Chapter 19
Nineteen
To kill a member of the Court is to commit an act of treason.
Fuck semantics. - King Richard
“You killed my nieces.”
Reviewing the last page of the Raza-Vyla agreement, I don’t bother glancing up at Tanya. Josie stands beside her mother, and both of them are armed to the teeth, no doubt, but Jace is behind them. By the time they draw a weapon, they’ll be gurgling through the new hole in their neck.
“Your nieces committed treason,” I say as I make a note on the last article.
I won’t be able to sway the Court to give up even a centimetre of the land they deem as ours – even if that land is well inside Vyla.
Although I am planning on destroying the Court as soon as Arienna has her coronation, I’ve long learned the future is never certain.
After all, I was never supposed to be king.
“They partook in a tradition of marriage,” she says.
“While armed.”
“Against you and Jace. They were teenage girls barely through their training. It would’ve been suicide for them to try to assassinate you.”
Finished with the agreement, I put my pen down and look up. “If they had been on their own, perhaps I could believe that. But they were with eleven others, many of whom were not, as you say, teenage girls. Lei and Prione trained with Jace as children.”
“They were friends.” She shrugs. “There was a kingdom’s worth of gold on the line. Who wouldn’t be tempted? Even split between thirteen people, they would’ve been able to buy a city.”
I glance over at Josie, ignoring her flirtatious smile. “Yet your daughter was nowhere to be seen.” Pulling the top pile off the stack of petitions I have to get through tonight, I start to read.
Another request to deny citizenship to an enemy of war. Great. My evening can’t get any worse.
For the last decade, I’ve been fighting to keep our borders open.
It has been hard enough trying to convince Razians to accept people from the countries we aren’t at war with, like the brownies.
The only reason that law has been left alone is because brownies never venture outside of their towns –which are dotted all over the forest, surrounded by other kingdoms– unless they’re inviting people to orgies.
Getting my people to accept immigrants from places we are actively at war with is going to be a ball-ache. But it isn’t something I’m willing to go back on. A veteran – of any country deserves to find peace wherever they can. And as the cause of their unrest, the least I can do is help.
Fighting the urge to chuck the petition in the bin, I start to read the author’s reasoning.
“Regardless of whether or not you believe my nieces’ innocence,” Tanya sneers, “they’re members of the Court, and killing them is punishable by death.”
I still. Looking up, I catch her gaze. “There are twelve members of the Court, each of whom have one vice member that steps in should they be needed. Josie is yours.”
Her smile cuts across her cheeks, chilling me down to my bones.
“If you’re aware of the exact wording of the law, it says, ‘to kill a member of the Court is to commit an act of treason’.”
My fingers tighten on the pen in my hand. When I get close to snapping it, my grip loosens. The tension in my shoulders does not.
“A member is a term that can be used to describe any and all family members,” she continues silkily.
My chest tightens. I refuse to give in to the urge to look at Jace, the man who killed her nieces. “That’s bullshit, Tanya. A family member has never been shortened to just ‘member’. It is always followed or preceded by ‘family’.”
“We’ll just have to let the Court decide that.” Her smile is full on feral. “Now who was it that killed them? So I know whose name to put on the form.”
“Get out.”
“You are legally obligated –”
“I have three days to get you that information. Now get the fuck out of my study.”
Jace steps forward behind them.
Turning towards him, Tanya’s smile twists into a sneer. “I know it was you, and I can’t wait to watch Richard skin you alive.”
Nodding at her daughter, she heads for the door. As the two of them leave, the pen finally snaps in my hand.
“Careful, Your Highness. If you break any more pens, you’re going to bleed the treasury dry.”
Glaring at him, I throw the two halves into the bin. Ink flicks through the air, staining the petition I’m working on. Fuck!
“She has a good argument, Jace.”
“Tanya always has an argument,” he says dismissively. “She never stops arguing.”
“The Court will rule in her favour. They’ve been trying to get rid of you almost as long as they have me.”
His smile makes me want to smile, and I hate him for it.
“I do believe they tried to kill me first.” He pulls aside one half of his tunic to stare at the tattoo on his stomach. “Yep, says right here: 16 Moqui 1992 CE. Evangeline stabbed me when I was three years old.”
“We were playing,” I scoff. “She wasn’t even head of the FI then, and it was an accident. That doesn’t count.”
“She’s always been a wily one. Knew the threat I would be when I got older. Also, who has that sort of accident with a crayon? It’s statistically impossible.” He runs his forefinger along the scar cutting across the left half of his stomach.
Rising from my chair, I start to pace. “If they accept Tanya’s definition, you’ll be charged with treason. I will be forced to publicly execute you.”
“Ah, I see now why you’re upset.” His eyes twinkle as they track me across the room.
“Don’t –”
“You’re worried I’ll get a boner ‘cause I’m a masochist. But if you just start with my cock –”
“Dammit, Jace! For once, try to stay serious.”
“You’re right. Sorry. If you started with my cock, I would definitely get a boner.” He grins. “Don’t look, but I’m getting one now just thinking about it.”
Striding back to my desk, I pull out another pen, a piece of paper, and the royal stamp. “I’m sending you to Urabel on assignment. You’ll leave tonigh–”
“The hel I will.” He retrieves a green berry from his tunic and sits down on the edge of my desk. “They’ve tried to assassinate you twice today.”
“Twice?”
He waves a hand. “You were asleep for the first one. I’m not going more than five metres from you, let alone to the most northern reach of our kingdom.” Pulling out a knife, he cuts into his snack.
Ignoring him, I start to write down his orders. The pen disappears from my hand.
Snap.
I look up in time to see the pieces flying through the air. A bit of ink splashes on my cheek. “I’m not killing you,” I grind out.
“Will you at least do the whole knifeplay thing? I haven’t had sex in –” He twirls his knife in the air as he counts.
“Ten, eleven hours? And not to speak ill of the dead, but the assassin wasn’t a very good lay.
It was clear she was using me right from the start.
” Cutting another slice off his berry, he adds, “Besides, you need me to help you dig through all the paperwork so we can mount a defence.”
“I have a whole team of scholars –”
“That you trust?”
I don’t bother answering. It’s no secret that I don’t.
“It’ll be fine,” he assures me, “and if not, I’ll get to have your sexy hands all over me. That’s pretty much a win-win.”
Exhaling sharply, I bite back what I want to say. The only person more stubborn than Jace is Nicholas. Getting either of them to look after themselves is pointless. I grab the last pen out of the drawer. “Fine. Then start mounting a defence while I get through these damn petitions.”
“Will do.” Finishing off his berry, he licks his knife clean.
Spreading his wings, he flies up to the mezzanine, grabs the spare chair, and lands back in front of me.
Opening the door, he says something to one of the guards, then sits down and pulls out another berry.
One of these days, I’m going to figure out where he keeps the damn things.
Twirling the pen in between my fingers, I pretend not to notice the feel of his stare. I concentrate on the petition in front of me, writing counters to the reasons they’ve given about not letting “enemy” immigrants into Raza.
1. They could be spies wanting to create discord in the kingdom. There will be intense background checks and interrogations interviews beforehand.
2. They will commit more crimes.
I pinch the bridge of my nose as I think it over.
Spouting statistics about immigrants being less likely to commit crimes than natives won’t sway these people.
This is an emotional matter, not a factual one.
All it’d take is one bad immigrant, and there’d be another assassination attempt on me by some idiot trying to stop me from “destroying our kingdom”.
Flipping to the back of the petition, I rip off all the pages holding the signatures needed to bring this to my attention. Passing them to Jace, I say, “Figure out who all these people are. I want to know if they’re going to be a threat to anyone immigrating over.”
Folding the pages, he slides them into his tunic. “Is this a hitlist?”
“Potentially.”
He grins. I don’t. The last thing I want to do is handle this with more violence, but sadly, that’s the only language some people understand.
“Well, if you want to impress Arienna,” he says, “I would suggest it isn’t.”
“And I care about impressing her because…?” I shouldn’t have asked. I knew I shouldn’t have. And yet, I wasn’t able to stop.
Raising a brow, he grins. “I saw the way you kissed her.”
“It was a simple kiss.”
“You grabbed her throat, pretending it was something else, I imagine.”
Well, fuck. Now I’m imagining it. My hands on her ass. Her breasts. Her hair as she kneels before me, her mouth –
“Careful with that pen there, Your Highness.”
“I told you there would be no kissing. To defy a direct order –”
He shrugs. “So charge me. I’ll be dead by the time of my hearing, I suspect.”
My eyes narrow.
His grin widens. “So when’s the last time you had sex? Because it might be worth jacking off before you go to her to consummate your marriage. You don’t want to let down our whole gender by coming too soon.”
Sliding one of the knives free from my wrist, I throw it at him.
He backflips out of his chair. Spreading his wings, he lands on the wooden edge of the mezzanine, another berry in his hand.
The knife slams into the back of the seat he just vacated.
A knock at the door causes him to laugh. “Saved by work.”
Flying down, he opens the door and takes a tome from the guard. Pulling my knife free, he places it on the desk, then settles in his chair, with his back against one arm of it and a leg hanging over the other. With that stupid smile still on his face, he begins to read.
I look down at my own work, focusing on the words.
But all I can think about is my hand on her throat. Her breasts. Her ass.
Her moaning beneath me. Above me.
Her legs spread.
Her mouth full.
My name on her lips.
“My king…”
The pen snaps in my hand.
Jace laughs.
Fucking deja vu. Is this what my life’s going to be like from now on?
No, not from now on, a chilling voice corrects.
Just until the Court makes me execute my wife.