“You’re just such a waste, little brother.”
<2em" wht="0em" width="27">He was everything a queen was told to avoid. Everything that would taint her reign. Yet his heart belonged to Desideria and there was no denying that one single truth. The only time in his life when he’d felt worth something had been in her arms. If only he could go back…
Don’t.
He had a mission to complete and once it was done, he’d be an emperor.
That thought made him shudder. But the one thing his real father and Desideria had taught him—noblesse oblige.
Chayden slowed as they neared the opening of the crypt. “Are you sure about leaving? Sanctuary’s a hard thing to give up.”
Caillen scoffed. “You turning craven?”
He narrowed his gaze at Caillen’s emotionless question. “You know better.” Sighing, he shook his head. “You are an idiot, Dagan. But far be it from me to point that out since going back to her means you’d be with my sister and that mere thought disgusts me. All I’ll say is that if I had someone who would fight by my side, I wouldn’t let her go. But that’s just me and I’ve never had anyone worth fighting for. Damned if I’d turn my back on her if I did.”
Caillen was about to go for his throat when all of a sudden his link buzzed. He started to ignore it and engage Chayden more. Until he caught the ID listed.
It was Darling.
Part of him was angry that Darling had lied to him about his father, but the other was still loyal to his friend no matter the aggravation. So he put the link in his ear and activated it. “Dagan here.”
“Hey, drey. We have a little problem.”
His gut knotted. What catastrophe now? “Does the League have our CL?”
“No.” Darling’s tone was completely dry. “That would probably be better.”
Dread consumed him even more. “What then?”
“While your father was about to call a press conference, Desideria’s mother took advantage of the distraction to escape my custody.”
Caillen scowled as he tried to understand what Darling was saying. “My father’s dead.”
Darling sucked his breath in sharply. “Um… Not exactly.”
“What is ‘not exactly’ dead, Darling?”
“Don’t get mad. It’s why I sent Hauk to you instead of coming myself. We wanted to flush out the traitors, so I talked your parents into pretending to be dead long enough for the real traitors to expose themselves. The footage you saw of their supposed assassinations was something I had Syn fake. It was all digital animation.”
He would call him a liar, but he knew exactly how skilleyn was on a computer. There was nothing that man couldn’t do.
Darling cleared his throat before he continued speaking. “I convinced both of them that if their enemies thought they were dead, you two could stay ahead of them long enough for us to find out who’s behind all of this. Her mother caved before your father did, by the way. Said she’d love to test her daughter’s mettle even if it meant throwing her to the wolves. Your dad took a lot of convincing. The last thing he wanted was to see you hunted or hurt.”
Yeah, that sounded like his father.
“Both of them have been with me the entire time. However, I had to stand hard on your father to keep him hidden and safe while you’ve been under fire. Believe me, it was no small feat. That man is wicked insane when it comes to you.”
Caillen glared at Hauk. “Did you know my father was alive?”
Hauk actually blushed.
Damn them for that. “You lied to me?”
Darling let out an irritated breath. “Let’s not argue semantics right now. That’s not important.”
The hell it wasn’t…
“What you need to focus on is that we achieved our objective,” Darling continued—it was a good thing the little bastard was nowhere near him right now or he’d make him limp. “The traitors revealed themselves. The problem is your father found out about your uncle’s murder—”
“Not my fault. I didn’t know he had news access,” Maris said over Darling.
Darling took a second to shush him before he continued. “Your father wanted to call for the press so that he could clear your name before someone killed you for something you didn’t do. While I was locking him in his room, Desideria’s mother took off on her own. She wants the blood of her sister and niece over this treachery, and she won’t stop until she has it.”
Caillen’s concern for his father’s safety far outweighed his anger and irritation over their deceit. That familiar battle calm settled over him. “Where’s my father?”
“Nykyrian’s palace, surrounded by security. I couldn’t think of anywhere safer.”
He was right about that. Since Nykyrian’s wife and children were there, that place was without a doubt the most secured building in existence.