A Usurper's Cause (Book #4)

Chapter Forty

Henry stepped up to the railing overlooking the courtyard. The night was still, yet it was filled with crickets to muffle the silence. He enjoyed these moments—away from the crowds, from other humans, and insufferable voices.

"I am surprised you stayed here tonight," Ashton said as he appeared beside Henry.

Henry sighed and kept his focus on one of the flowerbeds below. He supposed Ashton wasn't truly considered a human.

"I don't mean that in an offensive way," Ashton added.

"I'm not helpless," Henry grumbled. "I know how to control myself."

"Are you speaking to yourself again?" Victor chided.

Henry widened his eyes and turned around. Victor stayed hovering near the doors, his arms folded across his chest, and a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Then again, his smiles hardly ever did.

"Have you entirely lost your mind now?"

Henry swallowed hard. "Of course not. I didn't realize I was speaking my thoughts out loud. Were you not going for a carriage ride through the fields with Jasmine tonight?"

Victor dropped his arms to his sides as he walked over. Ashton moved as if he could possibly be in the way.

"She has decided she does not feel like it," Victor said through clenched teeth. "We are trying to have a child, and we haven't been successful."

Ashton raised his eyebrows. "I understand why she is unhappy, then."

"It will... happen, eventually," Henry said, averting his gaze.

"And what of you? Hmm?" Victor asked. "When are you finally going to marry someone? You cannot disappoint this family by staying alone and wasting your life at the taverns. The kingdom already looks at you like you are a lost cause. Don't give them more reason to speak."

Henry spared a glance in Ashton's direction and saw him staring back at him with such pitiful eyes. This was far from the peace he'd expected tonight, and he felt about ready to scream. Therefore, he merely shook his head and hurried toward the doors. He heard Victor chuckle before he slipped inside the palace, closing himself in the quiet once again. Then he cursed under his breath.

"Henry," Ashton spoke, standing on the other side of the corridor. "I am sorry—"

Henry raised his hand. "Ashton, I'd rather not hear anything from you right now."

"He's wrong about everything. Though people do speak, they don't know your reasons. You are not a lost cause."

"Of course you say that. You're an angel—a perfect little heavenly soldier."

Ashton's expression hardened, and then he vanished before Henry could finish blinking. His mind wandered back to Ashton's journal, and he groaned.

"I am sorry," he whispered.

Henry went to his bedchamber and pursed his lips as he glossed over his bed. He'd become quite acquainted with it over the past year—and he was not proud about admitting that. He knew the townspeople noticed him sulking through the streets at night and sneaking back into the palace by dawn. He knew they murmured to each other about him—the useless prince who shouldn't have returned. If it'd been up to him, he never would've stepped foot on this land again. Truthfully, he would've preferred taking his chances under Udolf and Godwin's ruling.

Except those thoughts weren't fair to Elouise. She'd saved him. She'd chosen to believe in her magic and took him with her.

On the other hand, she also looked at him now with great disappointment in her eyes. Not always, but enough for him to notice. Enough for him to know she wondered if he ever planned to do more to assist in the cause. And while she had no trouble snapping at Haven and anyone else who got in her way, she never uttered a word about it to Henry. She knew she didn't have to. Her face told him everything.