Cruel War (The Gilded Sovereign 1)

“He’s being held in the dungeon where the Sovereign meet. I’m not sure of the details. Tarian is trying to find out more.”

When Dahlia blinks, a tear slowly rolls down her cheek, the black mascara that surrounds her pretty eyes looks even darker now that her emotions have escaped. Tracks make strange patterns down her face, and I want to wipe them away. I need to stop the pain that’s so clearly etched on her face, but I can’t.

I enjoy knowing I’m the one who holds her happiness in my hand. And at the utterance of a word, she’s at my mercy. Where she should be for the rest of her life. The thought appears and disappears quickly, and I have to breathe deeply to calm my hard on and my heartbeat.

“We’ll find him, I’ll make this right.”

“You mean you’ll kill him for murdering your mother,” she bites out, taking a step away from me. The truth is, if I didn’t know what my father had done, I might have wanted my revenge on Patrick, but it isn’t his fault. He was merely a pawn in my father’s fucked up games.

“My father threatened yours, the only person who should be paying for any crime is Abner Lancaster.”

Her dark brows shoot up at my response. I know she wasn’t expecting me to say something like that, to turn on my father, but she doesn’t know what I’m capable of. Once I’m hurt, lied to, or even fucked over by someone I trusted, there’s no earning back my respect.

“So…” Her voice cracks and I want to pull her into my arms, to revel in her pain and bask in her tears, but I allow her to come to terms with what I just told her. “I mean, he’s alive?” Hope springs up in her eyes, the blue bright, shimmering with the tears that sit on her lashes.

Fuck, she’s beautiful.

“He is,” I confirm. “I don’t know if he’s been hurt. Knowing my dad, there’s a possibility, Patrick won’t be the same man you remember.” I don’t want her to have false hope. Her dad may be hurt beyond recognition, he may even be hanging on by a thread, but if I can give her a proper goodbye, then I will.

“I never understood why Fergus wouldn’t allow an open casket,” she mutters randomly, which sets the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.

“What did you say?”

She crosses her arms as if she’s trying to hold herself together. “I asked for a final goodbye at my dad’s funeral. Fergus was the one who said it would be best not to open it, he told me I should remember my dad as he was when he was alive.”

As if puzzle pieces fall into place in the frayed image in my mind, I finally understand why my father wanted me to look into Fergus. He didn’t want suspicion on their connection. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I hit dial on Tarian’s number.

“What are you doing?” Dahlia questions.

I’m suddenly freezing, but it has nothing to do with the weather. I’m finally seeing more of my father than I ever wanted to. I’m learning about the man I always looked up to and realizing he’s nothing more than a monster. Three rings and Tarian’s on the other end of the line.

“Yo, man,” he says. “What’s up?”

“I need everything you can find on Fergus, the partner,” I tell him while staring at Dahlia who’s blinking back tears.

“Yeah, I can look into it. I only did a narrow search a few weeks ago,” he tells me. “What happened?”

“I have a feeling the asshole is working for my dad. I just don’t know why or when it happened.”

“Do you think this Fergus dude is part of the Sovereign?” The million-dollar question that I should know the answer to. I should know every name in Father’s contact lists, but Abner made sure we were all blind to what he was doing. Maybe, just maybe, the Crowns will fall, and it will be the new regime that takes them out.

“I don’t know, but if he is, he’s going to need a fucking army to fight me on this. I want to know every dirty detail he has hiding in those closets, and we need it tonight, before dinner.”

We have thirty minutes before guests start arriving, but I have faith in my best friend. He’s good, he’s the best, and I know he’s the only one who can find out what we need.

“You know you can count on me. I’ll be in Billy’s office working on this,” Tarian tells me, and I can hear the smile in this voice.

“Okay, thanks.” I hang up and turn to Dahlia.

Her big blue eyes lock on mine. “Tell me, Ares,” she pleads, nearing me. “Tell me, I’ll see him again.” I want to say no, I want to tell her that she might not be so lucky to find him alive, but I can’t bring myself to do it.