Chapter Thirty-Three

Silas

Istared at her fading back, watching every step she took until she rounded a corner. Not once did she look back. Instead, she marched with her shoulders back and her head held high.

Like a dragon.

Every exhale threatened to knock me over like a circus tent that had lost its poles. Caving inward as all stability was lost. Which was what she'd been to me in a way. A stability I'd never truly had but was only just realizing I'd always wanted and longed for.

My dragon bleated sorrowfully.

"Yeah," I said to the empty hallway. "I hear you. This sucks."

The suddenness of it all was shocking. I was still trying to process the revelation that Chloe was a spy. It made sense. Why wouldn't the CIA try to infiltrate the island? They should. I would have if I were them. And what better person to latch onto than the heir to one of the most powerful houses in the kingdom?

Of course, they had no way of knowing I would choose her. Did they? I leaned against the wall with one arm, thinking furiously. Had I ever met her before? Was there any way this could have been avoided? Who knew what sort of damage she could have caused us by being allowed to report in.

I stiffened in alarm.

The knife.

"Silas!"

It was Caine.

The temptation to ignore him and head off after the guards was high. If she still had the knife on her, she could cause some serious harm if she tried to use it to escape. The guards wouldn't be expecting it. After all, she was just a human. Why would they think anyone in the Isles would be stupid enough to give her a dragon-scale knife?

Because only an idiot would do that.

"I'm not done with you," Caine continued, oblivious to my growing rage at the entire situation. "Get back here. We still need to deal with you and what you've done."

My dragon coiled around my mind as we slowly turned to stare balefully at Caine and his greasy hair and arrogant sneer. He was old, but there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. The muscles pulled at his too-tight clothing, which I was sure he wore thinking it would emphasize his physique. Instead, it made him look bulky.

"Caine," I growled, storming down the hallway.

"What?"

"Shut the fuck up," I snarled, shouldering him out of the way.

He followed me back into the sovereign's office, still seething at my actions.

"I want—"

"Enough," the sovereign said sharply.

Caine's jaw snapped shut at the stern rebuke. I didn't bother to look over at Caine, though I certainly enjoyed picturing his face. That was as close as the sovereign got to telling someone to shut up. It had to irk him to hear it from first me and then our ruler. Perhaps he would actually listen.

Before the sovereign could speak up, however, footsteps sounded outside the office. A moment later, someone entered. I forced down the groan threatening to escape.

"I told you," my father hissed as he stared at me, gloating. "I told you she was a liar, that she wasn't here to mate with you. Did you listen? No, of course not. You defied me, leaving a proper mate hanging in the wind, so you could go off and have your dalliance with a human of all things."

It was just like my father to ignore the fact I was hurting and betrayed and instead focus on himself.

"This all could have been avoided if you'd just listened to me," he continued. "Taken any one of the dozens of good mates I've introduced you to. Then you would be happy and content, and this thing would never have happened. It's as I've been telling you for years, son, you need—"

"No."

He blinked at my icy denial. "What?"

"You don't get to call me ‘son'," I snarled. "Not anymore. This could have been avoided if I listened to you?"

"Yes, you—"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" I bellowed loudly enough the sovereign's guards stepped forward from their positions behind her chair.

"You don't get to call me ‘son'," I repeated to his face. "Because you're a real piece-of-shit excuse for a parent. You might be the man who lent his DNA for my creation, but you aren't a father, and you definitely aren't my ‘dad.' Because that implies you actually give a shit about your kids. And you don't. It's all about you-you-you. This all could have been avoided if you had listened to me, Father."

I spat the word at him dripping with scorn. "You're the fucking disappointment. I could have been happily mated years ago if I'd been allowed to choose my own mate, I'm sure. Instead, you did what you wanted, without any care to what I wanted, and now, look at what you've done. You've ensured I have no mate, and I hate your guts. Good job. Now, leave. This has nothing to do with you."

My father gaped at me. Never had I defied him so blatantly in public. I didn't look over my right shoulder to confirm, but there was no doubt in my mind Caine was gloating. He and his sons were very close. Likely because they were all pieces of shit together, but still, he had a close bond with his children. Unlike my father, who'd driven us all away.

"Please excuse us, Azarel," the sovereign said softly after several moments had passed. "Your s—Silas is right. This doesn't concern you."

Duly dismissed, he tried to gather some of his dignity and pride, drawing himself up to his full height before spinning on his heel and marching out the door.

"I'm sorry about that, my Sovereign," I said as soon as the door closed. "That should have been handled privately."

She waved it off. "It happens. And Caine?"

"Yes, my Sovereign?"

"Wipe that grin off your face. Now."

"Yes, my Sovereign," he said with stiff formality. "However, I must insist we proceed with proper punishment."

"Do what you want with her," I forced myself to say. I didn't want them to hurt her, but what was I supposed to do? It wasn't like I could intervene. She'd been caught spying on the entire kingdom. That could not be allowed to pass. "I'm just sorry I didn't catch onto it earlier."

I turned to go, but Caine blocked my way.

"She's not who I want punished," he growled. "I was talking about you."

"Me?" I was so unprepared I could do nothing but echo him.

"You have greatly embarrassed my house," Caine growled. "Dallying about with a human and a spy after so publicly turning down my daughter. That is an insult of the greatest order. I demand satisfaction. Under the Old Laws."

I stared. "A duel? You're challenging me to a duel? You?"

It was the stupidest thing I could imagine. Caine was no slouch of a fighter, but he was decades my senior. I was in my prime. There would be no contest.

"Yes. It is my right under the old ways. The ways that still govern our houses and their conduct," Caine growled. "You will meet me."

I stared at the sovereign, hoping she would intervene and shut this down. It was insanity. There was no version in which Caine won. That would only invite further humiliation and likely a full-on blood war between our houses.

To my surprise, she was shaking her head.

"He's right," she said. "He can demand it."

"This is wild. Shut it down. You're the sovereign. Overrule it!" I shouted.

"Trust me, I would love to stop this stupidity," she said tiredly. "But I would alienate a lot of people if I tried to forbid the old ways. It would create more problems than it's worth."

"Unbelievable," I said.

"If he wants to get beaten by you publicly, then that's his choice," she said. Then her voice turned had. "But the fight will be to the first scale shed. Not to the death. Is that understood?"

There was no room for argument. I nodded simply, glad I wouldn't have to kill Caine.

"I don't know what you're up to," I told him. "But I'm not going easy on you. So, if you want to reconsider, go for it. This won't make things better."

Caine just laughed. "Oh, but it will. You'll see."

"Five days," the sovereign said. "Then we will meet. Do you understand?"

"Yes," I said, storming out of the office before any further idiocy could be unleashed.

My father was waiting.

"I hate you. You're a shit head of house and an even more pathetic excuse for a father," I spat before he could get a word in. "Right now, I should be coming to you for support and advice. But I can't. Because you suck. So just politely fuck off already and save your whining for your offspring who still want anything to do with you because we're done."

Then I was gone, rushing to the roof and taking to the skies.

I needed to clear my head and order my thoughts.

Because if I didn't, the darkness would get me. I had nothing left to fight it off anymore.

Chloe had taken the light with her.