Chapter 8

ChapterEight

PRINCE LORENZO

Iwatch my brother’s eyes as he watches Calli disappear into the pool with the other girls, her pink hair swaying behind her. Since she went over to talk to her friends, he hasn’t stopped watching her. Felix left us to watch by the door, even though I can sense Emerson’s shadows by the entrance. He will know if anyone comes close. I’m surprised we haven’t been attacked by more sirens, but perhaps they have seen us and wisely stayed out of our way. “You can take your eyes off her and she won’t disappear.”

He glares at me, crossing his arms and leaning back on the rock, pulling his one knee up. “Why don’t we talk about your new wife. How long do you have before you need to go through with this insane engagement when we get out of here? Have you even met her yet?”

I internally flinch. “Yes, I met her, and no, it did not go well. I have a few months.”

Agreeing to the engagement was a bad idea. I knew it was from the outset, but my aunt was determined. She wants me back in her court, fighting for the witches that share my blood and making little seventy-five percent witch, quarter Wyern babies running about. I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with a wife or a kid, yet I signed up for the witch package of them. My aunt is quite aware that I’ve only ever sworn loyalty to Emerson and his court, and I only ever will. My new fiancé, on the other hand, well, she’s fully for the witches’ court and made it very clear that she intends that I will be too.

She’s a pretty woman, there’s no doubt about it. Long red hair, big blue eyes, skinny with a big ass. Someone I would have tried to fuck a million times over but maybe not if I knew she was a witch. I’ve always had a rule against fucking witches. It’s too complicated and they are spiteful with their revenge. Half of me is a witch—I’m fully aware of that—but I don’t have much magic from that side. I’ve never been interested in where my mother came from, and my heart lies in the Wyern court, with my brother.

My aunt has always looked after me, and I love her, despite everything. Any time I spent with her, she mothered me, and I was damn lucky for it. Life in the Wyern city, growing up as a prince, was rough. Emerson knows this. He saw bits of my life as he trained with me at times. We trained together, after all, later on when he wasn’t acting like a spoiled little shit and not letting me get to know the real him. Our father was brutal on us, but for the right reason. I never would have survived half the fights in my lifetime if it weren’t for the way my father trained me, even when he never spoke a word due to how traumatized he was and is. He taught me to fight dirty, to be quick, and how to make sure that I’m the one standing after a fight.

My aunt tried to teach me magic, but it didn’t work, so she decided to teach me other things instead, like how to be charming and likable, and that is a useful skill on its own. But she also taught me how to have fun, how to laugh, to be my true self, which I never had a problem with in her court. So when she asked me to be engaged to her friend, her best friend who she grew up with… it was quite clear I did not have a choice. The witches would never have made an allegiance with Emerson otherwise.

My aunt, like her people, is too stubborn, too lost in the old ways. She thinks that she can keep her court to herself and there will be no need to make any alliances with anyone if they keep themselves hidden. I know better. War is coming, we all know it, and the forest won’t protect them. The witches need the Wyerns. I know what’s in our cities. I know how big our army is, and we are going to be the last defense against the Rift when it comes for all of us and whatever’s in it attacks. I glance back at the tunnel where Calliophe left. They will be coming for her. “It might not be a bad idea to marry the witch.”

“It is,” my brother answers. “She is not what you want, and we both know it. Remember, I was once engaged to a princess who I wouldn’t have married in a million years, and look what happened.”

Emerson never really talks about the past, not with me, not with anybody, but since Calli’s come into his life, he’s opening up more, and I couldn’t thank her more for it. I was worried for a long time that I was losing my brother. He was growing colder by the day. Distant. Losing himself in his bitter anger at the past. Bitter anger that his soul mate, his fated mate, kept dying, and he thought he had no more chances with her. Then Calliophe appeared in his life like an absolute whirlwind, smacking all of us in the face and reviving us, especially Emerson. She brought him to life. And for that, I will serve her forever. She will be our queen, I’m sure of it, and our people might not be happy about it to begin with, but once they know her, once they see Emerson with her, that will change. Emerson sighs. “You can pull out of it. We do not need the alliance with the witches all that much.”

“They need it with you,” I say firmly. Emerson understands, his eyes glittering with purple darkness. He closes them for a second.

“I will still protect your family’s race. For you.”

I lean my head back until it hits the rock. “Yes, but they will not accept the help if they are not in this alliance. They are too stubborn for their own good, and their new queen is young, untested in any wars. She’s kind and smart, but it doesn’t mean that she won’t make a bad choice to not accept help. Whatever’s coming out of this Rift, it’s coming for all of us.”

“Then hopefully the Rift will kill you before you stupidly marry a witch. Dying is a better fate,” Posy chirps up from my pocket. She flies out, landing upside down on a sliver of rock on the wall above us both. I don’t know why I keep carrying her around, but somehow, she always ends up in my pocket. Something makes me want to protect her, and she’s driving me insane. She literally hurls abuse at me all day and night, making me want to suffocate her in my pocket. And at the same time, I still keep protecting the little shit. By the goddess, Calli must be a saint to deal with her shit for all these years.

“And you know much about witches and marriage?” I sarcastically question.

“Yes. How do you think I got in this situation, dumbass?” she replies. “I was a prisoner of the witches for years before I was forced to be with one. He died. What a shame, and I’m cursed to be a bat. Marrying witches does not end well for anyone. You’ll end up dead or worse, like me.”

“Why were you a prisoner?” Emerson questions, but she ignores him. Not many are brave enough to outright ignore Emerson, and usually she answers him and is respectful to him. Only him, mind you. Not the people who save her life, like Calli and me.

She looks down at me with those big stupid, pretty eyes of hers, and I ask, “We are all aware you were cursed by a witch, but you don’t think some of them are good people?”

“No,” she snaps. “Most of them are evil, and the others are corrupted by their friends and family. Your fiancé will use you to get children to link your races, and then she won’t be interested in you anymore. Then she will most likely kill you because you’ll be a problem for them. So don’t be stupid and marry a witch. Or you know what? You do stupid things every day. So you most likely will.”

She flies off down the tunnel towards Calli and the girls as I grit my teeth. “I really hate that bat. Why couldn’t Calli adopt a happy cat or something?”

Emerson chuckles. “Calliophe loves her, so please don’t kill the bat.”

“I’m glad for you, brother, that you finally found her,” I remark. “That you found happiness. I really am.”

He looks towards the tunnel where she went. “When we get back, I’m going to put a crown on her head, and I’m going to make sure that all of my people know that she comes first before me, before anything. My people will fight for her, listen to her, and protect her. She’s my queen and my entire world. As long as she survives this, at the end of the day, nothing else really truly matters to me.”

“Ouch,” I say. “So if I die, you’re not even going to shed a tear?”

He shoves my arm, and I chuckle. “I could do with some beer down here. Or whiskey or vodka. Hell, I’d drink just about anything for a good night’s sleep.”

Emerson groans. “Two-century-old whiskey from the castle would be appreciated.”

The girls come out of the tunnel. Posy is sitting on Calli’s shoulder, only flying off when she comes near us and sees my glare. My pocket is off limits to her tonight. Calli comes over and sits at Emerson’s side, tucking herself into his arm as he pulls her close. She smiles up at him, and for a moment, I’m hit with a blast of jealousy. Not that I want her, but I’m completely jealous of that look, the look that mates have between them, because I have never found my mate. I’ve searched for so long. Searched and searched but never found a mate. Goddess, how I want one. I want that in my life, but the strings of my soul seem to be alone. I’m not going to get that. I’m going to get a marriage with a witch who wants to change everything about me. She will no doubt detest me when she realizes that I’m a selfish bastard and I’m not changing for anyone. She’ll want children and fuck all else. But that’s all I have. The best I can do for my people, for the Wyerns and for the witches, is to keep them both safe, even if it destroys me. For them, I will suffer.