Page 15 of The Prince

“They’re coming,” he hissed, squinting through the sheen of gold across his vision as the bookcase on the right slid backward on silent hinges and then sideways to clear the opening.

The men and women who dashed out, swords and long knives drawn and fierce scowls on their face, were not expecting to run into the waiting soldiers. The man in the front yelled and swung, only to be batted aside by two soldiers. The attackers were hampered by the narrow opening, so they could only run out singly or in pairs, and Fen’s forces handled them easily. They also were clearly not as well trained as Fen’s Royal Forces—something Caro had learned firsthand not too long ago. The fight was over within minutes. Some of the attackers were dead, and some lay on the floor, moaning and bleeding. Othershad surrendered, and still more were retreating down the passageway, the slap of their running footsteps and panicked yells echoing back up into the solar.

Fen’s soldiers didn’t need to pause to reorganize. A third of them immediately began pursuit, vanishing down the passage, a third stayed to triage the wounded and watch the captives, and the final third were still by the main door, guarding the other entrance.

Caro cast around with his magic, trying to sense anyone else hiding within the walls, but came up with nothing. He wished he had a sword or a blade of some kind—everyone else, including the limping Ayer had one—but Caro knew his limitations. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust him; the problem was he still wasn’t strong enough. He could barely walk all the way down the hall; the exertion of swinging a sword was well beyond him. Besides, he wasn’t exactly competent with a sword anyway. His lessons as a child had been minimal, just enough to serve as his brother’s punching bag slash practice dummy. Even his magic lessons, the most comprehensive of his lessons, had only occurred to protect the secrets of the royal family. Once he was capable enough not to spill state secrets, those classes had stopped too.

All of which meant Caro stood in place and watched as everyone else around him did the hard work. He could only hope his small contribution of his magic-powered sight made up for the rest of his shortcomings.

“It would seem we are in your debt again,” Queen Trina said, a soft smile tilting her rose-colored lips.

Caro swallowed hard, grabbed for his courage and the sweet memory of Braxton’s lips against his, and replied, “Favors aren’t owed between family.”

Her smile grew. “No, they’re not.” She suddenly clapped her hands and called in a louder voice, “Right. Let’s finish mopping up this mess. I want a report from the other groups, and then I want to get back to my day.” People sprang into action, but Caro sank back down onto the couch cushions to rest his legs. He felt a little better every day, but jealousy still reared its head as he watched people dash off with their fully functioning bodies.

Queen Trina sat on the couch across from him, her eyes shrewd and far too knowing as she studied him—so much like Braxton’s. “How long until Healer Alina thinks you’ll be fully healed?”

Caro blinked, hoping his surprise that she appeared to be reading his thoughts didn’t show on his face. “Another week or two, she thinks, before she’ll allow me to return to regular activities,” Caro replied. “We’re working on strengthening my body, which she says isn’t going to be an immediate fix.”

Queen Trina was silent for a few long moments, apparently oblivious to the chaos around them as prisoners were carted off, the wounded were treated, and bodies dealt with.

“All of my children are warriors and they throw themselves into danger time and again to protect this country and the people they love,” she began. Her face was somehow shadowed, as if the weight of what she was saying manifested visibly. “Fen and Shairon have their duties with the various military components they lead. Being surrounded at all times by other soldiers at least offers them some protection from attackers. Ayer is the crown prince so is constantly surrounded by guards, and because of his injury he cannot be on the front lines of a war. But Braxton is different. He slinks through the darkness, alone, with no one to watch his back.” The shadows melted away, replaced by sheer intensity as her eyes blazed like twin flames as she froze Caro with her gaze. “Can you be that person for him?Can you look into the dark places and warn him of the danger, to be his eyes when the darkness tries to engulf him?”

Caro’s heart was thudding so hard he thought she might be able to hear it, and his hands, where he had them clasped in his lap, were shaking. Still, it wasn’t hard to find those intense feelings always simmering under the surface, waiting for the next moment he would find time to think about Braxton and how much he meant to Caro. His eyes were blazing when he replied.

“That’s everything I want.”

“Good,” she said with a sharp nod before abruptly standing and turning to the half-dozen secretaries who had been hovering, waiting for their conversation to conclude.

Caro relaxed into the scattered couch cushions, knowing better than to escape from the overwhelming noise and bustle to the quiet of his own rooms, no matter how much he desperately craved some time to unpack his swirling, buzzing thoughts after that rather odd conversation. Instead, he did his best to stay out of the way.

Thankfully, Braxton swept into the room a few minutes later, his father and brother in his wake. Caro’s greedy eyes took in Braxton’s form, desperately searching for any sign of injury and thankfully finding nothing. Braxton shot a quick smile in Caro’s direction, but he headed over to his mother.

“I received word from one of my informants. He located the fortress in the mountains. Fen sent a team of forward scouts to obtain more information, but we should follow immediately.”

“Let’s not be hasty,” Queen Trina replied after a glance at her husband. “Namin might already have their entire army stationed there, or they might only have unarmed civilian builders. We need to know more first before we can adequately plan. Plus,we need time to amass supplies and outfit soldiers. The scouts should be back in no more than two weeks, which is when we will make our final decisions and move out. Also,” she looked between Braxton and Caro. “In two weeks, Caro will be fit to travel. I want him with you.”

“Agreed,” King Aurelius added when Fen and Braxton both opened their mouths to argue. “It is time we bring today back on track,” he continued. “Let’s all return to our regular duties and begin preparing to travel into the mountains to stop Namin once and for all.”

Chapter Ten

THE LAST TIMECaro was in these mountains, the Spikehorn Range, he had been attempting to lead that doomed-to-failure diversion attack against Toval. Caro had known about the fortress being built in the south to support those attacks, but he didn’t know exactly where or any other logistics. Fen’s destroying the mercenary part of the plot hadn’t been a relief to Caro at the time, but as he turned his horse to steady her, he caught a glimpse of Braxton glancing over at him, and he was glad, yet again, he had somehow survived against all the odds stacked against him.

Caro didn’t know if he would ever be back to 100 percent health, but he certainly wasn’t finding it too difficult to stay on a horse at the slow pace necessitated by the narrow path. Tall, old-growth trees towered overhead, their leaves a brilliant riot of reds, oranges, and yellows. This far south, autumn was still in full bloom. Back in Etoval, winter had started hooking her claws into the weather, with hints of the icy winds to come and the occasional snow flurry. They had a few weeks yet before the real snows started, or so Shairon had told Caro when she was helping outfit him for this trip. Namin had winter, but not like the depth of snow and ice Shairon described for Toval.

Craggy rock also bordered the path, which admittedly was little more than a game trail, so it wasn’t possible to ride side by side. Instead, Braxton kept looking over his shoulder at Caro, as if needing to reassure himself Caro hadn’t experienced a moment of weakness and fallen off his horse. And as if Alina wasn’t on the horse behind Caro, also watching for that exact same thing.

On the one hand, of course, Caro appreciated their care and concern. On the other, knowing they didn’t trust him to tell them when he needed a break was grating. The next time Braxton glanced around, Caro made a face at him, crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue. Braxton grinned and returned to looking forward. He didn’t look back again until the scouting team leading them called a halt a couple hours later.

They were in a small clearing, branches with colorful leaves arching overhead and more leaves turning brown underfoot. Caro dismounted and handed off his reins to the woman who trotted over to take them. He didn’t have any duties to help make camp, so Caro joined Braxton and the rest of the command group off to the side of the clearing, where they were out of the way of the bustle.

Braxton was unrolling the rough map the scouting team had made when Caro reached him.

“Where are we on this?” he asked Captain Grall, a man in his forties who didn’t look a day younger than sixty, his face a craggy, imposing mass of wrinkles, scars, and broken bones not realigned properly.

“Here,” Grall replied, stabbing one finger at a spot dotted onto the line that depicted the game trail. “About a day’s ride to the fortress. We’re outside the range of their sentries tonight, but tomorrow we’ll have to be more careful.”

The fortress was depicted by a circle with anXthrough it just past the captain’s finger. The trail they were on was a line going north to south. A set of narrow, parallel lines ran east to west, cutting through the mountain range between Namin and Toval, with the center depicted at theX. According to the scouts, it appeared Namin was trying to cut a second pass going through the range, with the fortress in the centermost point. The scouts hadn’t been able to follow the pass all the way into Namin or back into Toval to double-check though.

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