Chapter 4 Callan
CHAPTER 4
CALLAN
C rown Prince Callan was lying on his bed in their guest suite, staring at the ceiling as the morning sun streamed in the window. It had to be nearing midday by this point. He didn’t care. Books were scattered around him, but it was all for nothing now. She was gone. She had married him. She was his twin ?ame. She was his. All his. No longer his own.
He had been a fool. An idiotic, lovesick fool to think he could keep up with her wildness. But that was why he’d clung to her, wasn’t it? She was unknown and untamed. He never knew what she was going to say or do next, and she utterly fascinated him. Scarlett had shown him a side of the kingdom he hadn’t known existed. She had shown him the ones who lurked in the shadows. She had shown him the ones who fended for themselves, who did not look to a king or nobility to take care of them, but made their own justice. The ones who recognized no one was coming for them, and that they needed to take care of themselves. Needed to save themselves.
She had made him believe that he could actually do something about it. That with his knowledge of the crown and her knowledge of the Syndicate, they could truly make a difference. He did not want her chained to a throne in his shadow, but serving the people of Windonelle at his side.
Teaching him how to do just that, not as a woman with a crown on her head, but as someone who grew up as one of them.
Scarlett had never once looked at him with the awe-struck eyes of the Court Ladies or the vindictive desires of those wanting to move up in their noble positions. He was never seen by her as a prize to be ensnared or a prince to be worshiped. From the very ?rst note she’d left for him, she had mocked him for falling asleep in the middle of a clearing while reading. He would never forget her teasingly calling him ‘princeling’ the ?rst time they danced at the Samhain Ball. She had thought he’d been offended, but he had been relieved. She had been a breath of fresh air, the ?rst rain of spring after a long, cold winter. He had been relieved to have found someone who didn’t feel the need to ?atter him or wear a mask around him.
Until he’d learned just how many masks she wore.
Until he’d learned that perhaps the only person who had ever truly seen her for what she was, was the Fae Prince who now held her heart.
Callan had watched them these months here. He had watched how the Fire Prince had weathered every storm she went through. He had watched as he coaxed smiles from her when she seemed unreachable. He had watched as Sorin had fought his way past her shadows over and over and over. He had watched as they were drawn to one another as if unable to help themselves. Every smile. Every stolen glance. Every silent conversation. He had watched as she had slowly realized what he’d feared since the day they had surprised them at Sorin’s apartment in Baylorin. That her heart belonged to the Fire Prince. She was his, and he was hers.
Callan knew they were a better ?t. He knew Sorin could help her and serve her and love her in ways he would never be able to. He knew that what they had would change this world.
It didn’t make the ache in his chest any easier to endure. It didn’t ease the emptiness he now felt. Now he would be going home without her at his side. The loneliness he had so often felt, before she’d swept into his life on a dark wind, was already pressing down on him.
He heard a knock on the main door but didn’t bother to get up. Sloan or Finn could get it. He’d be shoved back into his world of polite manners and duty in a few days’ time anyway, assuming they were still returning. Rayner had come to him a few nights ago and told him their travels had been delayed, but he had heard nothing since. Scarlett hadn’t even bothered to tell him herself. Not that he could really blame her, he supposed. Their last conversation hadn’t exactly ended in pleasantries.
The knock came on his bedroom door this time.
Callan sighed, rising to his bare feet, and opened the door. He expected Sloan or Finn, but instead he stood face-to-face with Eliza.
“Mortal Prince,” she said grimly.
“I am not in a particularly chatty mood today, Eliza,” Callan gritted out. “Say what you have come to say.”
Eliza straightened and the face of the Fire Court General took over her features. “Pack your things. We leave in the dead of night.”
“What?” Callan asked, unable to keep the shock from his voice.
“Was something I said unclear? Did you not say no small talk?” Eliza asked with a raise of her brow.
“I was told travels were delayed.”
He could see Sloan and Finn watching and listening to the conversation from where they sat at the dining table.
“They were. Now they are not. Be in the main foyer by nightfall and decide if you’ll be staying in Baylorin or returning with us once we’ve recovered our queen,” Eliza said, turning to leave the suite.
Callan reached out and gripped her arm without thinking of who he was grabbing. Eliza had spun, broken his hold, had his arm restrained behind his back, and a blade at his throat faster than he could blink. Sloan and Finn were on their feet, but ?ames encircled their throats and they froze.
“This is not the time to test any of us, Mortal Prince,” she hissed. “We are all on edge and had I been anyone else, this blade would likely have gone through your neck without a second thought.”
Callan swallowed before saying slowly, “Release Finn and Sloan.”
Eliza lowered her blade, stepping back from him, the ?ames vanishing from around his friends’ necks. “Get your things in order and be ready to go. I have things to prepare.”
She was once more striding for the door, and Callan fell into step behind her. He waved off Finn and Sloan as he followed her into the hall. “Tell me what has happened,” he demanded.
“I do not answer to you, Princeling, nor do I have the time to ?ll you in on everything that has occurred.” Her tone was short as she made her way toward the bridges.
“What did you mean by ‘once you have recovered the queen’?”
“None of us are sure what happened, but she is being held in the mortal lands, likely in Baylorin,” Eliza answered.
“Does Mikale—”
“We don’t know.”
“Can Sorin not ?nd her? Like he did when we came here?”
“No, he cannot,” she snarled.
“Why not? Is this like the time they had that ?ght?”
Eliza whirled on him, and for the ?rst time ever, he saw panic and terror on the general’s face. “We do not know!” she hissed. “We do not know where she is or how she got there. We do not know what is happening to her. There is ancient magic at work here. There are secrets being unearthed and dark forces awakening. And my damn queen, my friend , is in the middle of it all, and we cannot get to her.”
Callan’s eyes were wide at the general’s loss of control. “Eliza, I …” He didn’t know what to say, what to do.
And the general seemed to sense his uncertainty. “What you can do to help right now, Callan, is pack and be ready to go. This will be nothing like last time. There will be no riding on horses through the woods. This is the Fae coming for what is theirs. We will be aided by Witches and Shifters. This is a Court coming for their queen. This is a twin ?ame coming for his mate. There will be death and bloodshed, and you must decide on which side you will stand.”
“I will help in whatever way I can,” Callan said swiftly, taking a step towards her.
“Then you will ?nd yourself planted against your own kingdom and your own people,” she spat, her grey eyes wild with challenge and bloodlust.
Callan went rigid at the words. “My people have nothing to do with this.”
“Your people may not, but your crown does, Princeling,” she sneered.
“You are blaming my throne for the actions of a few men who desire power? My family, my people, are innocent in this,” Callan argued, feeling anger rising in his veins.
“Sorin will not care,” Eliza hissed. “Sorin will not stop until his queen and wife and mate are back at his side. Hewill rip this entire godsdamn world apart to ?nd her, and we will help him do it.”
“Then you are truly the savage Fae bastards we all believe you to be,” Callan spat back. Eliza bared her teeth at him and had him shoved against a wall in the next breath. And Callan found himself not afraid at all of those elongated canines so close to his throat or the deadly female that had him pinned to stone. Not as that fury that had been slowly making its way to the surface burst forth.
“My people are innocent,” he snarled at her. “Those who are involved in this? Yes, punish them, General. Make them suffer in ways only the Fae can do. Get Scarlett out and save those children in the Black Syndicate, but you touch any of my innocent people, and I will use the secrets I have learned in my months here. You will ?nd armies at your doorstep making you pay for every single innocent life you take, even if it takes my bloodline centuries to accomplish it.”
Eliza’s breathing was ragged as she stepped back from him. Callan straightened his tunic, staring down the general. “Tell the Fire Prince that how this is handled will determine whether we are allies with Queen Scarlett or enemies. As for my decision about where I will stay when she is out of my kingdom, I will be staying with my people.”
Callan did not wait for Eliza’s response as he turned from her to stalk back to his suite, but he found Sloan and Finn waiting for him several yards away. Their faces were unreadable as he approached, but they both straightened.
“What?” he demanded, coming to a halt in front of them.
A long silence fell between them, until Sloan bowed at his waist before him. “Well done, your Majesty.”
“I am not the king,” Callan snarled at him, fury still burning through him.
“That was not a Crown Prince who just tore into a general of the Fire Court,” Finn said quietly. “That was a King.”
Callan looked his friends in their eyes, his rage beginning to subside. “Let’s go pack,” he ?nally replied. “We are going home tonight.”