“Yes,” I confessed, hoping my brother loved me as much as I loved him. I swallowed loudly. “Before I should have. Shewas—she probably doesn’t even remember meeting me when I was teaching, but I always planned to—my dragon only wants…” I let out a slow breath. “Please, Vex. Please give me the one chance I have to make myself whole after all I’ve done for you.”
“Kole—”
“Kole will try tobreak herfor his selfish needs,” I snarled as I fisted my brother’s jacket. “And I willkill himbefore I let that happen. So if you won’t do this for me like I’ve doneeverythingfor you, do it to save your precious son. Do it to keep himalivebecause I’ll end him now that I know he doesn’t love her and he abuses her like this. I will, Vex.”
He stared at me like he’d never seen me before and also like he couldn’t make it fit in his head. “You met her once?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it, shaking my head. “I can’t explain to you a sunrise you’ve never witnessed. What I saw—my soul…” I let him go and stepped back. “I was going to swallow it all down when I found out Kole was with her. I hated him for it but whatever was best for her. He isnot. Protect him since he’s the only one you fucking love here.”
“Onyx,” he sighed as I stormed out of the room.
That was probably an unfair shot, but I didn’t care. I wanted Sagan more than I cared about being fair when Kole was treating her like dirt instead of the treasure she was.
Most of the Alphas and their parties left right away, probably to get home and immediately start figuring out who the best candidate was like an insane sports draft. Or they had other issues. I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t going anywhere just yet.
Not while Kole was near Sagan and behaving like the spoiled little shit he was.
The next morning, I glanced at myself in the mirror and winced. I still hadn’t returned to civilization between all of the chaos. I looked ridiculous even, but no one cared about shaving or getting regular haircuts on long expeditions.
And since the dig site had been one of the most remote I’d ever been on, I hadn’t even learned of the king and queen’s deaths until the day before the funeral. There had been a problem with the sat phone and our link, so I couldn’t even get a video call like normal. A bunch of nerds didn’t get many calls, so we didn’t notice until a party arrived looking for me.
The range of reactions from my colleagues as they remembered I was the brother of one of the most important men in the nation was hysterical. I was just Onyx to them—one of them—and then there was a team and search party to find me. Not just that, but receiving the news and rushing me out of there so I could attend the funeral like I needed to.
Rubbing my hand over my beard, I decided to head into the capital. There had to be a barber or salon in Nerthus that would take a walk-in and make me look presentable again. I was honestly annoyed with myself that I hadn’t done it earlier, but things… Shocked didn’t cover how I’d felt to learn the king and queen had died.
And everything since had been a whirlwind. I couldn’t even start to imagine how Sagan felt. I really couldn’t.
The third place I tried had an open chair and provided the services I needed. It was a barber shop for men only, so it would give me a better shave… And a lot more gossip.
The cliché women gossiped more always tickled me or that going to the salon was where all the tea was spilled. Right, because men were just as bad, but it wasn’t gossip then.
It was leads. Tips. Anything smarter and more dignified sounding.
I thanked the guy who fit me in and sat down. I decided to show him a picture of what I normally looked like instead of trying to describe what I wanted.
He simply raised an eyebrow at me and glanced back at my phone.
I chuckled. “I was on an expedition for a while. I’m done with the lost in the wilderness look.”
“Fair enough, bro,” he accepted.
“She shouldn’t be queen,” a guy to my right grumbled. “She’s not one of us.”
“Shut up, fool,” another man drawled. “She’s Rhys’s firstborn. She’s heir. You’re just too sexist for your own good.”
I glanced in the mirror and saw two men with lighter hair, meaning they were old… And clearly bickering like old fools.
“It’s not about her being a woman. She’s never even lived here. She’s been in this and that country—does she even know where to find anything in that castle?” the first threw right back.
“Maybe not, but obviously the sacrifice was worth it,” I said easily as if I wasn’t interjecting myself.
“Whatcha mean, kid?” the second one asked me.
I met his gaze in the mirror. “She gave up having a normal,protectedchildhood and life like other royals to go off to foreign nations and learn there. King Rhys and Queen Amelia sacrificed her youth to work towards peace.”
His eyes went wide. “Yeah, and it worked. I never thought we’d have anything but fighting with the tigers, but someone from the Protesia royal family came to the funeral, right?”
The old codger snorted. “The elders did that and—”
