AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I do,” he snapped. “Which is why I’m demanding to see her. I want to make sure she’s taken care of. I don’t trust you, Atticus. At least with Augustus, I know I’ll be here to protect her. I’d prefer for her to stay with you, but I want to keep an eye on her, too.” He pinned me with a hard stare.
I didn’t know why, but I believed him. I had no way of knowing if he was bluffing or not, but I assumed he wasn’t. If I didn’t let him see Christine, he would tell the king. And then I’d have two problems to deal with. Not a situation I wanted to be in. “You won’t try anything stupid?”
“I want to see her, Atticus. The only thing I’m going to do is ensure she’s okay.”
I crossed my arms and looked at him, trying to figure out if he was trying to make me feel guilty for keeping him from seeing her or if he really was worried about her. I wanted to trust him, but I didn’t know him well enough to be certain.
Insufferable bastard. He’d put me in a hard position, and I was feeling positively possessive, but if he was so damn determined, I’d let him. Christine might like Leo Winthrop, but he still needed to prove his worthiness to me. “Fine. But give me a few days to get her settled.”
“I’m coming by tonight.”
My jaw clenched. I glared at Leo and considered how I might kill him. Piece by piece. “You’ll come when I summon you, or I’ll deliver your body to her in a box.”
He smiled at me. “And then she’d never speak to you again.”
Fucking asshole.
“Give me a few days,” I said again. “That’s my final offer.” I needed more time to get her to forgive me. I had plans to make her feel more in control at our dinner with my parents.
“Fine,” he gritted. I smirked. He knew when he was up against an immovable force. Truthfully, it was probably good for me to have an ally on the inside who knew about Christine. I didn’t want to burn any bridges, even if I wasn’t sure where Leo stood in this fucked up dynamic.
“Thank you,” he breathed, and I knew his relief was genuine. At least he cared about Christine. At least she had people to keep her safe. Maybe it would take all of us to protect her.
To my utter surprise, I found Augustus sitting at his desk, shuffling through papers and barking orders at Adonis. He was wearing all black, the typical clothes for mourning, but his hair was a mess and there was a plate of uneaten food on a tray. “You’re here,” he said, glancing up at me before pouring over his work once more. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was so pale that he looked sickly.
“Surprised to find you in your office,” I noted before sitting down.
“Did you do what I asked?” His tone was bland, devoid of any emotion. Robotic, almost.
Letting out a long sigh, I answered. “Lord Nathan wasn’t at his home in St. Idyll. No one has seen him since the attack.”
Augustus clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white. “I want him here so I can question him properly. So I can kill the motherfucker.”
My eyes widened in surprise. I’d expected Augustus to be a blubbering, grieving idiot, drinking away his sorrows and frozen from inaction. “We want the same thing. I have all the men I can spare looking for him.”
“Good. I can’t wait to rip the skin from his bones.”
Surprisingly, I respected Augustus more than ever at that moment. He was broken. He was angry. But he was still trying to be the king. “I’ll bring him to you. No use risking your life tracking him down.”
“As if my life means anything.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a polished silver pocket watch, which he checked absently. “I have a meeting with the lords in an hour. They’re going to have to wait a little bit.” He set it down, then rubbed his temples. “They want to talk about plans. How I’m going to navigate the attack. Where I want to send our armies. Th-the funerals.” The grief was evident in Augustus’s voice. He shook his head, like he couldn’t believe what he was saying. “I don’t want to talk about those things. I just want to kill Nathan. I want him to suffer.” He seemed to lose himself in his thoughts, staring blankly at nothing. He looked up at me, and the sad, defeated look on his face made me feel like an even bigger piece of shit.
“You don’t have to have this meeting if you’re not ready.” I didn’t want to see him debilitated. He wasn’t the incompetent prince I’d thought he was. He was trying to hold on to his kingdom and his sanity.
“You’re wrong,” he countered. “I have to go to the meeting. To prove that I’m doing my part. I cannot show weakness.” His eyes shot to mine, and I saw a hardened glint there. His red eyes lifted to meet mine. “You’ll let me be the one to kill him, Atticus. I know you want revenge as much as I do, but as your king, I demand you let me do the honor of sending him to hell.”
Interesting. “You never really had a taste for killing,” I noted.
“I never felt angry enough to want to actually kill someone.” He tapped his chest, just over where his heart would be if he had one. “I still feel her. I spent three years without her, Atticus, and now every second feels like eternity.”
Few people had ever said such things to me. I’d built a persona of strength and stoic reserve. We didn’t discuss our feelings or pain. We fought with bloody knuckles and buried our enemies. I might have even pretended that I didn’t understand his anguish. But I did. I was living in that hell with him. “I know,” I said.
Augustus scoffed, glaring at me. “I know you do. That’s why you’re going to let me be the one to end his life.”
He had every right to kill Nathan. He was the king. He was the one who had to rule over all of this. I just wanted to go back to my tower. Wait for Christine to forgive me. Forget everything else.
But I couldn’t let him become a killer. Taking a life was a slippery slope, one Christine was navigating. I was protecting him and he didn’t even know it.
He got up to pour himself a glass of water, and I watched him drink it. I didn’t even think the privileged king drank anything but champagne. “I can’t make that kind of promise, Augustus. You’re not the only person enraged by what he’s done.”
