6. Vale

Chapter 6

Vale

H ell was real, and it was alive and well in Idris’ bedroom.

“Is this necessary?” I whined, hanging onto a post of Idris’ bed as Kian cinched my new corset.

The additional armor was on the outside of thick fighting leathers that fit me like a second skin. The leathers themselves were scaled at all major arteries, but the corset covered my entire middle from collarbone to hips. Magically crafted, the blood-red scales could have only come from one dragon—a dragon that was still not speaking to me.

“Asshole. If you’d just talk to me, I could tell you thank you, you turd.”

I could barely breathe in the thing, but Kian still trussed me up like a turkey, making the already-snug fit even tighter. I didn’t know when they’d started crafting it, but the detail was exquisite. And just like so many garments, it had simply appeared in Idris’ room for me to find.

“I want you to take a look at the dress I peeled off of you and ask that shit again,” Kian growled, his hot breath on the sliver of exposed skin of my neck.

Fighting off a shiver, I ignored the pulse in my sex as I glanced at the pile of rags that used to be my dress. Kian had cut it off me as he checked my whole body for further injury. I had a feeling his inspection had more to do with him destroying a reminder of how close I'd come to death rather than the highly erotic foreplay it had turned into—foreplay that wouldn’t see me satisfied until this meeting was over.

“Fine. The armor is necessary.” Given how I’d nearly gotten gutted by a creepy Fae Lord, I couldn’t exactly blame him for his caution, but… “Can you tell me why you insist on teasing me, then?”

Kian wrapped his fist in my braid and pulled my head back as he yanked me flush against him. Even through his leathers, his hard cock pressing against the small of my back was a stark reminder that he hadn’t gotten any relief in that alcove.

Yep, he was torturing the both of us on purpose.

While I’d offered to help him in that area, Kian had declined, and now I was aching again.

“Punishment, little witch. You don’t listen to begging, you thoroughly enjoy spankings, and I will never cut into your pretty skin with anything other than my fangs. Denying you is all I have. Maybe if I make you so horny you can’t see straight, then you’ll stick with one of us long enough to get through this.”

No wonder he was a general. The man was fucking diabolical. “And it makes no difference to you that none of this is my fault?”

His teeth raked against my neck as he turned us to the one spot in the room I was ignoring like my life depended on it. “Is it your fault that you sliced through the ward of this room like it was nothing?”

I closed my eyes to try and ignore it, but I could still hear the water running, and my brain had supplied all it needed to picture what was happening in the bathing chamber.

“Open your eyes and watch. It’s no fun if you don’t watch.”

My belly dipped as I did as I was told—for once. The door to the bathing chamber was wide open. Positioned exactly so I could see him was a very naked Xavier, his fiery blue eyes on me as bubbles cascaded down his torso. His hand was wrapped around his thick cock, the slow strokes making me squirm.

“Is it your fault that you explored the castle unattended?”

Yep, this was Hell, and I was burning in the flames of mindless desire. I’d bet if Kian deigned to touch my clit, I would combust right there and then.

“Is it your fault that you consistently and pathologically ignore the advice of everyone around you, even though we are centuries your senior?”

Kian nipped at the lobe of my ear, his sultry voice touching every inch of my skin as I watched Xavier’s erotic show. Gods, he was evil—they both were. And dammit if he didn’t have a point.

“Is there any chance I could get you to consider my side of things before you tease us all into oblivion?”

His low chuckle in my ear was pure evil. “You don't have to tell me your reasons because, had I been in your shoes, I likely would have done the same thing. You left this room because we were keeping you in the dark. You went through the castle because you thought Rune was lying to you. And you ignored our advice because you thought we didn't trust you to be able to handle it.”

If he knew all of this, why was he being a stingy prick?

My thoughts must have been loud because he answered me in that low, sexy growl that had my clit pulsing and my core aching for him.

“I'm denying you as much as I'm denying myself. Time and time again, we forget this lesson, and if we don’t quit, we’ll lose you. If we are to trust you to be our mate, we need to tell you what you're up against. If you are to trust us as your mate, then you need to listen to our advice. Both sides are failing miserably, little witch—none of us are right.”

Turning in his arms, I latched onto his leathers and brought him down to my level. It wasn’t lost on me that he wouldn’t bend unless he wanted to, but I still felt the power of his kiss curling my toes. The flames of blind need sizzled down my spine as the kiss went from sweet to carnal in the span of a single second. Kian lifted me off my feet, and I locked my ankles behind his back.

We’d just be a little late, right?

“Do not make me come up there,” Idris growled into my mind, the threat just as intoxicating as Xavier and Kian’s teasing, reminding me of his voice in my head as Xavier pounded into me, as Kian whispered in my ear, as pleasure washed through me so acute I thought I might die from it.

I hadn’t thought him in my mind would be something I almost needed, but in that alcove with Xavier inside me and Kian surrounding me, and Idris fanning mindless pleasure through our link, I realized he and I were a lot closer than I’d thought.

Something had changed after he made his promise. It was almost like trust—the walls around my heart crumbling just a fraction.

“I have a demolished throne room to deal with in the middle of a brand-new council bleed and read, and your desire is so strong, I’m considering telling the entire continent to go fuck themselves so I can watch you come.”

Gods, these three were going to kill me. Fuck our enemies, this brand of torture would do me in for sure.

“Now be a good little Luxa and get your delicious ass down here. You have a council to swear in.”

That had me straightening, pulling away from Kian’s mouth as the room around me practically disappeared. My focus was only on Idris. “ I knew I’d be in the throne room, and I knew I’d meet them, but I had no idea I would be swearing anyone in. Are you serious?”

A teeny trill of pride hit me right in the chest—Idris’ pride, not mine. “You wanted to be part of this kingdom. It’s time I trusted you to be my queen. No more secrets, right?”

“What is it?” Kian murmured, setting me on my feet.

I blinked away my surprised tears, the emotion hitting me out of nowhere. “Idris wants me to help swear the new council in.”

For the first time, it wasn’t like I was just some witch they’d found to use for their own gain. It wasn't like I was a tool to be wielded or a bargaining chip. For the first time, I was taking part of what would be the rest of my life. And while I had never dreamed I would actually be a queen of this kingdom, the fact I was actually participating filled me with such a sense of purpose that I almost didn't know what to do with myself.

I hadn't been here for very long, but every single moment had felt like I was a pawn in a game I had never wanted to play. This felt different.

The water shut off and Xavier strode into the room, a fluffy white towel around his hips. “Please tell me something else hasn't gone wrong.”

“No,” I whispered, a true smile hitting my mouth for maybe the first time all day. “Just the opposite.”

* * *

The throne room was still in shambles, a fact that did not make me feel at all proud of myself. My rage had done permanent damage, had possibly hurt Idris’ reputation, and had the potential to affect how these people saw me. According to Xavier and Kian, we needed their support to help quell the unrest in the continent—that having these factions behind us would ensure the kingdom thrived after Idris’ curse was broken.

Not that I knew how to break the curse or if I was even capable of it.

“You are,” Rune murmured, his voice welcome, even if he was a little shit. “You are the key. Now quit doubting yourself and pick your head up. You will be Queen soon. Act like it.”

The bite of tears hit my eyes for a second before I swallowed them down. “Glad you’re talking to me again. I missed you. Please don’t shut me out anymore. I hated it.”

I could practically feel his eyes rolling. “I had no intention of shutting you out the first time. There are rules to this curse, my Queen. Rules I cannot tell you, but ones I must abide by. I nearly broke one of them. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you distress.”

“You could have just said ‘I can't tell you.’ I'm starting to learn with this curse, the more someone knows, the less they can say.”

Now that Fenwick’s scroll had been destroyed, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to figure out what to do to even begin breaking Idris' curse. The few people who had the knowledge of how the damn thing was created couldn’t say a word about it.

“Pay attention, my Queen. This is not the room to lose focus.”

I blinked back into the room, my wary gaze landing on the group of magic-wielders kneeling at Idris’ feet. They seemed nothing like the council that had once stared at me with contempt. Half of them looked scared out of their minds. The other half seemed ready to finish what Ithran had started.

Considering the state of the room, I didn't blame them. While I’d been busy donning armor, Freya had drunk from each new and old member—or at least the ones who hadn’t run screaming after Ithran’s death. Her abilities as an ancient vampire made it so she could see the intentions of anyone she drank from—good or bad—but I didn’t trust it. While she’d deemed each of them free of death magic and without ill intent, I had my doubts. People had a way of hiding the truth here.

The scent of Ithran’s blood still filled my nose as I tried to forget cutting him in two.

Who in their right mind would want to be here? A Fae had just died not ten feet from where I was standing, and I’d been the one to take his life. They probably thought of me like an agent of Orrus, ready to take them to their end.

And that was if they didn’t want to tap my veins for power.

A few of them shifted uncomfortably, the weight of this room’s recent past lingering in the air. My gaze flitted from one new face to another. This wasn’t the first cutthroat situation I’d ever been in, but it was far less predictable. At least under the mountain, all anyone wanted was Lumentium in exchange for food.

Here, everyone’s motivations were suspect, more mercurial than magic itself.

“It has been two hundred years since I have sworn in a new member to this council,” Idris began, his gaze assessing each person like they were a personal threat. “Today, we welcome nine new members. You may ask yourself why we are inducting so many. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors buzzing through the villages of the attempted coup on this throne.”

The silence of the room had the icy finger of fear raking down my spine. Despite the heat of my leathers, I nearly shivered under the weight of the council’s stares, wondering which one of them would try to kill me next.

“A coup that was thwarted by your future Queen. She secured this kingdom with her blood and power, and without her, we would have fallen to the guild. A silent war has been raging, one that steals magic, hoards it away, draining the very life from this continent.”

A thread of power thrummed just below the surface of his words, touching each of us.

“I ask of you to swear your allegiance to the Crown, to stand with us in our war against the guild that threatens to steal the very breath from your lungs, the very blood from your veins.”

As one, the council recited a credo I did not understand. “ De meo sanguine. In vitae mi. In acie mea. ”

“It means ‘on my blood, on my life, on my line,’” Idris supplied, nearly startling me out of my skin. “They will swear to the Crown, to the continent, and to us. Then it’s your turn. You ready?”

Shakily, I nodded, barely noticing the slight lift to his lips as he continued with his speech.

“I ask of you to swear your allegiance to the continent, to stand for the very land under your feet.”

Again, the council recited their promise. “ De meo sanguine. In vitae mi. In acie mea. ”

“I ask of you to swear your allegiance to the rightful heir to the Crown and to my future wife and fateborn mate.”

A shocked murmur filled the room as council members—both old and new—shared furtive glances like they knew something I didn’t. After a tense moment, they repeated the oath. “ De meo sanguine. In vitae mi. In acie mea. ”

I wanted to ask why everyone was freaking out, but it wasn’t the time. Idris glanced back at me, a subtle nod signaling that it was my turn. Stepping forward, I was now even with him, standing as a united front.

My eyes slid closed as I called upon the magic that had once meant execution and death—that could still mean death if I didn’t play my cards right. Reaching deep, I pulled at the thread of power, and all at once, light bloomed from my skin. Swelling from my body in a crackling dome of energy, it engulfed each member of the council, holding them tight in the circle of my protection.

“A Luxa took everything from you—took your magic, your way of life,” I began, my voice trembling, but I pushed forward. “A Luxa cursed your king. But a Luxa will set this kingdom free.”

“What are you doing, Vale?” Idris demanded, real fear in his eyes.

He didn’t understand just how horrible it was to live with uncertainty, to worry no one cared if you lived or died. I couldn’t be a good leader if I didn’t honor the vow they’d just given me.

“Making them a promise.”

“You swear your allegiances to me, but what do you get in return?”

My gaze flitted from one member to another, showing them that I wouldn’t hide, wouldn’t falter. They needed strength, they needed power, and they needed someone they could trust.

“On my blood, on my life, and on my power, I promise that I will break this curse and return your kingdom to its former glory.”

Idris threaded his fingers through mine, golden power dancing over his flesh. “We stand as one against those that would rip us apart, that would turn families against each other. Let this council be a beacon for our people in our darkest times and let none of us forget the price of treachery.”

The council rose as one, and while I could detect apprehension from some, a few seemed ready for this new chapter.

If only I could trust them.