Chapter Four #3
Until I could regain control of myself, I thought it best that I stay away.
My attendance at a meeting of the council had been urgently requested, since the entire Imperial guard, including many of the palace guards and roughly half of the Army had threatened to resign if Werros remained king.
There was a great deal of unrest in the city, with marches in the streets, and the Council had announced they would meet right away to settle things.
Because of the interference of the Veranon church on the side of Werros, they had agreed to a vote, even though Tygeria was a kind of constitutional monarchy and not any kind of democracy, to be sure.
The council had no right by law to “vote” for anything.
Either way such a so-called vote would go, I had made up my mind.
If it were decided that I was the rightful king, then I would immediately banish Werros and lock Blake up until Werros cleared his things from the palace and got out.
If not, then I would lead a coup and take my place back by force.
I was the rightful king by both birth and decree, and I fully expected the entire Tygerian army would back me if it came down to it.
I had no idea how the council had agreed to Werros in the first place.
I had a few distant cousins who should have been named king before Werros, who had no claim of birthright, and whose father had been only a minor nobleman, and not even a high-ranking soldier.
And I retracted my idea about him being Dyson.
I wouldn’t give him the time of day, let alone make him my battle commander.
He had betrayed me. Just like Blake had.
I understood that Blake had thought I was dead, but still, why so much haste?
He had rushed into this “romance” of his with Werros, and I was far from feeling reasonable about it.
Werros had made him pregnant! I should kill Werros for that.
He should have stepped down immediately once he learned I was still alive and begged my forgiveness, instead of clinging to power.
He should have faced me immediately like a man and apologized for going after my mate.
The same went for the traitorous human. If the situation had been reversed, if Blake had been killed, I would never have aligned myself with anyone else.
I probably wouldn’t have ever remarried and certainly not after such a short time.
Had everything he’d ever told me, everything that we ever said to each other, had it all been a fucking lie?
Had Werros actually said Blake was going to have his child? Over my fucking dead body.
It was clear to me now that the human had been using me all along, and as soon as I was gone and out of sight, I was out of his mind too.
He had taught me that particular Earthan slang phrase in the time I’d been with him, and it was a good one as it had turned out.
He used so much of that ridiculous slang, like all the humans seemed to do, it was hard not to pick up a few of the words, along with their near constant cursing.
Some of the words were particularly apt, however, I had to admit.
I refused to go to the council meeting, because I wanted to show my contempt for its legitimacy. I did send an officer in my place, however. It was my aide, who was a young colonel named Tymarr.
Colonel Tymarr returned late in the afternoon with some pertinent information.
The church, or I should say the head priest, or whatever he was, Evoq, had lobbied long and hard for Werros to remain king, but the army had threatened to resign all together and all at once if I was not reinstated and crowned.
That would have devastated our war efforts, obviously, so the church leaders had been shouted down.
It was a significant defeat for them, and it would diminish their power forever, if I had anything to say about it. And I fucking did.
Werros, in an effort to keep the throne, had offered to put Blake aside if he could remain king.
He had even offered to send him home in a prisoner exchange, or to send him to the nearest Alliance planet.
If he was truly pregnant, like Werros had claimed, and he knew it, then that was a death sentence for Blake and the child, and Werros had to know that.
I had felt a distinct and large baby bump when I’d held him close to my body.
I’d told myself it was all the same to me if he lived or died, and his child along with him—but that was an awful lie and even in my current state, I knew it.
I would never stand by and let him and an innocent child die.
After the baby was born, then he could leave for all I cared, and the baby could go to a good Tygerian home.
I felt sure Blake wouldn’t want it anyway. As for me, I’d be glad to see him go.
All right, that was a fucking lie too. He wasn’t going anywhere, damn him.
I’d have to see how I felt later on, although the prospect of keeping him as a love slave and loaning him out to my friends appealed to me too. Sort of. In a way.
And that was another lie… Blake was mine, and I always knew it. I never thought of him in any other way.
Werros had promised to give his answer the next day.
He would either call the army’s bluff and remain king, or he would leave the planet.
I wondered if he planned to take Blake with him or leave him for me.
Maybe I didn’t want his damned seconds. But then again, could I bear to see Blake leave?
I mean, I did fancy punishing him, after all.
Damn it, I knew I was kidding myself again. I wanted Blake back any way I could have him. If I had to raise another man’s child, then I would. I would never be cruel to an innocent child. Blake’s child. I needed to admit, at least to myself, that I loved Blake far too much.
That night, I didn’t sleep well. I was plagued with dreams of the lieutenant all night long and when I awoke, the memories of our time together assaulted me and bludgeoned me over the head. Needless to say, I spent a restless night.
The next morning, I ate a hearty breakfast and drank several cups of strong Lycan tea before I finally felt ready to face the day and whatever it might bring.
I really thought that Werros would step down, but I guess that remained to be seen.
I sent a group of my Imperials to his quarters and to his office to make sure he didn’t try anything stupid. Like trying to take Blake with him.
An hour or so later, a delegation from the council came to my door to ask me to take the crown and accept their humble apologies. Werros had resigned.
I could be graceful in their defeat.
I accepted their apologies and assured them of my cooperation.
In truth, they should have selected one of my distant cousins instead of Werros to start with, but I didn’t want to stir up that particular pot in case another usurper might jump out at me.
If the king had sired a son, this never would have happened.
I’d have to make sure to have plenty of sons myself.
That brought up another question.
“Where is the human Blake?” I asked the council. “Werros isn’t going to try to take him, is he? I won’t allow him to go. Not ever.”
“No, sire. Although I heard that the human did beg him to take him with him.”
“Oh, did he now? I see. And where is the little bastard now?”
“He fled and sought sanctuary at the church. They agreed to take him in and give him refuge.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He left his rooms this morning. The guards you sent to watch him went with him to keep him from rendezvousing with Werros.”
“Ah, excellent. Then I think a visit to the church is in order.”