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They just stared at me blankly, so Indigo, one of my men from High Cliff called, “He’s the prince of High Cliff, you daft fools.”
More silence followed. Some of the soldiers gaped stupidly, some shook their heads in outright denial.
Finally, the giant facing me laughed outright. “No,” he said. “No, you ain’t no prince.” Then, with more uncertainty, he said, “You can’t be.”
“He is,” Indigo assured him.
I shrugged, letting the men believe whatever they wanted. “I hope you don’t mind if I come back and train with you tomorrow. It’d been too long since I’d swung a sword. I was beginning to get rusty.”
When I turned away and sauntered off, the whispers that followed me were full of questions. Was I truly the High Cliff prince? They couldn’t be sure. It amused me greatly, and I was grinning by the time I returned to the keep.
Vienne had returned to the castle earlier in the afternoon; I’d felt it in my mark when she had. But it’d been easier to ignore her presence when I’d been out in the fresh air, training. Once I was cooped back up inside the castle again, her vicinity seemed to loom closer and itched at my mark more persistently.
I wondered where she’d gone today, what she had done. Then I wondered why it fucking mattered to me so much. I shouldn’t care. I would never talk to her, never touch her, never be with her.
And just like that, all the peace and contentment I’d felt from training with the soldiers vanished. I sighed, wondering how I was going to deal with this for much longer as I cleaned up for dinner in my room and changed into suitable attire. I was almost ready to leave, simply checking my reflection in the mirror, when a knock came at my door.
It began to open before I could even respond, so I knew my visitor had to be Allera a split second before she barged into the chamber like she owned it.
“I’m worried about you, Urban,” she started without a single hello, how are you, or what was your day like?
I rolled my eyes and tugged my collar into place. “Yes, I’m fine, dear sister. Thanks for asking. And I had quite an eventful day, too. I actually—” I was about to tell her how I’d left the room and stumbled across the soldiers training, when she talked over me.
“I just spoke with a maid from High Cliff who’s been working in the kitchen. And you have everyone worried, especially the Donnellean servants. You haven’t been eating at meals, or leaving your room, or doing much of anything. They think you don’t like their cooking or the palace, and besides, this isn’t healthy. I don’t like it. Tonight, I demand you stop this stupid, self-imposed fast or imprisonment or whatever it is you have going on and finish everything on your plate.”
Turning from the mirror, I frowned at her. “I eat.”
“Not enough,” she argued. “Not like you did before we came here. Before… Before her.”
I straightened. That sounded very much like she was trying to blame Vienne for something Vienne should most definitely not be blamed for. “Excuse me?” I said softly.
“No! Excuse me,” she railed. “Because honestly, Brother, I can’t believe you’ve tied yourself to someone like her. She’s so quiet and compliant and…and dull.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Dull?”
Was she trying to piss me off?
Allera lifted her chin as if attempting to bravely confront me, even though I saw worry litter her gaze. “Yes,” she said determinedly. “Dull. And weak, too. In fact, I might go as far as to call her a doormat. She never stands up for herself whenever her sister picks at her. Which is constantly. And she—”
“Allera,” I threatened, stalking steadily her way. “Shut… Up… Now.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m trying to warn you. Your mark has you so blinded with feeling, you can’t see it yourself, and it’s tearing you apart. I refuse to stand aside and watch my best friend waste away into nothing because of his stupid mark. So I guess I must open your eyes to how truly unremarkable your mate really—”
“No,” I growled, stepping right into her face to glare. “You must do nothing of the sort! And for your information, my mark has opened my eyes, not blinded me. If you only saw what I see, you wouldn’t say such things about my one true love, you little fool.”
“Oh? Really? Well, pray tell, what is it you see in her then? What is so miraculous about your precious Vienne that has put you in this state of such utter misery?”
“I see her,” I said simply. “All of her. Her flaws, her fears, her dreams, her wishes, her strengths, her strategies. And I see how wrong you are. She’s not a doormat. She’s a foundation. She’s balancing this entire damned kingdom on her shoulders, and you should be fucking thanking her instead of speaking this disrespectful garbage against her.”
Allera’s mouth gaped open, but she said nothing.
“And yes,” I hissed. “She complies to her sister. But that isn’t because she’s weak. It’s because she’s strong and selfless. More selfless than you could ever imagine. She does it because she’s not just bowing to her little sister’s wishes, she’s placating the fucking queen, a very petty, vain queen, whose moods her husband—the king—is very sensitive to. So if the queen’s upset, the king’s upset. And if the king’s upset, we all suffer. She’s out there, every day, taking her sister’s shit so we don’t have to. You just wait and see. The moment my one true love has that baby and goes on bedrest, this kingdom will feel the side effects, because she won’t be around to calm the waters. And you’re blind if you think all she does is let her sister use her. Many times, she’s the one craftily enticing the queen into doing what she wants. If you’d just open your own damn eyes and pay attention, you might actually see that.”
Allera opened her mouth to speak, but I held up a finger, not permitting it.
“And aside from that, have you noticed how Caulder glances her way every time he makes an edict? He relies on her common sense and unbending moral code. He might be entranced by the flash that is his wife, but it’s Vienne’s opinion that matters to him. So don’t ever speak another word to me about how small and weak and dull she is, because there’s more to her than you’ll ever realize, probably more than I’ll ever realize.”
My chest was heaving with indignation as I finished railing. Allera’s eyes flickered with regret before she bowed her head and murmured, “I apologize.”
