Chapter 10
Ten
At times of war, there is no such thing as a dirty trick.
And we’re always at war. - King Richard
The ambience in the Council Room is cold enough to store a dead body. Tanya presses her lips tightly together. Petre sits as still as the calm before a storm. Whereas the other ten women making up the Court glare at me as if their looks really can kill.
Delight fills my bones.
Leaning forward, Tanya presses both hands –her long black nails as sharp as any knives– on the table.
Carved into the middle of the round piece of wood is Raza’s symbol – a flying raven, holding a snake in its claws as it tears it apart with its beak.
“You did what?” she hisses, her voice as icy as her gaze.
I look straight at her, a smirk twitching at my lips. “I’ve sent Nicholas to propose to a brownie on my behalf.” My wings stretch out lazily behind me. Her mouth thins into a slit.
“A brownie cannot be queen,” she sneers.
“In which law is that defined?”
Her jaw ticks. Fury radiates off her in a blissful heat that warms the iciness of the room.
“It’s not,” Petre cuts in, glaring at Tanya. “We all know brownies are technically one of us. Just because they’ve lost their wings doesn’t mean they are a different species.”
“As unfortunate as that is,” Bailey mutters.
Petre shoots her a sharp look. The woman lowers her head, her black-mohawk doing little to hide her from the depth of Petre’s stare. “Be that as it may, King Morningstar has every right to take one as queen,” Petre says.
“And I will,” I clarify just to piss Tanya off even more.
She bites her tongue, her scowl deepening.
Turning my attention to Petre, I slide the file in front of me across the table. I know the Court was on the verge of discovering it on their own with their little ants anyway, so there’s no point in keeping it hidden. I’ll let them suffer, knowing there’s nothing they can do.
The Dragon stops it with one delicate hand. Her long purple nails, enhanced with magic runes to keep them sharp and hard, dig into the first page. Holding my gaze, she asks, “What is this?”
I smile. “That is the law my wife and I will be signing into existence as soon as she becomes queen. The positions of the Court will no longer exist.”
Murmurs of outrage bubble up. I talk over the twelve of them, not raising my voice in the slightest. “Neither will the positions of king and queen. There will be new roles, and all politicians will be voted into place by an educated populace. I have listed a series of requirements that each voter must meet, as well as the rules of engagement between running parties.”
Her lips twisting into a promise of pain, Petre flips open the file. I wait patiently as she skims through it, my stomach clenching with nerves I refuse to show.
For six years, I have spent every evening drafting this law.
I’ve run numerous scenarios, gathered various opinions and research.
I’ve revised, revised, and revised again until I had a copy that was ironclad.
This is what our kingdom needs to move forward.
It might end with me no longer on the throne, but it will be progress.
“If you think we will allow this to pass –”
“You can’t stop it,” I cut in. “All I need is the signature of a queen.”
Her transparent wings flutter quickly behind her, their light flickering on the dark-purple walls.
Seething, she slams the file shut. “Do not play us as fools, Your Majesty. A little ant told me that the brownie you’re proposing to is in jail.
” She glances around the table, a sneer twisting her black lips.
“With the charge of trying to enter the human realm.”
The angry murmurs turn into sounds of triumph.
“That is punishable by death.”
“I am well aware,” I reply with a shrug. By the time the brownie stands trial, her use to me will be over. “I am to marry her, not absolve her of her crimes. Whatever you decide her punishment should be, so be it. I trust you to be fair.”
Tanya’s hand slips into her robes. I shift my legs under the table, ready to shove my chair back should she attack. Keeping my eyes focused on Petre, I watch Tanya – and the others in my peripheral.
“We will not grant her leniency because she’s a brownie,” the unofficial leader of the Court says.
“I would expect no less.”
Something akin to pride fills her silver-and-green eyes. I dream of carving them from her dead body. “You would subject the girl to a royal’s death rather than let her die as a commoner?” Petre asks, arching a thin brow.
As a commoner, she’d die quickly and painlessly. But as a royal, she’ll be made into an example. She’ll be tortured for weeks, maybe a month or two. She’ll die in agony and all because I have use of her.
I shrug. “She is a criminal. She will face whatever is her due.”
My stomach clenches with guilt, but I ignore it. I am too close to let a single person, a brownie no less, come in the way of the future Aurelia wanted.
Pushing back from the table, I stand. My eyes scan the twelve women, lingering on Tanya’s cloaked hand before returning to Petre. “We’ll wed this evening. Her coronation will take place in three weeks.”
Turning, I make my way to the door. I listen for the whisper of a flying blade. But only silence follows me out; I hold no illusions that the room will remain that way after I am gone.
As the servant in the hall closes the door behind me, my gaze locks on Jace. He’s leaning against the wall, tossing a knife into the air. As our eyes connect, he catches the blade. He slides it into the sheath up his sleeve, then pushes off the wall and follows me through the castle.
“I take it that went well,” my head of security says, his teal eyes scanning my face before moving to sweep the hall. He glances at the hands of everyone we pass, looking for weapons and clenched fists. He reads their faces, looking for shifty eyes and beads of sweat.
I nod. “No one tried to stab me this time.” As we move down the hall, heading for the outside, I ask, “Have you heard from Nicholas?”
“No.”
I frown. How long does it take to propose to someone?
He should’ve given me an answer before the meeting.
Now he’s two hours late. A few years ago, I would’ve wondered if he was flirting with them.
But since he got the scars on his face, he barely leaves his chambers.
Only coming out when duty calls but never for a second longer.
The tension in my shoulders ripple up my wings. Has he had a panic attack? The desire to go check on him curls in my belly, but I know he hates being seen like that. The last time I tried to help him, I only made it worse.
Perhaps once I’m no longer king, I’ll have the time to become what he needs. The muscles in my neck knot all the way up to my skull. “Tell Nicholas to find me in my study after he gets my answer,” I say.
Jace raises a brow just to annoy me. He knows I hate the fucking gesture – and not simply because I can’t do it like he keeps saying.
“Don’t you think you should at least meet her properly? Given everything you’re going to put her through, it’s only kind.”
I glare at him. “What would be kind is if she never meets me before her death.”
Unfazed by my tone, he waves a hand. “She’ll have to at her coronation. You’ll be the one putting the crown on her head.”
“I am aware.”
We step out onto this floor’s balcony, looking out from the trunk of the tree.
All of Kholar, the capital city of Raza, spreads out on the branches before us.
The inner city is packed full of wooden, arched sky scrapers with hundreds of fairies flying between them.
Suspension bridges connect the middle of the buildings, criss-crossing up multiple floors as flying uses a lot more energy than walking.
The tightness of the city sprawls out along the branches, leading to dome-shaped homes that look like mere knots in the wood.
Sunlight cuts through the leaves surrounding our city, basking us in a golden glow.
Various crow steeds and messengers dart through the air, but they’re the only birds that call this place home.
All others normally give us a wide berth – we might be smaller than them, but we do love a good hunt.
It’s better for them to go to Brownston for an easier meal.
As Jace and I take to the air, the sound of metal clashing against metal rises with us.
Young war cries and yelps of pain intermingle with it too.
Looking over at the training fields, I watch as hundreds of kids practise their sparring.
Armed women and men walk between the masses, stopping here and there to give extra aid to those struggling.
Landing on the balcony below the one we just left, I head inside. With this being my personal floor, there are more guards at the entrance, and they all stand at attention as I pass.
“If you can convince her that her death’ll have meaning,” Jace continues as we move, “perhaps she’ll die in peace.”
“Her entire kingdom has known nothing but peace for generations,” I snap. “She has no concept of pain. As soon as she sees the jars of honey to be slathered on her, she’ll break. No ‘believing in our cause’ is going to help her through that.”
Nor me as I apply it.
“We could intervene.”
Stopping, I turn to look at him. Despite his duties to this kingdom and his unwavering loyalty, I know the burden he hides upon his shoulders.
He might try to pretend that he is no longer affected by all the deaths he deals, but we grew up together.
I watched him cry over a dead caterpillar he found. I watched him bury it in secret.
And I know that the tattoos spreading across his back and chest aren’t markers of heroic acts. They’re reminders of every life he’s taken. Of every woman, man, and child. They are burdens he will never forget.
He might kill without hesitation for the kingdom. He might be the boogeyman our enemies all fear. But beneath all that beats the bleeding heart of his youth.
And I can’t have that. Not in this. Not with everything hanging on his silence.
“If you tell anyone what really happened last night –” I warn.
He looks away. “You know my loyalty is with you.”
My jaw tightens. I force my tone to soften. “That was never in question. But I also know your heart is purer than anyone else’s, Jace, and so I am begging you to leave her to her fate. The gods will smile kindly on her in the next life.”
A blatant lie that we all can’t help but believe.
Glancing away from me, he nods.
We continue towards my private chambers.
The hall is painted a dark-purple. Black, half-round fluted columns grace the walls, connected by arches that contain wooden crows, ravens, and leaves.
Above us, carved into the ceiling, are harsh depictions of our history.
Battles rage above us, victories forever captured in the wood.
The only joy in this place is found on the small, dark side tables. Vases of colourful shrooms and flowers lend colour to the gloom. Light comes in from the sunlight streaming through the open balcony behind us, merging with the soft bulbs of luminescent blue moss that hang every few paces.
As we pass through the royal halls, I lock eyes with every single guard we pass, showing them my respect and thanks despite not wanting them here at all. Perhaps when I am no longer king, I’ll find out what it means to have true privacy.
“Go find out what’s taking my brother so long,” I say as soon as I make it to my study.
Ignoring me, Jace follows me inside the wide room.
He scopes out the place, making a point of walking around the desk sitting in the middle of the floor and then flying up to the mezzanine overlooking it.
I barely bite back the urge to order him out.
Telling Jace to do anything only turns him into more of a nightmare.
My lips twitch. I do not smile.
“All clear,” he says unnecessarily as he lands in front of me. When I simply step out of the way of the door, he grins. “Ever so subtle.”
“Go see what’s taking Nicholas so long. I have work to do.” I can see he still wants to say something though. My eyes narrow, warning him not to open his mouth.
“You know that favour you owe me?” he says.
My body stills as memories of that favour assault me. “This is what you’re going to waste it on?” I breathe.
“She’s innocent, Dick. And we are playing with her life like a –”
“Fine,” I snap, not wanting to hear any more. The things I have done… The debt I owe him. Those damn purple eyes flash across my mind.
Shoving past him, I stride down the hall. “I will go see her. I will even say a few words to her,” I snarl, the hatred burning inside me unable to be contained. “But that is it, you understand? And you are never to bring this up again.”