CASPIAN
A few hours later, I’m walking through the castle towards my rooms, thinking about earlier in the throne room.
Ah, the look on his face.
I can’t help but grin at the memory. What I hadn’t expected was the warm, familiar pull I’d felt towards Blackwell when I saw him at the end of the throne room.
The fact that he was on his knees didn’t help matters either.
The last few days I’d been impatiently waiting to hear word on whether or not my plan had worked.
Blackwell was notoriously hard to catch but I was banking on the fact that he would be distracted.
I love when I’m right.
“What’s your angle here?”
I glance over to see Aldric leaning against a pillar in the breezeway. His presence attempts to ruin my good mood but I keep walking.
“Dear brother, why do you always think I have an angle?”
He falls into step at my side and I’m reminded just how different we are—like oil and water.
We’re the same height but he has Father’s looks—dark hair, nearly black, that he wears slicked back without a hair out of place; a sharp, clean-shaven jaw; and full lips, continually tugged down into a frown.
The only thing we have in common are Mother’s piercing blue eyes.
We’d never really gotten along, but after the scandal , well, there are some things you just don’t come back from.
“I never took you for a pirate hunter,” Aldric says. “At first I thought you’d run away to avoid your wedding, but I think it’s something else. ”
I frown at the mention of the pending nuptials. “I was partying around Carmine when I saw him, nothing more,” I shrug. “Figured I may as well tip off our people.”
Aldric doesn’t believe me, he’s a lot harder to fool than our father.
“A messenger came by here a few days ago with a ransom demand. Said a group of pirates was holding a De’Vero noble and we had two days to pay them before they killed him. They gave a very accurate description of you.”
I can feel his eyes burning into the side of my head but when I don’t say anything he sighs.
“Cut the bullshit—I know it was you.” He grabs my sleeve to stop me, forcing me to face him.
“What were you up to, Caspian?”
I tilt my head at him and attempt a smirk but my good mood is gone, along with my patience.
“Nothing, brother, besides of course being—what did you say that time at dinner? Ah, yes, irrelevant .”
“But you’ve been sailing your own ship—why?”
I shouldn’t be surprised he knows this but it’s still irritating.
“Can you fault a man for his love of the sea?”
He frowns at me and his eyes sharpen. “If that’s all I thought it was…but you are up to something, Caspian.”
“Please…all I do is hide behind my cowardice—your words too by the way—and spend my time getting as drunk as possible. I don’t have time for scheming.” I pull my arm from him and continue walking, waving my hand over my shoulder at him. “I’m too busy running from responsibility, remember?”
“We both know that’s bullshit,” he calls after me.
I turn and walk backwards, throwing my arms wide and sneering at him.
“But you so love to paint that picture of me—I would have assumed by this point, you’d believe it yourself.”
Aldric narrows his eyes at me. “I’ll find out sooner or later, Caspian.”
I shake my head and dismiss him. “Paranoia doesn’t suit you, brother!”