27. The Price for Insulting the Heart
Chapter twenty-seven
The Price for Insulting the Heart
Kenji
The moment I declared Nyomi the Dragon’s Heart, my entire war room changed.
Even the air bowed to the title.
I looked over my shoulder.
My Claws blinked, their expressions tightening not in disbelief, but recognition. Like soldiers who’d just been told where the crown jewel of the empire resided. Their backs straightened.
The Fangs glanced between themselves.
Many Scales shifted slightly on their heels.
Their eyes weren’t on Kiko anymore.
They were on Nyomi , and they were recalibrating strategy, redrawing their loyalty lines, and adjusting their future language when it came to her.
That was what declaring her my Heart did.
It made her powerful.
Instantly.
But what mattered most was that everyone got the message. She wasn’t a fuck toy. A temporary lover. She wasn’t a phase. She was my everything.
She was my heart .
I returned my view to the front and didn’t look at Nyomi yet. I didn’t need to. I could feel her. Still as stone, but vibrating with an internal quake. I could only imagine what was happening behind her eyes.
But I saw everyone else.
Kiko’s crew stiffened like they’d been slapped. Tet’s mouth opened slightly. One of the cousins tilted her head, confused. The other crossed her arms like she was gearing up for battle. They didn’t speak, but their faces said it all.
They hadn’t expected Nyomi to win.
They hadn’t expected her to even exist .
They thought Kiko was the closest any woman would ever get to my throne.
Fucking fools.
Kiko herself didn’t mask her reaction well. Her entire face said that her soul had been trampled on. Her hands were no longer resting on her stomach. They dropped to her sides, trembling in betrayal or rage.
I couldn’t tell, and it didn’t matter.
From the far edge of the room, Reo leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, and wearing a satisfying smile on his face.
Kiko finally spoke, “Does. . .she even know what that means?”
I cut my eyes to Nyomi, just once. “She’ll learn.”
Kiko’s mouth opened again, but no sound came. My tone had stripped her of the ability to protest.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then Reo finally left the wall and stepped forward. “Kiko, Eiji is waiting outside to escort you all back to your quarters.”
“Hold on.” I held my hand up. “It’s not time for them to leave just yet.”
Reo quirked his brows.
Kiko widened her eyes.
“I don’t want this moment right here to ever occur again. I want everyone to understand their positions.” I glanced at Nyomi too.
I knew damn well that she had asked me to bring Kiko in here as a test. I wasn’t sure if she thought I had been lying or if she just needed some clearer confirmation.
But I was pissed.
I was not the sort of man one should challenge, and she had no idea what it did to me—that she’d even questioned where she stood in my life.
You are my fucking heart. Babies or not, that should’ve never been up for debate.
And, I wasn’t completely angry she needed proof. I was more angry that she asked for it in the form of Kiko.
That was beneath her.
Beneath me.
Beneath us.
That’s okay, Tora. You wanted proof? Let me give you one you will never forget.
“But. . .” Kiko grabbed my attention and still appeared like she was struggling with not cursing me out.
I eyed her. “Yes?”
Kiko tried to recover, but her face twisted in fury.
“She is your Heart? Her?! I bled for you. I prayed for you. I opened my legs for your legacy. I. . .I thought that would be enough. . .and now you give my throne to a woman who doesn’t even know our language.
Our ways. Our customs. You bring her into your war room?
You will not beat the Fox making these sort of stupid mistakes! ”
I pulled my hands out of my pockets. “Yoichi.”
He spoke, “Yes, Dragon?”
“Give me my knife.”
Gasps spread through her crew like a contagion. Tet flinched. Kiko took another step back, panic swelling in her eyes.
Even Nyomi took a step back too.
Reo rubbed his temples.
“Wait. I-I am s-sorry, Kenji,” Kiko stammered, and her voice cracked. “I forgot my place. I am just. . .worried for my sons. Our sons.”
Yoichi brought over my knife and handed it to me.
I gripped it and looked at the blade. “Why would you be worried for your babies?”
“My twins are yours, Kenji. They are the Dragon’s sons. They are the heirs to this throne. I should be in this room with you, helping with the war and helping—”
“Aww. Now I understand.” Hiro clapped. “She’s the Mother of Dragons!”
This time the Claws and Fangs knew not to chuckle with him, although they were probably struggling with remaining serious.
Kiko trembled and rested her hand on her stomach as if that would shield her from what was coming next. “K-kenji. . .please. I am so sorry for any disrespect.”
I raised the blade slowly, deliberately, the glint catching the low light of the war room. Everyone in the space saw it. “Your behavior has been unacceptable.”
Her eyes widened.
“Pregnant or not, you are only my Ear. You are only my weapon. To think you are something more. . .to think that you can yell at my Roar, come into this room, and insult my Heart. . .” I took a breath. “It cannot be overlooked.”
The whole war room held its breath.
Her crew went still.
Shaking, Kiko lowered down to the floor. Her knees buckled. One hand clutched her stomach, the other flattened on the floor to keep from collapsing entirely. Her hair slid over her face. “Kenji. . .I. . .am very sorry. I will not do that again. I am—”
“Due to this disrespect, you are no longer allowed in this house. I see you in here and your crew’s heads will be sliced off one by one and sent back to Tokyo. Do you understand?”
Kiko remained in that deep bow on the ground. “Y-yes. I am so sorry.”
“But your apology is not enough.”
She slowly lifted her head. “Kenji, please—”
I glanced down at the blade in my hand and turned it once. “Luckily for you, I can’t hurt you, Kiko. You are a woman. You are pregnant. I am a Dragon, but I’m not a complete monster.”
She relaxed for half a second—just half.
“I must keep my violence man to man.” I tilted my chin and put my gaze on Tet. “Don’t you think so?”
Tet blanched. “Huh? Oh no. Me? No. I-I didn’t do anything. K-kiko told me to help her today. That we had a mission. S-she said I had to help her put your new lover in her place. That the American was a threat. I-I didn’t know about everything else. If I knew, I would have never—”
“Come here.”
“No. No. No.” Tet stumbled in the other direction and then he just. . .tried to run off.
Three Scales moved before he could get two feet away. Fast, they grabbed Tet and dragged him toward me like a bag of meat.
Kiko rose from the ground and stepped forward. “Kenji, please! W-What are you doing? I-I am sorry.”
“Escort Kiko out of here,” I didn’t even look at her anymore. “I don’t want the babies disturbed by the violence.”
Two of the guards came to her, gentle but firm. They reached for her arm.
She began to cry. “Kenji, please, wait!”
I looked at her finally and met her gaze. “I need you to understand your place.”
“I do now!” She sobbed. “Please!”
“But now is too late.”
I leaned my head to the side. “Who are you to me?”
She hesitated. “I-I am your Ear.”
“Are you sure?”
“Y-yes.”
I snarled. “Who are you to me?”
“Your Ear!”
“Then for your disrespect to my Tiger, to my Roar, an Ear from your cousin is what I will take.” I charged for Tet.
He began to shriek.
I grabbed his face, holding it still. The blade pressed to the soft edge of his right ear and I sank it deep into the flesh. Blood sprayed and spilled across my wrist.
Tet screamed in horror.
Nyomi loudly shrieked.
“No! No! Please God No!” Four guards had to carry Kiko away. Her cries rose with Tet’s. She kicked at one guard, but none of it mattered. They got her out of the war room.
I kept going.
Cutting.
More blood came.
More pain.
Tet shook violently in my men’s grip.
Kiko, may you see your cousin’s wound and remember your place from now on.
The blade glided through his flesh, and it was so satisfying to watch that I smiled.
Tet’s screams rattled the stone walls. I heard others shift in the room but I didn’t look up. I didn’t need to.
And then I heard the sharp hurried clicking of heels.
My Tiger.
Leaving.
Where are you going, Tora? You wanted me to handle this. Right?
I looked up.
Nyomi was already halfway to the door. The click of her heels continued to echo. That sound alone stirred something primal in me. Next was the sway of her hips as she was determined to get away from the gore.
And her ass.
God. I’m definitely going to hurt your body with my cock today.
Her ass moved and jiggled with each step.
You can go for now, but when I am done with Tet, Tora, we will be talking.
I checked the side of the imbecile’s face. The upper rim of his ear was separating. More screams left his lips—ugly, raw, animal.
Blood splattered and gushed.
I looked up to check on my Tiger again.
Nyomi stopped next to Reo, who now stood near the door, watching everything unfold with his usual neutral mask.
But even Reo blinked when she leaned in close and whispered.
What are you saying?
Reo nodded once.
She touched his wrist and whispered something else.
He nodded again, and then she was gone.
Utterly intrigued, I quickly sliced the rest of Tet’s ear off, slung it to the ground, and put my gaze back on my Roar.
Reo turned slightly and gave a quick motion with two fingers. Three Scales—quiet, armed, and quick—peeled away from the line and slipped through the door Nyomi had exited.
Whatever she had told him, had put my Roar into action, and not many people could do that.
What did she say, and what the fuck is going on?