Chapter Eleven
Vil
“I’ll be right back,” I said to Vanessa. “I don’t have any clothing in your size, but sweatpants and spare towels are in the bedroom closet if you wish to shower. I’ll try not to be long.”
She looked ready to protest being left alone, but the prospect of a hot shower swayed her in the end.
“Take your time,” she said.
I nodded, then stepped out of the room, pulling it closed and locking the door—from the outside. It would be best if she didn’t wander around the fortress alone just yet.
Especially given who I was on my way to meet.
“They sent you?” I asked as Ferra fell in step next to me.
“Mel did,” she confirmed, naming the lowest ranking of the senior members of the Nine, the trio who carried out most of Adamantine’s orders on a day-to-day basis.
Ferra had been working for Mel for several years now and had been an invaluable source of information about the workings of the Nine.
They knew she was one of my friends, so I never received anything truly secret, but it was enough that my father before me, and now I, could work against their plans for power.
“Figures,” I muttered.
“You knew they would?”
“They kind of told me that they would oppose me if I brought her back,” I said with a shrug.
Ferra glanced at me. “And what did you tell them?”
“That if they tried to stop me, I’d kill them,” I said bluntly.
The redheaded dragon jerked hard enough that she nearly stumbled. “You threatened the Nine?”
“Of course not,” I said. “That would be rude. No, I counter-threatened them.”
“Counter-threatened?” Ferra asked, clearly skeptical.
“Yes. They did it to me first. I just gave it back to them. It’s definitely different.”
“I’m not sure anyone else would see it that way.”’
I shrugged. “They were always going to make a play for power after my father moved on. He warned me. They did the same thing when his father moved on, and he had to stop them. It’s not different now.”
“You really think it’ll come to that?”
I nodded. “I gave them the perfect catalyst by bringing home a human. There are plenty of people who will support them if they choose to try and say I’m not the true prince. As if I was the one who gave her the soul of a dragon and not the God-King.”
Ferra pondered that as we walked.
“Also, while I’m sure it was Cruce’s idea, now would be a very good time for you to explain just what the hell you were thinking with that ridiculous welcome-home ceremony,” I growled.
“We were trying to help,” she said defensively.
I raised a questioning eyebrow, inviting her to continue.
“We didn’t know you and the Nine had already flung threats at each other,” she admitted, “but we’re smart enough to know that you bringing home a human as a mate would raise questions.
We figured by having a proper ceremony, announcing you as the prince and she as your mate, etc.
, we could head off some of those cries. Give you some extra legitimacy.”
“I see.”
“It’s not our fault that you didn’t tell her the truth,” she said hotly. “You should have been honest with her. What the heck did you say to get her here?”
I shrugged the question off.
Ferra, unfortunately, knew me too well.
“Don’t tell me you kidnapped her,” she moaned. “Please. Tell me she came here of her own free will.”
I looked sharply down at her. “I did not kidnap her. I simply told her that this was where she belonged. Why do you both insist that by bringing her to where fate has destined her to be, I have kidnapped her? I’m simply doing what the God-King has shown is the way forward.”
“I quite literally do not have the time to unpack that bag of ridiculousness,” Ferra said as we approached the stairs that led deeper into the fortress and the chamber where the Nine gathered.
“Just promise me that if she asks to go home, to leave, you will take her home. You won’t keep her here against her will. ”
“She won’t want to go home,” I said. “You’ll see. She’ll realize this is where she belongs, where she truly feels at home. Among us. With me.”
“I’m going to talk to her in the morning,” Ferra said, spinning around. “Put her at ease. The poor woman. You’re better than this, Vil. If you want to be our prince, start acting like it.”
I came to a halt outside the doors to the Nine’s chamber, trying to come up with a response to Ferra’s last comment. I hadn’t expected such ferocity from her.
Was she right? Was I in the wrong by bringing Vanessa there the way I had?
The double doors swung open without prompting.
I ignored the unspoken invitation from the Nine to enter their domain, instead standing on the threshold, thinking about Vanessa.
My mate. She was meant to be mine. I could not—and would not—argue with the God-King’s divine mandate. Fate would see us together.
But maybe, just maybe, I was pushing things a bit too fast. Maybe.
“Hello, Anvil,” a voice called from deeper in the chamber.
“I’ll enter when I’m good and ready,” I snarled, anger surging through me. I had more important things to deal with than the ridiculous bigotry and power struggles of those nine meddling idiots.
Like wondering if I had screwed things up with my mate and, more importantly, how I could fix it. A smile spread across my face as the first inklings of an idea came to me.
Yes, that should show her how important she is to me, indeed …
Thought complete, I strode into the chamber to confront the Nine.
“Make it quick,” I commanded, taking control of the room before Adamantine could speak. “I have places to be.”
Adamantine’s jaw bunched at my casual verbal backhand, insinuating I had more important things to do than talk to him. Which I did, but it was an insult to what he viewed as his authority. It was past time he was disabused of the notion that he had any formal control.
“You went to Earth,” he ground out after a moment, trying to retake the initiative.
“Yes, I did. To get my mate.”
His eyes flashed silver, revealing the anger he was holding back. “Against our … recommendations.”
“I told you what I was going to do, and I did it. I am a man of my word,” I said, strongly hinting they were not.
More than one member of the Nine shifted angrily in their chairs. I glared at them all, daring any of them to speak up.
“Do you have anything to say?” I challenged the entire group, though I was staring hard at Adamantine. “Or shall we end this charade already? I have my mate, and we will sit on the throne.”
“No,” Adamantine snapped, “you won’t. We won’t confirm you as prince at the Presentation Ball.”
I stared at him, stunned by the audacity of his claim, not to mention the arrogance in his voice.
“You do not have the authority to do that,” I said, too shocked by what he said to do anything more, such as laugh in his face.
“The ‘confirmation’ of the Nine is just a silly tradition that my grandfather threw to your predecessors as a bone to make them feel important.”
“There are many among the Iron Clan who would differ with your opinion,” Chis said, the first member of the senior members of the Nine to speak.
“The God-King laid down the laws a thousand generations ago,” I fired back. “Any who would side with you go against his decrees.”
There was silence in the room as the Nine waited for their leader to speak, putting the onus on him to speak against the immortal ruler of all dragon kind.
“This is your final chance, Anvil,” Adamantine warned. “Take the human home. Leave her there.”
“Or what?” I fired back. He had avoided any mention whatsoever about going against the God-King, and we all knew it.
I was met with stony glares that promised nothing but trouble if I continued down that path.
“I am the heir,” I growled. “This woman is my mate, as shown by the God-King. Your prejudice and bigotry mean nothing compared to his will. Even without that, she could stand on her own merits. I will not back down.”
Adamantine opened his mouth to speak, so I turned heel and started to leave the chamber. I stopped halfway to the door and leveled a finger at all the members of the Nine.
“If any of you so much as harm a hair on her head,” I growled warningly, my hand slowly turning silver, “I will destroy you.”
More than one of the Nine shifted uncomfortably in their seat as a long silvery sword of hardened steel formed in my right hand. I held it for a second before withdrawing it as I left the room.
I’d already been gone from my mate for too long. I needed to get back to her before Ferra caused too much havoc.