“Does it actually matter? For all intents and purposes, we’re one and the same.” He holds his glass up in a mock salute, then downs the scotch in a couple of easy swallows.
“In your mind, maybe.”
“In everyone’s mind. The king is Wildemar, as is the rest of the royal family.”
“Wildemar is so much more than just our family.”
“Don’t be naïve, Kian. It doesn’t become you as you sit poised to ascend to the throne.”
“Only for another few hours. Once we get Garrett back—”
“Once they get Garret back, we’ll see what kind of state he’s in. He may not be ready, or able, to take on his old duties. In which case, you will remain Crown Prince of Wildemar until he is.”
“If you won’t let me be part of the raid, at least let me be in the helicopter waiting for him. I want him to see my face when they get him on board. I want him to know I’m there. Please. I need to be there when they get him.”
“You want to be there because you want revenge on the people who did this to him. You can try to sell me—and yourself—a bill of goods about why you really want to be there, but I know the truth. And so do you.”
“Justice, not revenge.”
“Of course.” My father lets out a disbelieving snort. “Tell that to someone you don’t have so much in common with.”
“We don’t have anything in common!” The words are out before I can even think to stop them. Then again, I’m not sure I even would have tried, had I known they were brewing.
“Keep telling yourself that, boy. Maybe you’ll actually believe it someday.”
“If anyone is like you, it’s Garrett. He’s smart and careful and—”
“The perfect crown prince, and so on. I am aware. You need to remember that your brother is exactly what I trained him to be. But you—”
“I was untrainable.”
“Completely incorrigible,” he agrees. “You listened too little and cared too much.”
“Then how—”
“You think I was born like this?” he demands. “This stodgy old ruler with no sense of humor who always puts duty first?”
“Actually, yes.”
He laughs. My father actually laughs at something I said. Trust it to be the one time I wasn’t going for levity.
“Kian, from the time you could walk, you’ve been running from your birthright. And I let you, because Garrett was firstborn. And because he had the temperament to rule in a way you never have—”
“Excuse me, sir?” We both look up to see my father’s assistant, Darius, hovering by the doorway. “The generals are here and they request your presence in the conference room.”
My father and I exchange a look and I feel my stomach sink as fear sets in. Now that the mission I’ve been pushing for over the last several days is imminent, I’m terrified something will go wrong.
Intel shows that Garrett is being held in one of two places, both in the north. While the officials are convinced that he’s being held in a small compound outside of Bayeux, there’s a farm in the Rennes area that has raised enough flags that we’ve decided to hit both places at the same time.
“I want to go to Bayeux.” I make one more pitch to my father as we walk toward the conference room where we’ll be briefed one more time. If everything is as it should be, my father will order the mission a go, and in a few hours, my brother will be on a helicopter back to the palace. I want to be on that helicopter.
“I’ve already explained why that’s impossible,” he says, impatience rife in his voice. “Now stop whining about it like a child and start acting like a prince. What we’re about to do entails risking the lives of more than two dozen Wildermarian soldiers. That is not an order you should ever give lightly.”
“You think I don’t understand that? I am a Wildemarian soldier.”
We arrive at the conference room before he can say anything else. Then again, there really isn’t anything else to say right now. Not when he refuses to budge. No matter what my stance is on the issue, no matter how impeccable my military record is, if he doesn’t want me on one of those helicopters, I won’t be on one.
It infuriates me even as I replay my father’s arguments in my head. What infuriates me more is, if I leave emotion out of it, I can see the logic in what he said. I may not agree with him, but I do understand that putting me in danger when we know nothing about the state of Garrett’s health is a danger to Wildemar. And no matter how much I wish it wasn’t so, my duty is to protect my country in whatever way necessary. Even if that means keeping my ass at home instead of on the helicopter bound to rescue the true crown prince.