Page 148 of A Court Bright and Broken

No doubt he’d pushed every piece of furniture in the room up against the painting. Right. I’d have to try to talk my way in.

Returning to his suite’s exterior door in the hallway, I approached the guards and smiled. “Good evening fellows. Just paying a visit to my brother.”

The soldier closest to me darted a nervous glance at the others before responding. “I’m sorry, Prince Pharis. The Crown Prince gave orders he’s not to be disturbed until morning.”

Adrenaline hit my bloodstream and set off a tremor in my midsection. I had a bad feeling about this.

When I’d left the two of them, Stellon and Raewyn had been clinging together. He’d been petting her back, comforting her from the fright of my unexpected house call.

Had I inadvertently pushed them closer together? Sped up the timeline of their relationship by discovering her there?

Had my brother put the extra guards in place and ordered them to keep him from being disturbed because he meant to make Raewyn his bond-matetonight?

The nervous energy spread to my limbs, electrifying them.

“That doesn’t apply tome,” I said to the guards, attempting to bluff them and move past the blockade.

Two of them moved closer together, obscuring Stellon’s door entirely. All four men gripped their sword hilts, which shocked me.

What were they going to do? Strike me down?

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” the most senior of the guards said. “But we’ve sworn not to allow anyone entry, on orders of Prince Stellon.”

“Especially you,” he added, sounding regretful and a bit scared.

A shocked laugh escaped me.

“Especially me?” I repeated, disbelieving.

Now I was evenmoreworried. Stellon knewIknew she was in there with him. And he knew there was onlyonething he could do to prevent anyone from taking her away from him.

He was desperately in love. Desperate people did desperate things.

I had to get into that room.Now.

Tilting my head to the side, I held out my hands. “Come on, fellas. What are we doing here? It’s me. I’m his brother. I’m his best friend.”

When that got no reaction, I started moving toward the door, prepared to push them out of the way.

“I’m afraid I have to insist,” I said.

The guards shot frightened glances at each other and drew their swords.

Shaded stars.This was a bad situation—for all of us. I didn’t want to hurt them, and I certainly didn’t want to meet the business end of one of those blades.

But I couldn’t let them stop me. Ihadto get in there and save my brother from himself.

Raising both my hands up to the sides, I dropped my head. “Fine. You win. I’ll come back in the morning.”

As soon as they re-sheathed their weapons and their postures relaxed, I made my move.

Whirling around, I raised a leg, and my boot heel connected with the jaw of one of the guards, sending him to the carpet.

The resulting split second of shock afforded me the opportunity to knock down another of the soldiers with a fist to the nose.

Unfortunately he was only down—not out. He grabbed my left ankle with both hands and pulled it under him, rolling his considerable weight on top of my leg and twisting it at a painful angle.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” he sputtered as he continued applying his body weight to my stressed joint. “Stop struggling and we’ll fetch a healer right away.”

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