Page 123 of Heartbreak Prince

“I love you,” I tell him.

“And I heartily reciprocate,” he whispers, with another quick kiss. “Come on, lovely. Let’s find my fiancé and my fiancée. By the fates, I’m glad I’m not going to marry those two.”

We move quickly through the palace, but we do not run. Acting like we’re in too much of a hurry might alarm the guards. We spot only a few of them along our route, and those we pass look weary and spiritless, standing in alcoves crammed with miscellaneous objects. Any allegiance or fervor they once had has been lost in the crevices of the hoard or in the yawning sinkholes scattered across their country.

At last Vawn pauses before a pair of doors whose wood is surprisingly clean and well-polished. There is a guard a little way down the hall, but he’s slumped against a stack of dingy-looking pillows, snoring faintly.

Vawn reaches for one of the door handles, but I grab his arm. “Shouldn’t we knock? What if they’re doing things that siblings should never do? I would rather not see that.”

“We asked for an audience with them, and they have failed to appear,” he whispers back. “I thought you wanted to speak to them.”

“I do, but…”

“If we knock, we risk being denied admittance.”

Sighing, I nod. “Do it then.”

Vawn takes both handles and pushes the doors open. The room beyond is so cluttered that he has to shove firmly in order to gain enough space for us to get through.

“It wasn’t like this last night,” he mutters, frowning. “It was cluttered, but I could open the doors, and there was space in the center of the—fuck, what is that smell?”

“Let me go in first.” I slip one of my knives out of its sheath and step through the opening, over the mess. It looks as if someone took objects from the piles in the room and threw the items around in a mad frenzy.

I’ve caught whiffs of a similar smell in the past, but this is more concentrated and intense, confined as it is within a cluttered space and amplified by other foul odors. It’s the stench of piss, shit, and raw meat, the sweetish foulness that comes from a human corpse that’s leaking fumes into the air.

Cautiously I approach a half-open door which seems to lead into the bedroom—although it’s difficult to tell one room from another in all the mess.

“Your Majesties?” I call. “I have the prince here to speak with you. Please step out.”

Something rustles in the bedroom. Not a rat. This is much larger.

“Liege Remin?” I move closer to the doorway. “Liege Roxalin?”

Another scuffle, and then the sound of small objects avalanching from a pile. I slide through the aperture into the room.

The smell intensifies so dramatically that my eyes water. Liege Remin lies face-down on the bed amid rivers of his own blood, vomit, and shit. His face is pressed against the mattress, his eyes blank. Judging by the state of his back, someone gouged a knife into his body a few dozen times.

“Stay back,” I hiss to Vawn. Then I raise my voice while I scan the darkened corners of the room. “Liege Roxalin?”

She creeps out of the gloom, her eyes huge and her soiled nightdress clinging to her body. “Is that Vawn behind you?” Her lips are puffy and split, as if she was struck in the mouth, but her voice is as light and childish as ever.

“Yes,” I say calmly. “But before you see him, I need to ask you a few questions.”

“I don’t want to talk to you. I want to speak with Vawn.”

“Not until I’m sure you aren’t a danger to him.”

“A danger?” Her voice shrills. “Why would I be a danger to my future husband?”

“It’s all right, Syth.” Vawn speaks from behind me. “Hello, Roxalin.”

“Vawn, you came back.” She smiles at him. “I’m so sorry for the state of things in here. My treasures can be a nuisance at times, tumbling this way and that.”

“Of course, of course. Tell me, Roxi, have you spoken with Stewardess Inaya today?” Vawn manages not to gag, but I can hear the urge to do so in his voice. He won’t last long in here.

“I spoke to her a little.” Roxalin straightens, her frail hands smoothing her filthy nightgown. “I told her we weren’t ready to hold court yet. Remin isn’t himself.”

“I can see that.”