The Redeemable Prince

by Rachel Higginson

  One of the men came over to investigate what caught his attention. The thug tried to pull the dog back to the main group, but the animal kept his strong opinion.

  Jedrec stiffened next to me. I could feel his thoughts spin with options to save us. I leaned forward just enough to see how many we were up against.

  Too many.

  Way too many.

  We would never get out of here alive if they found us.

  The dog kept snarling and snapping at us while his friends seemed anxious to move on. Their handlers kept them in the yard, but they pushed against a Magical wall and bared their sharp teeth. They wanted to resume the hunt.

  I wanted that too, but the fake hunt.

  The man bent down to talk to the dog in a language I couldn’t understand from up here. My ears perked up, but I couldn’t make anything out over the other barking dogs and without as much Magic as I usually commanded.

  The dog growled with intent and purpose until the man stopped fighting him. The dog took off toward the barn, ready to bite anything that stepped in front of him.

  I waited impatiently as the creature circled the barn several times, barking up at us the entire time. The stupid animal knew exactly where we were, he just couldn’t relay the info to his even dumber owner.

  I dropped my head against the splintered wood behind me and hoped that was a good sign. At least these freakishly large dogs couldn’t speak. That had to mean something.

  Not that I expected them to, but you never knew with Terletov.

  “Aster, let’s go!” an American thug yelled at the confused man just twenty feet from us. “The dogs picked up the scent again!”

  Aster did not seem to like that. He trusted his dog better than he trusted the other person.

  In this Kingdom, and with their tyrannical leader, that was probably a good strategy.

  Aster stood up, but other than that did not make any effort to move. His dog started growling low in the back of his throat. His nose pointed directly toward us. I stayed in the shadow, completely unmoving and hoped Seraphina didn’t take this opportunity to wake up.

  That would be disastrous but pretty on par with Sera’s sense of timing.

  Jedrec and I were tucked away in a section of the collapsed roof. We sat out of sight from the inside, if they were to search from there and also from the outside. We had a good view of the yard and the dog down below, but the overhang and supporting wall hopefully hid us from our pursuers.

  Aster took a step toward the barn and I knew I would have to kill him if he found us. The rest of his party had taken off into the woods. The distant yapping of the hounds faded quickly.

  He looked impatiently over his shoulder and then closely at the barn. I could see the indecision written all over his face and the angry dog made a pretty compelling argument. But he was alone now. I hoped that was enough to dissuade him from investigating further.

  Finally, when one of the other dogs let out a loud howl as if he’d found something, Aster turned away from us. He called an order to the dog and took off in a sprint toward the rest of his hunting party.

  The dog didn’t immediately follow. He stayed growling and snarling at the barn more stubborn than ever.

  Aster called him more firmly and the animal finally turned his mangy head and trotted after the rest of his pack.

  I couldn’t move my body. I wondered if I’d frozen myself with anxiety. Breath expelled from my lungs, but the rest of me couldn’t work up enough courage or energy to relax.

  “We should go,” Jedrec suggested. There was a lazy thickness to his deep accent that made me concerned for his energy level as well.

  If both of us were fading and the women were already gone, we needed to get somewhere safe as soon as possible.

  My sense of direction was off without the full faculties of my Magic, but I had a guess which direction to go. First we needed to find a highway.

  I sucked up my exhaustion and used Seraphina to motivate me to move. I staggered to my feet and brought her with me. With her still cradled in my arms, Jedrec, who also carried my aunt still, followed me back through the cluttered barn and out to the drive. We followed it for a long time until we found the highway that wound through these mountains.

  Seraphina nuzzled against the bare skin of my chest and her breathing became more pronounced. If I could get to a phone, I could call Avalon and have him on the next plane to us. He should be able to borrow Eden’s blue smoke long enough to wake Sera up.

  And then the two of us, her and I, were going to have a nice long chat.

  I just had to get to that phone first.

  I turned in the opposite direction of the way the men had run after my phantom scent and started the long journey to the only safe place I could think of that was left in this entire damn country.

  “Think we’ll make it?” I asked Jedrec once I’d disclosed my plan.

  “No,” he said. “But then I didn’t think we’d make it this far either. You’re very resourceful, Your Highness.”

  “Er, I’m not, uh… People don’t call me that anymore. My family gave up their titles when Eden took the throne.”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Old habits are hard to break and the crown is in your blood. I’ll always think of you as the Prince.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing or a good thing.”

  And then in his typical, subtle way, he said, “If it were Lucan’s crown I was thinking of, it would be a very bad thing. But you’ve redeemed your family name. You’ve made it a very good thing.”

  “Thank you,” I said humbly.

  “I’ll thank you too,” he answered, “just as soon as you get us to safety.”

  “Right. I can do that. Or at least, I can try.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Seraphina

  I blinked awake and jumped to standing.

  Which was a mistake for so many reasons.

  The first was that I was practically naked.

  The second was that I had no equilibrium and would have crashed back to the ground face first if two strong hands hadn’t caught me.

  My vision swam and my head spun for several long moments before I could focus again. Sebastian became a clear, real thing in front of me, his hands turned hot and gripping on my bare waist.

  Cool air washed over my naked stomach and legs. I looked down at my body to find that I had been dressed in clean underwear and a sports bra. Who had done that?

  Sebastian stepped closer to me so that I was forced to pay him attention.

  I begged my mind to remember everything that I couldn’t. For instance, how we got here together and how I ended up in barely any clothes.

  The fight in the Citadel came back to me like a freight train. I remembered everything all at once, instead of in bits and pieces. I winced from the rust of it and then again when I remembered I’d been shot and forced out of commission.

  “I’m okay?” I whispered.

  Sebastian dipped his head until we could look at each other eye to eye. “You tell me.”

  “I mean the bullet. No permanent damage?”

  He shook his head. “Avalon is pretty confident that you will be alright.”

  “Avalon?”

  “Eden and Kiran didn’t join us. They are on their way to Paris to meet Analisa and Jedrec. Kiran was anxious to see his mum. She hasn’t woken up yet.”

  I nodded, struggling to absorb this information. “Analisa was alone in the room, other than Jedrec. Did he know what happened to Jericho’s mom or dad?”

  “Dead.” Sebastian’s voice became raw and pained. We knew they were traitors, but they were still our good friend’s parents. “Terletov killed them both according to Jedrec. Right after Jericho took his father’s Magic. Terletov considered them useless.” I bit my lip but couldn’t say I was surprised. “Jedrec had many things to say on the way here. He’s lucky to be alive. And Analisa is nothing short of a miracle.”

  “Where exactly is here?” I tore my
eyes away from Sebastian’s concerned gaze and looked around the small… hut.

  I was definitely in a hut. The walls were made of mud and the roof was thatched. There was a small wood stove next to the lumpy bed I’d been laying in that wasn’t lit and a table against another wall that was piled with dishes and random treasures.

  “The Gypsy camp.”

  My focus snapped back to Sebastian, who grinned at me proudly. “The Gypsy camp?” I thought of the old hag’s words from before. She had been predicting that Sebastian and I would get back together. That we would have children together!

  Which was crazy!

  Also, Witch was crazy!!!

  But I knew without a doubt that she would start meddling just as soon as she knew I wasn’t on my deathbed.

  I was surprised she wasn’t already in here.

  “So we’re still in Romania?”

  Sebastian nodded. “Yes.”

  I grunted and then swayed. I definitely wasn’t up to full strength yet. My limbs trembled like vibrating Jell-O and my head seemed stuffed with cotton. I felt fuzzy all over.

  “Are we going to leave soon?”

  There was a heavy pause that made me instantly suspicious. Then he said, “You can leave very soon.”

  I pushed away from him and sat back down on the bed. It was narrow, so I didn’t have to push back very far until my back rested against the wall. I pulled my knees to my chest and worked to find some balance and clear thoughts.

  I was mostly healed from my fun time in the castle at Terletov’s mercy, but my mind had trouble catching up and I was still obviously weak.

  “What do you mean, I can leave soon?”

  “I think you should head out, Sera. This mission has gotten incredibly dangerous. It would be safer for you to go back to Seattle and wait it out.”

  I didn’t even know how to respond to that! Okay, that was a lie. I knew exactly how to respond to him, I just didn’t know where to start. All of my quick retorts piled up on my tongue and created a mental traffic jam.

  I took a breath to gather my thoughts and glared at him. “You’re kicking me off the mission.”

  “I’m not,” he answered quickly. “I’m sending you some place safer. I don’t want you involved anymore.”

  “I thought you needed my Psychic abilities.”

  “I need you to stay alive more.”

  His words were like a punch in the heart, but I soldiered on, ignoring the sweetness he mixed with chauvinistic demands.

  “Sebastian, I don’t understand.”

  “It’s complicated, Sera. There are lots of things between us that are complicated. But let me simplify at least this. I watched you nearly die. More than once. Terletov had his disgusting hands all over you. He inflicted unspeakable pain on you and there was nothing I could do about it. You also got shot. I carried you for only god knows how many hours because you were unconscious and unresponsive. I cannot… I will not go through that again. I thought I was going to lose you for good.”

  “You already lost me,” I snapped. I was so irritated with him. I couldn’t help it. I was angry that he thought he could protect me by sending me away. I was angry that he didn’t think I could take care of myself. And I was really, really angry that he acted like he cared about me! Couldn’t he just leave me alone?

  That would be best for everyone involved! But mainly me.

  Sebastian didn’t hesitate to drop down to the bed with me. He fell on his knees and straddled my bare feet. His hands landed on my thighs where he pressed the lengths of his palms against my heated skin and dipped his head so we were only an inch apart.

  “I didn’t lose you like this. Not even close. We hurt each other before, Sera, but you didn’t almost die. I didn’t have to give you up because you were dead, or permanently unconscious. That, what happened at the Citadel and in the woods, will never happen to you again. I won’t let it. So before you want to remind me that I lost you already, why don’t you take a look around this room and remind yourself that you’re alive.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  He hadn’t been expecting my quick turnaround. His eyes had clouded with confusion for a few moments before they were replaced with sincere affection. “For what?”

  “For keeping me alive. For rescuing me. You didn’t have to.”

  His thumb reached up and smoothed a path over my bottom lip. “And you didn’t have to come with me to begin with. You could have avoided the whole mess.”

  “I could have.” I probably should have… but I didn’t. And so here we were.

  Alone.

  “Sebastian, I-”

  “Sera, I think we should talk seriously about-”

  “I’m not going home,” I interrupted quickly. I didn’t know what he planned to say, but I needed to clear this up quickly. “I’m not going to abandon this in the middle of it and I’m not going to let Terletov get away with anything else. I’m in this thing. You can’t stop me.”

  At my defiant tone, Sebastian withdrew physically and emotionally. He slid away and landed on his feet. He was across the room in the next second with his hands tugging at the roots of his hair. “I don’t want to stop you. I want to protect you. Why can’t you understand that? Why am I the bad guy for wanting you to be safe?”

  “Nobody ever said you were the bad guy. Why am I the weak female that can’t take care of herself? If you didn’t notice, I did just fine. And I would have kept doing just fine if that stupid bullet hadn’t gotten in my way.”

  “But it did get in your way. It majorly disabled you. Seraphina, what if I wouldn’t have been there to pick you up? What if the bullet would have found you inside the castle before we met back up? Do you realize what could have happened? How badly this could have gone?”

  “Sebastian, there is always that chance! What would have happened to you if I would have been there to lend my Magic? You could have just as easily died. You could still die. It’s unfair to send me away when you get to stay.”

  His voice rose as our argument escalated. “This isn’t a competition! It’s not you versus me. It’s not how much I get to do against how little you do. This is about my need, my desire to keep you out of harm’s way. I’m not a dictator, Sera. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

  “I don’t need you to keep me safe! That’s what you’re not getting. If something happens to me, it’s not your fault. It would obviously suck, but I understand the consequences going in. I’m going in with eyes wide open and I’m okay with that. I’m sorry for your conscience if you can’t accept that, but it’s the truth. It’s my fault entirely. You have nothing to do with it.”

  “Don’t you understand? I have everything to do with it! I don’t want you to leave so I can move on with a clear conscience. Damn it, Seraphina. I care about you. Do you understand that? I care about you more than I should. More than I ever have before. I care about you so much the thought of something happening to you again kills me. It guts me. I want you somewhere safe so that I can think about something else besides you. I want you safe because the thought of you being in pain again or someone laying their hands on you makes me murderous. That’s why I want to protect you. Are you happy? That’s why!”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

  Honestly, I couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

  He ran two hands over his face, clearly frustrated with our conversation and our tone. I had meant to diffuse our fowl moods with my apology, but then we both exploded.

  That seemed to always happen to us. Our good intentions always got buried beneath volatile tempers and an inability to communicate clearly.

  We were doomed in any capacity. Friends, lover, partners… it didn’t matter. We just didn’t mesh. At all.

  The door opened and whatever was left to say between us turned to ash on the floor.

  Avalon stuck his big head in the small house and looked back and forth between the two of us. He raised his eyebrows at my lack of dress and
then studied Sebastian more carefully.

  When Sebastian didn’t offer an explanation, Avalon said, “We’re meeting over some dinner to discuss our plan of attack if you want to join us.”

  “Your plan of attack?” I raised my eyebrows at the two boys.

  “We’re going after the Citadel,” Sebastian explained quietly. “We’re going to take it back.”

  That’s why he wanted to send me home? The bastard! He wanted to get me out of the way so he could go right back into action!

  I couldn’t believe him!

  “You’re going back there? After we just escaped the damn place?”

  He shared a sly look with Avalon. “I’m not going alone, Sera. And we’re not going in blind.”

  “Just nearly blind. Sebastian we were barely conscious while we were there. There were guards everywhere. We barely escaped!”

  “We have an army, Seraphina. We just didn’t know what we were up against until now. I’m confident we can take the Citadel back,” Avalon explained evenly.

  I still wasn’t convinced. We had an army, sure, but an army full of Immortals that were risking their lives for this half-cocked plan. “Let me guess, you’re planning to use the back entrance and sneak in? Take them by surprise?”

  Sebastian shared another look with Avalon. “Well…”

  I jumped to my feet and I cut him off. “You don’t think they’ll be expecting that? We just escaped!”

  Avalon snorted. “I hope they’re expecting us. I want to end this, Seraphina. I want my Citadel back. And I want my Kingdom back. End of story.”

  “But think about the-”

  Avalon swiped his hand impatiently through the air. “Enough. This is happening. Get ready. Two days ago, I should have been celebrating my new niece and nephew. Instead, this monster attacked them and kidnapped two of my closest friends. That same day, there were riots at the London property. A large portion of the Kingdom showed up to demand answers only hours after Terletov’s men disappeared. The people wanted to know why their loved ones were being kidnapped and killed. And they wanted to know if the experiments would stop if we allowed Terletov to be King. They were willing to let this psychopath be King if it would protect them. I will not allow this to go on any longer. We’re going back today. I know Sebastian wants you to go home, but you have my permission to stay. You can fight alongside us or you can get out of the way. You make the choice, but either way, that’s enough.”