Page 80 of Clash of Kingdoms
It physically hurt me to hear him insult Huntley. I hadn’t realized the depth of my affection until that moment, when I felt possessed to defend him…a human. “If you aren’t here to help, then you should leave.”
“I’m here to get my son back.”
“Then the sooner we finish this war, the sooner we can return.”
“I do this for him, then what does he do for me?”
“You aren’t doing this for him,” I snapped. “You’re doing this for me.”
“You win his war then get to take his daughter home?” he asked incredulously. “That’s romantic…”
I didn’t tell him I would leave Harlow behind, not when that would only make him angry.
“There are so many women to choose from, Aurelias,” he said. “Human women…since you seem to be into that.”
My anger reared its ugly head, but I battled it back. I’d only loved two women my entire life—and neither were vampires. My life would be so much easier if they were.
“Human women are only good for two things—feeding and fucking. If you want to devote your life to someone, there are plenty of vampire women that will have you, Prince of the Originals, my successor.”
“You can’t choose who you love, Father.” I never would have chosen this. My love for Harlow had complicated my life. Now I was broken because I’d lost her. She was stubborn and proud like her father, so I knew she wouldn’t take me back after what I’d done…not without the explanation to justify it. “We’ll travel to HeartHolme in the morning and camp outside the castle walls. The plan is to return to the east to destroy the demons’ source of immortality. That may provoke an attack, or it may not. Then we leave and return home.”
“A king coming to their aid should be treated with greater respect than that. I deserve the biggest bedchamber in their fortress.”
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
“No vampire will enter HeartHolme—including you.”
“You don’t trust me, son?”
I told the truth. “No.”
His stare hardened. “It sounds like you don’t really need us…”
“We already had a battle a few days ago. They lost half their people in the attack. They won’t survive another, not with their numbers.”
My father crossed his arms over his chest, his head cocked slightly. “How sad…”
I ignored the comment. “I’ll need to take some of our kind to the crystal. The demons are strong, a challenge even for me. The humans won’t survive the journey.”
“How many?”
“At least fifty.”
He continued to look disappointed by the whole thing.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“And leave you here to die?” he asked coldly. “My firstborn? My successor? My only son who knows what it really means to rule with an iron fist?”
His only son who hated humans as much as he did…that was what he meant to say. “How are things at home now that the Ethereal have been defeated?” I tried to change the subject, to reclaim a glimmer of what our relationship had been previously.
“Defeated?” He grabbed a bottle from the table and poured himself a glass. “Welcomed with open arms sounds more like it.”
“Kingsnake and Cobra mentioned what happened.”
“They didn’t deserve to be pardoned, but your brothers were willing to fight me for it.” He took a drink. “I had no other choice. And then Cobra wedded one of them…”