With an inaudible groan, I try to suck down another hearty pull, but find my glass empty.
"Let the day come, then,” I sneer. “I look forward to denouncing my crown and giving the title to the first noctis who asks me for it."
My father becomes as stiff as a sword. There's something so satisfying about knowing how easily I can get under his skin.
With my glass still in hand, I uncurl one finger and tap it thoughtfully to my chin. "I wonder who it will be. Perhaps Renee? She certainly has proven her dedication. Or maybe it'll be Ursulette? Can you imagine? She would prove an interesting leader, no doubt. I wonder how she'd balance her devotion to Rhain, while leading our people. I half expect she wouldn't do it very well. The noctis would sooner rather break into factions than follow the lustful commands of those two—"
My father whips around so fast that the candelabras on either side of him blow out. "You are a fool if you think anyone but a Devonshire is fit to lead our people."
"And why is that,Father?" I cross my arms, daring to walk closer. "We weren't always in power, you know? And even if we had been, have you met us? Go down the list and you'll find that your options of adequate Devonshires are limited. Halira might've been a doting sister at one point in your life, but she all but renounced you the day you took your throne from Alphonse—a cousin who, from what I've been told, has always been a bit pompous and yellow-bellied, so he's not much of a contender either—"
"We don't need a contender when we have you," he growls, clearly dismayed by his only option.
"I told you years ago," I roar. "I don't want it.”
"That's too bad, because it’s yours, whether you want it or not.”
He spins on his heels, storming the rest of the way down the corridor in a matter of seconds before I can fix my hanging jaw.
He thinks he can just tell me how to live my life forever? Well, he's wrong. He might've held power over me all these years, and he might hold power over me still because I'm the prince and I’m stuck here under his command, but that will all be over soon.
For now, I’ll let him think he’s won, but I feel immense satisfaction at knowing the truth. Come the Hunt, he’ll no longer rule over me.
However, before he reaches the doors to leave me in my solitude, a guard bursts into the room.
"My king. You must come quickly. We need to hide you.”
“Hide me?” My father jerks his arm away from the guard before he can get a good hold. I glide across the room to listen. “Hide me from what? What’s going on?”
“It’s humans,” the guard says, glancing between the both of us. “They’ve infiltrated the castle.”
“Where are they?” I demand, thinking only of Caz and my friends. But his answer shocks me more than I anticipate.
“The eastern wall,” he says. “They’ve broken into the dungeons."
16
FOOLS RUSH IN
Most of the other prisoners are asleep.
Not me.
As much as I wish I could pretend the reason I’m so restless is because I’m trapped in a castle under guard by who knows how many monsters, only one of the noctis is on my mind tonight.
Normally when I’m within spitting range of a noctis, I have to resist the urge not to plunge a bolt straight through their neck and watch them bleed out.
Only, that didn't happen today.
For all my recoiling as Malachi—asthe prince, I correct myself—guided me through the dark corridors of Nigh, not once did I imagine myself relieving him or one of the other guards of the daggers in their belts and burying it into their hearts.
I tell myself it’s because it wasn’t the right time, but I would’ve at least expected myself to consider it as an option. Instead, I passively followed them along, not a murderous thought in my mind. And for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out why.
This place is changing me.
I need fresh air to right myself. But all I have are these dank walls.
I redirect my focus to anything but the prince, and instead try remembering the paths we were led to and from the dungeon. We’d been taken through such winding routes that none of my memory of the layout of the castle is very reliable, but it's still our best chance out of here. And now that I have a better sense of the guards' rotations, the times in which meals and water are provided, if we can figure out the fastest route aboveground, we just might survive this imprisonment yet.
