Red's Wolves

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jere didn't know what he intended to do when he arrived in the dungeons, but there were questions he needed to be answered and he knew neither he nor Alera would rest easy without them.

Nicholas was brought to the lowest level of the castle's dungeon, away from the rest of his men locked away in the cells, devoid of windows, daylight, and any access to the outside world. He nodded to the guards who unlocked the heavy wooden door for him, and heard them lock it behind him as he walked down the dark hall, the torch in his hand the light to guide his way.

Shadows of the barred cell painted the dirty floor as Jere peered inside. Nicholas sat against the far wall, his wrists still shackled as he curled his knees against his chest. From this angle he looked no different than any other disgraced prisoner who would have graced these rooms except for the darkness that seemed to darken around him so thick he swore they were palpable.

The defeated prince looked up a moment after Jere approached, and even the contempt on his dark eyes seemed to lose its luster.

"Have you come to gloat, stableboy?" Nicholas sneered from where he sat.

"I don't need to." He wasn't going to give into the prince's taunts, as much as he wanted to remind him of everything he had and everything the prince lost. "From where I'm standing, it seems clear enough."

The prince scoffed and shook his head. "So why are you here and not celebrating with the other ungrateful heathens?"

"Because I want to know why?"

"Why what?"

"Why Alera?" The question had plagued his mind ever since their engagement was announced. "How did you know about her, about what she was and what she could do?"

For a moment, Jere didn't think he would receive and answer. Just as he was about to insist, perhaps even with violence, Nicholas shifted in his cell with an elongated sigh.

"There had been tales about the forest people for centuries— their mythology extended well beyond our kingdoms. So when their stories had fallen upon my father's ears, he made it his life's work to lure a fae woman to his kingdom, no more a companion than a pet. He even went so far as to set up a meeting with their chief to explain his intentions, leaving my pregnant mother behind to do so. Only the forest people were privy to his plans, and their chief refused to let anyone leave with him, whether they wanted to or not. My father took it as a personal insult, insisting that he could do as he wanted, and kidnapped the chief's daughter in retribution."

Nicholas shook his head as he spoke. "He didn't get very far. He thought they would remain secluded in their forest and that no one would follow him— he was wrong. Dead wrong. They found him and the princess before be could cross into Abigor and died from a stray arrow in the process. My mother's health failed after I was born, but one thing was insisted throughout my upbringing— the forest fae must pay for the wrongs they had done to Abigor."

"But it wasn't anyone's fault but your father's and his poor decisions," Jere interjected.

Nicholas shrugged from his seated position. "When all you know is revenge, the reasons start to fade."

"So what does Alera have to do with any of this?"

"Alera has everything to do with this." The fallen prince let out a sardonic chuckle. "When I discovered the same fae princess who refused my father ended up marrying another, and had her own child with him to boot, it was almost as though Fate destined us to be together."

"But you didn't even know her—"

"I didn't have to. Or at least, it didn't matter if I did or not. When her father was so desperate to get rid of her, it was like he played right into my hands. I had no other option but to agree to his arrangement."

"So you accepted the marriage proposal purely out of spite."

"Most political arrangements have been made in less." He shrugged. "King Roland did not need to know of my true intentions when he was so willing to let his daughter go for his own selfish reasons."

"But that doesn't explain how you knew about Alera's power."

"Unlike her father, I did my research. If King Roland wasn't so desperate to make a match, he would have known the history between Abignor and his wife's people. But he was just too quick to relieve himself of his own daughter that he sold her away to the highest bidder and didn't even realize what he was giving her to."

"That still doesn't answer my question." Jere was beginning to lose his patience with this man, and he considered himself rather level-headed when it came to such things. But it seemed when it came to Alera he was anything but patient.

Nicholas scoffed. "Just like Roland, I swear." But he shook his head. "Rumors spread about the canny princess of Palazia so it didn't take long for me to put the pieces together. Making sure Roland knew of my willing availability and what Abignor had to offer were only the beginning. I was going to do whatever it took to make the arrangement happen. And when he invited me to his castle to actually meet his daughter well— I knew there was nothing I wouldn't do to ensure my place."

Another nonchalant shrug. "If the kingdom wasn't already so ignorant to magic and its users I would have had a more difficult time infiltrating its defenses. But since Roland wanted to ignore his daughter's gifts and act as if they didn't exist, there were no magical shields or boundaries anywhere, so leaving behind my mark was far easier than intended, even on your own king. Taking over from there was only a matter of time. Though you stealing the princess was quite the setback..."

"She chose to leave," Jere snapped. "And rightfully so. She wanted nothing to do with you since the moment her father announced your... arrangement."

"Call it what it is, stableboy. Engagement. And for all intents and purposes, it remains in place—"

"If you think for one minute the King is just going to give you Alera after everything you've done—"

"I'm certain the king doesn't want a war over it."

"From where I'm standing, that doesn't seem to be your problem anymore."

Nicholas stood then, leaning against the far wall, and Jere was on alert. He wished he still had a weapon on him, but he didn't want anything dangerous near the cell. With one yell he could have the guards in there with him. But the fallen prince didn't move. Instead, he remained, with those lackluster eyes staring straight ahead. "If you think Abignor is going to let you detain their prince without retribution—"

"On the contrary. You're going to be given a trial, like any other criminal detained in this kingdom. You're going to have witnesses against you, and your sentence determined by the court."

"I don't think that's going to be an entirely fair trial, do you?"

"Abignor will have the chance to send its representatives if there are any left. But from what I've heard, you've done to it what you tried to do to Palazia, so I doubt there will be many who choose to come in your favor."

"You should have just killed me when you had the chance."

"She would have."

"But she didn't."

"And for the rest of your life you're going to remember that it was a stableboy that saved your life."

Nicholas snarled, but Jere had had enough of their conversation. He turned on his heel and took his leave, knocking on the door for the guards to let him out. Nodding to them both, be left the dungeons for fresh air, taking in deep breaths. There was a lot to do, but now he had a much better outlook in doing so.

He was about to return to the castle grounds to regroup with Alera as promised when something shimmered in the corner of his eye. Turning towards the woods, he swore he saw greenery— shrubs and overgrowth—closer to the boundary line between the castle and the forest lands. Stopping and looking closer, as if training his eyes to see past a glamour, Jere swore there were vines, green and flowering, traveling not only towards the castle, but down towards the dungeon where the Prince and his men remained for the undetermined future.

And he swore he saw the flicked-over lupine eyes watching from the dense greenery.

No, he had no worries about Nicholas remaining where he was, and knew he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.