Chapter 16
Sixteen
The Court is a queen’s worst adversary. It is also her greatest ally.
Fuck them all.
- King Richard
It goes against everything I am to sit down in the queen’s chair when we start our royal duties in the Throne Room.
Pulling Arienna onto my lap, I try not to think about her dead in front of me.
There is no reason for the Court to kill her; in fact, they need her alive.
If we both die, the throne will fall to Nicholas.
He’s soft enough to manipulate, but he’s still a hel of a lot harder to control than my wife.
Wriggling her ass on my cock, Arienna looks over her shoulder. Her eyes are bright with mischief. “Am I going to get the same bet today?”
“No.”
She starts to look nervous. “Are you going to fuck me in front of everyone?”
“That depends.”
She sucks in a breath. “On?”
“Whether or not you behave yourself.” I nudge her head around as Jace and Irin open the large double doors of the Throne Room. Light pours in from outside, washing over the carving of the raven and snake that’s entangled on the floor.
She wriggles her ass on me. I wrap my arm around her waist. She wriggles again, but then stills as soon as the man who enters starts talking about taxes.
I explain things to her as much as I can. I don’t know how much she’s taking in, but she’s quiet and thoughtful, and the morning goes much quicker with her here.
Nudging her up, I walk with her down the stairs. There are splinters in my ass from our combined weight pressing me down onto that thorn-carved throne, but I relish in the discomfort. Use it to keep myself sharp.
My eyes flicker up to my throne as we reach the bottom of the dais. Did someone lace it with poison, hoping one of those thorns would administer it into my blood? Or has this morning truly passed without an attempt on my life?
But even if the latter is true, it doesn’t make me relax any. Because the next thing on our schedule is a meeting with the Court.
Leaving our five guards outside the door to the Council Room, I usher Arienna into the bird’s nest.
The twelve Dragons of Kholar stand as one, and the urge to kill them all to find the traitor is making me itch with the need to pull a knife.
Something I know they’re all feeling too, especially the six that joined us at the market.
Though, I note as we make our way to my chair, not one of them is sporting any injuries.
Were they outside of the blast because they knew where it would be? Or did they just get lucky?
“Your Majesty,” the Dragons all say as they bow low at my queen.
It’s a blatant ‘fuck you’ to me. Given she isn’t crowned yet, I should have been greeted first. But it’s the whole synchronised shit that’s making my skin crawl.
Was the Court member who took out the hit on me the same one who let the witches into the castle to spell the Vylian wares to explode? Or are they all fucking in on it?
I can survive one, maybe even a third of the Court being brazen enough to try to assassinate me. But all twelve? Even if Jace, Echo, and Evangeline can keep me safe – what will remain of Raza? What will happen to my sister’s vision of this place that I’m trying so hard to honour?
“We are pleased to see you here today,” Petre says as she straightens. Instead of a bow, she raises her arms at the elbows to me. As she shows me her empty palms, the rest follow suit. “We did not think you’d come given how keen King Morningstar is to keep you trapped in your rooms.”
“Oh, no, you are mistaken,” Arienna says as I pull out my chair for her. “He only ties me up while he fucks me. I’m not trapped there.”
Half of the room is shocked into silence. The other half –those who tried to talk to her yesterday– don’t hesitate to take their seats. Dragon Bailey even leans forwards and says, “I heard brownie women don’t orgasm. Is that true?”
Arienna laughs. “Not at all. We have toys. I can give you some if your partner isn’t able to finish you off.
I don’t need them anymore.” She glances up at me as I stand behind her chair.
She isn’t on my lap like Evangeline ordered, but with me standing while everyone else is sitting, I should be able to react faster than the Court.
And she is still shielding me for the most part.
Beaming up at me, my queen makes my heart wrench with guilt. “He’s fucking amazing,” she says. “Plus, he has a lot of toys himself. All men should have toys, don’t you think?” She looks back at Bailey.
“Your Majesty,” Petre says sweetly, “as foreign as this might be for you, we have more important things to discuss than sex. Do you understand what will be required of you when you become queen, or has Richard failed to properly educate you?”
“Her knowledge will be irrelevant after she signs the new law,” I cut in, staring her down.
“A queen’s signature cannot be forced.”
“Nor can it be signed in ignorance,” Tanya adds.
She has been jostling for Petre’s power over the Court for years.
But as much as I hate Petre, I prefer her to be the one in charge.
Her attacks are always controlled and cunning, calculated moves in a lethal game.
Whereas Tanya is like a bee armed with unsteady explosives.
Ruthless, brazen, and too fucking reckless.
If she’s the one trying to kill me, she might end up hurting my queen on accident.
My fingers itch for a knife. “She will be following me around as I attend my duties until her coronation,” I say. “By the time it comes for her to sign the law, she will be well educated on the matter at hand.”
“It is impossible for her to learn everything about Raza in that time,” Dragon Coo cuts in.
“She does not need to know it all.”
“If she wants to come in here and rob us of our culture –”
“She is not robbing us.”
“You are not allowed to lie in here, Your Majesty,” Tanya spits. “I was informed this morning, you have brought in thousands of refugees. They’re a threat to our way of life!”
“We are not Brownston!” Dragon Coo roars in rage. “If you want us to be like them so badly, then you should move there!”
As the rest of the Court joins in, I half wish one of them would try killing me just so they’d shut up.
“You brought back more brownies?” Arienna asks as she peers up at me, but I cannot talk about my reasons here.
The last thing I need is for the Court to find more ammunition against me.
Already, I’m too tense with Fabia being in my queen’s guard.
Now I don’t have to just worry about saving myself and my wife; I have to worry about saving her too because I know it’ll devastate Arienna if she dies.
Shit. I haven’t told her about Saragese.
My jaw tight, I look down at her. What was I thinking? She is never going to survive here.
“Do you even know what law we speak of?” Petre cuts in above the noise of her peers. They all quiet as Arienna looks across the round table at her.
“Um… no? You haven’t said…”
“He wishes to kill us,” Tanya sneers.
“What?” She jumps out of her chair this time, then turns to me. Her hands reach for me, but I step back. As much as I wish to let her comfort herself by thinking she can stop me from killing someone by holding my hands, I cannot risk being that vulnerable. Not here.
“That is not the purpose of the law,” I tell her. Looking over her, I address the Court with a sneer. “That is merely an added bonus due to the traditions” –I look back at my wife– “they wish to strangle this kingdom with.”
“Those traditions have kept us alive for two thousand years. Without them, we’d be dead.” Coo glances at my wife. “Or something worse.”
Arienna trips over her feet and falls against my chest. As I take a step back to catch her weight, she grabs my hands. I was a second away from lunging at Coo for the insult she threw at my wife. Yet, Arienna doesn’t even know she was insulted. They’re going to eat her alive once I’m gone.
“Oh nooo,” she says, not at all convincing. “I fell over.” Twisting around, she presses her chest to my back, then reaches for my hands again. She wraps my arms around her while she faces the Court.
Pressing my lips to her ear, I speak softly so only she can hear.
“Every second you keep hold of my hands, I will spank your pretty little ass.” Despite my words, I don’t want her to go anywhere.
Evangeline will be pissed if she knew how vulnerable I’ve let her make me, locking my hands up like this, but I don’t care.
I need to feel her against me right now.
Else, I’m liable to kill everyone in here.
Pushing her ass against me, she asks, “So what’s the purpose of this law I’m supposed to sign?”
“One,” I warn under my breath.
“You’re not supposed to sign it,” Tanya snaps. “If he’s coercing you into doing so, he will be killed.”
Petre looks at her sharply, silencing whatever else she wants to spit out.
Then she turns her gaze to my wife. “He wishes to abolish the monarchy and allow commoners to vote on what happens. By doing so, he’ll be getting rid of our Court so he can create a new one,” she says, her voice clipped but neutral.
“As our positions are held until death, the only way we get to retire is through his sword.”
“Well, it’s a good thing there’s a thriving necromancer business here then.”
“And what about those of us who can’t afford that!” Coo demands. “That’s outrageous!”
“But I thought you all liked having to pay to live?”
Coo sputters.
I grin on the inside.
“The point is,” Petre says, getting us back on track, “is that what he fails to consider is that these commoners are not educated in politics. They… need guidance.”
Are stupid, is what she means. But that is why the new law will make it mandatory for politics to be taught every year in school. If school is about learning and teaching you life skills, there isn’t a more important one than that.
“Won’t the new ruler guide them?” Arienna asks.
“Eight,” I murmur.