Chapter 32
Shattered
TITUS
The next morning, I woke up with morning wood so hard I could have pierced the mattress with it.
After the way things ended last night with Delilah, I ended up pleasuring myself.
After three times, my lust for her still wasn’t quenched, but at least it took the edge off, allowing me the ability to think again about the other aspects of my life.
Such as the High Lord of Land, Folliade, arriving today in his wild goose chase for his mother.
His missive stated he was starting his search in the records building in the City of Embris.
I wasn’t worried. I didn’t have anything to hide.
My hope was that by allowing him to dig through dusty files and prove to himself that the stolen queen was not here, it would get me one step closer to unifying our relationship.
Their alliance was vital to the future of my kingdom.
The majority of Delilah’s day would be preoccupied with her training, allowing me to get through everything I needed without… distraction.
I hated the way things ended last night. Of course, she would take what Saraswati said to heart—about me having to be willing to die for her in order to shield project successfully. I did love her. I just thought there was always another way to resolve things that didn’t involve me dying.
I just needed to show her how much I loved her. I needed to think of something… romantic.
Guardians help me. I was in way over my head.
I took a seat in my office and glared at the stacks of paperwork that needed my attention, but the unrelenting throb in my pants made it difficult to focus. I struggled through about a fourth of the documents before my mind wandered again.
I thought back to that day in the Coralis Falls Archives, where the sexual tension between Saraswati and my mate had been so thick I could have cut it with a blade.
I didn’t have any memories of Delilah ever being interested in females in my past life with her, so when I was trapped in a small room, forced to inhale two devastatingly beautiful females’ pheromones, I had been caught off guard—and harder than a fucking brick.
I hadn’t known Saraswati preferred the company of females nowadays, and while I tried not to take it personally, it left me a little bitter.
I had a feeling Delilah might have wanted to experiment with her, but she was mine, and I don’t share—especially not with a female who was no longer interested in me, and certainly not with a male. Never again.
My Pickles belonged to me.
But damn, it would have been euphoric watching them play.
I needed to think of a way to smooth things over with my mate. I mind-linked Cercies.
Are you and Calpurnia free tonight for dinner?
—I could shift some things around.
Great. Let’s pick them up from dragon riding this evening.
Bring Veyraxxies.
—I never thought I’d see the day we would be double dating.
Fuck, don’t I know it.
A knock at my door interrupted my mind-to-mind conversation.
“Come in,” I called out.
In walked the newest member appointed to the council, Antonias. He was around my age and not a thousand years old like the other members. In meetings, we always seemed to have similar opinions. Sometimes he was the only one who agreed with me. I needed to know if he was ally…or informant.
If I was going to figure out a way to end slavery in the Kingdom of Flame, the easiest way would be with the support of the council.
My hope was that if I could get Antonias to side with me, maybe he could convince the other members to agree to the radical reformation our kingdom so desperately needed.
Long ago, all the kingdoms of Nevaehun had slaves. Slowly, one by one, they abolished it. My kingdom, notoriously slow to change, was the last to free all its people.
The Fire Fae remained, but the other Fae who once called my kingdom home had fled—especially after the fallout over the murder of my mother and the disappearance of the Lady of Land.
Keeping slaves had never bothered me. It was just the way it had always been, and it never affected me directly. But when the veil was lifted and the memories of my past life with Delilah came flooding back, my morals shifted.
It felt like two versions of myself collided, creating an entirely new male and opening an entirely new part of my heart for my mate—one I never knew existed.
In the process, all the wisdom and knowledge from living in a world without slavery made me realize just how wrong it was.
How wrong we had been for allowing such an injustice to persist. How I had benefited from a system I now knew was rotten.
It made me see just how terrible my father really was—and the deplorable state of the kingdom he left me.
I wanted to turn things around. But I needed to handle this situation delicately.
The council was formed long ago to prevent any one High Lord from running the kingdom into ruin and upholding Holy Law.
Its purpose was to serve as a balance of power by representing the interests of the Temple and the Fire Fae’s ties to Holy Law, meaning we had to agree for anything to be accomplished.
If I requested something too extreme, the council—who had an army equal to mine of Holy Guards, would be quick to dethrone me. Asking to change Holy Law was practically blasphemy, punishable by death.
Because I am the most powerful High Lord the Fire Kingdom had ever seen, in fear of my power they would, without any doubt, move quickly to execute me.
Which made this off-the-record conversation with Antonias incredibly risky.
“You requested an audience, My Lord?” he said, bowing his head slightly.
He was dressed in a crimson floor-length robe with a gold rope tied in ceremonial knots at his waist. He had shorter blond hair and traditional Fire Fae amber eyes and golden skin.
“Yes, thank you, Council Member Antonias. Please take a seat,” I replied.
He removed his oversized hood and took a seat in one of the armed chairs in front of my desk.
“I’d like to speak to you… unofficially, as a peer, if that’s alright?” I asked.
“It would be an honor to be considered a friend of the High Lord,” he replied respectfully.
Antonias threw me off. I had looked at his records. He was high-born of noble birth, with a moderate blood magic level—but nothing compared to my own—yet he did not fear me. I had never scented his fear.
He was the only council member, other than Caddver, who didn’t seem intimidated by my power, which left me slightly unnerved.
I began, “I’m sure you are aware of the ultimatum the Kingdom of Seas gave us yesterday in regard to the liberation of our enslaved population.”
He nodded, hands hidden in the wide arm openings of his robe.
“I am. The council has been arguing all morning in the Temple on how to respond.”
It wasn’t unusual for the council to have their own meetings. They were their own entity. But when it came to exposing my treachery against the Temple to Antonias… well.
Here goes nothing.
I prodded, “Such a thing would normally be met with violence. An attack on the innocents of their kingdom as a display of power and refusal of demands…”
He nodded again. “Historically, that is correct.”
“And where has that gotten us… historically?” I asked sardonically.
He tilted his head slightly, as though reading me before responding.
“Historically?... Ineffective. And it resulted in more unnecessary casualties on both sides. Why do you ask, My Lord?”
I stood and walked to the large bay window overlooking the city of Embris below. For the first time, I wondered just how many Fire Fae were suffering in my kingdom.
“Antonias, sometimes I dream about ruling a kingdom shaped by my own flame, not my father’s.”
Treading lightly, he placed a fist over his heart. “I see… Lord Nerot was a… fierce leader. May the Creator repurpose his soul.”
I nodded but purposefully did not return the gesture. Instead, I offered him a closed-lip smile. He noticed.
“But fierce doesn’t always mean fair,” he added.
Relief flooded through me. Saying such a thing aloud—slander of a High Lord past or present—was punishable by death. He was taking a huge risk speaking this way.
I formed a new respect for the progressive council member. “If you were seated on the Flaming Throne,” I asked carefully, “how would you handle the ultimatum? Off the record, of course.”
He raised a blond brow. “Off the record?”
I summoned my magic, forming a sound shield around us so he understood just how private this conversation was.
“I would act in the best interest of the Fire Fae… all Fire Fae.”
“But would the council support you? Hypothetically?”
“I think the council would need to be reshaped by ‘my own flame,’” he replied darkly, repeating my words.
It was not a metaphor. We both knew that.
Antonias was offering me a solution that required no debate and left no room for survivors.
His gaze stayed on mine, patient and assessing, as if waiting to see whether I would finally do what needed to be done.
I did not bristle at the idea. I weighed it.
Fire was a language I understood. One that I was fluent in.
I nodded slowly. “Thank you for your guidance, Council Member Antonias.”
He walked to the door, but before exiting, he pulled up his oversized crimson hood and bent at the waist in a respectable bow.
“I am happy to serve, but being your friend is the honor,” he stated warmly—almost too warmly—before leaving my office.
I forced myself through another stack of papers filled with mundane and tedious information, and before I knew it, the sun was lowering in the sky.
I went to my chambers to change into my riding leathers and freshen up because I planned on surprising Delilah and picking her up in Dragon’s Maw.
I mind-linked Draxxinar and Cercies and told them to ready themselves for departure as I made my way to the main landing platform outside the castle gates.