Page 176 of Heart of the High King
“Trustyou?” Aleksander spat at his best friend. “I did trust you. I trusted you with Rafe, and I’m the one who had to lay there helpless while he cried over his failure to lead D’Vaire properly.”
“We can explain. Please, Aleksander.”
Aleksander sighed as he took the balls from the wolves and tossed them again. “Look, I’m only going to agree with this because Rafe’s already ticked off that I took you guys to task.”
“Okay, great, come on.”
Promising Nox and Mortis he’d play later, Aleksander followed Brogan into the house. The wolves abandoned him as he got to the hallway and trotted into the office, no doubt to protect Rafe. Aleksander strolled into the Royal Den to find four of the five people he’d selected to hold titles already seated at the round table. With no small amount of reluctance, Aleksander joined them once Brogan grabbed a chair.
“I’m going to start off by apologizing, Aleksander. I made a decision that I thought was the right one, and it backfired horribly,” Brogan said.
“Bullshit. We agreed,” Worth refuted.
“We’re not going to sit here and fight about this shit anymore,” Mac snarled. “Every person in this room is too stubborn to listen to reason, so we’re just going to fucking tell Aleksander what we did and apologize for it being the wrong thing.”
“Tell me, because I’m not going to sit here all day.”
“Aleksander, when it became obvious that you weren’t going to wake up right away, we could see what a toll that was taking on Rafe. I might not have known until last night how bad he was hurt.” Noirin stopped for a moment and swallowed hard as her eyes filled with tears. “And Fate better hope I never set foot in a room with those fuckers, but we were aware that Rafe is healing mentally and emotionally. We thought it would be best if we reduced his stress.”
“We told everybody to filter issues through us. We weren’t going to burden Rafe with shit he didn’t need to worry about. He was nervous in meetings, and that’s understandable. He’s new to being High King, and no one expected him to have to do everything on his own. So, that’s why nothing happened in meetings,” Dravyn explained.
“We stopped hanging out in the office so he could get work done without us asshats annoying him,” Brogan added. “It seemed like the right thing to do, and we understood enough about Rafe to know that if we asked him, he’d assure us he could handle everything. I believed our jobs entailed us to take measures to protect him even if it meant…well, I guess going behind his back. When I think about it like that, I realize we were stupid and reckless.”
All of Aleksander’s righteous fury slipped away. It was just like Brogan and the rest of his dukes to take it upon themselves to do something to help someone, even if it meant subterfuge. “I can understand your thought process and your desire to prevent stress, but you should’ve told him. Guys, his feelings are really hurt, and he’s not a whiner or a baby. He puts great stock in being High King because he somehow believes if he fails at it that I’m going to think less of him, which is ridiculous. He can’t fail, he’s perfect for the job, and nothing is going to change the way I feel about him, but I can’t change his mindset.”
“I guess we thought that he knew we liked him,” Worth offered sadly. “Which means we’re the ones that have failed him, because we gave him cause to doubt our friendship as well as our family bond.”
“You kept the extended family away too, didn’t you?” Aleksander asked.
“Yes, of course,” Worth responded. “More people…more stress.”
“Invite everyone for the weekend. I want the whole family to enjoy themselves, and we’ll have to work on knitting together something Rafe can trust. His flesh and blood betrayed him; it was always going to be an uphill battle to get him to believe he’s wanted and liked. Those fuckers were always cruel to him—it wasn’t just those months he was chained up. Tell me who the fuck in our house is saying shit to him, because there’s no excuse for that,” Aleksander demanded.
Brogan shook his head. “We just learned about that last night when you told us.”
“I don’t know who would treat him cruelly,” Noirin said. “Although he’s always held himself a bit away from everyone, it’s impossible not to see what a caring person he is. I figured he was shy, and I think he’s overwhelmed by our craziness maybe, but I can’t imagine how anyone who watches him with you or those wolves wouldn’t see his heart.”
“I want you guys to find out.”
“I’m going to talk to Gavrael. Between us and the sentinels, we can ferret the person out,” Brogan promised. “Trust me, it’s my first priority.”
“No, your first priority is apologizing to Rafe.”
“I just want to say one last thing to you before you go get him,” Brogan said.
“Okay.”
“You know he’s doing sword lessons?”
“Yep, and I plan on joining him.”
“I’m glad you said that. I need to warn you. He’s going to kick your ass.”
“What? Why would he do that?” Aleksander asked, completely confused.
“Well, because he’s ridiculously good,” Noirin responded. “And I never in my life had pain in my shoulders until he whipped me through workouts. But watching him is insane. I mean, even the sentinels are impressed with his dagger skill but that sword…shit. I can’t wait for this weekend, because I’m going to get Conley to bring his so they can go head-to-head.”
“Popcorn match for sure,” Worth said.
