Chapter 0112
I shove him on the shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous. He liked you. He let you get away with so much more than I could.”
“That’s because he expected things from you. He didn’t care what I did. I was just the spare. Still am.” Lex gestures more wildly which is how I know he’s getting agitated. “He spent time with you. He taught you how to run a kingdom and how to fight battles. Me? I was an afterthought.”
“Every moment I had with him was about training me to be his replacement. I had to remember that the only way I could be king was through his death. Every time he looked at me, it’s like he saw his own mortality staring back at him.”
“I think that’s just what being a parent is about. You teach your kids as best as you can, and they hopefully learn enough to survive. And then you die.”
“That’s morbid.”
It’s a dark thought, but not completely untrue.
For the first time, I look at my brother and see shades of the better man he could be. Maybe he is growing up. Fatherhood might do him good. Lex has always been lost, craving a place in the world. He always wanted mine despite how unqualified he is to actually rule.
Curious, I ask, “If you had my throne, say you had been born first, what would you do with it?”
“Abdicate and give the job to somebody else.”
“Why?”
“Look at me. I’m not king material. I may be pretty and would look amazing with your crown on my head, but it’d all be style over substance. You were born for this. You were made for this.”
“And what about you, my brother? What were you made for?”
He smiles, guile hiding what he may truly feel. “Absolutely nothing. I’m the fuck–up, remember?”
***
Emory
I wake up bright and early. I have a lot I want to do today, so after I have breakfast with Lola in the kitchenette of my bedroom, we make our way to the castle library. The last time I was here, I had almost died when Jacob and Opal attacked me. Fear blooms in my belly as we enter the library, and I look around as if waiting for one of them to appear.
Instead, Lola sees my distress and holds my hand. “Are you okay, Em?”
I smile at her, trying to hide how I feel. “I’m all right. I’m just a little tired.”
“You look scared.”
“I just remembered something unpleasant that happened here, but it’s over now, I’m safe. We’re safe,” I tell her, more to reassure myself.
I know I’m safe. Jacob is in the dungeon, and Opal is all the way in Scarlett Thunder. There are guards
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Chapter 0112
hovering nearby to come to my aid if I need them. Nellie is with us, too. She follows closely behind us.
“Nellie, do you know which section in the library we can find books on folktales?” I ask.
“I’m not that familiar with the library, Princess,” she answers. “You can ask the librarian for help.”
“I didn’t know there was a librarian.”
Nellie points to a desk to the right where a vampire with short brown hair is sitting. “That’s Willow. She’s the new librarian.”
“What happened to the old librarian?”
“Unfortunately, Gaius was killed by Opal and Jacob that night they hurt you.”
Anger shoots through me at the revelation. An innocent person died because those two heartless assholes don’t care for anyone but themselves. And what has it all been for? Just to get rid of potential witnesses to their terrible behavior?
I have to resist the urge to run down to the dungeon and kick Jacob’s broken leg.
I try to focus on the task at hand. I go over to where the new librarian is reading a book at her desk. Upon getting closer, I can see how pretty she is, with pale blue eyes and a face like a porcelain doll. Her hair is a warm, chestnut brown that reaches her shoulders, and she’s wearing a blue dress with a high collar.
“Hi,” I say. “I’m Emory. We’ve never met.
