14. Malakai
Malakai
Lili sleeps cradled against me. Inside the safe room, time ceases to exist. Only by checking my watch do I know that we’ve been in here all night. It’s not exactly the wedding night I envisioned for us. I brush a tangled strand of hair away from her face.
“I’ll make it up to you,” I vow. She barely stirs.
Gently, I slip out from her embrace and check my mobile coms device. This thing is ancient technology. I clip fresh batteries into the back and read the messages that come through in a flood.
WHERE ARE YOU?
ARE YOU EVER COMING OUT?
DAD. WHAT THE FUCK. PEOPLE ARE DEAD AND YOU’RE OFF SCREWING YOUR WIFE?
Okay, then. I have a situation to deal with.
I blow out a breath and rouse my wife. Lili puts her dress on as best she can, with my ceremonial robe over it, and slips her hand into mine. When Zarek sends the all-clear, I punch the code to exit the safe room.
“You look smug,” Lili grins.
“You’re one to talk.” She looks incredible. Thoroughly fucked in the best way possible. Disheveled and happy. She laughs, leaning briefly against my shoulder.
“I married a menace.”
“Yes, you did. I have a lot of time to make up for, darling.” I kiss her once, chastely, on the lips. “We’ll have a real wedding night tonight.”
Outside, the ballroom is in shambles. Kenton stands in the center looking utterly exhausted, and not in the adorable well-exercised way that my wife and I do. I realize instantly that disappearing with my new, young, controversial wife, might have been a tactical error.
Kenton’s gaze lands on me. “...Nice of you to join us.”
“I was busy.”
“Yeah, I figured.” His eyes flick briefly toward Lili, then back to me. His jaw tightens. “We’ve got a problem.”
“Besides your attitude?” I’m seriously considering strangling my firstborn.
“This isn’t funny.”
“I wasn’t making a joke.
He crosses his arms. “Can I talk to you in private?”
“Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of her.” I tuck Lili against my side. I have enough experience with war to know an ambush when I see one. Kenton has been waiting for me to come out of the safe room.
He motions for me to follow him. Lili and I pick our way over rubble to the hallway, which is relatively intact after the explosion.
He leads us into a windowless conference room with maps pinned to the walls and security footage blown up to identify suspects.
He strides around the conference table and tosses a thick folder across the gleaming surface.
“The rebels had help with planning the attack.”
“From?”
Kenton’s eyes flick toward Lili.
My grip tightens around her hand.
No.
Her mouth forms an O of shock when Kenton smacks the map depicting the southernmost tip of Kellimar. Not far from the border where the rebels had struck yesterday, before all this started.
“They were staging supplies inside Kellimar’s borders, here.” Kenton taps the map. An icy dagger of betrayal strikes my heart. Lili can’t be involved. I don’t believe it. But…I can’t entirely rule it out, either. Goddamn it. Why can’t anything in my life be simple?
My councilors filter into the room. One slowly removes his spectacles. Another mutters, “Christ…”
Then, silence.
“Explain,” I bite out. “Show me your proof.”
Lili goes very still beside me. Kenton opens a cracked laptop and projects onto the far wall, the only blank space that isn’t covered with hastily taped-up paper maps.
“Over the last six months, we’ve intercepted communications referencing a safe haven.” He pulls up a satellite image and zooms in. Sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. Hidden warehouses nestled deep in the canyons leading up to Kellimar’s high mountain retreat.
Kenton zooms in again. Underground tunnels. Weapons caches. All inside Kellimar’s borders. Lili stares at the photographs, ashen.
“The rebels used your wedding as an excuse to strike.”
“I...” She looks genuinely bewildered. “I didn’t know any of this existed.”
“I believe you,” I say immediately.
Every head in the room whips toward me. Kenton glowers.
“With respect, Majesty—”
“Shut up,” I snarl.
“You haven’t even heard—”
“I’ve heard enough.”
He blinks.
“...Enough?”
“My wife says she didn’t know.”
“Majesty, that’s impossible.”
“Bullshit.” I glance at my trembling wife. Another advisor clears his throat.
“We aren’t accusing Her Majesty of anything,” he says.
“Good. Because that would be spectacularly stupid.”
“But you understand that at a minimum, she must be interviewed. Surely you can see that she cannot be allowed to continue to control Kellimar. You must take a firm hand—”
“No.” I promised Lili that she would retain control over her own homeland. Now, I’m being forced to break my word. Sweat rolls down my back. This could ruin the peace I fought so hard to secure. I know I don’t have any choice. Yet every part of me screams, no.
This can’t be happening. Kenton smirks. Smug little fucker. Bet he feels pretty damn good right about now. Toppling his own father and ruining my newfound happiness in one fell swoop.
The legal minister folds his hands and says, “Your Majesty...”
“Fuck off.”
“—under the Imperial Security Act—”
“I wrote the Imperial Security Act.”
“Which is precisely why you know that any ruler whose territory willingly shelters rebels is subject to annexation—”
“I will not allow it!” I roar. Lili glances at me sidelong. I squeeze her fingers. I’ve got you, I want to say, but I’m not sure I really do. I feel like I’m losing control of my own empire, and it’s terrifying.
My sweet young wife is braver than I’ve given her credit for.
She took one look at me and said, I want that one.
She chose me. Now, she drops my hand and steps forward.
“I swear I knew nothing about this, and if I had, I would have taken measures to destroy the rebels. I will cooperate with your investigation.” She glances quickly at me, reading my reaction, and I curse under my breath.
Her beautiful blue eyes are filled with fear.
She doesn’t think I can stop them from crucifying her.
She might be right.
Kenton steps forward. “Dad.”
“What?” I bark.
“You need to act like the emperor. Not her husband.”
“Fuck you. What would you know about marriage?”
Kenton stares at me in disbelief. “You’d really throw away everything we’ve built, for a woman?”
“Yeah.”
“What if she’s lying?”
“She’s not.”
“You don’t know that.”
“The fuck I do.” I’m so angry and heartsick that I’m not making sense.
“Dad, you’ve known her for, what, twenty-four hours?” He throws both hands in the air.
“Twenty-four of the best hours of my life.”
Kenton makes a wordless sound of furious despair. “I cannot believe you would say that to me. Your son. What about Mom?”
“She’s been gone for a decade!”
“She’s still my mother!”
Lili steps between us, gently forcing us both back a step.
“I am not trying to replace her, Kenton. I would never even dream of it. Your father has grieved her for a very long time. It’s time to acknowledge that he is still a man, and a living one.
It’s not fair of you to ask him to live the rest of his life alone just because you can’t stand the sight of him loving another woman.
You are grown. Start acting like an adult. ”
She’s right, but her message doesn’t hit the right note. Kenton’s mouth crumples into a sneer.
“If the evidence continues to point toward Kellimar and your wife…” He hesitates, glancing slyly at me. “Remember that treason is punishable by death.”
The room becomes so quiet I can hear Lili’s quickened breathing.
I don’t think. I just swing. My fist connects with Kenton’s jaw. His head snaps back. Blood pours from the corner of his mouth. “What was that for?”
“Threatening my wife.” I shake out my aching knuckles.
“No one is arresting Lili. No one is questioning her. It seems that some of you have forgotten who the emperor is in Enovar.” I let the silence stretch.
“Allow me to remind you that it is not the boy standing there pretending he’s suddenly in charge. It’s me, and me alone.”
Kenton pales.
Finally the councilor speaks into the tense silence. “If the Empress cannot be questioned...” He takes a careful breath. “Perhaps the marriage itself should be dissolved. At least temporarily.”
“Say that again,” I demand darkly.
“An annulment would give us time to resolve this matter and assess Princess Liliviere’s suitability for the role of empress…” He swallows hard. “To protect the throne, sir.”
“Absolutely the fuck not. My wife isn’t going anywhere.”
The entire room unconsciously takes a step backward. Interesting. For a moment, I forgot they fear as much as they respect me.
“Except to prison,” Kenton mutters. I’m done letting that little shit get under my skin. I shrug. He bristles immediately.
“If my wife goes to prison, I’ll go with her,” I grit out like a lovesick fool. I have to consider the possibility that my son is right, and my wife has been lying to my face all along.
Liliviere turns pleading eyes to me. The adoration shining there almost cuts my knees out from under me.
Kenton groans and buries his face in his hands.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Then he pulls himself straight and snaps at the four guards flanking the door.
“Arrest Princess Liliviere. My father’s judgment cannot be trusted.
For the sake of national security, keep them separate until we get to the bottom of this. ”
Now, of all times, my son asserts his leadership. I watch helplessly as the guards lead my wife away.