Xavier sat on the front deck of the ship, clenching and unclenching his fist in silence when Edward came out and found him seated there. There has been a resounding silence in the last two days since their father’s death and the mourning had continued since then, despite them being a long way from home. It was a tradition to mourn those born into the royal bloodline for at least a week. For an alpha king and an alpha of alphas; it was three weeks. So being away from the kingdom was not an excuse.

Today, however, was different. Xavier had sat on the deck since the ninth hour and...