52
A knock on the door roused me from sleep.
Celestine answered it. “It’s still early. She’s resting, Majesty.”
Her tone made it clear that it wasn’t Voran. My mind woke enough to wonder where he was, but the fogginess of sleep evaporated entirely at the sound of my father’s voice.
“We will soon be departing for our accommodations at the city lodge, and I’ve yet to properly see my daughter.”
Dusk stirred and grumbled in their direction.
“You will see her at the crown-feeding ceremony in a few days.”
Celestine’s audacity widened my eyes. Although I adored her for wishing to protect me, my father was a king. He could take offense and use this to get something from her father—something like gold to rebuild his military.
“It’s all right,” I said. When Celestine didn’t move, I spoke again. “Please, let him in.”
Eyes steadfast on my father, she said, “I will return shortly.”
King Raldin closed the door behind him. As he crossed the room, he pulled at the gold-embossed lapels of his olive-green coat. He smiled when Dusk rose from where she’d curled before my legs. “My, how you’ve already grown.”
Dusk watched him take a seat in the armchair, growling and fanning her wings.
Carefully, I sat up to retrieve her. She shrieked in protest. “Hush.” I stroked her neck as I lay back down. “He’s only visiting.”
She ceased trying to escape my arms but continued to glower at my father, refusing to relax.
He huffed. “Still untrusting.” Easing back in the chair, he said, “And I must say, I do not remember Moongold’s princess being quite so rude.”
“She worries for me,” I said. “She’s a good friend.”
“Indeed.” Scrubbing at his beard, he murmured, “Her father is most displeased with her presence here. He’s asked me to take her to our accommodations and await his arrival for the ceremony.” With a glance at the door, he sighed. “Something tells me I’ll have a hard time convincing her.”
“Celestine is now free to do as she wishes. Raxon is dead.”
“No royal is ever free to do as they wish,” he said. “Queen.”
That word tempted me to smile. Despite all this male had taken from me and forced me to endure, I had still become queen—and without needing to wed a monster. Though many would argue that was far from true.
I didn’t care.
But it did prompt me to ask, “Is Voran outside?”
My father shook his head. “It’s why I chose now to see you. At dawn, the wolves began amassing on the first floor and palace grounds. We won’t be heard over their growling and boot stomping.”
Frowning, I ceased petting Dusk. “What are they doing?”
“The obedience pledge. They do it for every newly crowned alpha. Now listen…” He leaned forward in the chair. “Ever since you could pick up my crown, you have wanted to be queen. However, getting what you want always comes with a cost.”
Unease spread through my chest.
His voice lowered. “You have found yourself in a very advantageous position. One that grants you the power to make things right.”
I set Dusk in the bedding and sat up. “But Voran killed Raxon and publicly cleared our kingdom of fault for his father’s death.”
“Yes.” His purple eyes narrowed. “Except he hasn’t surrendered it, and we both know that he won’t.”
Ice filled my chest. “The Scale Crown.”
He nodded once. “You have accepted him as your mate, so what I ask of you may seem cruel.” He clenched his hands. “But ask I must, for you must do this for your kingdom.”
No.
Surely, he wasn’t expecting me to…
My father opened his coat to retrieve a cloth-covered item. “It has been dipped in wolfsbane. Which will stop him from shifting and healing once you push it into his heart.”
He then unwrapped the cream cloth, revealing a thin and gleaming knife—small enough to hide but long enough to puncture a heart.
“Raxon was only part of the poison that bleeds from this kingdom, Ayla. He wasn’t a direwolf, but the wolves respected his brutality enough to follow him—and because they cannot thrive without order.
You know what they did during his reign, which was made possible by the might Tolvos accrued during his reign.
Now his son has all that might at his claws and far less heart. ”
Howls, numerous and deafening, rose every hair on my body.
“Might indeed.” My father gave a pointed smile before wrapping the blade. He stood to place it on the end of the bed. “As long as a direwolf exists, so will a deadly power imbalance between the four kingdoms.”
Disbelief kept me silent. Horrified.
He stared down at me. “I am the high king, with or without my crown, and you are my dutiful daughter. Deliver the balance we all need before the crown-feeding ceremony. I will take care of everything else.”
Tears and a strange sort of anger singed. He didn’t care about what this would do to me. He didn’t even care about the Scale Crown or balance between the kingdoms.
He now saw an opportunity to control Valadorn—the most powerful kingdom of Avyshla—through me.
Words tangled behind my teeth.
The ones that pushed free did so in a whispered rush. “What really happened with Mother?” When he halted halfway across the room but didn’t turn, I said, “She discovered her, didn’t she?” My voice cracked. “She found out about Dena and Evexon.”
Silence.
Then, he just said, “Rest. No matter how well you plan it, you will need your strength to destroy a beast’s heart.”
He was almost at the door when I dared to ask, “And if I don’t do it?”
“Then you are not the daughter I raised.” With his back still facing me, he spoke with lethal quiet. “You are not my daughter at all.”
As the door closed softly behind him, I wondered if maybe all kings were evil.
And some just didn’t expose it until they had to.
I couldn’t tell Celestine about my father’s visit when she returned.
I could hardly speak as cramping curled me into a ball on the bed, and I struggled to keep from weeping like a babe.
“It gets worse before it eases,” she said gently. “I know it’s gone cold, but you should eat some lunch.”
“Maybe later.”
“You said that hours ago.”
Her harsh tone had me trying to laugh. Instead, a whimper left my clenched teeth.
The door opened—slamming into the wall. “Time’s up, broshklin.” Voran’s accent was thick, his words seethed. “I will help you now.”
Dusk got to her feet and growled. Celestine ceased rubbing my back.
“I don’t need or want your help,” I said. Besides, I doubted there was anything that would make this any better.
“And I don’t recall making a request.”
Celestine cleared her throat. “I’ll check on you in the morning.”
Before I could tell her to stay, she rose from the bed and floated to the door. As soon as it closed behind her, Voran kicked off his boots and approached the bed.
Dusk’s growling became an attempt at roaring.
Smoke puffed from her slit nostrils, and she coughed. Voran raised a brow. Smirking down at the hatchling, he murmured something in the old language that made her flutter her wings. He did so again, features hardening and his blue eyes brightening, then pointed at the foot of the bed.
Dusk sat down, defiant, her tail flicking into my curled legs.
Voran harshened his tone as he said something else in the old language.
Whatever it was had no effect. The two continued to stare at one another. A silent battle.
Then pain scraped at my lower back and pulled at my stomach. I tensed, and they both moved at once.
Voran rounded the bed to climb onto it behind me.
Dusk hissed and waddled around my legs, wings flapping.
Voran’s tone was cold—near menacing—as he spoke more unintelligible words to the wyvern. It stopped her from advancing. But whatever he’d said didn’t stop her from sitting upright at the end of the bed to watch him with unblinking focus.
Voran lowered over the bed. “Stubborn.”
Once again, I tensed. This time because of how close he was. “You told me to make sure no one took her. So the only person I’ve allowed near her is Celestine.”
“Wise.” Then he ordered, “Lift your arm.”
“Why?”
“So I can squeeze your tits.”
When I glared at him, I realized I’d given him exactly what he wanted—my entire attention.
Wolfish, he grinned.
My heart kicked. But as his smile left his eyes and they roamed my face, I turned back.
“Lift your arm so I can help you.”
“I don’t want your help. I want you to leave.”
“Lie.” He slid his arm beneath mine.
I gasped as it banded around my waist, and he shifted closer. So close, his heat was felt through the blanket between us and his mouth brushed my shoulder. Intentionally, I knew, as he pulled up my slip.
Shocked, I almost growled, “Voran.”
I was in no state to get aroused, nor was I willing to let him knock down my defenses. But he just placed his hand over my lower belly and splayed his fingers. Warmth seeped from his skin into mine, and I bit back a relieved moan.
“Still want me to leave?” he taunted.
“Yes.”
He didn’t say I was lying again. Just moved his hand and fingers, and gently pushed them into my stomach. “Better?”
I hummed, then begrudgingly said, “Thank you.”
His lips lingered on my shoulder, muffling his words. “It’s a blessing to bleed. Celebrated by one’s family and friends in Valadorn.”
“It doesn’t feel like one right now.”
He huffed and pushed his hand harder into my soft stomach. He moved it slowly, firmly, and I swallowed a sigh. My teeth slid over my lip. As my body began to loosen, I fought the instinctual urge to relax into him.
“Elynia said warmth eases the cramping.”
And he was as warm as a freshly drawn bath.
“You asked her?”
“I told her I didn’t know how to help you.”
I had no idea what to do with that.
As the pain dulled to a slight ache, my eyelids heavied. Sleep beckoned. It almost took me. Then Voran said something else to Dusk, and as she settled with a reluctant-sounding grunt, I realized she’d been watching us this whole time.
“What did you just say to Dusk?”
“That you want her to sleep.”
My lips tried to curl. “It’s true, then,” I mused. “Wyverns understand the old language.”
“Every word. All of our wyvern handlers speak the old tongue.”