The knights seemed hesitant to lay a hand on me, so I used that and my smaller size to my advantage. I squeezed close enough to stand beside Rourke so that if the knights wanted to attack Rourke, they had to go through the prince first.
We hit a stalemate. The knights didn’t know what to do, turning to the King for orders. Father glared at me with open disdain burning in his eyes. I glared right back.
“Your behavior is unbecoming to a prince,” Father said.
“What has Rourke done? Nothing,” I shot back. “He has committed no crime.”
Father changed his course of action. He faced Rourke now and asked, “Did you put your filthy knot in my firstborn son?”
The crass, disgusting words felt like tar in the air. Hot shame made my cheeks flush. I didn’t regret anything I did with Rourke, but to hear my own father trumpeting about it for everyone to imagine was too much to bear. I suddenly realized just how angry he was. There was a deep cruelness in his eyes that shook me to my core.
The room went utterly silent as my father waited Rourke’s response. It was clear no one would dare move a muscle until their conversation was over.
I felt the tension in Rourke’s body as he realized he had no choice but to respond. He swallowed hard and said, “Yes, Your Highness.”
“I see,” Father said, not tearing his gaze off Rourke. “So, you stole away his virginity. Then let me ask you another question. Did you defile him with your seed?”
My heart sank. I was beyond mortified. This was really happening and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I felt the waves of judgmental ire coming from the knights like fog in the air. Now they all knew what we had done, and with the way Father framed the incident, looked down on me for it. He made me sound like a pathetic omega in distress and made Rourke sound like some kind of lecherous villain.
Rourke must have known there was no point in lying. “Yes,” he said.
A quiet, disapproving mutter broke out over even these disciplined knights. Father had played this game precisely to his advantage. By barging in on us and setting up his narrative, he had already turned the tables in his favor.
I needed to do something.
“It was my choice,” I said, loud enough to command the attention of everyone in the room. “I chose to produce an heir with this particular alpha.”
“You did not have the right,” Father spat, his fury now on full display. “You should have chosen one of the pedigreed alphas presented to you. I don’t care if you do produce an heir. By sleeping around like a harlot with any alpha who looks your way, you forfeit your right to rule.”
My jaw dropped.
“Take the alpha to the prison cell,” Father commanded. “Use necessary force to remove my son, if you have to.”
My head was spinning. Everything was moving too fast. My vision filled with silver as the knights swarmed us, forcing Rourke and I apart. I grabbed for him but came up empty. There were too many knights and they were too strong. I felt for the first time just how pitiful and powerless I was—I was too weak, too small to defend Rourke from a real threat.
“Sebastian!” Rourke cried.
My heart felt like it was being stabbed with knives. Rourke’s hand reached for me. My fingers didn’t reach his.
“Rourke!” I yelled.
The clanging armor and the bustling bodies got in my way. Rourke’s struggle was fruitless. The knights grabbed him and charged out of the room. I didn’t even glimpse his face beyond the blur of steel.
I was on my knees, shaking, barely able to catch my breath. Only my father remained in the doorway. He narrowed his eyes at me as if I were an insect on the floor.
“I am very disappointed in you,” Father said.
My voice cracked. “Father—”
“I will not listen to anything you have to say. You have debased yourself. You have brought so much shame to this family that I have no choice but to expunge you from it.”
I stared up at him in disbelief. My whole world was crashing down around me, and my own father was about to let me fall into the abyss.
“Sebastian, you are exiled from the Lacehaven family,” he said. “You are no longer my son.”
He didn’t wait for me to answer. The man who was once my father left me alone and broken on the floor and walked away.
22
