Page 33 of The Broken Prince

“So?” Cobra said. “My wife is the most fearsome warrior I’ve ever seen.”

“But she protected her daughter the way Mother would have protected us.” My mother had had no skills outside the home. Her life was cooking, cleaning, and taking care of four rowdy boys. But she loved us so much that she would have done anything to protect us—like pick up a sword and fight.

Kingsnake went quiet again, his eyes glazing over with memory.

I pushed my glass aside. “I would never say this to her, but they have no chance against these monsters and the Teeth, not even with their army of dragons, not even when they’re being led by a king like her father. If we leave them to their fate, they’ll be conquered. They’ll be killed or imprisoned. And Harlow… I know exactly what will happen to her.” Because the Teeth had told me exactly what they were planning to do to her after I dropped her off, and it was enough to haunt my dreams every single night. “The world of men on this continent will be no more. It’ll become a world of monsters—and there’re enough monsters in this world already.”

Kingsnake was quiet for a long time, soaking in my words. “Aurelias, you’re not the empathic type. You don’t care about others, especially humans, so this is solely about one person—the princess. And that would be fine…if you intended to make this woman your wife… But you said you won’t turn her.”

“Because I won’t,” I said simply. “And no, she won’t be my wife.”

“Then I don’t understand,” Kingsnake said. “I don’t understand at all.”

I considered my answer, trying to understand it myself. “It doesn’t have to last forever for it to be worthwhile. It doesn’t have to be forever for me to care. It can just be a moment—because a moment is reason enough.”

No one said anything. No one even looked at me.

Finally, Kingsnake spoke. “Aurelias, she’s been gone a long time—”

“Don’t.”

“I’m just saying—”

“And I’d rather you not.”

Kingsnake continued to stare at me. “I want you to be happy—”

“I’ll never be happy, and I’m okay with that.”

Kingsnake tried again. “You know what happened with Ellasara and me—”

“Fuck you, Kingsnake.” I stared at him, nostrils flared. “How is your ex-wife being a lying bitch comparable to what happened to me? A fucking insult…” I was tired of this conversation, tired of the direction it had taken. “You’ll return home and ask Father to commit his armies to this cause. If he doesn’t, I’ll fight on my own, and I’ll probably die. If he needs an incentive to come, the life of his son should be good enough.”

* * *

I wasn’t in the mood to see Harlow, to comfort her when my rage was compressed inside my lungs and about to burst. All I wanted to do was drink and be alone, to stare at the sky until the sun rose again. But the guilt was too much for me to abandon her, knowing she was probably wide awake, waiting for me to walk through the door and chase away her terror.

I walked straight into the castle because no one was there to stop me. Everyone worked into the night, tending to the wounded, cleaning up the fields, putting a broken Delacroix back together.

I figured out where her bedroom was in the castle based on its window placement. I took two levels of stairs, moved down several hallways, and then found her bedroom door. It was cracked, light streaming outside the room and into the hallway.

I poked my head inside and found her sitting against the headboard, her hair clean because she’d bathed, one side of her face discolored because the bruising slowly grew worse. Her gaze was out the open window, looking at the light of the pyres in the distance. Her eyes looked empty—like she’d lost everything.

I stepped inside, and the second she heard my boots, her head snapped in my direction. Her quiet mood quickly lit into a fire, her reaction to my presence warm and desperate. She straightened, the sheets covering her from the waist down, wearing her white nightgown. She didn’t say a word, but her relief was paramount.

I stripped off my clothing, removing the armor that had been scuffed up in the battle, and left my sword at the foot of the bed where I’d gripped her by the chin and explored her as deep as I could. The sight of her in a nightgown should turn me on, along with the flashbacks from my previous visit, but I didn’t feel anything since I knew how broken she was.

I undressed to my boxers then slid under the covers beside her.

She was on me instantly, her cheek using my shoulder as a pillow, her arm hooking around my torso like an anchor. She pulled the sheets to her shoulder and burrowed into me, like I was the only thing that could make the pain go away. “I started to worry you wouldn’t come.”

I rested my cheek against hers and circled my arm around her waist. Her leg was across my hips, so I gripped the outside of her thigh, feeling the warm skin I’d kissed and touched when I first met her. “I almost didn’t…”

TEN

HARLOW

I stared down at my brother, who still hadn’t woken up since he’d collapsed on the battlefield. “His color looks better…” He was still weak and decimated, looking small and helpless instead of the powerful soldier he’d trained to be. But I needed to focus on the positives…whatever I could find.

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