Chapter 10
Sagan
It was hard not to chuff or decimate the precinct when the chief of police didn’t even bother standing when I walked through the door.
He was sitting in a huge open meeting room watching me approach through the glass windows and didn’t even bother standing when the Queen of Thovudin walked in the room.
Not just a member of the royal family, but the leader.
I held up my hand to hold Benson off when he started chuffing and was about to rage out, glad when he listened and immediately stood down. “I don’t give second chances to people who don’t deserve them and I’m very glad I was right that you wouldn’t.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Your Majesty,” he said as his gaze basically told me to fuck off.
“I bet that happens to you a lot,” I mocked and glanced around before he could even reply. “Who is next in command?”
That got a reaction and the chief stood up. “I don’t know who you think—”
“I’m the queen,” I drawled. “I’m sorry you’re not caught up on current events, but I’m Queen of Thovudin and in charge of Nerthus.
” I smirked at him. “And you’re fired.” I looked between a few officers.
“Whoever of you is highest ranking, disarm him as is your sworn duty or you will be sharing a cell with him for disobeying direct orders and breaking the law.”
“You don’t have the—” the chief—former chief tried to argue but flinched when someone immediately moved towards him. “Stand down.”
The taller dragon chuffed and shoved the chief into his seat. “No, you. My sovereign gave an order and you’re disgusting. A relic of—badge, weapon, and keys. Now, or I will take them and not gently.”
Too many seemed shocked how that man was behaving, but Myriam snorted, giving a nod he was legit when I glanced at her.
I smirked at the former chief. “It seems not everyone was on board with your plan of allowing Nerthus to fall into corruption and lawlessness. It was never going to happen, and I will be punishing every officer who unlawfully turned off their body cameras.”
“You cannot do that, Your Majesty,” a different officer argued. “We were—”
“It is the law,” I interrupted, my tone deadly.
“If you were given an unlawful order, you were to report it to the head of Nerthus, which was me the moment my father died. Or Benson, and our phones didn’t ring.
Nor did the castle’s main line. You were breaking the law and turning off body cams because you wanted to go back to taking bribes and—”
“That’s not at all what—” that same officer snapped.
“Oh, now you’re ours,” Lydia chuckled as one of the other Queen’s Guards grabbed the cop and disarmed him. “Interrupting or disrespecting Queen Sagan falls completely under our jurisdiction.”
“It does,” I purred before looking at the officer who had handled the former chief.
“Do you have the officers to control the situation?” I nodded when I saw the worry in his eyes.
“The Alpha of Jade Creek is landing with dozens of his private security and officers from Jade Creek to fill in while we clean house.”
“Your Majesty?” he whispered, everyone in the large meeting room freezing.
I looked back at the shocked former chief.
“I should thank you. The Alpha and I got off on the wrong foot, but you were the one thing we could find common ground on and now we’re working together.
Well, even. He was impressed a young female made such a bold decision as to how to handle a police chief overreaching his authority. ”
He was less than thrilled that was how things had played out, and what came from his lips was enough to make me flush. Benson barely held it together and finally I agreed he was to be taken into our custody, not left with the police or waiting for the Alpha. I’d explain later or… Benson knew best.
I tried to ignore the hostile bile that had just been spewed at me, but it was difficult. I looked back at the officer who had helped. “Are you a deputy chief?”
He flinched. “No, Your Majesty. I’m a commander but…”
He didn’t think any of the deputy chiefs would be on the right side of this.
“Understood. I name you acting chief until the Alpha arrives with the right personnel to put in place. Please accompany me outside for the press conference.”
“Press conference?” the former chief roared. “You cannot call a press conference about the police and reorganize as you want, you bitch. You aren’t the boss here or—”
“She is,” Benson and several of the guards growled.
Glad they were on the same page with me.
Benson received the confirmation we were waiting for and I let out a slow breath before heading outside where the press was waiting.
“Thank you for gathering so quickly and in this heat, so I will make my remarks brief,” I said calmly.
“I will not be taking questions as the situation is ongoing and I won’t risk the investigations as is procedure and you’re used to.
” I gave them a moment with that. “The moment I learned of my parents’ deaths, I had many questions.
“One of the main ones was about the plane itself and if it could have been an assassination attempt, especially as an elder’s aide treated me like a whiny princess for not wanting to immediately get on a plane.
It seemed prudent to get more information instead of blindly doing anything in such a situation.
After it was confirmed weather was a factor, I indeed flew home.
“More has been revealed about what happened after, and no matter your feelings about how I did it or if I should have—know I always do what I feel is best for Thovudin as I am now. And this is not about my being right to question the elders. At the time it seemed…” I paused trying to think of the correct word and not sound petty.
There really was only one word.
“Given. It seemed given that there would be in-depth investigations into my parents’ deaths and the poor pilots who flew the plane that day.
Of course there would be. And yet I was shut down immediately.
I thought it was so there was no delay in my coronation, but that wasn’t the case, and my rightful position was manipulated for power.
“I couldn’t think why then? To make me look bad that I didn’t care enough about my own parents?
It seemed that might be the answer because it’s exactly what most of you reported.
” I glanced at a few in particular. “Hopefully, you learn from this because of course I investigated.
Of course I did no matter what the elders who tried to force me to mate said.
“The men who made it clear they would puppet me and take my power as queen for their own. The sad part is that I had to turn to two leaders in other countries for help and I will be eternally grateful to them because their investigations uncovered…” I glanced at Benson.
“What did the one elder say? My parents forced the pilots to fly through dangerous weather because I threw a fit?”
“Something along those lines and completely untrue,” he chuffed.
I nodded and focused back on the media. “The pilots were well trained—the best. They did nothing wrong and gave my parents the option as they should have. Others in the royal family and other pilots have confirmed given what was known they would have continued flying as well.
“Accidents are called accidents for a reason. Tragedies the same. However, neglect is different. It was uncovered by examining the remaining engine that there was severe neglect to the plane. Completely outdated—”
“Who are your supposed sources to declare this?” one of the reporters demanded.
“Are you mad?” I asked him. “In what world would you ever have interrupted my father and not even addressed him properly?”
“You’re not your father, Your Majesty,” he drawled.
“You never spoke to Queen Amelia that way either,” Benson snapped. “And you make money running these false stories saying you have an insider in the castle and have first-hand information that the queen will be regent for her firstborn male.”
I slowly looked at him and blinked. “That’s against our laws. When was this reported?”
“We really need to get your media person going,” someone grumbled from behind me.
I couldn’t agree more. “Well, glad I’m supposedly an outsider and know our actual laws unlike a seasoned news reporter.” It was hard to keep the sarcasm out of my tone, but I waved for our people to handle the guy.
And I was disgusted when people were shocked. It was against the law to behave with blatant disrespect and not act appropriately toward the ruler of Thovudin. Did I think that was a bit outdated?
Probably.
But it was the fucking law.
“It is the law,” I reminded them. “And I follow the laws. They will be followed under my rule no matter what people say, and I will get to that.” I gestured over my shoulder as if hinting what was coming next.
“I am not a pilot nor engineer, so I cannot give specifics, nor do I fully understand everything I read, but it was summarized well for me.
“The ground crew didn’t maintain the royal family’s planes, the castle runways, and more as they should have.
The plane should have been able to withstand the lightning hit, but instead it caused a catastrophic explosion that killed everyone on board.
” I swallowed loudly when people gasped and a few lowered cameras or couldn’t control their shock.
It took a few moments for most to seem to recover and it was enough time for me to gather myself and say what came next.
“The people in charge are the family of three elders. That was why any investigations I wanted were shut down. And if they could make me look bad in the process, even better. But all of the elders knew about the nepotism. Whether they knew about the financial crimes that were also involved since the funds weren’t used to maintain the planes—that remains to be seen.