The Redeemable Prince

by Rachel Higginson

  He was more than fine.

  He had gone from a boy proficient in battle to a man that dominated any struggle. Sebastian was no longer the lean, practiced warrior I’d known him as before. His body, mind, and skill had matured into a skilled fighter with natural grace and intuition that stole my breath.

  “I can see that you’re fine,” I said subtly.

  His hazel eyes danced with amusement. “Shall we go?”

  I rolled my eyes and stomped around him. I had almost made it to the busyness of the crowded street. I just had to step over the man I’d shot down in the doorway.

  Just as I lifted my foot to move over him, his cold hand reached out and grabbed my ankle. I let out a startled scream and tried to wrench my foot away.

  I felt Sebastian at my back reaching down for his dagger.

  It was only a matter of seconds before I could get this corpse off me, but it wasn’t soon enough. He garbled something at me with a mouth full of blood.

  I looked down at him in disgust and held my tongue from screaming obscenities at him. He hadn’t killed any of my friends today, but he or his friends could have so easily. We lost plenty of Titans. And I didn’t know if they were dead or unconscious. And if they were unconscious, I didn’t know if Eden was strong enough to heal them. At least not until after the babies were born.

  Not to mention, he was a part of a movement that tried over and over to destroy everything I worked to build. Everything I believed in.

  “He’s killing the Queen,” the man grinned up at me.

  “What?”

  His cold eyes lit with laughter and he choked through the pooling blood in his mouth. “She will die. He’s going to take his time with her and make sure she feels every moment of it!”

  A hundred questions sat on my tongue. I prepared myself to wrap my hands around his neck and shake him until an explanation coughed out of him. But Sebastian beat me to it.

  With savage efficiency, he bent low and used his dagger to slice across the man’s throat. The enemy gurgled and sputtered for a few more agonizing moments before his head dropped back on the ground and his rotten green Magic left him completely.

  I stared at the dead man and then my ex-boyfriend and tried to make sense of everything that just happened.

  “What the hell, Sebastian? Why did you kill him?”

  Sebastian lifted his eyes to mine and I stumbled back a step from the ferocity that glared back at me. “He tells you our Queen is going to die and you want to keep him alive?”

  I threw my hands up in the air. “For questions! I wanted to ask him more questions!”

  “And I’m sure he would have been very accommodating, except that he was about to die anyway! At least I had some satisfaction with his death!”

  “I was the one that shot him in the first place.”

  “And then had a change of heart!”

  “I didn’t have a change of heart! I wanted to know what he meant. I wanted to know if he meant that literally or if it was a threat about the future!”

  “You are an impossible woman! I did what had to be done and somehow that makes me the bad guy! Not the guy that actually is bad!”

  “I didn’t say you were the bad guy. I said-”

  “Hey, Bonnie and Clyde!” Titus called from the passenger’s side of a rented van. He waved his cell at us. “Eden and Amelia are both alive and well. I just called to check. Can we go now?”

  Satisfied with that answer, I took a step away from the dead body and kicked his grip off of my ankle. My clothes were covered in dirt and blood and all I wanted to do was check into a nice hotel and step under a scalding hot spray of water and stay there until my fingers pruned and my body forgot the feel of other people’s blood on my skin.

  Sebastian grabbed my hand before I could get through the door though. I shot him a furious look over my shoulder and snapped, “What now?”

  “Analisa,” he said quietly. “If there is a Queen that Terletov is currently killing, it would be Analisa.”

  I forgot my next step or any plans I had of finding clean water. I stepped back into Sebastian’s space and wrapped my arms around him. He buried his face in the curve of my neck and pulled me tightly against him.

  Analisa, his aunt.

  I knew I could be heartless and cruel, but this was too much for even me. I felt the fear and grief vibrate through his Magic. I felt the man I had just deemed so capable and dominant become vulnerable and afraid.

  “What do you want to do?” I whispered close to his ear.

  “Omaha,” he decided. “I want to go to your place in Omaha.”

  I knew that was a bad idea. Actually, a terrible idea. But I couldn’t say no to him like this. So I simply nodded instead and pulled him toward the van.

  My mind argued with my heart, but my heart was stubborn. Apparently it didn’t mind being sacrificed in order to give this man I no longer wanted to love everything he needed in his time of grief.

  And I would. Whatever Sebastian needed, I wanted to give to him.

  Even if that meant destroying all of the healing I’d been through over the last year.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sebastian

  Omaha.

  It felt like coming back to the start.

  The start of everything.

  This was where my transformation happened- from racist prick to the upstanding gentleman I was today. You’re welcome world.

  This was where my attraction for Seraphina first began. All of the time I spent with Kiran and her while I knew my cousin loved someone else. This was where I made time for her. This was where I started to see that she wasn’t the girl everyone thought she was.

  And in way of the Kingdom, Omaha was where everything started as well. This was where Eden and Avalon plotted with Amory to take over the Monarchy. This was where the Resistance was born. This was where Lucan lost his foothold. This city was the catalyst that eventually brought about his ruin.

  And this was where Terletov attacked last fall and set us into violent motion once again.

  It seemed the majority of the most important points of my life could be traced back to this city.

  Sure, there were certain things that belonged to other places, such as Lucan’s death, the first time I’d kissed Seraphina or told her I loved her. But so much of my maturity had happened right here.

  And last summer.

  A year ago.

  Before Terletov, before we were summoned back to the Citadel, before any of this happened, Seraphina had stayed in the condo she owned here. We’d spent a lazy summer traveling to rustic parts of Canada and exploring Mexican beaches, but we’d grown tired of living out of suitcases and wanted a permanent place to crash for a while.

  We set up residence in the posh, but small one bedroom flat she’d stayed in during high school. We’d hardly left the entire time. Instead, we spent our days lounging around the pool or experimenting with our cooking skills in the apartment. We’d talked of our future and planned out lives together.

  At the time, it felt like all the times before. We’d been together for so long, I was used to the marriage conversation and the idealistic future we could paint whenever we were alone.

  But then the fall had come. We’d been swept up in the drama of the Citadel and castle life and then suddenly Terletov had invaded our world and we were tossed into the middle of hell.

  When I looked back at last fall, I could see how selfish I’d been and how obtuse. I had thought Seraphina was asking me to give up my position in the Kingdom completely. I’d already given up my crown; I couldn’t believe she’d asked me to give up more.

  But now that I looked back, I realized that she simply wanted more from me, not for me to do less. She wanted to be a priority in my life. She wanted a commitment. She wanted the commitment I could so easily give my cousin and the Kingdom, but not her.

  I should have taken her that night and married her. I should have demanded that she marry me and follow me wherever my orders took
me.

  And I believed she would have gone. Willingly.

  Instead, I’d managed to muck it all up and push her away instead.

  We arrived in Omaha near midnight. The Titans had taken an alternate route and an alternate jet. They would meet us at dawn in the old clubhouse. Kiran had it restored over the winter and we would be the first to use the new facility as a meeting place.

  But we were trying to get some sleep rest before we had to be down there. We used the private airstrip we always used and then the cars that were kept on site. I was thankful there were enough of them to take us all where we needed to go.

  Jericho had a place here, so he took Olivia and her sister with him. Titus, Xander, Xavier, and Roxie headed to the farm. Angelica had fixed it up since Lucan’s destruction, although she was rarely there. She had stayed close to Kiran and Eden, ever since the babies were announced.

  I had somehow managed to convince Sera to let me stay at her flat with her. I’d used the excuse that I had plenty of belongings still there, including a toothbrush.

  I even told her I’d forgotten my other one and that I was tired of borrowing Titus’s.

  It was still unclear if she believed me or not, but she’d agreed to let me tag along.

  After the excruciating morning and the long flight here, nobody was in a mood to argue. Not even her.

  The drive to her downtown building was quiet and still. I drove while she leaned against the window and pretended to sleep.

  I parked in a designated spot below ground and we walked to the elevator in silence.

  Once inside, she gave me a sideways glance and said, “You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

  I was too tired to argue. “Where else would I sleep?”

  The question hung in the air. I watched her work to swallow out of the corner of my eye and decided I liked her squirming.

  “I mean it, Sebastian,” she warned in a shaky voice.

  “I’m not arguing with you, Seraphina.”

  She didn’t respond to that.

  We made it to the top floor of the building in silence. She led the way down the hall and opened the door with Magic. I had a feeling her keys were in her pack, but she was too tired to pull them out.

  The air conditioning hit me as soon as the door opened and I stood in the dark while she fumbled around for lights. The cold air felt foreign against my skin after the day I’d had.

  “My housekeeper,” Seraphina explained. “I pay her to clean the place once a month and she must have forgotten to turn off the air after she left.”

  “That would explain why it’s so cold.” The place probably got pretty hot during the weeks the housekeeper didn’t come. She probably blasted the thing to cool it down quickly while she worked.

  Seraphina walked over to the kitchen and straight for the refrigerator. She rummaged around inside for a minute but only came back with bottled waters.

  She held one out to me with an apologetic smile. “This is all I have.”

  “It’s fine,” I assured her. “I mostly just want a shower.”

  “Ugh,” she groaned. “Me too. What a day, huh?”

  I nodded with my eyes transfixed to the long lines of her throat as her head tipped back. She unscrewed the top from the water bottle and took a long sip. My gaze stayed on her lips and the small drop of water that escaped them and trailed down her chin.

  I stepped up to her and brushed it away with my thumb before I even registered my move. She jumped back a step, startled.

  I took a step back too. “Sorry. You just had… you had a little something on your chin.”

  She cleared her throat and disappeared into the bedroom. I thought she meant to run away from me and so I sunk down on the leather sofa and dropped my head into my hands. I was messing this up.

  Big time.

  I needed to pull myself together and figure out how to move forward.

  The door opened again and she returned with arms full of my clothes and an old toothbrush sitting on top. My things.

  She set them down on the coffee table in front of me and then joined them. She sat just to my left, with her long legs pressed together in front of her and her elbows resting primly on top of them.

  “Did you talk to Kiran?” she asked and the events of the day rushed back at me with savage force.

  I shook my head sadly. “I want indisputable proof before I put him through that.” I rubbed my hands over my face and tried to comprehend how I would tell Kiran that his mum might not last much longer. Maybe she was already dead. It was impossible to tell at this point.

  “I’m sorry, Bastian. I hate that you have to be the one to investigate this.”

  I couldn’t look at her. I hated it too. I hated that my aunt was going through so much. And I really hated that Terletov may have managed to take someone else I cared about.

  I needed to call my mum. I just needed to know she was okay. After that… I didn’t know where to go from there.

  I was already on a mission. There were Titans already looking for Analisa and for Jericho’s mom, Katja. But I couldn’t trust them to do the job anymore. I would have to make this not only my responsibility, but also a priority.

  And it wasn’t going to be easy.

  I basically had the entire world to search. Her body… she could be anywhere.

  Bloody hell.

  “I don’t even know where to begin,” I groaned. I rested my elbows heavily on my bent knees. “I don’t know how to solve this problem.”

  Seraphina laid a tentative hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Even though her contact was nervous and a little awkward, I still relished the willing touch from her. She gave me more comfort than I could have expected from such a simple touch.

  I reached across my chest and put my own hand on top of hers. I didn’t want her to pull away, so I removed the option. I hadn’t realized how deprived my spirit felt until that moment, until she showed me.

  I longed for her touch. I needed her security. I wanted her.

  And I was in a place, where I’d do just about anything to have her.

  “I’ll help you,” she whispered. “We will find her. He won’t keep her from us, no matter what’s happened to her.”

  I lifted my focus and finally met those sapphire blue eyes of hers. “Thank you.”

  She shrugged one shoulder shyly. “I care about Analisa too. And Kiran and Eden. This is the wrong time for something to go wrong with Kiran’s mom. With the twins on the way… Kiran would be devastated. This should be a happy time for them. And Eden shouldn’t have to mourn while she’s so close to the end of her pregnancy.”

  My gut squeezed. I honestly hadn’t even taken any of that into consideration. I’d wallowed in my own impending pain and forgotten all about my cousin and his temporarily fragile wife.

  Seraphina chuckled, apparently reading my facial expressions. “That’s why I’m here. Someone has to stop you from putting your foot in your mouth.”

  “That sounds like full-time job. I don’t think I’m paying you enough.”

  “That’s because you’re not paying me at all! This is all pro bono, Baby!” She shot me a happy grin, but before I could really admire her relaxed expression, it was cut off by a giant yawn.

  “We should go to bed,” I said obviously.

  She nodded and then looked at where I still covered her hand on my shoulder. I jerked a little since I’d forgotten it was there as well.

  She retracted her hand and stood up. I jumped up quickly to follow.

  Seraphina was tall for a girl, but I was taller. I towered over her, covering her body in the shadow of mine. When we dated, she loved that she had to look up to me and I loved that she had significant height, so I didn’t have to bend in half to kiss her.

  It was convenient now too.

  I stepped into her and put my hands on her waist for a long moment before sliding them around her waist. “I need a hug,” I told her.

  She didn’t immediately hug me back as I
’d hoped. “You need a hug?”

  I wasn’t imagining the skepticism in her voice. I wanted to laugh, but held it in. “I do.”

  I ignored the sound she made in the back of her throat and pulled her closer. Slowly her arms wrapped around my neck and she melted against me.

  Our Magics flared with life around us. They lit up and tangled together in a sudden burst of light and electricity. The explosion of our energies propelled us tighter together.

  Her chest pressed into mine and I breathed her in as deeply as I could.

  We hadn’t been this close in more than a year, not like this. Not willingly and with such strong emotion bouncing back and forth between us. I suddenly felt like a starving, dying man. She was water in the desert. She was manna when there was no other food. She was shade when I was burning alive. She was life when I was lost in the catacombs.

  And she had no idea.

  I hadn’t told her. I’d let her walk away and believe that I didn’t want her and that I didn’t want to put her before everything else.

  “Sebastian.” My name sounded like a warning on her lips.

  “Seraphina,” I countered, whispering her name like a prayer.

  “I should go to bed,” she finally said. “Or take a shower. Or, er, go to bed.”

  I pressed my smile into her throat. “You already said that.”

  “I need to go.” She pulled away this time and I let her.

  “I miss that,” I said honestly.

  She didn’t respond verbally. Instead, she looked out of the large, picture windows and then at the kitchen in the other direction. Basically, she looked anywhere but at me.

  I heard her sharp breath and braced myself for a reply. I thought she would cut me down or remind me of all of the things that had gone wrong between us.

  But she didn’t.

  “Goodnight, Sebastian,” she said instead. She walked to her bedroom, slipped inside and closed the door.

  I smiled to myself in the emptiness of the room, embarrassed and confused. Last summer, things had been so simple here. I was the one that complicated them. I was the one that kept complicating things even when it was obvious she wanted nothing to do with me.