Chapter 48

ADAN

“I’m eating crow,” Kerr said, raising a glass to Adan in toast. “You knew exactly what you were doing. I’ll never doubt your strategic mind again.”

They were in Kerr’s home office, meeting with Clarice and another politician she had recruited to Adan’s cause. The woman, called Fianna, was a close ally of Clarice, and she had pledged her allegiance to the uprising eagerly as soon as Clarice told her of the opportunity.

Adan gave Kerr a little nod of acknowledgement and sipped his drink.

The four of them were seated around a big circular table that held trays and plates and platters of all kinds of breakfast foods.

So far, only Kerr had touched any of it. “And now we enter the next stage,” he continued, leaning over the table to spear a gigantic sausage link with a steak knife. He took a bite, eating it right off the knife.

Adan stood and paced over to the fireplace.

He let the heat cling to his suit and his skin, breathing in the smell of smoke, and then turned back to face his little audience.

“The King agreed to see me last night,” he announced. “I planted the seed. He will be speaking with Nolan soon.”

The three politicians all leaned forward. Kerr slid the last chunk of his sausage into his mouth and set the knife back on the table.

Clarice asked, “When do you think he will do it?”

Adan thought for a moment, then said, “Today. He won’t waste any time.”

Kerr threw back a slug of whiskey and cleared his throat. “Nolan is scheduled to appear in Parliament the day after tomorrow.” Everyone nodded, confirming this was correct.

“Even if he does make it,” Clarice offered quietly, “and we must hold the vote, we should still be alright. Now that we have Fianna. Three votes are enough to edge us into the majority.”

Kerr picked up his knife again and stabbed another sausage. “You’re doubting him,” he barked at his sister. She just narrowed her eyes at him in response.

Adan gave them a half-smile. He remembered them acting so much the same way, back when the three of them were kids and growing up together.

“It’s okay,” Adan said. “It’s always good to have a backup plan.”

NOLAN

Nolan only slept an hour or so, before his stomach woke him up with a very bad feeling.

It was his intuition again. The feeling that danger was lurking just outside.

He got dressed quickly and gave Yena a little kiss on the forehead before heading back to his office, where he knew his team would still be working.

Nolan had his secretary bring him some fresh coffee. Then he sat at his desk sipping a steaming cup while the attorney started reading a statement aloud to him.

The prince would need to rehearse this speech for a press conference later in the day. It was better to practice and sound like you were speaking from the heart, rather than get caught glancing at notes when you were making any kind of apology.

Nolan had never had to apologize to the public for anything before. And the statement was terrible.

He was just about to start a second cup of coffee when a bustle at the door caught his attention.

Nolan went out into the lobby and found a couple of the King’s attendants. He recognized one of them, a short, graying man, as the King’s oldest and most trusted attendant.

“He wants to see me?” Nolan asked, and the man nodded.

They walked together to the King’s chambers, where Nolan found his father standing with his back to the door, staring out a window. The attendant closed the door behind Nolan, and the two of them were alone.

The King did not turn yet but began to talk.

“The part that keeps troubling me the most,” he said, foregoing any sort of greeting, “is what has become of your… unusual wife.”

Nolan was taken aback. “Sir?” he asked, hoping the King would explain what he had just said.

The King turned around and Nolan saw a look on his face that he had not seen since childhood. His father was about to tell him off.

“Why,” the King asked, “is your wife sneaking around behind your back with another man?”

Nolan was stunned.

He knew this chat would be neither pleasant nor easy.

He did not know that the King would bring up the princess. And blame her for the trouble Adan was stirring up.

Nolan held the King’s gaze and tried to keep his eyes from betraying his emotions. Nothing could get him fired up more than the mention of Yena.

“He’s not just another man,” Nolan said quietly. “Adan baited her into a trap. She’s innocent in this.”

The King narrowed his eyes. “Innocent? Funny thing to say about that girl.”

He turned his back to his son as he said it. Nolan was glad that the old man did not witness his jaw dropping.

“If that is a reference to how I met Yena, it is unfair.” Nolan tried to speak calmly. “Yena did what she did that night to save my life.”

The King ignored him. He returned to the window and resumed staring out.

The day was young, and a little sunlight was bleeding through the clouds. A storm was expected to come rolling in by afternoon.

“I’m disappointed, son,” the King said. “I thought you left your emotions behind when you began training for the kingship, all those years ago. It troubles me to see them affecting your behavior again.”

Nolan felt his body go hot all over.

Adan and his father both knew how to press his buttons. They knew he did not like it when they treated him like he was a child.

Nolan realized, too late, that the King was trying to get a rise out of him. The whole conversation was a test. A test Nolan was not acing so far.

He tried very hard to slow his breathing down, taking in little sips of air through his nose.

“I fear you are seeing this situation from a limited perspective,” Nolan said at last. “Adan is preparing an attack. He wants to take the throne back, and he’s trying to discredit my name as part of his plan.”

The King had no visible reaction at first. Then he turned around slowly. His face remained unchanged, but Nolan felt the air in the room getting thicker and knew his father was growing angry.

“I’m seeing the situation from a limited perspective,” the King repeated softly. “Is that what you said?”

Nolan shook his head slowly.

His thoughts began to race, and he wished he could travel back in time and un-say what he had just said. He could not even really remember what it was. But it came across wrong.

It came across as insubordination.

Nolan knew he needed to choose his next words carefully. He slowly lowered himself to the ground and bowed before the King.

“I misspoke,” Nolan said to the floor.

The King stepped close to Nolan. Nolan kept his head down.

“It’s not safe,” the King said quietly, “for you to be in public in this state.”

Nolan’s eyes flicked up to meet his father’s. The old man was standing right next to him, towering over him. The King’s hulking shadow had Nolan kneeling in a patch of darkness in an otherwise well-lit room.

“The confinement will only be temporary,” the King said. “I’ll bring you back here tomorrow. We will see if you have remembered by then how to act like a Lycan.”