DEFY Excerpt

Chapter 2

two

The dining room was lit by hundreds of candles. The scent of hot wax and too much perfume made my head hurt. I stood at attention a discreet distance from where Prince Damian sat, eating his dinner with his customary bored expression. The women on both sides of him vied for his attention, one more blatantly than the other, bending too close to the table, pushing her very visible breasts even higher out of her dress. But the prince only raised one dark eyebrow and lifted a spoonful of chilled pear soup to his mouth.

I wanted to tell the women to quit bothering. Prince Damian never took anyone to his rooms, and as one of his personal guards, I was certain he never visited anyone else’s, either. I believed it was because engaging in that activity would require too much effort — and if there was one thing the prince excelled at, it was laziness.

I looked away from the long table filled with lavishly dressed men and women, and scanned the room. Marcel stood a few feet away from me on Prince Damian’s other side. Across the room, Rylan and his brother, Jude, stood near the door.

As the next course was brought out, the conversation turned, as it nearly always did, to the war. After a few minutes of discussion, Prince Damian sighed.

“Must we always converse about this dreary topic?” He lifted his wineglass to his lips. King Hector had wine and champagne shipped in from Dansii, but only the royal family and their most esteemed guests were allowed to drink it on a regular basis. The rest of the dinner party had goblets full of native juices from Antion — mango and papaya.

“But surely you don’t find it dreary, Your Highness?” A young woman I hadn’t noticed before tonight asked, her expression one of surprise. “This war comes at a steep cost, of course. But I would think that you of all people would be thrilled at the recent success the army has had in stopping those Blevonese sorcerers.”

Oh, here we go, I groaned internally.

“I should?” the prince asked, his voice deceptively inviting. “Why do you suppose that would excite me, in particular?”

The young woman — who couldn’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen, most likely newly presented at court — leaned forward eagerly, exhilarated to have garnered the prince’s notice.

“Well, because of what happened to the queen. I’m sure you’re just as eager to avenge her murder as the king is. Aren’t you?”

The entire room seemed to freeze, silence descending swiftly as the prince pinned her with his gaze. I couldn’t see his eyes from my vantage point, but I knew Prince Damian well. I could easily imagine the icy glare he’d turned on her, his shockingly blue eyes cold. The girl’s color drained slightly, to be quickly replaced by a flush creeping up her neck.

“I find  that  this . . . meal . . . has  become  unappetizing,” Prince Damian finally said, rising from his chair. Everyone else rushed to stand as well. “Please, remain and enjoy the food. Celebrate the army’s victories with as much exuberance as possible.”

The girl stared down at her plate in humiliation, her former excitement completely gone. She looked like she was about to vomit the food she’d been eating all over the table.

“Guards.” Prince Damian flicked a wrist, signaling us. We fell into line, Rylan and Jude in front of the prince, Marcel and myself in the rear, as he exited the room. Once the dining table and the awkward conversation were far behind us, Prince Damian stopped. “Alex,” he said, turning to face me.

“Yes, Your Highness?” I stood at attention.

“I haven’t received word of this supposed victory.” He glared at me like it was my fault. “I do not like to be ill informed at my own dinner parties. You will find Nolen at once and tell him that I require news of the war efforts brought to me personally from now on.”