Page 74 of The Dark Prince
Aella didn’t answer me, so I kept going on.
“The king’s advisors and guards are dropping like flies. Tyr suddenly loses control the moment the king sets foot here. And he’s the most controlled man I’ve ever met. You don’t think that’s a tiny bit suspect?”
Aella huffed from behind me as the king kept bellowing. “All of father’s men who turned were men close to Tyr from childhood,” she insisted. “Everyone loved him,” she continued, disdain in her voice.
“Coincidence,” I said coldly. I took my dagger from my sheath and held it in my hand. Its presence was a comforting weight in the chaos that surrounded us.Another man fell below the king, turning. And then another.
“What are you trying to say?” she demanded, grabbing my arm and yanking me back. I lurched towards her with the dagger, but she didn’t flinch. Grudgingly, my respect for her rose a bit.
“Tyr isn’t the one cursed; he is simply a victim just like the guards. It’s proximity based, which was why it only got him sometimes.It was why he shifted right after the king’s visit, and why his guards are dropping like flies around us.”
I pointed my dagger at the king. Tyr’s beast burst out from the woods and ran straight toward him.
“If you want to murder the man who carries the curse, start with your father.”
Thirty Three
TYR
The men were chasing me, but not really. They were playing. I remembered this game. Run and catch! So many smells around me—my people—are changing to come play with me.
Come play. Come run.
Run.
Run.
Run.
I smelled blood.
Maybe we weren’t playing the game tonight.
A familiar smell. A man in the middle of town, walking toward me.
My mind came back in such a blinding flash that it took me a moment to remember I was still a beast.
I growled at my father, who held his sword out to me.
“Where is your little wife? My men are out looking for her. Don’t make me use her to make you behave.
I snarled.
My father sneered at me. “A hunt is no place for a woman. Come now. I see she has bewitched you. Have you forgotten how women can be? Haven’t I told you time and time again about your mother? Why did you think this one would be any different?”
He had. Growing up, he’d never missed an opportunity to tell me what a whore she was. How she’d sold herself to my father for a few coins, only to break his heart and refuse to come to court to live as his mistress. Until she’d discovered she was pregnant. Oh, how he bragged about making her suffer.
But thanks to Bessy, I knew that was only his side of the story.
If she’s half the woman my mother was, then I’ll consider myself blessed beyond measure.
My father grabbed my head and pulled me close. “I know you can control this animal. You’re the only one who ever could. Change back.”
He was a good four inches shorter than me, but that didn’t matter. Suddenly, I was a young child again, being beaten within an inch of my life until I controlled my beast. Father had been sick of replacing maids.
He released me, and I took a step back, my eyes on the ground. The beast inside of me roared, salivating at the threat to our dominance. I bit my tongue, using the metallic taste of my blood to keep control.
My father watched, fascinated as he always was with my struggle between man and beast. “Would you attack me if you lost your mind?” he asked clinically.
