”

I nodded.

“I’ll take you to Atticus.” His hand grabbed mine, and he guided me with him, as if he knew I was a spirit that could just drift away into the sky if I weren’t tethered to something strong. He guided me across the field, to the barracks, and then to the infirmary, a place I’d been before but had somehow forgotten the location of.

They took me to his room, and I stopped once I crossed the threshold, seeing him lying there on the bed, his body hidden under a blanket like he was cold despite the heat. It was almost sunset, and dark was coming soon, but the air was humid.

I slowly approached his bed, seeing how gray and sallow his skin was. “Atticus?”

He was knocked out cold, his breathing pained and ragged.

I lifted the blanket to look at his injuries—and I immediately wished I hadn’t.

Gauze was around his midsection from a puncture of a blade. His armor hadn’t been enough to protect him. His arm was wrapped in gauze too, like it’d been broken. I returned the blanket to his body, unable to look at it anymore.

The maiden came into the room. “Princess Harlow—”

“He needs medicine before that infection sets in.”

“I’ve already given it to him, Your Highness.” She stood over him, looking at the strong man who had become a corpse.

“We should move him to the castle…where it’s cool.”

“I’d rather not move him right now, Your Highness,” she said. “I think it’s best to wait until he’s feeling better—”

“But it’s warm out here—”

Aurelias gripped me by the shoulder. “Harlow, the maiden has done everything she can. We need to give Atticus time to fight this on his own.”

I wanted to cry again.

He gripped my shoulder. “She’s right,” he said gently. “It would be a mistake to move him right now.”

I nodded, my eyes still on Atticus.

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