The Shadow Princess (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 6)

“I seriously doubt that,” Bastien muttered.

“I have a heart bigger than yours,” Amell said with confidence. “I have the capacity for love whereas you can’t even imagine it anymore. You might care for Thalia, but you’re not good enough for her. I know you want to protect her, but that’s your duty. If you really want to protect her from pain, you should leave her alone. She deserves someone who loves her deep from the soul, someone who wouldn’t be able to live a single day without her. If you continue to only give her crumbs, she’ll continue to eat them all up, but she’ll starve because she’ll refuse sustenance that’s better for her. It’s not a kind life, and if you have any caring whatsoever in you, you know that the only way she’ll truly be happy is if you get out of her life for good.”

This stunned Bastien to speechlessness, although admittedly, he’d kept distant from Thalia the last six days for those exact reasons Amell just laid out. But the thought of not being in her life at all didn’t sit well with him. While he figured they would never have a loving, monogamous, permanent relationship, he’d always imagined she would be within eyesight of him so that he could always look after her.

But would that be a disservice to Thalia? Admittedly, Amell made a point that Bastien had to consider, and he was apparently doing it from a place of care for his daughter.

It threw Bastien backward into a deep memory of when King Jaron had asked for something very similar.

The ruler of Kestevayne had sought him out on the training field to ask for a private word. By the expression on Jaron’s face, Bastien was immediately concerned.

“Is Thalia all right?” he demanded of the king, reaching for his sword. It was ridiculous, really, that he would want to palm his weapon merely because the king’s expression concerned him, but there was no choice in his protectiveness of Thalia.

She was his, and he’d never let anything hurt her.

“Rest easy,” Jaron said, holding out his hand. “She’s fine. But her safety could be in jeopardy, which is what I want to talk to you about.”

Bastien relaxed slightly, releasing his hilt. The king walked, and Bastien fell into step beside him.

“Our scryers who divine the future have seen some troubling signs,” Jaron said, but this didn’t bother Bastien. Scrying was an accepted magical practice, but there was a lot of guesswork in it. Major decisions were never made merely on what scryers saw in their reflecting pools, but their findings were paid attention to. “They believe Kestevayne will be in peril.”

“Did they say when?” Bastien asked.

Jaron shook his head and stopped, facing Bastien. “I know you usually stay overnight with Thalia in her apartments.”

“Your Highness, I’m sorry,” Bastien stammered.

“That’s not why we’re talking, Bastien.” Jaron leaned closer. “You are with Thalia at night. You are her last line of defense should our palace ever be breached. You must be on guard and alert. If the need arises, swear to me you will get my daughter to safety… above all other loyalties.” Pausing, Jaron regarded him intently. “I know your duty is to the royal house as a whole, and then to your king and queen, but Thalia is more important. Do you understand?”

Bastien didn’t have any moral dilemmas with this request. “You have my word. No matter what my duties are to House Clairmont and to your throne, Thalia always comes first.”

Jaron smiled, his posture relaxing. He clapped Bastien on the shoulder. “That’s why I knew you would be the perfect mate for her. Thank you.”

With promise in hand, Jaron took Bastien right then and there to show him several secret passages within the palace. Bastien was stunned by the underground tunnel network. Jaron told him only the ruling sovereigns knew about them as they were a means of escape from treachery within the palace walls.

Each passage was protected by wards, and Jaron carefully demonstrated how to open every one. The last tunnel led out more than a mile underground from the palace into dense woods so overgrown with brush, no one traveled through them.

Because of Jaron’s foresight, when Ferelith infiltrated the palace that fateful night, Bastien was able to swiftly move Thalia to safety. Even though he’d given a promise, once Bastien got Thalia out, he struggled with whether to go back to save Selena and Jaron, but he remembered Jaron’s final words.

“You’ve promised me you’ll get Thalia to safety if we’re attacked, and I have full trust in you. But I also need you to promise me something else…”

“Anything,” Bastien assured him.

“Promise me you will always love Thalia—that you will never leave her.”

Bastien exhaled a sigh of relief, for that was an easy promise to make. “I will gladly promise you that, Jaron.”