10. Bitter Truths

“Your Highness,” ívarr’s voice carried the short distance between us. I looked around, wary of listening ears. Shifters had such sensitive hearing, elves were hardly any better. I believed some shifters could hear whispered conversations in a crowded room. Thankfully, we were far enough away from anyone else that no one should have heard his mistake.

“ívarr,” I greeted warily as he reached my side. “I am just Teárlach here. No need for titles and honorifics.”

There was a touch of chiding in my tone. I shouldn’t have to remind my fellow elf and friend of the rules. It had been bad enough with the recent arrivals. All had been sworn to secrecy over my royal status for fear of damaging our rapport with the shifters. For some it was harder than with others to drop the ingrained respect for my status.

“That is exactly what I wanted to speak with you about.” His eyes flashed dangerously with anger.

I took a step back from him, mildly alarmed to see such a passionate response from the usually stoic elf. ívarr often received praise for his calm exterior. He was the elf my people turned to in a crisis. He was my faithful friend and cousin. I’d never seen him so furious, especially when it was aimed at me.

“Come, take a walk with me in the forest. I fear you have much to say which others should not overhear.”

Luckily, we were alone, so no one could see ívarr so agitated. I had just left the mansion and was returning to Dakota’s home, where I was still living. I hoped soon that I would have a place to share with Axel. We were on the list for housing, however, the list was long and resources were in short supply until the new homes were finished. Axel refused to use his position to get a home more quickly. Something I respected about him. Until then, we would just have to spend nights apart when work got in the way and visit each other’s apartments when we could.

It was charming to date Axel. My heart couldn’t resist him and I had fallen head over heels for the young shifter. Earning his love in return had been my greatest triumph. I knew his love was hard won.

ívarr followed me dutifully into the copse of trees that surrounded the main grounds of the Sweetwater pack. He had caught me alone because Axel had just returned to his office to catch up on paperwork after touring the building site, though we both knew Dalton would have it in order. It was important for Axel to return to the routines of his usual life. I was still to find my place here, but with time, it would come.

My companion was silent as we crossed the woods and walked farther, heading towards the beach of the Sweetwater lake. Tension flowed between us, leaving me feeling off kilter.

Though he showed no outward signs of emotion obvious to those who did not know him well, I could almost feel a glare being aimed at my back. It prickled over my shoulders and I had to fight the urge to hunch. Mother would be furious at us both for the unbecoming way we were acting.

My feet slowed as I reached the sandy shore of the lake. It stretched out in front of me, a place of beauty and serenity that I longed to take Axel to. I would, after this chat, to overwrite this moment with that one. Give this place a beautiful memory to go with the surroundings.

“What is it, old friend?” I finally asked after his silence became too heavy to bear.

“Your relationship with the shifter must come to an end, and soon, before one, or both of you, is hurt,” ívarr stated bluntly.

The resulting shock from his words had me rocking back as if he had physically assaulted me. Neither of us spoke for a long period. My mind raced as I tried to understand what he was telling me.

End things with Axel? Impossible. I’d sooner tear out my own heart.

My friend waited a moment longer before trailing closer to the water. “What do you truly expect to happen between you and the shifter?”

“Axel. His name is Axel.” There was a pain in my chest over my heart. My guts roiled from the coldness I felt from someone I had always respected. I rubbed absentmindedly at the ache. “ívarr, where is this coming from? I fail to understand this.”

He rounded on me. “You are in love with him. He is in love with you!” he spat. “This path will only end in heartache or even war.” ívarr took a step back, aware he was too close to me. Closer than court rules dictated, even for someone related to me. I was the crown prince after all.

His temper was still high. Shown only by the way his magic flashed purple in his eyes.

As he was a male unaccustomed to violence, it startled me to see his fists clenching and unclenching. I almost missed his words.

“War?” I echoed.

“What do you think the young Alpha will do when you break his brother’s heart?” His expression told me he had spent much of his time thinking about this and I was a fool not to have considered the implications of a heartbroken and betrayed shifter, especially one who was both Second-in-command and brother to the pack Alpha.

“Why would I do that? As you say, I love Axel.”

“Tell me, my prince, what do you think will happen when the queen calls you home? When she finally asks you to take the throne?”

I still failed to understand. “That is many years away unless we find a reason for our infertility. Perhaps if we do, she will have another child—“

ívarr scoffed, then startled. “Forgive me, that was rude. Your mother is far too old to have another child. The strain it would put on her body would likely kill her.” His eyes glittered with sympathy as he looked at me. “You are her only heir and must ascend to the throne.”

Shaking my head, I dismissed his words. “That is many years from now. I have read the laws. There is nothing prohibiting a consort of another species, just as there is not one against same sex marriage.”

He sputtered, his face a mask of shock. “You’d make him your consort?”

Offended on Axel’s behalf, I huffed, “Of course.” He would look magnificent beside me. “We could do as other same sex pairings do and hire a surrogate for an heir.”

His face took on a pitying expression. “My prince, as much as it would please me to see you so happy with someone you truly love, our people would not accept a shifter as a consort to their king.”

“Why—“

“Do not pretend you are ignorant of the ways of some of our people. They stand with the fae and believe shifters are below us. They would return to the days of having shifters as slaves. A shifter as consort would open you up to repeated challenges to your rule and could plunge our world into war with the fae.”

“But Hakeem—“

“He might rescue a few here and there, but it is seen as taking pets from bad owners and setting them free.”

Dismay filled me. The picture ívarr painted made things seem so hopeless.

“Why not you then? We are cousins, your mother was my mother’s half-sister. Does that not mean you are in line for the throne?”

He spluttered, shocking me. Then he laughed. “We do not share enough blood for that. I am not royal enough to resist any challenges to the throne. The parliament would become a republic, get rid of all the royals, before they would let me reign.”

His words made sense. Too much sense.

No, I would not rule without Axel if I had to do so at all. I would not allow it.

“No,” I said firmly, surprising both of us. I hadn’t intended to voice my thought aloud. “If I am to become king, it will be with the consort of my choosing by my side. Axel is not some lone shifter. He comes from a brave and large pack. They are gifted with magic, children, and allies.”

“Teárlach—“

“No. With Axel by my side, we will usher in a new era for Abrocaelum. Together we will aid the shifters and our goddess will bless the union.”

A feeling of certainty settled over me. A knowing I had only felt but a few times before. The goddess was with me.

“We were sent here for a reason, old friend. The goddess wanted us to aid the shifters. Why not so I could meet my soul-bonded? In my hundreds of years, I have met none that are his equal in his ability to reach my heart. Letting Axel go would be to live the rest of my life without love. There is no other for me.”

“It has only been a few weeks, Your Highness.” ívarr looked at me with shock painted over his features.

“My soul is half bonded to him already, ívarr. I can feel him from here.”

ívarr looked dismayed, then resigned. “This cannot be undone.”

“I do not want it to be,” I answered simply, putting all the honesty I could into my voice. “Axel is my heart.”

My friend left me alone by the lake to think things through. If it was indeed true that Axel would struggle with our people accepting his legitimacy as my consort, then I had much to do before I could take the throne.

I considered my next steps while I took a circuitous route back to my room in Dakota’s home.

First, I would have to confess my secret to my love. I had contemplated it before, yet a sense held me back, telling me it wasn’t the time.

I knew not telling him the truth was a mistake. Still, I had to keep the secret for a while longer. Our relationship had to be on firmer ground before I told him to not lose him completely. There was work for me to do as well. I had to ensure the pack was seen as important allies in our hunt for answers.

Our goddess would not have sent us to the shifters without a reason. They were important, and if they did indeed assist us in returning our fertility, then my people would have no choice but to venerate them. How could they be pets when they solved a problem our people and even the fae could not?

We had not told the shifters the fae were also in a crisis, and we had reached out with a plea to share information. Our former allies had grown distant over the several millennia since Abrocaelum had come into being. For many centuries, we had been at war. Now we were in a protracted period of peace. Yet it was a fragile truce.

The fae had not wanted to admit vulnerability by giving us their own research into their fertility rates. We had appealed many times, only to be rebuffed.

It would rock their society to its core to have their pets be the solution to our mutual problems.

“T? Are you here?” Axel’s voice floated up the stairs to the small apartment I lived in over Dakota’s garage. He sounded concerned.

“Here.”

“Everything okay?”

Like me, he was also rubbing over his chest absentmindedly. It was a sign that our bond flowed not only one way. It should have been impossible, but I found with Axel, so many things had become possible. Like falling in love, something I had never truly done. I had lost my heart to the young shifter. I had been waiting for him.

Catching him around his waist, I drew him to me and pressed my lips to his. “Better now you are here,” I said as we broke apart and I pulled Axel further into the room.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked so sweetly.

“No, just elf business. Nothing to worry about.”

His frown told me he was not convinced.

Attempting to distract him, I kissed him again, deepening it, opening his mouth with my tongue as my need for him grew.

All I wanted at that moment was to wash away the bitter memories of my discussion with ívarr and just drown in Axel. His scent, his taste, the feel of him under me.

With him tucked into my arms, I walked us to the bed. Axel smirked against my mouth. “Insatiable.”

“For you, yes.”

At the end of the bed, I stripped him of the t-shirt and jeans he wore as his regular uniform for pack duties. Getting him into a shirt and tie was a battle, which made me wonder how he would be in royal robes.

Desperation for his skin next to mine washed over me. I pushed him back onto the bed, shucked my clothes and crawled up his body to that sinful smirking mouth. There wasn’t time for preparation. All I needed was the feeling of his cock against mine. I rutted against him as he clutched at my back, digging his fingers in almost painfully.

I swallowed down Axel’s moans as I kissed him and worked us both towards our release.

Our kisses slowed until we were just panting against each other’s mouths. He was my universe, and in his eyes, I saw my love reflected back at me.

Pleasure sparked between us. Each touch, every thrust of my cock against his, took us higher.

Together, in a mess of sweaty limbs, we came, our spend pooling between us.

Axel cupped my cheek. “Hey, I know something’s wrong. When you’re ready, I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere.”

No. He wasn’t, because I refused to let him go. I would let my kingdom crumble to dust before I gave up the man in my arms.