Page 65 of Wicked Prince of Carnage
“Treason is now whatever I say it is,” Winter promised. He grabbed the king by the back of his embroidered jacket. “When you fucked Talia, I still did your bidding and played the good son.”
“You were never a good son,” he roared, striving to pry Winter off him.
“If you say so. But what kind of father betrays their offspring at every turn, hmm?” Winter gave a mirthless laugh. “I suppose the same one that plans to murder them.”
“You’re a fucking disgrace,” Valco spat.
Winter cracked his father’s face into the porcelain just hard enough to shut him up. “I am what you made me.”
The king’s body shifted, his bones contorting to defend himself against Winter.No, you don’t,the prince thought as he slammed the king’s head into the tiled ground, knocking him unconscious again before his father’s wolf fully emerged. He wasn’t a fool—his father’s wolf was much larger than his own, which was why he’d planned to use the element of surprise to get the job done.
Winter hauled the body up and leaned the king’s torso over the edge of the tub. He shoved his head into the water and held it there as bubbles drifted toward the surface. A few involuntary twitches of his father’s body made the prince tense, half expecting the wolf to emerge in a final, desperate attempt to save Valco, and his grip tightened. Once all movement ceased, Winter continued to submerge his father, regardless that no life remained within the king. For his mother.
He released him and watched as the king’s body fell to the bloody tile. Not an ounce of regret arose, only … relief.
Winter gathered his father’s clean trousers from the counter since his own clothing was torn on the floor from when he’d shifted. He stood over the body, dragging in deep breaths. He was king now. He was free.
A smile crept over his face. This was the moment he’d been waiting years for. His father, dead at his feet.
“Winter?” a hushed voice filtered into the room.
He looked over his shoulder at Sterling, meeting her wide eyes, and he arched a brow. “I solved our problem. But enlighten me—why are you here and not in Shaderain?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
STERLING
“You expected me to run off to another court while you were here, risking your life!” Sterling said, bringing her bow down to her side. “I came back to stop you from doingthis.” Terror filled her at the sight of Winter standing over the king’s corpse, knowing that Valco’s wolves could turn on him when they discovered what had happened. Their pack leader, theiralpha, murdered by his own son.
She’d never truly thought about what it would’ve meant for her if she’d succeeded in ending Winter’s life with her arrows, the repercussions that would’ve followed. It would’ve been much worse than participating in a spectacle of games held by the Prince of Carnage. His wolves wouldn’t have been as lenient to her.
Winter fastened his trousers and peered down at her. “You don’t know how to listen to anyone, do you?”
“Myself.” She shrugged, her gaze drifting to the king once more. Valco’s body lay perfectly still on the marble floor while a guard’s corpse was sprawled at an awkward angle in a pool of his blood outside the bathing chamber.
After leaving the mare in the castle forest, Sterling had snuck to the back of King Valco's home and slipped through a servant’s door. She’d managed to avoid the guards, and the few servants she passed didn’t dare to question the new princess, even though she carried a bow. The guard she’d been most worried about was the one who would be outside King Valco’s door, but when she’d gotten there, the hallway was empty. And she’d known at once that something terrible had happened.
Winter dipped his fingers into the tub and washed away the blood lingering on his skin. His sapphire irises met hers, a new emotion shining within their depths. Relief?
He dried his hand on a fluffy ivory towel before prowling over to her and lifting her chin with a forefinger. His scent of clovers and embers snuffed out most of the metallic odor. “So,” he started, “you abandoned your freedom, your brother, your friend, and for what? Another chance at death?”
Sterling had left the only thing she’d wanted—having her brother back—for Winter’s sake. Even as Red Riding Hood, she never worried about her own death, only Cyan’s. Her brother and Nareth were both safe, and that was what mattered most of all. But if she’d gone with them, she never would’ve forgiven herself because the Prince of Carnage mattered to her too. She cocked her head and murmured, “I suppose so. A wife doesn’t abandon her husband now, does she?”
“Mate.” He smirked. “That must mean you like me, at least a little.”
“Perhaps.”
“I need to show you something.” Winter didn’t wait for her to answer before leaving the bathing chamber to enter Valco’s bedroom. Sterling followed the prince to the king’s desk, papers sprawled across its wooden surface. He lifted a worn map that looked to have been folded too many times to count. One of the roads was traced in red.
“My father had a plan,” Winter continued. “This valley is filled with rogue, banished wolves. When we traveled through to reach the town on the other side, the king was going to have you murdered. And they were going to make it look as if I did it. He was going to hang me for the crime in front of your village so they could see that justice for you was done and how serious he was about uniting wolves and humans. He would be a savior.”
Sterling gasped. She knew the king was heartless and could easily end her life, but to plot the murder of his own son… Itshould’vebeen no surprise. The wolf royals always made certain they had a royal son or daughter to pass the crown to though. “But then he would have no heir.”
Winter crumpled the map in his fist. “The king didn’t only fuck countless women—he fathered a bastard son as most unfaithful males do.”
The door burst open before Winter could finish speaking, and Sterling whirled around, lifting her bow toward a tall man with broad shoulders. His gray hair was drawn into a topknot, and a golden crown pinned to his shirt. Valco’s general.
“I smell blood,” Rawling growled, razor-sharp claws piercing through his fingertips as he stepped toward her. “What happened in here?”
