27. Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tan

I t'd been about three months since Oakley came back into Garrick's life, and we finally seemed to be making some progress with them. Underneath all that… assassin-ness they seemed like a good kid. They were a little shy, especially with Garrick now that they weren't constantly giving him attitude. It was like they didn't know how to behave with him. They didn't know any longer whether they should be angry at Garrick, sad, or what.

Not that I could exactly blame the kid with everything their mother had told them. I still couldn't believe some of the horrible shit she'd put into Oakley's head, but hopefully this time with us had proven that those things weren't true.

I was praying that they weren't only pretending to be getting along with us.

I… didn't think they were. Maybe I was a fool for believing it, but I honestly thought they were beginning to see things clearly.

In fact, Oakley didn't really have any restrictions any longer. They were free to come and go as they pleased, and they hadn't run away.

Again, maybe they were playing the long game and trying to gain our trust before stabbing us in the back, but… I didn't think so. They were either a really good actor, or they were truly discovering a ton of shit that'd been kept from them their entire life. And not just the stuff about their father either, but stuff about the world and life in general.

The kid had seemed very overwhelmed the first time we'd walked around the tower with them, but they'd been doing okay by themself this past week. They'd even shifted into their dragon form up on the roof and went for a flight with Roman—Orangelica and I were going to go, but we couldn't leave Garrick at the tower alone. Rome had given Oakley a lot of space, only going in case the kid was attacked and needed backup—we weren't sure what Sylra's people would do to them if they found them. We didn't even know if they knew Oakley was still alive—and they'd come right back without issue. No escape attempts.

The only place I'd put my foot down was Garrick's condo. Gar had been considering letting the kid inside, and I'd argued with him until he'd agreed to keep them out. For now. We needed to build more trust before I'd be comfortable with that.

In all that time, I hadn't gone back to my house. Well, I'd visited just to check on it and grab more of my things, but I'd basically moved into Garrick's condo and straight into his bedroom.

My belongings were everywhere. Clothes, my own books, blankets, some of my cooking stuff, I'd even brought over my favorite mug.

I suppose I was sort of living there. Huh .

"You're definitely living with me," Garrick said as we got on the elevator, clearing having read my mind. Orangelica had decided to ride on his shoulder today, and it was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen. I'd already taken several pictures, much to Garrick's dismay.

I rolled my eyes. "Temporarily."

He shot me a smug look. "We'll see."

I snorted and gave him a nudge, then pushed the number on the elevator. "You doing okay?"

He sighed heavily. "Yeah, just frustrated that I can't walk around the city. I want to make sure these people are really following through with all the changes."

I patted his arm. "Trust me, honey, they are. You've seen the news, you've heard what Bel and Ker have been saying. It's better out there. Some bigots are being, well, bigots, but the law is no longer on their side, so we're moving in the right direction. This isn't something that can be fixed overnight, but it's improving already."

He exhaled and gave a short nod. "I know you're right, I just… I want to see it for myself."

I wanted him to see it too. I wanted him to leave the tower and walk around his city. I wanted him to come to my home and spend a night there with me. I wanted him to be able to shift into his dragon, finally, after all this time, and be able to fly around the city. I wanted him to feel whole again.

I was pretty sure the curse would be broken soon—there was no way Oakley wouldn't be able to love this man—but I didn't want to mention it because Gar always got upset. He didn't want Oakley to think he only brought them here to break the curse because he absolutely didn't, and I know that whether the curse was broken or not, Garrick would always, always, always love them. But he was afraid that Oakley wouldn't think that.

And I got it, I really did. He didn't want guilt to factor into anything with Oakley. None of this was their fault. They were as much a victim of their mother as Garrick was.

But that wasn't a today problem. That was a deal-with-it-when-it-comes kind of a thing.

So I pushed those thoughts away and concentrated on today's meeting.

Garrick was getting updates from the liege paramounts. We both had been reading through their weekly reports and what not, but my Gar was checking on them in person at least once a week.

He'd been all over the tower the past three months, getting to know people again, actually socializing. It was definitely good for him. He was more of a people person than I'd expected, and I could tell that something was settling inside of him at having more interactions with his people.

Plus, he was cute to watch, especially when he talked to kids. I loved it, and it made me sorta feel like maybe one day we could adopt a kid or two.

Garrick's head whipped around to face me, and my eyes widened. Shit . Had he heard that?

"You want kids?"

"Eep." The sound that came out of me was too embarrassing for words, but Gar wasn't looking away. He was staring, waiting for an answer, so I cleared my throat. "Um… yeah, I think I do. Maybe. Only if you want them."

A slow smile grew on his face, and he stepped close so his chest bumped into my shoulder and grabbed my hand in his, tangling our fingers together. Orangelica hopped to the ground, not wanting anything to do with this. Gar rested his forehead against my temple for a moment and quietly said, "I would love to make a family with you, Tan."

I leaned into him a little. "We already are. With Oakley. And Orangelica, and even Roman too."

His lips brushed across my cheek in a sweet caress. "You're right, but… I'd love to talk about more kids in the future."

I nodded. "I'd like that."

He kissed my cheek again, then my neck. "We have all the time in the world to figure things out, little pretty."

My belly swooped at the thought even as goosebumps popped up over my skin from his soft touch. I smiled at him, leaning harder and letting him take more of my weight. "Yes, we do."

He leaned around me to give me a hard kiss that made me smile against his lips.

Gah, I loved this man. We hadn't said the words, not out loud, but I knew he could feel my love, just as I could feel his. But for some reason, saying it out loud was a little scary.

But I would be brave… eventually.

We straightened ourselves out as the numbers counted down on the elevator. This building was so tall, and we were going to almost the lowest floor. Thank the Mother we were in the private elevator and not the public one—we would've been stopping every other floor since it was right smack in the middle of a shift change.

As we approached our floor, I couldn't help but wiggle with nerves.

Garrick had been having me read over all the LPs reports, and he'd wanted to hear my opinions. Normally, it would've been Roman doing this with him, but he'd been busy training up some guards and security personnel, as well as doing training with Oakley. Which left me with Garrick. I still didn't know if he was only humoring me because we were together or if he really cared about what I had to say.

"I really care," he murmured.

I groaned. "How are you doing that so easily?"

"You think very loudly."

I shot him a glare. "Rude."

He shrugged. "You're a loud person in general, so I'm not surprised."

I gasped in mock offense. "That was so fucking harsh, Gar-Bear."

He snorted out a laugh. "I'm sorry, but the look on your face…" He leaned down and pecked my lips. "I'm only joking. I think you're perfect."

That made me snort. "That's so not true, but I appreciate the sentiment."

He squeezed me to his side for a moment and kissed the top of my head before letting go just in time for the doors to slide open. He scooped Orangelica off the floor so she could climb onto his shoulder—I was pretty sure she just really liked protecting him—and we walked out of the elevator together, and it only took ten seconds for someone to notice the king on their floor. As soon as they bowed, everyone else started to.

"You may rise," Garrick said almost immediately.

He didn't like the bowing, but Roman insisted on leaving that rule in place for the time being to help remind all the LPs who was really in charge. I agreed with him, even though I thought the bowing thing was a little over the top, if I was being honest.

"I agree," Garrick's voice said in my head. "I don't like it, but it doesn't bother me much, probably because people have been bowing to me since before I can even remember."

"I mean, as long as they're not bowing to me, I guess I don't care."

He paused, even freezing his steps for half a beat. "You do realize that once I announce you as my viramore, people are going to bow to you."

I stopped walking, pulling him to a stop. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." I winced as soon as I said it out loud because there were a lot of people around us. Whoops .

Garrick snorted out a loud laugh, shaking his head in amusement. "Definitely not kidding."

My jaw hung open.

A human woman approached us, smiling shyly and bowing her head. "Excuse me, Your Majesty, but the Speaker asked me to bring you to conference room four."

"Thank you, Ruth," Gar said, turning away from me and grabbing my hand to give it a small tug. That got me to move again at least.

Her eyes widened in surprise, and I just knew she hadn't expected him to remember her name. But my mate was good like that, and Ruth had helped us every time we'd come down here, so of course he remembered her.

I shot her a smile and waved her on. "Thank you for your help, Ruth."

She snapped out of it, did another small curtsy thing, then quickly walked ahead of us. She stopped at a door, knocked, opened it, and waved us in.

"Thank you," Gar and I said together as we walked inside.

The new Speaker of the Tower, Tekla Koski, stood up with a smile to greet us. She'd been doing a great job the past few months. It helped that she was the liege paramount of housing, so she was up close and personal with the unhoused fae. I was confident that she was truly helping the people who really needed it. And she'd been leading the rest of the LPs in a much better, more inclusive, direction.

She was also a fae herself, which was a huge deal. Some of the others had fought back about it, but Garrick hadn't let that deter him from making things right. Showing support for the fae and putting someone who happened to be fae in power helped show the entire territory that the king was taking equal rights seriously.

Although that hadn't been the reason Garrick had chosen her. He'd let the other LPs give their opinions on who should take the Speaker position, but he hadn't liked their choices because it was just more of the same. And he no longer trusted many of them.

So he'd put out a call to anyone who wanted the job, fae included, interviewed about fifty people, and picked the best one.

So far, I agreed wholeheartedly with his pick.

"It's good to see you, Tekla," Garrick said before greeting each and every LP.

I went behind him and gave them each a greeting as well, then Garrick and I sat at the end of the long table, opposite of Tekla.

Garrick said, "From the reports I've been receiving, things seem to be moving forward positively for the most part, but I want to hear it from you. I want to know what problems you're running into so we can all brainstorm ideas on how to improve. Is that alright with you, Speaker?"

She smiled gracefully at him. "That sounds like a perfectly reasonable plan to me. Who would like to go first?"

Toward the end of the meeting, I felt like we had a good idea of what needed to happen moving forward, and people seemed to be working together well. Hopefully that wasn't all for show. I didn't think it was because most of these LPs seemed genuinely eager to get to work and seemed friendly with each other.

Hope was a beautiful thing, and I was filled to the brim with it for the Sedoba Territory, my permanent home.

When Tekla was wrapping up the meeting, Garrick said, "One more thing." He waited until he had everyone's attention. "I just wanted to let you all know that Tan is my viramore."

There was shocked silence, but I wasn't sure who was more shocked—them or me. What the hell? He didn't tell me he was doing that today.

Garrick shot me a tiny smile—I loved that he smiled so easily now—and a wink before refocusing. "I haven't made the public announcement yet, but I plan to soon. I wanted to give you a head's up so you understand why he's been a part of these meetings."

Tekla said, "Congratulations, to the both of you."

"Thank you."

I shot her a grateful smile. "Thank you."

She smiled back. "You're welcome, agusha."

I blinked at her. Agusha? I… I'd heard that word before, hadn't I?

My eyes widened. Holy shit. That's what Roman said.

I turned my wide-eyed gaze on Garrick. "What does agusha mean?"

His eyes softened. "It means king's consort."

My eyebrows rose. Holy shit. "Roman called me that a couple of times."

He sighed. "Of course he did."

"He called me that months ago."

"Sounds like something he'd do."

"We weren't even together yet!"

He nodded, then jerked his head to the side to indicate our audience.

Oh. Right. I winced. "Sorry."

He shook his head and reached over to take my hand in his. He pressed his lips to my knuckles, then faced the LPs. "I'll be making the announcement within the next two weeks, but it isn't a secret, so I don't mind if you tell your families." He cleared his throat. "I'm also doing an interview with a local journalist about… my child, Oakley. They were reported as being killed in a car accident twenty-five years ago, but that isn't the case. They were actually kidnapped and hidden away from me."

He gave them a moment to absorb that information because it was a lot.

Then he added, "My Oakley is back, and I intend to air all my dirty laundry, so to speak, at the interview. I want Sedoba to know that they have their royal heir back."

That announcement brought up a whole slew of questions. I was glad they weren't aimed at me, but I definitely jumped in to answer a few, just to help Garrick.

When everyone's questions were answered, we finally said our goodbyes, grabbed Orangelica so she could wrap around Gar's neck again, and headed out of the room.

As soon as we were in the hallway, I whispered, "I can't believe you did that."

He paused and stared at me with a furrowed brow. "Are you mad?"

"What? No, of course not. We talked about making the announcement already. I just didn't know you were doing it today."

He leaned down to kiss my lips and murmured against them, "I can't wait any longer to tell the world you're mine."

I shivered, then pressed forward, hard, claiming him back. Inside my head, I said, "I can't wait for that either."

He groaned and tried to deepen the kiss, but I laughed, put my hand on his chest, and stepped back, holding him in place. "We're in the middle of a crowded office."

He blinked like he was coming out of a daze. "Right." He stared at me, then let his gaze drift over my entire body before meeting my eyes again. "Care to take this upstairs?"

Even though he made my dick twitch, I still laughed and looped my arm through his. "Mother of All, Gar-Bear. You're gonna kill me one of these days."

Before he could respond, the ground started to shake. Was this an earthquake? At the same time, I felt a sharp pressure inside my chest and head, and for a few seconds, I couldn't catch my breath. A warning.

I froze until I gasped in air, then slowly looked at Garrick.

His face turned pale, and he whispered, "They're coming."

"They're on the roof. They… they're breaking through my ward!"

We took off for the elevator, and Garrick shouted, "Start lockdown initiative, Ruth. Right now!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Lockdown made all civilians go into a room or office, lock the door, and wait for instructions. The only people allowed to walk around during a lockdown were the guards, any security personnel, and of course, Garrick, Roman, and me. The elevators were kept running—the building was far too tall to turn them off completely—but they'd only work with a keycard that just the security team and we had.

As soon as we were inside the elevator, I called Terrell, one of my head security guards and a trusted friend of Bel's. "Is the king with you?" he asked in lieu of a hello.

"Yes. He's safe. The attack is coming from the roof. We're headed there now. I need you to secure the building, call in backup, and keep all the exits guarded. And then, anyone who's able needs to come up to the roof to help."

"Got it, boss."

"Have you seen Roman?"

"Not since yesterday."

Dammit. "Okay, thanks. Stay smart, Terrell."

"You too."

I hastily added, "But most importantly, stay safe. Don't do anything stupid. Nothing is worth your life, you got me?"

"I got you. Thanks, and I hope you remember your own advice." He hung up, and I shared a glance with Garrick.

"Roman?" I asked him since he'd been trying to call him.

"He didn't answer."

"Fuck."

"I'm sure he's fine."

I nodded. "You're right. He's probably too busy or has his hands full and can't answer or something." But… he always answered when Garrick called him, no matter what he was doing, so that… wasn't a good sign. "Did Oakley answer their phone?"

"No. But they were with Roman, so…"

I winced and reached over to grab Garrick's hand, threading our fingers together for the too-long ride up the elevator. It was a small comfort but pretty much all I could do at the moment.

With my free hand, I called Remi. As soon as he answered, I said, "The tower's under attack. It's on lockdown, so I don't know if you can get in, but Terrell's running security, so you can talk to him. I'm too busy to call anyone else, so can you let your dads know?"

He paused for half a beat. "Of course. I'm on my way. Please be careful, Tan."

"I will."

"I mean it. I don't want to lose my brother."

That made me feel all gooey inside. "Hit me in the feels, why don't you."

He snorted. "I mean it. Stay safe."

"You too." I hung up before he could make me any more emotional because that was the last thing I needed when I was likely going to have to fight off some blood witch or dragon or something.

The building didn't stop shaking the entire ride up to the two-hundred-twenty-third floor. It was terrifying. And definitely not an earthquake. Sedoba itself was angry.

I didn't really like what that could mean for all of us.

We were only ten floors away when I felt a large snap pop inside my chest. It shot through my entire body, like I'd been electrocuted. But it was gone in less than a second.

Clutching my chest, I gasped. "The roof ward's down."

"Fuck!"

How the hell did they get through my wards? They shouldn't have been able to break them. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

We burst out on Garrick's office floor, then we ran for the secret staircase, rushed into Garrick's condo, and retrieved his dragonscale sword, shield, and armor. It wasn't heavy armor. It was more like a shirt, plus some arm and leg bracers, so he put them on as we rushed back through his home.

Then we ran up to the roof access and burst through those doors. I was shocked to find a horde of dragons and blood witches there. Some of the dragons had witches on their backs. I threw a shield over Garrick and me without hesitation.

Several of them were heading for the other staircase, the one that would allow access to the entire building… and all of the people inside it. I quickly threw a shield in front of the door to stop them from getting through, but I knew my shield wouldn't last, not when the dragons could use their scales to bust it open.

The rest of the assailants were surrounding Roman and Oakley.

"Oh fuck," Garrick breathed, obviously seeing the same thing as me.

Roman was on the ground, curled into the fetal position, and I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.