His father cleared his throat, snapping my attention back to him. “I can’t believe you did it, Casteel.” He backed up and then sat on the bench, stretching out one leg. I didn’t attempt to read him. “You knew what could’ve happened.”

“I knew exactly what could’ve happened,” Casteel returned. “I knew the risks, and I’d do it all over again even if she had Ascended.”

My heart gave a happy little wiggle, but Casteel’s father looked less than impressed. “You know what that act did to our kingdom—to our people—and you were willing to risk that again?”

“If you think that what I did was a shock, then you need to understand that I will do anything and everything for my wife.” Casteel’s gaze latched on to his father’s. “No risk is too great, nor is anything too sacred. Because she is my everything. There is nothing greater than her, and I do mean nothing.”

My lips parted on a breathy inhale as I stared at Casteel. A messy, little ball of emotions climbed its way up my throat.

“I do not doubt that, son. I was there when you came to and realized that she was gone. I saw you, and I have never seen you like that. I will never forget it,” his father said, and my head snapped in his direction. That was twice now that someone had said that. “And I can even understand your need to protect her. Gods, do I understand that.” He dragged a hand over his face, stopping to scratch at the beard. “But as the King, I cannot approve of what you did.”

Casteel’s hand slipped from mine as several of the wolven looked at the King. A cold, utterly frightening sort of anger brewed inside the Prince—the kind of rage I knew had been one of the reasons he had come to be known as the Dark One. “I wasn’t aware that I asked for your approval.”

My heart stuttered as his father snorted. “I think that’s obvious, considering that the deed is already done.”

“And?” Casteel challenged in a voice that was too soft. Too calm.

Tiny hairs rose all over my body as my palm became damp around the hilt of the wolven dagger. A great sense of wariness rose from the wolven. They became eerily still. “Wait,” I said, unsure if I was speaking to them or if I spoke to every living creature in the room. “Casteel took a huge risk, one that many would agree he shouldn’t have taken, but he did. It’s over. I’m not a vampry.” I thought of the blood hunger I’d experienced upon awakening. “Or at the very least, I am not like the others. And while he may be deserving of the lecture—”

His father arched a brow while Casteel frowned at me. “It feels a little irrelevant right now,” I stressed.

“You’re right,” King Valyn said after a moment. “He’s lucky. Or you are. Or I and the entire kingdom are because you’re not an Ascended. That much I know. If you were, my son knows what I would be obligated to do.” His gaze met mine. “And I say that knowing it is highly unlikely that I would even reach you before these wolven—those I have known for hundreds of years—ripped into me.” His gaze flicked to his son’s. “You would’ve started a war, one that would’ve weakened us to the real threat that lies in the west. You just need to know that.”