Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Caspian
Ismother the chuckle that bubbles up in my chest as I follow my mate up onto the platform and wait for the others to join us.
She is hopping mad, as well as feeling a little bit guilty and confused.
The words coming out of her mouth don’t really make sense, but I’m not going to make her feel small.
I just place my hand against her back in support as she mutters profanities and threats under her breath.
My life is freaking amazing. I have a beautiful, loving mate, three gorgeous children, and three other men whom I am allowed to enjoy in the bedroom.
Even without that last thing, I would be beyond blessed.
Sure, this is another setback in getting the Adams brothers’ wife back and the circus up and running again, but I’m hoping Lila and Nikos can finally settle this thing between them.
Lila’s other mates and I aren’t stupid. We know it’s inevitable, but the fact that the Aquilian king is going to force this is somewhat of a surprise.
I’m actually stunned that Nikos even said anything to his father.
I know there is no love lost between them.
He is the crown prince because of his firstborn status, not because of his father’s love.
He has no love for his father, who is not faithful to Nikos’s mother, his wife.
He has a harem of women he keeps in the castle who have fathered his children.
Quite frankly, it’s disgusting. The galaxy isn’t a bigoted place, but most cultures respect the sanctity of marriage vows, and if your race is a monogamous one, then you just don’t do what Marlin has, but his arrogance knows no bounds.
“Why are you here again?” Lila snaps at the dragon who has followed us onto the platform, and he flinches slightly at the venom in her voice.
Xavier tells me that she’s mostly resigned to how he feels about her, but there is a hint of hurt and sadness every time she looks at him.
As for him, although Xavier doesn’t like to pry into other people’s emotions, he decided the dragon is fair game.
He wanted to know exactly how Tirrian feels about Lila, and he confirmed that every word out of his mouth is a lie.
Tirrian wants Lila like a dragon wants its hoard, but he is still stubbornly resisting the mate call.
Who knows why, but if he doesn’t modify his behavior soon, he’s going to find himself floating out in space after we throw him out of the air lock.
This will come to a head, but it has a reprieve while we deal with the Aquilians.
“I’m going to shift and be backup if you need me for any reason,” Tirrian tells her, not flinching away from her glare.
This dragon has big balls. Lila’s glare is enough to make anyone shrink back with fear.
“Also, you may want to glamour your hair so they don’t suspect you now control the supply of the most precious gem the Rilunese possess.
” He turns his back to her, and her mouth drops open in shock as her body starts to spark.
I tear my hand back as one of the sparks sends a jolt of pain down my arm.
“Holy shit, what’s happening?” Eric asks as we all stare at Lila in awe. She hasn’t shifted into her cat form, but it seems like she may be able to access her lightning while in her normal form.
“Lila, phoeall.” Xavier holds his hands up, trying to calm her down, but it doesn’t work.
“Don’t you try to manage me, Xavier Colest. I’m allowed to have my feelings.” She waves her hands around, and a bolt of lightning shoots out, luckily bouncing harmlessly against the ceiling, but it sparks where it hits the metal, and we all jump in shock.
“Lila, baby, we’re not saying you can’t be upset, but you need to take a breath and let it out,” I say gently. “You’re going to kill one of us if you aren’t careful.”
She stares at her hand in horror and yelps. “That’s not supposed to happen,” she says, looking around with a small amount of panic in her eyes.
“No, it’s not, but it seems like maybe you are breaking all the rules,” Tirrian mutters unhelpfully, and Lila’s sparks increase.
“For fuck’s sake, shut up, you idiot, or I’ll let her use you for target practice,” Xavier yells at the dragon.
Broderick is still watching us, waiting to send us down to the surface, so I take a risk that Lila actually won’t hurt any of her mates, even subconsciously, and wrap myself around her.
She sparks a little more and shudders in my arms, but I bite my lip and take the small bites of pain.
It’s certainly not strong enough to kill me.
Bit by bit, she calms, deflating in my arms and heaving out a large sigh.
I press little kisses to her temple and coo words of comfort in the hopes it will help settle her.
“Thanks,” she mutters, wrapping her arms around me.
“I needed that. Ugh, after feeling slightly settled after Rilu, it suddenly felt like I was back on a roller coaster. My mimic self is going haywire.” She pulls away reluctantly, and I let her go.
I desperately want to keep her wrapped up and protected, but I know she needs to deal with this.
“It feels angry and demanding. It kind of has this whole megalomaniac streak that says the Aquilians must pay for their treatment of me.”
She sounds scared when she admits this, and I see her grandpas exchange worried glances. I don’t blame them. Nothing Oshan shared with her mentioned anything like this.
“I now also know that I can access any power in this form. I just have to think about it.” We watch on in sheer surprise and no small amount of terror as her hair slowly changes to what it used to look like prior to her connection with the larnuk.
“Did you just use warlock glamour?” Xavier asks, and she nods.
“Yes, it’s like it’s all just sitting at my fingertips. I’m not sure if I could access them from a different form like my half-kraken or lightning cat. It’s something I’m going to have to play around with.” The tension in the room has eased slightly now that she isn’t sparking.
“Well, that’s going to have to wait until we return to the ship,” William says, looking at his wrist display. “Try not to fry the Aquilian king please. We don’t want an international incident on our hands.”
“Ugh, that’s going to be hard.” She turns to look at me. “Keep a tentacle wrapped around me at all times, and if I start to get out of control, give me a little squeeze?” she asks, and I feel my chest puff up that she’s trusting me to do this for her.
“Of course, baby, but I wouldn’t mind seeing him fry, or maybe be a little singed, just saying.” I wrap a tentacle around one of her ankles and rest my hand against her back again. I feel her relax under my touch, and she leans her head against my shoulder.
“Love you,” she whispers, and I kiss her head again.
“Love you too,” I tell her again, counting my blessings for everything I have.
Xavier heaves out a sigh of relief, and Eric gives Broderick the cue to send us.
Our bodies dissolve into particles, and within seconds, we reform down on the surface.
The sun is high in the sky, and it’s hot.
The landing platform sits on a small area of land that’s just out from the mainland.
There is nothing but the platform, so if you arrived in bad weather, then you’d end up very wet.
The blue, sparkling ocean stretches out as far as the eye can see, and the familiar yet comforting smell of the sea wafts across my senses with a gentle puff of breeze. An ache to just dive in and swim hits me hard, and when I look down at Lila, I can practically see the longing in her own eyes.
“Maybe if we get this sorted out quickly, we could have a quick swim before we return to the ship,” I suggest, and she looks up at me hopefully.
“That would be wonderful. I wonder if there are any great big sea beasts here?”
Before I can reply, the platform hums a warning, and I unwrap my tentacle from her ankle and we hurry off it.
It activates again, and a phalanx of armed and scaled warriors appears before us.
They are wearing chest plates with the sigil of the Aquilian king and carrying staffs and tridents that all point at us.
“Lila Adams, you will accompany us to the throne room.” One of them steps forward, his whole demeanor screaming with aggression.
I push Lila behind me and rise on my tentacles to make myself bigger, my colors flashing darker in warning.
Both Xavier and Tirrian flank me on either side.
Smoke pours from Tirrian’s nose, and Xavier clouds himself in his mist for the first time in a while.
The rest of the troops bristle aggressively, and the tension ratchets up again.
“Easy.” William holds up his hand and steps forward, putting himself between us and the group of warriors.
“We are here as requested. If you will show us the way, we will be happy to accompany you and get what I’m sure is a misunderstanding sorted.”
One of the mermen snorts. “Misunderstanding, right.”
“What the actual fuck?” Lila mutters behind us, sounding as confused as I’m starting to feel.
“She will answer to the king,” the lead warrior spits out. “You can’t insult the Aquilian race and get away with it.”
“What exactly did I do to insult the Aquilian race?” Lila pushes me out of the way and steps over my tentacles, her hands on her hips. “Because I was angry at the prince? Is that a crime all of a sudden?”
There’s a rumbling within the ranks of the troops, but the lead warrior quickly silences them. “Quiet.” He jabs his trident in Lila’s direction. “You, start moving. The rest of you will remain here.”
“Like hell we will,” Eric says, raising his voice.
“You are not required at the tribunal,” the warrior argues.
“But surely she’s entitled to representation?” I can’t help arguing, and William nods.
“According to Galactic Council laws, everyone is entitled to representation when facing a trial.”
“The Aquilian court is not subject to galaxy law,” the merman sneers.