Page 34 of Lethal King

“That’s for you to decide,” Dad says. “It’s your kingdom now, after all.”

“What the fuck…” I curse, leaning closer to the screen.

“Is everything alright?”

Just like that, the code switches again.

Something clicks.

“Can I call you back? I think I just found something.”

“A solution or a distraction?”

Wrapping the edge of the thin wire around my finger, I wait for the code to re-arrange itself again. The second it does, I pull. The silver tick is gutted. The data on my phone screen pixelates, then freezes.

“I fucking found you,” I sneer.

There, hiding just behind the code, is a tiny IP address. To an average person, it might not seem like anything more than an insignificant set of numbers. To me, it might as well be coordinates.

This is how I’m going to find her.

This is how I’m going to make her fucking pay.

My fists clench and my heart jumps as I stand back up from my chair.

“Rian. Don’t do anything you might regret. You can’t ignore one commitment for another anymore.”

Dad’s words of warning make me pause. But not because I take them to heart. Instead, I suddenly have another idea—a way to appease both my father and my obsession.

A combination of all my commitments into one cruel act.

The thought hits me like a sledgehammer.

… Do I dare?

“Don’t worry. I won’t. I’ve been listening. And I’ve just had a thought that might solve all of our problems.”

“Want to fill me in?”

“Of course, I’ll need your blessing after all.”

That leaves my father momentarily speechless.

“Rian, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going hunting,” I tell him, biting down on my tongue. “And when I return, I’ll have destroyed our most dangerous enemy. And captured myself a wife.”

The static crackling seems to intensify as my father tries to make sense of what he just heard.

“A forced marriage…”

I can’t help but smirk.

“Taking Rozalia captive would essentially neuter Tytus. There’s no way he would dare attack us if it could harm his sister. That takes care of the biggest threat to our empire. But it might also force the Italians to actually get off their asses for once, because they couldn’t just keep throwing their daughters at me anymore. They’d have to work for my favor, just like old times. Hell, it might even draw Dragomir Raclaw out of hiding. The only obstacle would be catching her, and I just found out how I might be able to do that.”

It would also allow me to break my vow of celibacy, I think. But that’s beside the point.

“Interesting,” dad mumbles. “There’s actually another possible benefit. Has Maksim been keeping you updated on his mission? Just last week, he told me about something that might make your proposal even more successful…”