Chapter 40 #3
To anyone else in the room, he appears as calm and collected as he’s been since the moment Kai stepped inside, but it’s a farce. It’s been a while since I got a glimpse inside Acker’s mind, but I just got an unfettered view of his internal musings, and we’re currently skating on very thin ice.
Steadying myself, I redirect Kai’s attention back to me. “Acker’s seat on Kenta’s throne is not up for negotiation.”
Kai doesn’t waver. “That’s my condition. Take it or leave it.”
Messer circles around the settee, his easygoing grin slipping. “This alliance guarantees you a throne. Why risk not gaining one at all if this war doesn’t play out in your favor?”
“That’s only if we were to find a way to eliminate my father,” Kai says. “Which I’m not sure is possible.”
“But would you have your own seat?” Irina interjects, soft voice cutting through the tension, drawing all the attention to her. “Or are you content to exist under your father’s thumb?”
Her words hit their mark. Kai’s face reddens with anger.
I’m impressed by Irina’s ability to read Kai so easily without ever having laid eyes on him before tonight.
“We can take care of your father,” I tell Kai.
He shakes his head. “You don’t have any idea what he’s capable of.”
“I can’t be influenced,” Fredrich says, laying his sword across his lap.
Kai shifts in place, eyeing my friend where he leans casually against the bar, seemingly without a concern for his well-being. “Are you sure about that?” Kai challenges.
Fredrich’s answering smirk is pure brass. “Care to test me, princeling?” Calling Kai by an incorrect title works to further incense him.
“Stand up,” Kai commands.
There’s a long beat where Fredrich doesn’t move, eyebrows arching high on his forehead as he smirks at Kai. “Is that all you’ve got?”
Kai’s skepticism turns into determination as he stands from the settee. “Stop breathing,” he says, voice echoing powerfully with the use of his full gift.
I’m alarmed by how quickly he escalated the severity of his command, the order leaving his mouth as if he’s issued it all too often. Probably more times than I’d like to know, honestly.
And yet, Fredrich is unchanged, his chest rising and falling evenly without a hint of effort showing.
“How?” Kai asks, eyes widening, either in fear or amazement, I’m not sure. Maybe both.
“All you need to know is that he’s fully capable of withstanding your father’s influence,” I say, not wanting to reveal too much about my friend’s ability to shield.
It’s obvious Kai is perturbed by Fredrich, even though he tries to hide it. He takes in the room again, then the rest of us, as he considers the revelation that someone may actually be capable of resisting his father.
His gaze stops on Acker. As if he can see through Acker’s carefully put on facade and to the depraved thoughts hiding underneath. “Even so,” he says. “My condition for an alliance remains the same.”
Everyone is stunned by his decision, Aurora somehow the most of all.
She rises from the settee, her face set in a fierce scowl that she aims at Kai.
When he refuses to acknowledge her obvious displeasure, she turns her attention to Messer.
Pleading isn’t something I’d ever believed Aurora capable of.
Demanding is more her style. Yet, despite her still-steely demeanor, I get the sense she’s trying to convey a message to Messer, to implore him to act.
He’s helpless as he stares back at her, his anger plain as day, and as his eyes shift to his former best friend, I’m worried about what he might say or do if I don’t intervene.
I stand from my chair. “The offer still stands on the off chance you change your mind.”
Messer’s helpless anger is now directed at me, but I subtly shake my head in warning. There’s nothing we can do to change Kai’s mind.
Begrudgingly, Messer moves to the hearth and lifts the coats off the mantle to hand them to Aurora as she’s closest to him, but before she’s able to take them, Kai is there to grab them from his hands.
I slowly step between them and usher our guests into the entrance hall in a show of diplomacy.
The roar of the rain sweeps inside the cottage when I open the front door, along with a burst of freezing wind.
Kai pauses at the threshold. At first, I believe it’s to steel himself before venturing out into the weather, but then he turns to look at me.
“Chryse knows you plan to renege on your agreement. He’s planning on seeking an alliance with Edmond if my father gets banned from court,” he says, appearing apathetic as he delivers the news. “Just figured I’d give you fair warning.”
Even though I suspected Chryse would likely go back on our deal, it still stings to hear.
I nod my thanks. “I hope you have a safe return.”
I shut the door behind them, blocking out the wind and rain.
While I had hoped to weaken Edmond and Wren’s alliance with the messenger pigeons, I didn’t ever consider that Chryse would join ranks with Edmond.
They’ve been at odds on and off for decades.
Then, when my mother killed Osiris, Chryse blamed Edmond for not stepping in to stop it, but I suppose anything is possible in this ever-evolving war.
The silence is loud as everyone comes to terms with our predicament.
That is, until a giggle erupts from Irina, cutting through the tension. When I look at her, there’s a sheen of moisture in her eyes, and her giggles turn into a full-blown fit of laughter.
“What could possibly be funny right now?” Messer asks, as exasperated as he is intrigued by her amusement.
“It’s just that—” She shakes her head as she struggles to catch her breath. “The look on Kai’s face when Fredrich didn’t stop breathing—” Sucking in another gasp of air, she continues, “He was so offended.”
It takes a second, but then we’re all snickering, tension finding release. It’s effective in breaking us out of our melancholy. But as I watch the grin slowly fade from Acker’s face, I have an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.