by Linda Kage
Caulder’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe he is a villain. I won’t have anyone from that magical faction running freely inside my castle.”
“Well, rest assured,” Allera said, rising to her feet so she could stand directly between me and the king. “Urban comes from no such faction. He’s as non-magical as they get.”
“Then how the hell did he bring her back to life?”
Allera merely sputtered out a laugh and shook her head. “You make it sound as if he just committed an unspeakable crime, when all he did was save her. You should be thanking him instead of accusing him of some transgression. I mean, how dare you stand there and glare at my brother as if—”
“Allera,” Brentley said softly, taking her arm and trying to draw her away from me. “Let the king do what he needs to do to ease his worries.”
“No!” She scowled at him and pulled herself from his grip. “Not if he thinks to harm Urban for doing absolutely nothing wrong!”
“If he did nothing wrong,” Caulder seethed, “then why didn’t you answer my question and tell me how the fuck he was able to bring Vienne back from the dead?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious?” Nicolette said, causing both her brothers, and even Allera, to whirl toward her with shock. “He brought her back with true love’s kiss.”
Brentley and Caulder simultaneously gasped and clutched their chests, while Soren spun from the bed and stalked toward us. “What the hell is going on over here? Why is that bastard still in my wife’s bedchamber?”
Everyone ignored him, as they were all too busy gaping incredulously at Nicolette.
“Why would you say such a thing?” Caulder demanded.
The young princess sighed and rolled her eyes. “Because it all makes sense. He felt her pain and must’ve woken Allera and dragged her here to check on Vienne, otherwise how would they have known Vienne was even having any distress. They live in an entirely different wing of the castle. There’s no way they could’ve actually heard her. And then… When Vienne was dying, he felt her pain out in the hall until his love mark started to disappear. You all saw him, sharing her agony. And the moment he kissed her, not only did she come back to life, but his mark returned, too. Look, it’s red now. The tattoo was black before.”
Everyone looked at my mark. I had no idea it had changed colors, so I lifted my hand to the side of my eye, though of course, I couldn’t feel what color it was from touching it.
“He practically confessed everything the first night he came here,” Nicolette went on, almost vibrating with excitement for finally being able to reveal her discovery. “He said he’d met his one true love recently—very recently—and that he’d only seen her from across a room, and he couldn’t talk to her because he’d known she was already married, so… It all fits. It’s just that none of you were paying attention to what he was really saying. Vienne is his one true love.”
A moment of realization seemed to shimmer through the room as eyes went large and mouths fell open.
Then Soren surged forward, yelling, “You bastard! How dare you? With my wife?”
Allera, Nicolette, and Brentley, moved collectively to block him from me. At the crib, the infant began to wail, and I could see Vienne through all the people trying to sit up, probably to go to her child. Her sister and the two healers hurried to urge her back down, telling her they still needed to sew her wounds closed.
Meanwhile, Soren raged on, glaring at me from the other side of the three holding him back as I unsteadily pushed myself to my feet.
“He touched her! He put his foul, High Cliff bastard mouth on my wife! I’ll kill him for this. I’ll cut out his liver, and—”
“Soren!” Yasmin yelled. “We need you over here. Now! Someone must hold Vienne down so the healers can attend to her. She’s trying to stand.”
Chaos reigned. I tried to step around everyone so I could get to her. I could feel her panic, and fear, and confusion. Someone just needed to calm her down. Someone needed to take her baby to her. But Brentley and Allera caught onto my motive and stopped me.
“No, don’t go near her.”
“Get him out of here!” the king ordered, pointing at me.
“Come on, Urban,” Allera said steadily, her voice calm and coaxing as she tried to pull me toward the exit. “You already helped. It’s time to go now.”
But I shook my head, unable to ignore her distress. “No. I can’t leave her. She’s scared. She’s going to hurt herself. What if something happens, and she takes a turn for the worse? I need to be here to help. I need—”
“You need to go,” Brentley said, getting into my face. “You’re causing a ruckus, and she won’t be able to calm down until you stop it.”
Fresh tears poured down my cheeks as I focused on Brentley. “But she’s still so weak.”
“I swear to God,” Soren roared, making the fear I felt from Vienne flare hotter. “If he’s not out of this room in five seconds, I’ll murder the High Cliff son of a bitch myself.”
The fucker was certainly welcome to try; see how far that got him. But when I narrowed my eyes his way, Allera tugged on me more insistently.
“No one’s going to be able to focus on helping her until you’re gone. Dammit, Urban, they’ll execute us both. Please!”
I shuddered out a relenting breath and nodded, even as I frowned toward the bed, where I could tell Vienne was still struggling to rise.
“She wants her baby,” I told Nicolette, rushing the words, even as I let Brentley and Allera drag me backward toward the door. “Get her the baby, and she’ll stop struggling. Just get her the damn baby.”
Nicolette bobbed her head and turned toward the crib, hurrying to follow my order.
I tried to get one last glimpse of Vienne, but I could never see her face, just bloody, pale-skinned glimpses here and there through all the people.
Once Allera and Brentley tugged me from the room, I shook free of them and glared. “I can walk on my own.”
Brentley didn’t look so certain, but Allera touched his arm and nodded, letting him know I could be trusted.
Wanting to slam my fist through a wall because they were making me leave, I spun away and stormed back to my chamber.
Vienne was still alive. For that, I was grateful.
And now everyone knew what she was to me, except I couldn’t seem to concern myself with exposure. I was still too pissed I had to be the one to leave. That dick Soren had been making a hundred-times bigger fuss than I had. I’d been the one to save her, too. I should’ve been able to stay.
Except deep down I knew she wouldn’t have wanted me there. With the truth revealed or not, she still didn’t feel the link between us. She didn’t know me. My presence at her bedside wouldn’t have soothed her at all. And that… That was why I wanted to roar in rage and sorrow. I couldn’t be there for her when she needed someone helping her through, when she needed someone who would actually worry about her and want to hold her hand.
I wasn’t what she wanted, and that hurt the most.
Chapter 16
Urban
“Caulder’s postponed our wedding.”
“What?! Why? That’s insane. This is all just insane. I don’t understand why he’s making such a big deal out of this in the first place. People meet their one true love all the time in High Cliff, and no one treats it like some kingdom-wide conspiracy. Urban did nothing wrong!”
Allera’s outraged voice from the other side of my chamber irritated my already-pounding headache until I had to gnash my teeth and press my fists to either side of my temples.
“It’s because of who he mated himself to,” Brentley tried to explain, his tone more logical and soothing, yet it grated on my nerves as well.
Damn. Could they not discuss me in another room?
Besides, what was there to discuss? My sister’s outrage was frankly perplexing. She’d begged and pleaded and demanded I keep my bond to Vienne secret because she feared no one would understand. Now, here we were, and no one unders
tood, yet she was shocked and appalled by their reactions as if she’d never thought to guess they’d behave such a way.
It was strange.
“Vienne holds a highly honored position in our realm,” Brentley said. “She’s a direct descendent to one of the founding families. I’m sure if Urban had attached himself to any other female, this wouldn’t seem quite so—”
“I don’t give a fuck who she is,” Allera snarled. “Status means nothing to the mark. And furthermore, Urban didn’t intentionally set out to bond himself to anyone, certainly not an already married woman. He had no choice in the matter. Besides, what’s the very worst thing that could come from this? He tries to cuckold your cousin and tempt Vienne into his own bed? Wow. That would be so devastating to the kingdom.” She rolled her eyes, matching the sarcasm in her voice. “But he hasn’t even done that. He’s kept his distance from her and not even talked to her, so… What’s the true problem here? Is it just because we’re from High Cliff?”
“No! No, of course not. Caulder is just—”
“Being an idiot,” Allera muttered.
“He’s not. Allera, please see reason. It was a shock to learn your brother could even… You know… Bring anyone back from the dead. Anyone would be understandably leery, especially Caulder, after what happened to our parents.”
“Were you?” Allera spat back. “Did you automatically think Urban had some evil, undermining goal in plan when he saved her?”
Brentley hissed out a long, exasperated sigh. “Well… No,” he finally admitted.
“And neither did Nicolette,” Allera was quick to add. “I find both of you to be of a logical and sound mind. You lost your parents the same way Caulder did, and you two didn’t automatically accuse Urban of wicked sorcery.”
“Yes, but you must understand—”
“I understand that my brother was treated like a villain for his heroic deed. Everyone seems a hell of a lot more concerned with the fact that he put his mouth on Vienne than how she’s actually faring.”
Unable to bare their argument any longer, I lifted my face from where I was sitting on the edge of my bed. “I can hear you two, you know. And your argument solves nothing but to make my headache grow tenfold.”
“Urban,” Allera murmured, her voice full of sympathy and her gaze the same. She came to me and set her palm against my cheek. “How are you feeling?”
I was nauseated. And my head was pounding while my skin was burning up until I was sweating even though I felt chilled to the bone. I couldn’t tell if it was my own malady I was experiencing—because I’d never brought anyone back from the dead before; I wasn’t sure how much energy it was supposed to suck from me—or if it was Vienne trying to heal from her experience that I was getting a sense of. In either case, I wanted to lie down in my bed and sleep for about three days straight. Except my worry for her kept me alert and edgy, waiting for the slightest news that she was okay.
Brushing my sister’s hand away, I sent her an irritated glance before muttering, “I’m fine.”
She wrinkled her brow, letting me know she realized I was lying. Then she said, “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, little brother. You did nothing wrong. I’ll convince them of it.”
I sniffed and closed my eyes as I shook my head. “Like I care about that.” When I opened again, I glanced past her toward Brentley. “Can you find out how she’s doing?”
The Donnelly prince looked momentarily boggled by the question before he stammered, “Oh! I, uh… Sure. I’ll go check now.”
I watched him leave. Allera was right about one thing. It was awfully curious why everyone was so concerned about what I had done while no one seemed to care if Vienne was truly okay or not.
To further my frustrations over that very fact, a knock came at my door before it opened. Indigo, one of my own men who’d come from High Cliff with us, stepped inside.
“My prince,” he said, bowing out his loyalty. “The Donnelly king wishes to question you in the Throne Room at once.”
“What?” Allera demanded, outraged. “Right now? It’s the middle of the goddamn night. This is madness.”
Indigo looked regretful when he answered, “They said at once, my lady.”
She muttered an obscenity under her breath and stormed toward the door. I glanced toward the window. Through the thin layer of clear rock, I could see the stars outside twinkling brightly, even as the sky began to lighten and change colors with the approaching dawn.
It felt like a sign of hope to me. I might die before the day was over, executed for whatever reason the crown saw fit, but it would be okay, because Vienne was alive.
I would damn the consequences of my actions over and over again an unlimited amount of times to keep her breathing.
At peace with my decision and ready to face the king and his cousin, I nodded to Indigo as I entered the hall.
Allera had marched so far ahead of me, she was already out of sight. By the time I reached the Throne Room, she was pleading my case, standing before Caulder, where he sat on the throne next to a seething Soren.
When Soren spotted me in the entrance, he surged to his feet, pointing.
“You! You stay away from my wife, you monster.”
“Oh, that’s a rich demand,” Allera laughed scornfully. “I mean, seriously, have you ever seen him actually talk to her? Even once?”
Soren narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, but Brentley rushed into the room after me, quite winded. “What’s this I hear about a trial for Urban? Right now? Seriously, Caulder.” He hurried past me and up the steps to stand beside Allera. “You didn’t even tell me about this first.”
“Because you’re not his top adviser,” Soren sneered, only to turn back to me and demand, “I’m serious. If you go near her, I’ll have you hanged from the highest—”
“You know what,” Allera spoke over him, stepping into his path so he would lose eye contact with me. “You are so welcome that he saved your wife’s life only hours ago… After you killed her with that huge child you put in her.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that! I’m—”
“Enough!” Caulder roared, lifting a single hand and causing the room to fall silent. “The fact of the matter remains that you lied to us, Prince Urban.” He looked directly at me. “You kept something like this a secret.”
“Because I asked him to,” Allera cut in. “We’re here to make peace between our two nations and form an alliance. He had no idea he would discover his one true love was here when he arrived or that she’d already be married. And he’s remained respectful of that, keeping his distance, not interfering with her life at all. We didn’t want to cause a scene like this very one that’s taking place right now when there was no reason for it. So I asked him to keep this to himself.”
“It wasn’t an irrational worry, Caulder,” Brentley said, nodding. “Since we’re behaving exactly the same way she feared we would.”
Soren glanced at Caulder. “How would you react if he’d put his mouth on your wife?”
Caulder started to reply only for Allera to whirl toward Soren. “Why are you so mad? Really? He brought her back from the dead? From the dead, sir! But from the way you’re going on about it, it sounds as if you’d rather she hadn’t survived at all.”
“Watch your mouth, woman. You know not what you say.”
Her smirk was pure evil. “Oh but don’t I? I may have only been here a few weeks, but it didn’t take long to catch up. You got your valuable first heir of the great Mandalay-Donnelly family line. What more do you need of a wife you so obviously don’t appreciate?”
Cracking off a sharp laugh, Soren lifted his hands and addressed the room at large. “Would someone shut this bitch up already?”
“Watch it, dickhead,” I warned, pointing at him.
Allera chuckled in Soren’s face. “Oh, I’m so sorry; is my truth too offensive for you, Sir Soren?”
He spun to her and took two steps forward to snarl right in her fac
e. “Females are meant to open their legs, not their mouths. If that’s too difficult of a concept for you to understand, I’ll gladly demonstrate your true role in this world.”
Red clouded my vision. “Fucker, you don’t speak to my sister that way.” I started up the dais toward the bastard who’d just threatened to rape Allera if she didn’t stop back talking him.
Someone was going to lose their life tonight. I could taste it.
But I didn’t get a chance to exact any vengeance, because Brentley swung out with his fist and cracked Soren right across the jaw before I could reach him.
Stumbling to a halt, I gaped at my sister’s betrothed, frankly startled he’d had it in him.
Pointing a finger in Soren’s face, he growled, “She is to be my wife, Cousin. So you will never speak that way to her or of her again. Is that understood?”
When Soren merely glared at him and wiped a trickle of blood from his nose, Brentley roared, “Is it?”
I lifted my eyebrows, impressed.
But Soren didn’t know when to back down. “She’s leading you around by the cock. That’s what I understand.”
“Wrong answer,” I murmured and started forward again to blacken his other eye, but Allera stepped in front of me, catching two hands full of my shirt.
“No,” she breathed, shaking her head insistently. “You’re already in enough hot water right now. Let Brentley handle this one.” When I merely narrowed my eyes at Soren over her shoulder, she hissed, “Urban! Look at me. Do not engage.”
I flashed my teeth at her for such a demand, but then I whispered, “I have a very bad feeling I’m going to kill that man before my life is over.”
She only grinned. “No, you’re not.”
I snorted. “And how do you think to stop me?”
She lifted a single eyebrow. “Because I’m going to kill him first.”
When I cracked a smile, she snorted out a quick laugh, and before we knew it, we were both full-on grinning at each other.
“What is so funny?” Soren demanded, breaking into our moment.