Chapter 41

41

M ikhail stepped up to the royal balcony for the second time since his return. This time, the crowd below was larger, a sea of faces that blurred together in a disconcerting mass. He wondered how many of them were under his brother’s control, how many were here of their own will, and how many were there simply for the gossip.

His skin prickled with acute awareness, and he felt the weight of one gaze, in particular, bearing down on him like a physical force. Even though he couldn’t make out Zagan in the crowd, Mikhail knew he was there, lurking and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

“Oh, he’s here alright,” Brax murmured from beside him.

“You feel him too, huh?” Mikhail unconsciously touched Jinx’s mating mark, gaining comfort and strength.

Brax nodded sharply. “I sure do.” He turned to Mikhail and bowed low before rising and meeting his eyes. “It’s time, My King.”

Mikhail smiled, knowing it didn’t reach his eyes. He nodded in return before facing his people. “Thank you for attending me today. I wish I could say it was under better circumstances than the last shock I gave you. But it is not. You see, I did not reveal everything before. I kept something from you. Something big.”

He paused, drawing in a deep breath and, with it, his resolve. “The person responsible for the deaths of the royal line and multiple mass murders of our friends and families is Prince Zagan, our baby brother.” He permitted the crowd’s outburst—it was to be expected. After a few minutes, he quieted them so he could continue with the revelations. “We have also discovered that it was my mother, the late Queen Eronia, who instigated the plan. She mentally and emotionally abused my brother, manipulating him when he was a vulnerable, sickly child. She poisoned his mind and stole his future.”

Mikhail looked around solemnly, feeling his neck heat. Zagan’s ire was rising. “Now, I’m not saying our mother bears all the responsibility; she does not. Zagan is equally to blame. He is now an adult and making choices of his own free will.” He looked at Brax, receiving a steady look, and thought, Fuck it. Let’s do this.

“In light of what we now know, the Queen Mother Eronia is hereby posthumously stripped of her title. She will no longer be called Queen. All records will be amended to reflect her new status as a betrayer of the crown. All shrines and monuments will be taken down and removed. And finally, her body will be exhumed and removed from the royal cemetery. One who has caused so much harm does not deserve the honour and solace of family, even in death.”

The crowd’s shock was palpable, a living thing that surged through the throng like an electric current. They shouted and cried out in disbelief, their voices mingling in a chaotic symphony of horror. Bodies collided as people shuffled and jostled, too stunned to maintain any sense of personal space or order. Hands flew to mouths, and eyes widened in sheer, uncomprehending surprise at what they had just heard. The air was thick with a mixture of fear and confusion, almost suffocating in its intensity, but Mikhail rose above it to finish planting the seeds that Zagan would soon sow.

“I thank you for your continued support,” he shouted. “And I vow to always protect you, even from my own family. Nobody is above the law. I promise you that Zagan will be dealt with according to the law, regardless of the royal blood of Cerberus running through his veins. Please accept my sincere regret for having to deliver this unfathomable news. I am sorrier than I can express. Be safe. Be well. We will get through this together and come out stronger. This, I also promise you. Thank you.”

With that, he stepped back. Brax, Draven, and Sabre quickly followed, and Marius closed the heavy velvet curtains, blocking out the sight of hundreds of preternaturals losing their shit.

“Don’t worry, there’s enough of the Horde down there for crowd control,” Brax commented.

Mikhail welcomed Jinx’s small, warm form against him when she darted across the room. He tucked her into his side, addressing Brax. “And enough of them for later? We’re not splitting your forces too thin?”

Brax shook his head, smiling a little when Sabre took his hand. “Even if the majority of them weren’t going to rejoin our other forces asap, we’d still have enough. Our ancestors called the army a horde for a reason.”

Mikhail knew that, yet he couldn't shake his worry. Everyone he cared about would soon be thrust into danger. Yes, they’d all been in danger for months. But this was different. He’d all but goaded the Grim Reaper to take them all with his little speech. He feared for Sabre, whose bravery often bordered on recklessness. He worried about Brax, whose anger was as great as his grief. And then there was his new mate. The thought of Jinx getting a paper cut made him anxious. Going into a battle against the crazy demon who actively wanted her dead? It was a wonder he wasn’t hyperventilating.

“I’d feel better if we had a god or two on our side,” Mikhail uttered, glaring up at the Heavens.

The last three days had been spent planning and plotting right down to the last possible contingency. And that included a trip North and South. The gods, of course, declined to acquiesce to his request for aid. They had been polite about it until Sabre had informed them that she was going to make them shit teeth for a week. Then, they were less than hospitable.

“We don’t need those walking glitter bombs,” Sabre grumped. “But I would feel better with Lucifer on our side.”

“He is on our side,” Jinx spoke up. “He said he’d deal with the aftermath. That’s his job. And this is ours.”

“Sheesh, not even a week mated to the King, and you’re already so wise.” Sabre turned her wide-eyed look on Mikhail. “Can you believe her?”

He hugged Jinx, planting a kiss on top of her head. “I can. And I would appreciate her reconsidering?—”

“I’m coming,” Jinx interrupted firmly. “I can fight. I’ve been trained by the best, and I can look after myself. Besides, this was my idea.”

“An excellent idea we’re going to execute with ruthless precision,” Brax declared. He pointed a finger at her and Eric. “But you’re still wearing a vest. That goes for Eric as well. No arguments.”

“I wasn’t going to argue,” Jinx assured him quickly.

“Right. Because you never argue,” Sabre said with a roll of her eyes. “Are you weaponed up?”

“I will be,” Jinx said, her voice tinged with playfulness. She batted her lashes at Mikhail. “Just as soon as my mate opens a portal so I can get to my weapons cache. I want to use ones I'm familiar with.”

Mikhail’s brows shot up in genuine surprise. “Cache? You have a weapons cache?”

Jinx shrugged nonchalantly. “My best friends run underground fight rings, smuggle weapons, and kill people for a living. It would be pretty irresponsible of me not to have a stockpile of weapons, don’t you think?”

“Go. Get the woman her tools,” Brax said with a smile and a shooing motion. “But don’t take too long. I’m hoping Z will wait until he sees you actioning your word. But if he doesn’t, he could attack any minute.”

Mikhail nodded. He understood the stakes. He took Jinx’s hand and followed her instructions so they would step straight into her home. “Let’s get you your playthings."

He didn’t have much of a chance to admire Jinx’s living room because she promptly dragged him to a little nook. He watched, amused and surprised, when she opened a secret panel. “This is some real spy-level shit here.”

Jinx laughed, winking over her shoulder as she sauntered into the hidden room. “I’m a woman of many depths.”

A growl rumbled in his chest as his gaze lasered onto her butt. “I’m aware.”

All further sexual innuendos fell to the wayside when he finally took in his surroundings. When Jinx mentioned having a weapons stash, he didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps a small arsenal in a locked cabinet or a few choice pieces in a wall safe. But the sight that greeted him as he followed her into the room left him momentarily speechless. It was a veritable arsenal.

“What do you think?” Jinx asked, spinning around in the centre of the room.

“I think we need to come back here so I can fuck you amongst all these weapons.” The husky words tumbled out without conscious thought, but he didn’t take them back.

Jinx sputtered out a laugh, her eyes sparkling with a mix of amusement and disbelief. “What? This is seriously turning you on?”

Mikhail thought about it for a moment. His dick was painfully and irrationally hard, and he shifted uncomfortably. “It is. How odd,” he added, almost as if he were a scientist observing an unexpected result in an experiment.

Jinx raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. “I don’t mind a little oddness.”

Mikhail reeled her in, tipping her face up. “That’s a good thing, considering you’re stuck with me for life.”

“For life, huh?” she repeated as if assessing the weight of the words. “I can live with that,” she decided, her lips close to his.

When Mikhail leaned in, she met him halfway, their kiss lingering and tender. When she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, the warmth of her breath on his skin sent a shiver down his spine. He closed his eyes, savouring the moment. How many kisses like this would they share? A thousand? Ten thousand? The thought of an infinite number of such moments made his heart happy.

Reluctantly, he released her, patting her arse. “Go on. Grab your exceedingly illegal toys. We can’t linger. And if I keep kissing you, you’ll be stripped and screaming my name in minutes.”

“My, someone has a high opinion of himself,” Jinx said with a chuckle. But she began gathering items. When she hesitated, Mikhail asked her if she was okay. She picked up a rather innocuous dagger. “This is the blade that killed my owner.”

He froze. “What?”

She turned it over in her fingers. “Sabre used this dagger to slit Asmodeus’s throat. She offered it to me so I could kill him myself. But I couldn’t do it.”

He heard the pain in her words and had to clear his throat before speaking. “There’s no shame in that.”

“Oh, I know that.” Jinx’s eyes met his. “And it wasn’t cowardice or out of kindness or forgiveness either. I chose not to kill him because I didn’t want him to control me anymore. And submitting to vengeance felt a whole lot like being powerless.”

She reached beneath a cabinet, pulling out a small sheath that buckled it to the belt loops on her pants. “I was so troubled, Mikhail, and killing him would have been so easy. But do you know what else would have been easy? To become like him—a monster consumed by hate and power. What if I liked it? What if I revelled in taking my power back through death, and I never got the chance to really live again? I wasn’t willing to take the risk. So, Sabre did it for me.”

He hadn’t thought he could love her more than he already did. But he found himself tumbling deeper into the love and light that Jinx embodied. She was phenomenal. “You made the harder choice, the one that takes true courage. You held back when most people would have given in to their anger and pain. You’re stronger than I ever realised and braver than anyone I know.”

“I’m working on believing that.” Jinx’s smile was small, but it was there. “Killing him might have given me immediate relief,” she continued, slipping the blade into the sheath. “But the long-term cost could have been too high. Life isn’t just about surviving, Mikhail. It's about who we become in the end.”

Mikhail placed his hands on her hips, his thumbs slipping beneath her shirt to caress her soft skin. “You became a miracle.” He closed his eyes, breathing steadily. “And my brother became a monster.”

Jinx didn’t say anything, and he was glad. After all, no words would change what was about to happen.