Page 125 of Clash of Kingdoms

“That’s always been my solution.” I’d been miserable a long time. The only interruption in that was my brief time with Harlow. Now I was back to my usual coldness.

Kingsnake turned quiet, his argument officially over.

I waited for him to leave my office so I could return to carving Mother’s name in my father’s stead.

My brother stood up and reached into his back pocket. “Harlow wanted me to give this to you.” He set the folded-up piece of parchment on my desk. “She said when the time is right…but I guess the time will never be right.” He left my office, the folded-up piece of parchment sitting where he’d left it.

I stared at it.

My fingers stopped tracing the name in the wood. The room was silent, the fire in the hearth suddenly quiet. The note could be anything. Could be a declaration of undying love…or could be filled with resentment for my departure. She wanted to be with me for the rest of her life, was willing to forsake her place in the afterlife just to have me, but I wouldn’t allow it. I was the reason we weren’t together.

Me.

I left the letter where it lay—and I had no intention of ever touching it.

The palace felt like a different place. Shadows lurked in the corners, and my father’s potent presence somehow occupied the stone of the domain. I was King of the Originals, but I still felt dwarfed by his power.

Sleep was impossible. All I did was writhe in nightmares. My sword went through my father’s neck, but I watched the whole thing, watched the blade sever the bone and then his head drop on the floor. I watched the light leave his eyes. Watched the blood pool on the stone and soak into the rug. Then his eyes grew animated, and he looked at me. “My firstborn…slew his own.”

The nightmares were different every time, but more of the same. Now that peace resided in our continent, there was nothing to distract me. I would normally find a concubine who shared my same kinky desires and shack up with her, but I couldn’t entertain the idea. I refused to allow myself to think of Harlow, but she was still the woman in my heart, still the woman who owned my body.

Once I fucked someone, it would really be over—and I wasn’t ready for that harsh reality.

I was in the courtyard, standing under the open sky as the snow fell upon my shoulders. I breathed intentionally just to stare at the vapor as it escaped my nostrils. The cold was unbearable for humans, but for me, it was calming. The snow continued to pile upon my shoulders, and the world was silent. I wanted to walk to my father’s grave to stare at the tombstone and ask for forgiveness, but his body was a world away.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

I knew it was Kingsnake.

He came to my side and looked up at the dark sky. “Storm is coming.”

“I love it when it storms.” I loved the howl of the wind, the flurry of snow as it rushed past the windows, the thunder as it echoed against the mountainside. Sunshine was overrated.

Kingsnake stood next to me in silence.

“Why are you in Crescent Falls?”

“We haven’t talked in a while.”

“I just saw you days ago.”

Kingsnake turned to regard me, his eyes narrowed. “That was weeks ago, Aurelias.”

It was? “That’s what I meant to say…”

“You’re drinking too much.”

I was drunk right now. “It’s not like it can kill me.”

He turned quiet again.

I continued to stare at the courtyard, the stone benches covered in snow, the green leaves on the pines now white.

“You aren’t okay.”

“I killed Father. Of course I’m not fine?—”

“He deserved it.”

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