6. Chapter 6
King Damini
We were already posted up in the main council chamber because Adanna cares about being early to everything.
On the drive over, she told me we needed to make a quick stop at old crib, but she didn't elaborate on what she was grabbing and I didn't press her. I just caught her shoving some key into her pocket, but she ain't said what it was for, so I let it ride.
It had been a few days, and my wife hadn't slept a damn wink.
She seemed completely unbothered by it too, just running off pure, cold adrenaline.
I was slowly getting used to opening my eyes in the middle of the night only to find her sitting up in the dark, staring dead at me while her fingers flew across her phone or scribbled notes in her notebook.
She had so much classified, high-level shit stored on her device I didn't even want to know what kind of operations she was running under my nose.
We hadn't really talked about what was done to me back at the house, but every time I sat with my own thoughts, a rage burned straight through my chest. I felt so damn violated I could’ve walked right out into the street and blown down a whole city block.
I prided myself on being a man who made his own rules.
A street king who handled his business, handled his people, and handled himself—not a nigga who got handled.
The thought that some woman could have been playing around with me while I was knocked out cold on a chemical dose...
it made a sickening bile rise to my throat.
I couldn't believe this was the same desperate bitch I had thrown out of my hotel room. Brooklyn had seemed so thirsty back then. But I had to be real with myself: if I hadn't been out there wilding out, indulging in old habits, I wouldn't have been anywhere near her in the first place.
My pops had been blowing up my line nonstop for the last forty-eight hours, but I went ahead and blocked his number permanently. After Adanna dropped those questions back in the room, I realized my own blood father had a hand in setting me up.
My moms had called briefly just to check on us after the disaster at the funeral, but I felt like I couldn't even give her the full truth anymore. She was the type of woman who’d follow my father straight through the gates of hell, just blindly loyal to that man no matter how foul he moved.
If my pops really orchestrated getting me drugged and violated in my own home, I just hoped he was ready to face the Queen.
Because I knew Adanna was standing right on the razor’s edge of wilding the fuck out, and the ghost wound on my thigh where she had stabbed me kept throbbing like a warning sign.
"I thought I was the only one who got lost in their head," Adanna’s voice cut through the heavy silence of the chamber. She teased me softly, laying her phone face-down on the table.
I reached my hand across the wood and touched her fingers. "How are you functioning without any sleep?"
She gave a light shrug. "Used to it."
The room fell quiet again as my fingers caressed the inside of her hand, feeling the rough calluses on her palm. I stared at our joined hands for a long moment, but the heavy cloud in my chest refused to lift.
"What's going to happen with us if..." I started, but I couldn't even force the rest of the sentence out of my mouth.
I didn't even want to say the word kid, nor did I want to think about the possibility that the child was mine.
I felt like my stomach turned upside down as the thought crossed my mind.
Adanna placed her other hand over mine, and looked into my eyes. "It wasn't your fault, Dame. You couldn't defend yourself."
My jaw clenched tight and I looked away toward the stained-glass windows, fighting the swell of shame trying to take over my chest.
Before I could lock down, Adanna pulled me closer—reminding me just how strong she was. She yanked my seat two inches closer across the floor until our knees were locked.
"I told you I would handle it," she whispered.
I swallowed hard, looking at her face. Her jet-black hair was pinned up into a sleek, high bun, exposing the soft curve of her jawline and a gold chain resting against her collarbone. Those dark, heavy lashes framed those mesmerizing eyes.
"Okay..." I grunted, leaning my forearm onto the table. "But what can I do to help?"
The corner of her upper lip twitched.
"You'll know soon enough... after we leave this meeting."
She leaned in and connected her lips with mine, giving me a deep, possessive kiss. I matched her pressure, melting into the warmth of her mouth until the double doors swung open, and her family started filing in.
Chief Idris stepped into the room first, catching the tail end of our kiss. A smirk pulled at her lips as she took her assigned seat right next to Adanna. My wife didn't let go of my hand; she kept our fingers locked while leaning over to whisper something into Idris’s ear.
Nana shuffled into the seat beside me, smoothing down her royal headwrap. She glanced down at our locked hands, then eyed me up and down. "You so damn whipped," she muttered under her breath.
I eyed her right back, biting back a smirk.
Before I could even settle into my seat, Nana reached over, grabbed the sleeve of my shirt, and yanked me down toward her. "I want to go with you to Florida next time, but don't you dare tell your wife."
I squinted down at her, thrown off. "Why not?"
Nana rolled her eyes, leaning in closer to whisper in my ear. "Because those two heifers next to you are always trying to fuck up my fun like I'm already sitting in the damn grave! If you wanna survive in this family, you better learn to stay on my good side... ya hear me?"
I bit back a chuckle, giving her a respectful nod. "Yes, my Queen."
Nana’s face softened just a fraction as she matched my smirk. "Yeah... at least you know who really runs this shit."
"I do," I replied.
Nana smiled, looking me over. Then her expression shifted, and the playfulness dimmed. "I heard about..."
My jaw clenched instantly. The air in my lungs felt tight and thin, but I could still feel the warm pressure of Adanna’s hand gripping mine.
Nana looked past me toward the tribal Elders piling into their respective chairs across the council platform. She leaned back toward my ear. "It doesn't make you any less of a King. Ya hear me?"
An unexpected sting hit the back of my eyes. Hot tears tried to surge up, but I blinked rapidly, clearing my throat and gritting my teeth to force the emotion down.
Nana caught the shift in my eyes, reeled back her hand, and slapped me across the cheek.
"Stop that shit right now!" she barked in a sharp whisper.
A few of the incoming Elders looked over oddly at our exchange, raising their eyebrows, but Adanna and Chief Idris were still locked in low-toned conversation beside us, unbothered by the distraction.
Nana reached up with both of her hands, grabbed my face, and pressed a kiss right against my cheek. She pulled back, took a deep breath through her nose, and sniffed my neck.
"Oh, you smell real good," she said, her deep-set wrinkles furrowing into an intensely serious expression as she leaned in close enough to inhale my collar. "What is that?"
I bit back a laugh at how fast her focus swung. "I think it's Dior."
Nana squinted her eyes at me. She reached up with a gold-ringed hand and jabbed her thumb against her hearing aid.
"Door?" she asked. "What the hell is Door?
Is that some European shit? 'Cus you know I don’t fuck with them folks over there ever since they had that bed bug break out—just nasty as hell, sweeping dirty water into the streets!
What does a bed bug even look like anyway?
A bug in a bed? Is it big? Actually, don't answer that, I don't even wanna know. Just don’t bring them little french monsters over here to my island!
We are clean people! Do you know I once locked a whole royal woman in the basement just for not bathing? !"
I stared at her. "Wait... what?"
"Yes!" Nana nodded vigorously, pointing a finger at my chest. "The Chairman’s first wife was smelling like sour milk and boiled cabbage every time she walked into the palace!
She had to fucking go! I told the guards, 'Put this unwashed goat in a cell until she learns the fear of God and soap!
' I wonder if she’s still down there... I put her in one of the good cells with the nice toilet, too.
I might send her a bar of Irish Spring later today and let her out if she learned how to wash that ass more than once a week. "
I cleared my throat, my mind completely blown. "Huh? Nana, you locked up the Chairman's ex-wife for bad hygiene?"
"Sure did! I really saved that man's nose, and you know the Chairman ain't even say thank you?" She clicked her tongue against her teeth, rolling her eyes. "Ungrateful bastard. Just like his Daddy."
I squinted at her, bringing my face down to her level so she could read my lips clean. "Nana... I said Dior. Like the cologne."
Nana went dead silent. She reached up, tapped her hearing aid again, and adjusted the dial.
"Oh," she said. "Dior. My bad."
Before I could even process what she was saying, the double doors at the front of the chamber swung open again—and the energy in the room dropped to absolute zero.
My father, King Eze, stepped into the room.
And walking right beside him, draped in a silk wrap with her head held high, was Brooklyn.
They walked side-by-side, stepping into the sacred space.
Adanna stopped talking to Chief mid-sentence.
The muscles in my body coiled tight. Adanna never let go of my hand.
She kept her grip locked over mine, her eyes burned holes across the room.
I felt the skin of her palm turn warm but I didn't pull away.