16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Garrick

T hree days after I fired the Speaker of the Tower, I had everything I needed to make decisions on which liege paramounts would stay and which ones would be arrested—there was truly no in between. Either they'd conspired to take over the territory, or they'd had nothing to do with it and were innocent bystanders.

This morning, I'd had the police arrest Aaron Ralodove, the ex-Speaker. I'd had some security following him since he'd left the tower the other day, just to ensure that he didn't make a run for it. He'd stayed put, lucky for him, and I just received a message that he was already inside the prison. He was a werewolf, so it wasn't realistic to lock him up for the rest of his life—that could be hundreds and hundreds of years—but he certainly wouldn't be tasting freedom for at least a century if I had it my way.

And I was king, so I would ensure I did.

He'd have a trial, they all would, but I had the final word on their judgments and their sentences…

They should probably be worried about that.

My wonderful receptionist scheduled meetings throughout the day with each and every liege paramount that was left. I had extra security in the office with me, not to protect me since I knew Tan was perfectly capable of that, but to detain the LPs that needed to be arrested so they could be handed over to the police as well.

I already fired three LPs and cleared four. The next three would be fired and arrested for their part in the plot to take control of Sedoba… right under my nose.

I was beyond frustrated with myself over my part in this. If I'd been more diligent. If I'd listened to Roman. If I'd left the fucking tower and walked around my city even once. If I wasn't so wrapped up in my personal life, in my own grief, for so long, in my worry for my...

If, if, if.

There were so many things I should've done differently, but unfortunately, I couldn't change the past.

I needed to stop doing this to myself. Yes, I'd been wrong. Yes, I hadn't done everything I should've. But there was nothing I could do to change that now. Blaming myself wasn't going to solve a thing.

All I could do was do better in the future and ensure I continued to do better no matter what was going on in my personal life.

Since we had a small break between appointments, I wasn't surprised when Tan asked me, "Are you doing okay?"

I glanced over at him sitting at his desk, looking at me. He was so beautiful. His eyes almost glowed from the sunlight spilling in through the blinds, and the soft and sweet expression I didn't deserve aimed at me took my breath away. He was so, so gorgeous, inside and out. "I'm okay. What about you?"

Orangelica was currently sitting on top of his head, looking like a cat loaf hat. The first time I saw her do that, I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen, but she did it so often now that I hardly noticed. The only reason I did this time was because she glanced at me with her big cute eyes, and I knew she was about to hop off his head and come sit with me for a bit.

She'd been going back and forth between us all day, somehow knowing when I was about to fire someone and have them arrested—knowing when I could use the extra support. I didn't know if she was doing that for comfort since I didn't like doing this or if she was acting as backup. Perhaps both.

I glanced at my witch. Huh . Maybe he was the one who'd been sending her to me throughout the day. This morning, I'd given him my schedule and told him which LPs posed a potential problem today. I wouldn't put it past him to send his Bonded over to protect me. The thought made me want to grin.

Tan sent me a soft smile. "I'm good."

I still didn't know how he could even smile at me like that after what I'd done. Every time he looked at me with kindness in his eyes, I felt overwhelmed with relief and also so damn anxious to truly earn his sweet regard.

I really needed to tell him the whole story. I really did, but would he still smile at me like that after he found out the whole truth?

Tan asked, "You worried about the rest of these guys?"

I sighed. "Not really. I saved them for last because they're the least likely to cause issues when they're arrested. They'll be upset, but I'm sure they know it's coming by now since some of the others never returned to their offices." I shrugged.

"Security's been watching them all day. So far, there haven't been any runners."

"Good. I think your idea of letting them see all the extra security personnel we have here today was a great idea. They know we're watching them."

He nodded, but before he could say anything more, Elvira called me through the comm.

"Your Majesty, the liege paramount of education is here for your one o'clock meeting."

I hit the button and said, "Let him in, Elvira. Thank you."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

Tan smiled at me. "You hate that you can't get her to be less formal with you, don't you?"

I groaned. "So much. It makes sense in front of others, especially someone like an LP, but she does it all the time. She's been working for me for years, and still, it's always Your Majesty ."

He chuckled but cut himself off when the doors opened.

The LP of education walked in, and when he saw Tan sitting at his desk, the frown on his face turned into something more menacing. I narrowed my eyes at him.

But all Tan did was raise a brow at the man, then literally made a little shooing motion at him, as if he was an insignificant fly, and looked down at his laptop, completely ignoring the priggish bastard standing in the middle of the room. If I could have, I would've reached over and high-fived my witch for that because the LP looked absolutely shocked and appalled by it.

It made me grin in delight.

Maybe I was a little bit evil, but the man deserved far worse.

The man bowed low, and I made him hold it for a long time before waving him up.

"Marroc Gammidge, do you know why you're here?" I asked, not even offering him a seat.

He folded his hands together in front of him, standing up straight. "No, Your Majesty."

Bullshit . "I have evidence of your participation in the plot to take over Sedoba."

"No! I never—"

I growled out, "Do not interrupt me when I'm speaking. You will not speak unless I ask you a question. Do you understand?"

There was a brief hesitation. "Yes, Your Highness."

"You and your cohorts went behind my back, fed me, your king , false information, forged my signature, passed laws I didn't approve, the list goes on and on, Marroc Gammidge."

"I didn't—"

"Do not interrupt me. As I'm sure you've garnered, you're fired—"

"Sire, I didn't—"

"Interrupt me again, Marroc Gammidge, and see what happens." I waited a few beats to make sure he got the message, then I continued. "Aside from losing your job, you're facing serious charges and will be taken into custody as soon as we finish our meeting here."

He looked absolutely shocked, which made me think he wasn't as smart as I originally thought.

I explained in detail the evidence we already had, what his current charges were, and that he was still under investigation, so more charges could be added before his trial. Once he was apprehended, I took a breath. Two more to go, and then I could be done for the day, thank the Mother of Scales.

Tomorrow I'd start the process of finding new people to step up and take their positions.

And then I had to help them implement some new programs to help the fae and help the rest of my citizens unlearn their horrible behavior toward them.

And then…

Scales, there was so much to do I was getting a headache even thinking about it.

But I would get it done, no matter what it took. I was going to fix my territory and make sure that everyone, no matter who they were, felt safe and welcome here.

The way it always should've been.

A few days later, all I could do was stare at Tan all day long. He'd been so sweet, kind, and patient with me, and all I'd done was hide things from him. Honestly, I wasn't sure how he could stand being in the same room as me at this point, and yet, he was all smiles and warmth. How? How was this man so damn good ?

As soon as we finished work and headed up to my condo, I decided I needed to get everything off my chest. So I took his hand and led him over to the couch, then simply… didn't let go. He didn't seem to mind me holding onto him.

Orangelica hopped up on his lap, distracting us both as we petted her with our free hands. But I didn't release him. I needed his strength to anchor me.

"Tan?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

Before I second-guessed myself, I blurted, "I was born into royal blood, which I suppose isn't that surprising."

His eyebrows rose, but he simply nodded in encouragement, so I continued.

"My family has ruled parts of Gauhala for thousands of years. Even before humans became aware of the supernatural world, we ruled. It's in our blood." Quite literally. "My parents were killed about sixty years ago, and I was the only heir left. That made my clan nervous, so I set about finding another dragon to marry and… make my own heir. It honestly didn't go very well for a long time.

"I started dating this woman—Sylra—about forty-seven-ish years ago, I'd say. She was from another dragon clan from the south, but we thought marrying one another would help bring peace to our peoples. The whole clan was ecstatic when we announced our engagement after we'd been together for over a year. We were married, and there was peace between both clans for years while we, uh… tried to make an heir." Scales, that had felt so awkward to say to Tan of all people, but that wasn't even close to the worst part. I cleared my throat because I knew I had to finish now before I chickened out.

Tan scooted closer to me, released my hand, and started rubbing my back in comfort. Scales, I didn't know if I even deserved his solace after everything I'd put my kingdom through. I still didn't know how he could even look at me.

But I was selfish enough to take what he was offering, and I found myself leaning toward him. He scooted even closer so he was pressed to my side, and I closed my eyes, trying to soak up every drop of his warmth and kindness that I could.

I'd need it for the next part, for recalling the worst time of my entire, very long existence.

After a few minutes, I started talking again. My voice was quiet, and even I could hear how filled with pain it was. "It's difficult for dragons to get pregnant—that's why there's so few of us in the world. It took us over fifteen years to get pregnant, and when we finally did, there were celebrations for weeks within both our clans. It was… a very joyous time for our dragon clans. But that was when things started to… turn, at least in private.

"During Sylra's pregnancy, she became meaner, not only to me, but to our staff and the other clan members. She became a completely different person to the one I'd married, but everyone just chalked it up to her pregnancy. She didn't have an easy time of it, so I let it go and hoped she'd feel better after she had the baby."

I trailed off and leaned farther into Tan, seeking his comfort and wishing he could wrap me in enough warmth to keep the memories at bay.

I cleared my throat. "She finally gave birth to our son twenty-five years ago, and it was the happiest day of my life. My little Oakley was born, and he was perfect." I turned to Tan, and I could feel my eyes getting watery, but there was no stopping it. Tan's expression mirrored my own, his empathy already shining through when he didn't even know what had happened.

"He was perfect, Tan. He was adorable and so damn sweet. The first time I held him, he grabbed onto my finger and wouldn't let go for the longest time. The doctor had to pry him out of my arms to check on him because I never wanted to put him down."

When I grew quiet again, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to my shoulder. I nudged him and rested my head on top of his for a few seconds, breathing him in. These things may've happened twenty-five years ago, but it still felt like it'd happened yesterday.

"For a month, I was in heaven with my son. Sylra was… still acting cruel to everyone, and she showed zero interest in the baby. I was trying to get her help, but she resisted, and I was too focused on taking care of Oakley to notice how bad she'd gotten. I wish… well, there are a lot of things I wish were different."

I turned to him to meet his eyes, my chest tight with pain. "I trusted the wrong people, Tan, and I don't think I can ever forgive myself for what happened."