Shouts of his name rang out through the forest, the sound growing more frantic and desperate with each passing second.Cursing himself, Hugo stopped in a meadow and took a couple of deep breaths to calm his racing heart and to clear his head.
King Victor found him first, but the king didn’t berate him as he expected. He moved his horse as close as he could and held out his left hand to Hugo. “Give me your hands,” he commanded softly.
Hugo had forgotten that his hands were bound by a rope like Everand. He’d just wanted to get away from their nonsense. With a sigh, he put his hands into Victor’s slightly trembling fingers. The king pulled a sharp dagger from its sheath and carefully sliced through the rope.
“Forgive me,” Victor murmured. “I didn’t mean to cause you distress.”
“Only Prince Everand,” Hugo sniped.
“Well…yes.” His full lips twitched as if he were trying to hold back a smile. He put away his dagger and pulled off the rope. Dexterous, calloused fingers massaged Hugo’s wrists, soothing away the mild pain from where they’d been rubbed raw. “But I shouldn’t have. I’m the king and should be above such petty feelings.”
“Yes,” Hugo agreed, but his heart might have softened. Victor was king, but he was also human. Who wasn’t a little petty every once in a while?
“However, you are not to ride off like that, my friend. There are dangerous creatures in this forest. Not to mention, your hands were still bound. If you had fallen, you could have been seriously injured. You are not to take your safety so lightly.”
Hugo’s pulse skipped when Victor called him “my friend,” but his heart soared to hear Everand’s voice.
“Finally, something we can agree on.”
Hugo twisted in his saddle to see that Everand and the other guards had caught up with them. Prince Everand flashed him a look full of regret and apology.
“I’m sorry, my treasure. I’m an idiot for you,” Everand said.
“Look at that.” Victor released Hugo’s wrists and smirked. “Another thing we can agree on. At this rate, we might have a civil conversation.”
Hugo groaned. “I’m leaving.”
“I’m going with you,” Captain Ryze muttered under his breath.
“Forgive me…again,” King Victor stated.
“Me too. I’ll behave,” Everand promised.
Hugo’s gaze shot to Captain Ryze, who was sitting straighter in his saddle, his eyes wide with shock. For a couple of heartbeats, no one spoke. The truce felt too good to be true. Victor even motioned for the guards to remove the rope from Everand’s wrists.
“We should get moving,” Everand urged. “We still have a long distance to go, and I wish to be there prior to midday. Otherwise, we could be camping on the way back.”
The remainder of the ride was “civil,” which wasn’t that difficult since people rarely spoke the rest of the day. Hugo knew it was too much to ask that Everand and Victor find some common ground or at least pretend to be nice to each other. Victor had a justifiable grievance against Everand’s family, and he was picking a fight with Everand by poking at his one vulnerable spot—Hugo.
It was shortly after midday when they reached the cliff. From the base, they could barely make out the white marble building between the trees. Captain Ryze and two of the guards who’d accompanied them used their magic to zip from the bottom of the cliff to the top, leaving one man behind to watch their horses and set up a temporary camp.
Hugo approached the round white marble crypt slowly, taking in the slender stained-glass windows that sparkled in thesun. It had a rounded dome roof that shone as if it were made of gold.
“Please notice that the rear of the crypt faces the royal palace in Onisa,” Everand pointed out as he walked to the iron gate that barred the way inside. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but Grandmother died three days after King Xavier passed. After she heard the news, she collapsed suddenly and never recovered.”
“I heard the Dowager Queen’s death quickly followed my father’s, but I never believed it had anything to do with it,” King Victor said stiffly.
“You’ll see. One of the few things she told us on her deathbed was the instructions she’d written for her crypt.” Everand paused and shot a smirk at Victor. “It was ten pages long.”
“Ten pages?” The king gasped.
“She was very detailed in where she wanted her final rest, the building’s appearance, and exactly what it would house.” Everand turned his attention to the combination lock and thumbed in the correct numbers until there was a loud click.
Everand removed the lock and hooked it on to part of the iron lattice of the gate before pushing the double doors open. He stepped away and motioned for King Victor to precede him. “Would you like to go first?”
To Hugo’s surprise, Victor took a step back and shook his head. The color had drained from his face as Everand spoke, as if it were hitting him that maybe he’d been wrong about his grandmother’s affection for him and his father.
The prince didn’t mock him. He simply nodded and threaded his fingers through Hugo’s.
