Chapter 15
Sagan
Seeing it all in black and white from Myriam upset me in a way that was hard to control. My dragons were ready to come out and kill all the elders… And then some.
“It’s been about twenty years since any of them have done their actual jobs and traveled as an emissary for the royal family,” I muttered as I looked at the pages, my hands shaking.
“I know it’s tedious, but please get with Raquel and try—I need some reasonable number of how much it costs to house them per day. ”
She chuckled and nodded. “Smart.”
I met her gaze. “I won’t forget this.”
Her eyes softened. “You’re drowning and it’s my job now.”
No, this was more than I’d asked her for and this was now her mission too. “Your father still doesn’t allow forcing women or drugs, right?”
She flinched and crossed her arms over her chest. “Sex workers are illegal in Protesia and Father doesn’t touch it.
Clubs with nudity only.” She waited until I nodded.
“But he does drugs. Not the hard stuff. Not the life-ruining highly-additive shit.” She licked her lips and came to an internal decision. “Not after they destroyed his uncle.”
That was interesting and I filed it away for later. “Tell him to detangle from anyone who deals drugs to abuse women. That’s where your king is going to focus and hard after the eldest princess was sexually assaulted while at a noble party meeting a potential mating alliance.”
She blew out a harsh breath. “Forcing women isn’t Father’s thing.” She nodded when I snorted. “Yeah, that might have changed given he was planning to sell me, but… That’s different in his eyes. Drugs are different.”
“Fair, but busting the ones who sell them and they work with him will lead to him having to answer questions he won’t want to—attention he won’t want.
It’s very different than rich kids getting high at parties and his poker tournaments.
Even if I hate his loan sharking, someone will always do it and he keeps the other monsters at bay. ”
“I’ll let him know. Thank you.”
“Also, make it clear not to branch out here. I told you that I plan to legalize it all, but it’s all owned by elders and I’m taking them down. So if he has his fingers in any of those pies, he should start withdrawing them. Especially the ones on our border.”
Her eyes flashed shock and worry. “Thank you, Sagan.”
I nodded and waved what she’d given me. “Thank you.”
“How do you want to handle the money you brought in?”
That was a good question, but first I scheduled a video call Sunday brunch meeting with all the Alphas.
They could have someone else attend in their place, but I was pretty sure they would make it when I said it was mostly about updates to the elder situation and progress on managing the castle for guests.
Hint. Hint.
After some back and forth, I decided to ask Aunt Maple for help. I didn’t tell her what was going on, but simply asked her to give me a hand with something.
She joined us after dinner with Treena, which shocked me, but she didn’t hide her suspicion as she studied Myriam. Maple had made it clear she wasn’t a fan of me having a Metcalf as an aide but understood why I was doing it.
Uncle Darren wasn’t as accepting but kept quiet because it would look bad if he argued with me about something so important.
I told them both the truth about the elders and that I planned to seize assets from their accounts and skip the game they would ever pay me back. While they were reeling from that, I handed Maple the long, long list of everyone my parents owed money to without telling her what it was about.
“Who on that list—I need this put in order of who we trust,” I told her.
“Who has the biggest mouth and would be problems with information that could hurt Sagan,” Myriam added.
“What is going on, Sagan?” Maple demanded. She shook her head when I tried to brush her off. “No, you tell me what is happening right now. If you’re in danger or—”
“You’re being a huge help, but leave this to us,” I told her. “You keep pushing Elira’s buttons and help me turn around the opinions in the castle who know you—that’s what I need. And this. I promise if I need anything else, I’ll ask.”
She searched my eyes. “You won’t tell me. Really? Not me?”
I licked my lips. “There are some things I do as heir, not as their daughter, but you will always be his sister.”
“Plus, we’re not even sure of anything yet,” Myriam lied smoothly. “We want to look into some things more, but we don’t know who to cross-reference with and who to worry about. The wrong person gossips about something from Elira or the elders and—”
Maple snatched the list away from me. “I understand. I always thought the elders were heavy-handed and cankerous but never—they should all be dumped into the ocean with their wings bound.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
While Maple worked on the list, not just ordering it, but writing out notes for us, Treena updated us on the project to get rid of Elira.
Apparently, it was going smoother than we could have imagined.
She was unraveling fast with all the attention I was getting, and each time she had a misstep she just tripped again.
The real turning point was when she was a bit too vocal about some of the coronation preparations and decorations being tacky or over the top…
When they were tradition and she had even been instructed to use the same from my father’s coronation since they’d been in storage.
There was no need for certain robes and whatnot to be reordered when we had them.
Plus, that all cost money even if the government was actually paying for the event.
Basically, while more people were warming up to me and accepting this was the new reality, impressed with how I’d handled the changes with grace, she was showing her true colors… And they were finally taking notice.
It was hard not to go rub it all in her face. She had to be drowning in jealousy that seventeen of the most eligible men in the nation would be doing whatever they could to stand next to me.
Fine, the queen, not me personally, but it was everything she wanted.
“I apologize for the interruption, but we have a situation, Your Highness,” one of Benson’s right hands said after knocking.
I nodded and hurried after him, the worry and upset practically oozing off of him. I understood why a few minutes later when I was standing in one of the suites used by an elder.
Because it was trashed. Like… Trashed.
Sconces were on the ground, the furniture barely standing, the bed frame shattered—and that was all I saw from the doorway.
“Excellent,” Myriam chuckled darkly as the rest of us stood in horror.
Then what she meant hit me and I snickered. I shared a glance with her and couldn’t hide my amusement.
“Fuel,” Maple figured out. “This just gave you all of the fuel to go at them harder. Most wouldn’t have the gall to do it and they assume you won’t risk it.
” She sighed when I nodded and then touched my shoulder.
“I won’t ever defend how you were raised, but just hear me that moments like this are exactly why I think your parents did what they did. ”
I flinched but then considered her words as I took in the full extent of the damage. She made sense. Father was raised deep in the system where the elders were the voice of reason and their word was to always be heeded. He was—this was all he knew.
And if he didn’t know how to break that cycle, removing me from it might have been the only answer he had.
“I hear you,” I finally told her before looking at the guard. “Are the other suites like this? Only five have moved out, right?”
“Six, Your Highness, and yes,” he told me.
I smiled evilly. Awesome. They planned this and their next move. “Tell Benson that I’m ordering the others be removed and we will pack their belongings and deliver them to their capital residences.”
“They might want that,” Maple warned.
I nodded, knowing it could be part of the trap.
“Find whoever we can to get in here to give me estimates of damages. Someone on staff or one of the guards has to have a contractor friend or relative who can do an informal report or assessment today. I want video and pictures of everything for my meeting tomorrow.”
“Guard the rooms so no one can try and say it wasn’t the elders later,” Treena suggested. “One of them could say it was Benson being lax after they weren’t living here or staff who tried to burglarize the place looking for anything of value the elders left.”
“Guards have been on the hallway the whole time,” the guard told us, his face going pale.
“Good, make sure it stays that way and the video is ready,” I told him.
“Tell Benson that the castle is on lockdown and no elders are allowed in. No outsiders. Treena’s right and we’re not risking that narrative.
I’m not letting their next ploy be going for his job and putting someone in that they think they can control. ”
I swallowed a snort. More than they already did him.
I was still miffed that he’d listened to certain orders of theirs after my parents had died.
I didn’t care who ordered him to do what when I wasn’t there.
The moment it was confirmed that my father was dead, I was the only one who could have given him any orders.
I forgave it because everything had to be a mess and he’d probably done the best he could, but… It wasn’t something to forget easily. I would stay alive by being wary.
And I planned to stay alive.
I was also annoyed because now I couldn’t go fight to earn more money. The manager of the fight ring had contacted Myriam to try and schedule a rematch since it was Saturday night, but now there was no chance of us sneaking away with the castle on lockdown. She handled it well, but… Fuck.
Though she’d handled it all amazingly and meeting Avior had really been some amazing luck to help.
The remaining elders who weren’t sequestered under review were in an uproar at being tossed out. Hardin simply smirked at me as if I’d stepped right into a minefield I didn’t even know was before me.
While others were throwing fits and being too loud, he moved closer and leaned in so no one else would hear me.
“Be careful how far you try to play this hand, Sagan. You dig too deep and you won’t find gold, but too much of what you shouldn’t and will probably bring your own house down as well.”
I leaned away and let him see the amusement in my eyes.
“Sounds like fun, Cassius.” It made me feel better when he was unnerved and pissed that I’d used his first name.
“If my parents did anything wrong, then so be it. Let it all be aired out.” I nodded when he narrowed his eyes at me.
“I’ll always pick that over you getting your slimy hooks into me. ”
“You have no idea the fight you’ve started and cannot win,” he bit out.
“No, you have no idea the adversary you picked the fight with,” I purred. “I barely knew those people, practically strangers to me, even if they were my parents. I don’t have any loyalty to them over this nation and myself.”
I stepped into him, which shocked him, and he took a step back, people around us going quiet.
“And I would rather throw myself into one of our ice chasms before I ever live an imprisoned life led by snakes who do everything for themselves and not others. Never doubt that. See it in my eyes and feel it from my dragon, Cassius. You overplayed your hand at every turn, but see it now that if you keep going down this path, it will be your head, not just your position.”
He didn’t believe me. That was clear.
But he might have finally realized that if I went down, I would take him with me.
And right then, that was enough.