Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
MALEKAI
F uck me, I hadn’t been this nervous since the first time I’d had to kill someone.
I could only assume Nakoa knew what had happened between Mareina and I if by no other tell than her scent alone. My guilt had weighed upon me like an anvil on my chest. For him and for her.
He was her soulbound. Her happiness came above all else. And I had selfishly claimed her as my own without even trying to bring harmony between the three of us.
For the first time since I’d met him, respect for this male blossomed as something resembling a smile tipped up the corners of his mouth as he nodded in ascent, accepting my gift. I imagined it took no small amount of forgiveness not to tear my head from my neck.
Nakoa’s brows leapt as he took it in hand, no doubt feeling the power radiating from it.
“I got you a coronation gift,” I added, awkwardly speaking the obvious.
“Thank you. That’s incredibly generous of you.”
You’re a better male than me, a small voice inside me whispered silently to him.
He twisted, tossing a glance around the room. “The only private place nearby is the bathroom…”
I nodded, already knowing where it was. The last time I’d been here had been when Mareina had ascended to Zurie’s Irae. My gut clenched at the memory as Nakoa led us into the bathroom, drawing everyone’s eyes to us.
I quietly shut the door behind us, sealing us off in the small space. Silence wound tight between us, making the room feel more even more cramped than it already was with our large bodies.
We both spoke at the same time, heightening the awkwardness.
“I’d like to?—
“I’d like to?—
Nakoa gestured for me to continue.
“Look, I… I’m assuming that you’re aware of what occurred between Mareina and me recently?”
Nakoa features tightened. “How could I not?”
I nodded, failing to swallow back my guilt. The words burst from me, all at once alleviating a portion of the last several days’ worth of anxiety. “I’m sorry.”
Nakoa remained silent, his expression unreadable.
“I should have come to you first.”
Nakoa gradually nodded. “I understand why you didn’t... I recognized, far too late, that I allowed prejudice to influence me toward my own soulbound. I failed as a mate. I failed to treat her with the reverence and love she deserves, and that’s no one’s fault but my own. And considering how things ended here when we overcame Zurie…”
Nakoa shook his head, gaze dipping to the floor as his eyes began to glisten. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive myself.”
Nakoa’s shame was palpable as his hands fisted at his sides as if to stifle the saline swelling in his eyes. I stepped forward, laying a cautious hand on his shoulder.
“It takes strength and resilience to forgive, and Mareina is the strongest and most resilient person I’ve ever known. I have no doubt that her love for you won’t be burdened by resentment. All we need to do is get her back.”
Nakoa’s watery gaze held mine, jaw flexing. “You’re right. On all counts.”
My hand lingered on his shoulder, squeezing, as a tugging in my chest took residence as if I were being pulled toward him with the compulsion to hug him.
Nakoa exhaled a deep breath, rubbing his eyes with thumb and forefinger. “Do you prefer I open your gift now, or later?”
My hand released him as the momentary window to embrace him closed. “Now, if you like.”
Nakoa tugged the bow loose, unfurling the linen wrapping to reveal my gift. His jaw dropped. I couldn’t help but feel a slight swell of pride at his reaction. My beast huffed. Being so possessive over Mareina, he hadn’t been entirely on board with my idea.
Nakoa studied me with keen eyes as if somehow seeing through me. I could see the question forming on his lips just as someone knocked on the bathroom door, followed by the sound Lokus’ voice.
“Are we fucking or fighting because either way, I want in.”
Mine and Nakoa’s eyes met as we shared a huffed laugh.
A grin split Nakoa’s face as he called out his reply. “Sorry, mate. We’ve run out of lube already.”
Oh my gods…
My eyes scanned the floor for my jaw because did he just make a joke?
Surprise had me frozen in place as Nakoa turned his grin on me, softened by sincerity. “Thank you, Malekai. I needed that.”
He clapped me on the back as he squeezed past me and opened the door. My eyes flicked to his olana kah’hei , all of whom were openly staring. Pomona gave me an excited little wave from where she was perched on the pedestal as Bernard finished her dress. She blushed slightly when I grinned back. Famei huffed a laugh, tilting his head toward me in acknowledgement.
Though I had grown no small amount of affection towards his olana kah’hei, I hadn’t yet earned their loyalty. Nor Nakoa’s, for that matter. The realization that I wanted to felt like a slap to the face. The good kind.
Nakoa turned back towards me, holding up my gift. “Would you mind?”
Some strange emotion clogged my throat, forcing me to clear it. “Sure…”
“It’s for protection.”
Rumiel appeared at the doorway, silent, as per usual, peering down at the gift. His lips parted in surprise before his gaze snapped to mine, and the gratitude lighting them was unmistakable.
I tied the gift around Nakoa’s wrist, causing my fingers to brush against his skin, and I swore I felt a current of electricity pass between us that I think we both tried to pretend not to notice.
When Nakoa and his olana kah’hei had been ushered on the dais of the throne room, I hadn’t anticipated being invited to stand among them. Val and Roderick stood on either side of me, enfolding me into their little group. Rayne, Vesper, and Rumiel stood beside Roderick, and Lokus, Famei, and Pomona stood on the other side of Val. I couldn’t help but feel a tendril of imposter syndrome standing here. It had only been a little over two weeks ago that I’d cut part of Nakoa’s tail off. Wished him dead. Had taken his soulbound as my own.
If I were in his shoes, would I have killed me by now?
For all his gruffness, Nakoa seemed to have a moral compass and self-control that I, undeniably, lacked. He’d given nearly all the riches he’d stolen from those cunt-faced Lords to their servants. I didn’t have to wonder if I would have been as magnanimous.
I wouldn’t have.
I would have stolen Mareina away to live out our solitude together in peace, and allowed everyone else to get fucked. I tried to console myself with the excuse that those same servants probably would have tried to have me killed if they knew what I really was but no amount of reasoning would alleviate the fact that, unless Mareina was involved, I was an unforgivably selfish male.
Shame settled somewhere in my chest at the realization. For all his faults, Nakoa was a good male.
I scanned the mass of people and their magic gathered to witness Nakoa’s coronation to check for any treachery among us, as Zurie had warned. I shouldn’t have been surprised at all that the minoris outnumbered the Lords and Ladies, who all appeared thoroughly unsettled by having to share space with them.
I didn’t miss the way some of them sneered at Nakoa in his true form, towering over the old cleric—the same one that had crowned Zurie, apparently. To the cleric’s credit, he didn’t bat an eye at Nakoa’s black twisting horns, his gigantic membranous wings, or the powerful tail swishing restlessly behind him.
The cleric had begun his speech but it all became background noise when my eyes landed on Zurie and Thalia. Her new lover, presumably, that had liberated Zurie of her collar and dungeon cell. I couldn’t help but think it peculiar, considering Thalia had initially seemed keen on allying with Nakoa. To go behind his back was an interesting move. Especially now that Zurie had nothing. There seemed very little for Thalia to gain from stealing Zurie away outside of Nakoa’s wrath.
As if by nothing more than the weight of my gaze, Zurie’s eyes lifted to mine, her pouty lips pursing. I gave her a bored look. When her eyes returned to Nakoa, I continued scanning the crowd. My soldiers lined the walls, standing guard in their finest military uniforms. I made a mental note to speak with them about my faith in our new king.While the announcement of Nakoa’s coronation had been so sudden, I had no doubt many of them were relieved by the change. There had always been an undercurrent of resentment towards Zurie.
An all-too-familiar magic radiated from behind the audience, snapping my gaze to a male dressed in the darkest blue silk suit with a fancy sash around his waist. Miroslav’s icy gaze flicked to mine, expressionless, as per usual. Admittedly, I was mildly surprised to see him here, hand-in-hand with a female wearing a silky, dark blue hooded cowl.
The sudden roaring applause of the crowd drew my attention as Nakoa bent at the waist and the elderly cleric placed an elaborately wielded gold crown adorned in rubies that matched the epaulettes on his suit. I’d never seen the former King’s crown. It looked… heavy.
Nakoa murmured something to the cleric, whose face lit up with unmistakable joy before shifting aside as our new King stepped forward.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose as Nakoa’s voice rang out like the tolling base of a bell. The crowd hushed, and something crackled in the air. It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t even Nakoa’s magic. It was simply his commanding presence. I couldn’t help but observe him in awe. For a moment, time seemed to slow as I realized that I had been blessed with witnessing some momentous and fortuitous event in history that would change all of our lives.
The harkening of fate.
Of change.
Fuck, if only Mareina were here to witness this.
Longing and worry for her tightened in my chest to the point of pain.
“I am immensely grateful that you all have gathered here to support my ascension of the throne. I vow to spend every day working towards bringing justice and prosperity to each and every one of you.
No longer, will you live in poverty, slaving away under the thumbs of the majori who glut themselves on stolen power. On aetra.
No longer will you live in fear and exile because you have gifts that strike terror into the hearts of those who would seek to either exploit you or kill you.”
A great boom sounded as Nakoa released his magic into the room and his wings flared wide, spanning over twenty feet across the dais.
Vesper stepped forward, wiping a rogue tear from her eye. Rayne, shortly behind her, stepped forward with writhing shadows that formed into dark, monstrous avatars. The cracking of bone and sinew sounded as Val and Roderick shifted beside me and stepped forward in their gigantic Lykos forms. Rumiel, even taller than his son, boasting his wings, tail, and lethal horns stepped forward. Lokus, Pomona and Famei joined him, looking no less formidable despite not having beastly forms remained shrouded in mystery because no one would be able to discern their gifts.
The beast within me roared in ascent. My bones ached and my skin itched with the need to shift. My heart pounded furiously.
Fuck me, I had so much more in common with Nakoa and his olana kah’hei than I’d ever realized.
How had I never realized?
It seemed a sin that we had been at each other’s throats, each of us bearing the same burden in more ways than one.
My beast writhed within me to break free, and again, time seemed to slow as a fleeting window of opportunity presented itself.
Nakoa turned his head to lock eyes with me. Though his features remained hard and unreadable, his message was clear: He was waiting for me. Fear chased up my spine. Never had I revealed my beast. It had been beaten into me as a child to remain hidden.
To blend in.
I’d been hiding in plain sight my entire fucking life. As had Nakoa.
Nakoa’s brow tensed as if urging me on, and I didn’t miss the disappointment that flashed across his face. As his head began to turn back towards the crowd, my heart cracked and my beast threw itself against the wall I’d built up around him as we watched my window of opportunity begin to close.
No.
Every cell in my body lit up with my magic and that fleeting, searing pain of the shift as I allowed my drakonati to take over. Shouts and cries rang out as my drakonati’s head rose high above the crowd. I had to crouch down low so as not to break through the ceiling of the throne room. Lords and Ladies screamed, chairs screeching and toppling as they tried to flee.
Nakoa and his olana kah’hei craned their heads to look up at me. With the exception of Nakoa and Rumiel, everyone’s jaws dropped.
Nakoa swiftly tucked his wings in close to reveal his monstrous and formidable olana kah’hei standing closely behind him. The Lords and Ladies among the crowd began to angrily shout their dissent as my soldiers roared their approval.
Clearly infused with magic, Nakoa’s voice boomed throughout the throne room. “Silence.”
The room grew so quiet you’d have heard a coin drop.
“I welcome those of you who deem me unfit to rule to challenge me.”
Nakoa raised a black-clawed hand. “ I’ll even do you a favor and glamor away my nephilim form to bolster your courage,” he called out as his features turned fae, “ but I implore you to ask yourself one question: are you ready to greet Mors?”