Chapter 43 #2
“Anyways—” Azain ran a hand through his hair then cleared his throat. “Where have you guys been holding up since the attack? In your family’s cottage?” he directed the question to Sebastian, who shook his head in denial.
“No. I’m sure that’s where my father ran off to, so I don’t dare go there,” he replied.
Azain raised a brow. “More family trouble?”
“Like always.” Sebastian sipped his drink casually. “He pushed me over the edge one too many times over the past year. It would be a blessing to never see the man again.”
“Mister Hawthorne, is that anyway to speak of royalty?” a voice foreign to me filled the dining room.
I followed the others who rose to their feet at King Franlow’s arrival. He held tightly to his wife’s hand, directing her to her chair before taking his own.
“I speak the truth and nothing but the truth, your highness,” Sebastian commented, bending into a subtle bow before taking his own seat back.
King Franlow scooted his chair in, pushing his golden crown up higher on his completely bald head. I imagined it was hard to keep something so slippery on a skull so…shiny.
“Such a shame. I always liked Aldous. Although you know as well as I do that what goes on behind closed doors can change one’s opinion when discovered,” Franlow expressed, pinching the end of his silver beard.
“If you only knew, sir,” Sebastian hinted.
“So what brings you here?” Franlow asked, scanning his deep-set eyes around the room. “I know it is strictly business, so let’s cut to the chase.”
Doing exactly that, Kade spoke before anyone else could. “A pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. My name is Kade Lyrise, I’m a friend of Sebastian.”
I nearly spit out my wine. Friend was a stretch.
“Speaking of behind closed doors, I’m not sure if you are aware of what's going on in Draemor, but we are here to inform you of such,” Kade continued.
King Franlow cocked his head. “Last I heard, Beaumont had taken over Caelestis. He ruined the castle, and more recently destroyed the villages and Crattera if I’m correct?”
“Yes,” Kade confirmed. “But Mealioria is in danger too, along with the rest of the continent. We have an idea of how to save it, but we don’t have the force to be successful.”
Franlow nodded slowly. “So you are here for what? My troops?” He shook his head without so much as a moment's hesitation. “No.”
“Please, let me explain further.” Sebastian shot Kade a look that told him to shut the fuck up. “Have you ever heard of a Hykah?”
The queen scoffed from her seat, her feathery blonde bob shaking in tune with her head. “A what?”
“A Hykah. It's a creature created from the flesh of a mortal, turned into a monster by the addition of excess magic and the loss of a soul. Cyprian Beaumont has an army of these things. From what we have seen, they each hold multiple kinds of godly power, and they are incredibly hard to kill, which I can elaborate on later.” All eyes were settled on Sebastian as he ran with his explanation without faltering.
Now if that were me, I would have been stuttering up a storm and on the verge of passing out.
Franlow interrupted by raising a gold-heavy hand, his various rings and jewels clanking against each other. “Sebastian, surely you must understand that this all sounds insane.”
“I know, Your Highness. Trust me, I know.” Sebastian pushed up from the table to begin pacing, as he often did when a serious conversation was unfolding.
“Beaumont plans to use the Hykahs to take over the empire, but he also plans to turn Maeve into one, should he get her in his grasp. I refuse to let that happen, but if it did, the Hykah she would turn into would be even more detrimental to the mortal race than the others.”
“How so?” The King arched a greying brow at Sebastian, as if no one besides the two of them were a part of the conversation.
“I saw these creatures with my own eyes. Beaumont has a dungeon full of them. At least a hundred, but likely more. They are bordering eight-feet tall and are more powerful than five of us combined. With Maeve’s power being so unique, if she were to become one of those things, she might just become unstoppable.
” Sebastian paused to clear his throat. “We have been successful with killing one, but it is no easy task. We discovered that they can be killed as a mortal would—from a strike to the heart or brain—but the odds of killing that way are slim. Using magic against them is the safer, more efficient way. We are here because in order to destroy them all, along with Beaumont and his army in the process, we need more troops than we have. The Caelestian army is essentially extinct, and without soldiers, none of us stand a chance against these things. Including you, when he decides to come after Mealioria.”
Franlow clicked his tongue, asking only one question despite all of the knowledge Sebastian shared. “How many soldiers do you have?”
Sawyer couldn’t hold back his scoff. “You’re looking at them.”
“I can’t help you,” Franlow said without taking even a second to consider. “You have no troops to contribute, so why should I just hand my army over to your control? Absolutely not.”
“That’s not true,” Kade interjected. “There’s a few more.”
“I can’t help you,” the king repeated, seemingly ending the discussion without even considering what we were saying.
Godsdamnit.
Though I dreaded having everyone’s attention on me, I had faith that I might be able to convince him, so I fully ignored Samara’s glare as I rose to my feet and flattened my dress with my palms. “Please, Your Highness, may I have a word?” I waited for his head nod before going forward with my speech.
“I know how this all sounds, and if I were in your position, I would slam the door in our faces—”
I saw Sebastian's confused glower in my peripheral vision.
“I am begging you to hear us out. If Beaumont is successful with his plans, Mealioria and every other kingdom, village, and city on this continent will be destroyed, only to be rebuilt under his terms. Life as we know it will cease to exist. He will kill you, no doubt, as he plans to be the sole ruler of the empire he desires to create. We can prove it to you.”
Sebastian’s head ripped towards me, but I ignored his arched brows.
“We have a dead Hykah back where we have been staying. Come back with us and we will show you.” Was I a fool to give away our location? Maybe so. But we needed the soldiers. Without them, we were leading a lost cause.
King Franlow rapped his nails on the table. “And what's in this for me?”
“What more could you want apart from the safety of your kingdom?” Sawyer rudely blurted out.
“You claim my kingdom will be safe, but what about my soldiers? How many of them will die for your cause?” Franlow countered, nailing Sawyer with a scowl.
“Less than how many would die if you do nothing,” I objected, holding onto my courage despite all of the eyes settled upon me.
Franlow clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth before grumbling, “Again, what's in this for me?”
Typical sovereign. More concerned about personal gain than the community he has in his hands.
“Did you have something in mind?” Sebastian asked, crossing his arms over his chest. His muscles strained against the fabric of his dress coat. I noticed the way Samara ogled at them, and if her and I were alone in this room, I probably would have strangled her.
“I’ll have to think about it. Give me a day or so to discuss with my wife, then we will meet again for another dinner. In the meantime, enjoy your meal and make yourself at home. What’s mine is yours,” Franlow answered, pushing to a stand, evidently not joining us for dinner.
“Except for your troops,” Sawyer muttered.
“Samara is just as bitchy as I remember, Seb.” Pia fell down into a chair in my room where we gathered to debrief after an incredibly painful dinner of roasted pheasant, potatoes, and greens.
“Let’s not talk about her,” he advocated, tearing his dress coat off and tossing it through the doorway that led to our temporary bedroom.
Kade ignored his request. “She sure is obsessed with you, Hawthorne.” He glanced at me. “And I can’t tell if she hates you or if she’s jealous of you.”
If she felt at all similar about me as I felt about her, then she both hated me and was jealous.
“Enough,” Sebastian growled under his breath, kicking his boots off next and throwing them in with his jacket.
“Can we just talk about the important shit so you can all get out and I can go to bed?” His eyes darted to me, reminding me that we most certainly would not be going to sleep after their departure.
“Fine,” Kohen spoke up. “What offers are we willing to accept?”
“The better question is what we won’t accept,” Sawyer pitched. “We aren’t in a position to bargain too much. If he refuses to help us, we're back to square one. We don’t have much say in this if we want his help.”
“We can’t accept anything that threatens one of our lives. Agreed?” Pia asked, and everyone nodded except for me.
“Well…” I began, dragging out the word in a high-pitched tone.
“Oh great. Miss Death Wish has a problem with that,” Kade sneered, rolling his eyes.
“I don’t have a death wish,” I contested.
“You don’t need to lie. We heard about your plans,” Kade responded, and my bones seized.
“What? How?” My face contorted into a look of shame, while Sebastian’s features twisted into a look that threatened to rip Kade’s face off for bringing the matter up.
Kade’s voice softened. Actually softened. “Delani told me.”
Kohen angled a thumb at Pia.
Pia pointed at Sawyer, who simply offered a half-shrug.
“Does Archer know?” I asked under my breath. Not that it really mattered, but I hoped he didn’t.
Kade shook his head. “Not unless Delani told him. But he should know, seeing as he has been ruling a kingdom meant to keep you alive.”
I parted my lips to defend myself, but there was nothing to really defend, so I just clamped my teeth together.
Kohen let his compassionate side out. “It’s okay to struggle, Maeve. Hell, you’re handling everything a lot better than I would be if I was in your place. But you should have told us you were having a hard time. We would have helped you work through it.”
Studying the creases in my dress, I lowered my voice. “I’m fine, guys, really. It just seemed like a reasonable idea at the time, all things considered.”
“Killing yourself? I could have told you that was a shitty idea if you had spoken up,” Kade fired back, his sarcasm flowing in like it had never left.
Anxiety made my veins tighten, my heart constricting more of my blood flow with each heavy pump. If we kept talking about this, I thought I might be sick. Emotional validation was a good thing, but fuck, did it make me nauseous.
Sebastian noticed my discomfort and came to my rescue, changing the subject. “We're getting off track. So back to the matter at hand, anything that has to do with Maeve is also off limits,” he ordered, not leaving any room for discussion.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I dropped to the ground, needing to sit after that emotional intervention. “Do you think Franlow will come back with us to see the Hykah?”
Sebastian ran a finger in between his eyebrows.
“No. But I think he’ll send someone to go for him.
In fact, I’m almost sure of it. He’ll want proof before agreeing to help us.
” His gaze shot towards me with a hint of a smirk.
“Nice job suggesting that, by the way. It’s not like we discussed how we weren't going to bring up any ideas that we hadn’t talked about just moments before we went into that meeting. ”
“I don’t like rules. Especially not ones put in place by you,” I bantered, and the dissecting glare he gave in return had me wishing everyone else would leave.
“Don’t I know it,” he scoffed, then strode towards me. His hands secured my wrists and pulled me to my feet, then he dipped his lips to my ear. “I have a few rules for you tonight that I think you will enjoy very much, should you choose to follow them.”
Instant waterworks—and not from my eyes.
“And if I don’t?” I countered, putting my lips to his neck and ignoring the fact that we weren’t alone.
Sebastian's hand gripped my waist, pulling my body into his, holding me flush against the firm ridges of his abdomen. “Then I’ll have a very vivid memory of what my handprint looks like on your ass,” he taunted, making my breath catch in my chest.
“We can finish this conversation in the morning.” I felt his desire growing against my thigh, and without so much as glancing away from me, he demanded the others to, “Get out.”