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“Yes, I can.”
“I’m not leaving you behind! If someone figures out-”
“Fuck you, Oriel.”
Chapter Fourteen
Of course, Oriel was gone once Aspen bathed and went to collapse on his couch. Oriel had lied about never leaving him behind. As soon as he could, he was fucking gone. How dare he come here and try to “save” him like Aspen needed him. It must have been a ploy to make himself look good to Roth or something.
He stared at the fire. Maybe the lord had lied and used them against each other without any other reasons except to be cruel and because he wanted something. He’d held all of the control at the moment, and when a person has that, their cruelty can come out.
The men in the Hall hadn’t needed a reason to hold Aspen down on the floor and use him one after another, but they had done it anyway. The opposing side could often be savage simply because they could.
Oriel had been in his room and wouldn’t have seen his family die. Aspen hadn't even considered that afterward.
But it was still his fault that Aspen had been there in the first place.
The door opened, and Roth peeked in. “Can I come in?”
“No. I've got a hangover, and I'm not in the mood to talk to pretty pricks. Fuck off with your slave.”
“He’s not my slave.”
“I saw his rear that day. You sure beat him like one.”
“That whole thing involved my Father, and that’s why I’d beaten him and threatened him. I didn’t want to, but everyone had to believe he was broken and compliant…Oriel’s free now. We need to leave soon.”
“I’m not going with you.” Aspen remained on the couch, and he tensed as Roth came in. The burn Aspen had vaguely noticed earlier was now hidden by his shirt, but he seemed stiff.
“Oriel told me what was said,” said Roth. “I’m not here to tell you to love him, like him, hate him, forgive him, or whatever, but right now, you are coming with us. That’s the most important thing at the moment.”
“Even if you’re a lord’s son, I’m a lord. I’m telling you to fuck off.”
Roth drew himself up. “A minor lord. Baron’s are low, but-”
“So?”
“-regardless of how high your position is, if anyone finds out that you’re a slave masquerading as Lord Mather’s son, you’ll be torn down before you can blink,” continued Roth. “What you’re doing is a crime. Lower treason isn't looked upon with kindness. Frankly, I don’t give a shit that you’re impersonating someone because I’m sure the servants dragged you here and used you since Lord Mather was ill, and I’d heard his sight had grown poor. But others will give a shit, and you’ll end up back in a collar. Perhaps they’ll simply kill you, but there’s a good chance you’ll end up as someone else’s slave.”
Aspen went rigid on the couch because Roth was right. He was playing a dangerous game. All it took was for one person to grow suspicious, or if by chance, that orange-eyed lord ever saw him again and remembered his face out of many from that night.
One mistake and a few words from the right person would have him back in chains.
“Oriel will drag you kicking and screaming from this house if he has to,” said Roth. “He won't leave without you, he’ll keep you safe, and we’ll go to Queen Asara. In the Windswept Isles, no one will know you, and I doubt anybody will look for you specifically. Hopefully, everyone here will assume the son has run off again. Oriel wants his crown back, but he and Queen Asara can discuss that when we get there.”
“I don’t want to go.”
It’d be better if he swallowed the laudanum he’d found after a couple of bottles of wine. He’d never wake up, but he’d never have a nightmare again either.
What was Aspen supposed to do in the Windswept Isles? Suffer in his head while sitting on a beach and enjoying the lovely view?
“Oriel won’t give you a choice,” said Roth. “Not with this. I think he’d rather die than leave you behind.”
Aspen could kill himself later. If he went, because Oriel was a stubborn fucking bastard, he could make the once Crown Prince miserable. Every day, he’d be a reminder of Oriel’s failures and how he should have stayed away to begin with. It wasn’t fair if he somehow got everything back or lived with his royal Aunt while Aspen had nothing.
Oriel denied what the lord said, but he didn't deny that Aspen being there was his fault. He certainly wouldn’t forget anytime soon either. Aspen would make sure.
“Fine.”
