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It felt all wrong to even suggest that Prince Urban felt anything for me. He was a complete stranger. I knew next to nothing about him, and he knew next to nothing about me. How the hell were we supposed to be soul mates?
But that didn’t matter now. “I don’t want him to be punished for simply helping me.” And that at least was the truth. Whether the man was a stranger or not, no one should be punished for a kind deed rendered, especially since it had kept my daughter from growing up motherless.
Nicolette nodded frantically. “I will,” she promised. “I’ll tell him.”
“He should be thanked,” I added.
“Yes. Thank you, Vienne.” Nicolette leaned in and kissed my cheek. “And thank you for not dying. I don’t know what any of us would do without you.” She glanced once toward the baby, gently rubbed a single finger along the infant’s cheek, and then she was gone, racing from the room.
“I don’t think you should’ve gotten involved in all that,” Yasmin finally said once the princess had left.
I frowned at her.
She sniffed in disappointment. “You should’ve let them punish him and be done with it, because I have a bad feeling our troubles with both those High Cliff siblings are just beginning.”
Chapter 18
Urban
The king and I glanced toward the doorway where Nicolette hovered, looking meek for the first time in her life, her eyes huge with worry.
Her brother waved her into the room. “Nicolette,” he greeted. “What news have you?”
“Vienne woke up again and was lucid enough to talk this time,” Nicolette said, glancing my way when I stepped forward to hear what she had to say. “She sends a message.”
Caulder scowled at me with a short frown, then he turned back to his sister and nodded. “And what does she say?”
“She had no idea Urban’s mark had chosen her,” Nicolette reported. “At first, she flat-out denied the possibility, insisting she couldn’t be his one true love, and then she was just confused. She said he hadn’t spoken to her once since he and Allera arrived at the castle. And she doesn’t believe he should be punished for simply helping her.” Glancing at me, she smiled slightly. “She said to thank you for what you did.”
I opened my mouth to ask how she was, but the king lifted his hand, silencing me.
After he digested Nicolette’s words, he nodded. “How is she, otherwise? And the child?”
Nicolette glanced my way. “Very well,” she answered before turning back to her brother. “Both of them. After I placed the babe in her arms as Urban said I should, she settled down enough for the healers to sew her abdomen closed and pack it with herbs. She took a small nap and has been healing unnaturally fast ever since.”
My shoulders sank with relief. I nodded my head, relieved to hear such a report.
The king turned his attention to me even as he answered his sister. “Thank you, Nicolette. You may go now.”
She nodded, but didn’t move. “Urban saved her,” she said. “You saw it with your own eyes, Caulder. Please don’t punish him for—”
“I said that is all, Nicolette. Now, leave us.”
The girl gulped audibly, then sent me an apologetic glance before she bowed to her brother and hurried from the Throne Room, out the same doorway Brentley, Allera, and Soren had left seconds earlier.
“Now,” the king started again, staring at me before he sighed and shook his head. “What the hell am I supposed to do with you, Bjorn?”
I shrugged. “Whatever you see fit, I guess.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t seem very concerned. You are aware I could have you executed, aren’t you? For merely lying to me about your association with my sister-in-law. Because you have lied, since the moment you arrived. With a single word, I could have your neck stretched as you swung from the highest gallows. Just like that.”
When he snapped his fingers, I refrained from rolling my eyes.
Keeping a bored expression, I answered, “Yes, I’m quite aware of what you could do to me, Your Majesty.”
“Then why aren’t you afraid?”
I looked him straight in the eye. “Because I don’t regret what I did. If it has signed my death warrant this very day, then so be it. She is alive right now, and that is all that matters. I would do the very same thing over again and again an unlimited amount of times to see to her wellbeing.”
