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With a sigh, I stepped aside, running a hand over my face. Of course she protested her husband’s – Endre’s father’s – arrest. The males tossed Tibor into an open chair, propping him up when he started to slide. “It appears you also had to knock Tibor out,” I stated flatly. “I cannot read his charges while he is unconscious.”
“Apologies, My King. He fought us too, especially after we knocked out his wife.” The males sketched twin bows and disappeared from the council room, shutting the door softly behind them.
Around the large wood table sat the remaining High Lords of the Night Realm – Kaztar, Viktor, Jaku, and Nikolai, Vadim’s father. Vadim leaned against the wall along with Jaku’s heir, both stone-faced and arms crossed over their chests. Desmond perked up at the sight of the slumped, disgraced former High Lord.
“I have some smelling salts that will wake him,” the Mage offered.
“By all means,” I barked, sweeping out a hand to indicate that he should continue, before settling into my high-backed chair at the head of the table.
From his robes, he revealed a vial containing small pink rocks. Crouching beside Tibor, he uncorked the top, waving it beneath his nose. I drummed my fingers along the table, waiting for him to return to wakefulness.
With a series of rapid blinks, he came to, straightening when he realized where he was. “My King, I–”
“Save it, Tibor,” I snapped, my patience thinner than the silk robes Taya wore.
His teeth clacked shut, and eyes that reminded me so much of my traitorous friend filled with profound sadness. I continued to drum my fingers, the rap, rap, rap sound of them echoing around the silent room. Ever so slowly, my pace slowed, dragging out the tension building like a rolling thunderstorm.
Finally, the tapping stopped altogether. Dragging my hand off the table, I settled both in my lap and leveled my serious gaze on the traitor. “Tibor Zadik, your son has committed treason against the Night Crown, and as all family members of traitors must be killed alongside the true one, you are sentenced to die, along with your wife, Renata Zadik.”
To his credit, he did not flinch. But the sigh he released almost broke through the wall of hate and pain I’d built around myself.
Almost.
“You are like a son to me, Kazimir. Always have been, always will be, until my dying breath. I’m so sorry your grief has broken you so. You never deserved to be left behind by your father, and Renata and I tried our best to make up for his absence. Cazius’s death was a true tragedy, and your mate rejecting you, another. If my death will ease your pain, then so be it.”
He squared his shoulders and lifted his chin, not bothering to sneak a glance at his former peers and ask them to intervene.
“I will take your son’s life too, once I slaughter the Iron Realm and all its supporters. Traitorous blood will not continue to multiply in the Night Realm,” I gritted out. The scraping of my chair against the stone floor was the only sound in the deafening silence as I rose to my feet and towered over everyone seated atthe council table. “Not now, not ever.” I shot a pointed look at each of my High Lords in turn, and then at their respective heirs.
No one blinked.
Not even Tibor.
“Do you have nothing to say in your son’s defense, Tibor?” I asked, rounding the table and sitting on a hip on the smooth surface beside him. The position allowed me to sneer down at him, but the former High Lord didn’t alter his defiant posture.
“Endre is where he belongs,” he stated with conviction.
The back of my hand cracked against Tibor’s cheekbone as black flashed over my eyes. The binding magic reared to life inside me, and two thick coils of rope burst from my hands, wrapping themselves around his wrists, then up his arms, like two sinister snakes.
A muscle feathered in his jaw, and his nostrils flared as he sucked down air, but he did not scream or cry out. I flicked two more cords toward his legs, securing them to the chair and rendering him fully immobile. The binding magic begged to be unleashed, but I yanked it back into compliance before a rope could leap from my hands and wind around his throat.
His death needed to be public for all to see.
“Your sentence will be carried out at dusk tomorrow,” I snarled, shoving his chair further away from the table and bracing my hands over his bound arms. “Until then, you will be under guard in your apartments, along with your wife. If you try to escape, your death will be slow and torturous.”
Straightening, I sneered at the four remaining High Lords and their heirs. “You are all dismissed.”
Silently, they rose and filed from the room, leaving Tibor and myself alone. My hands curled into fists as he continued to look at me with those pity-filled eyes. I was his fucking king – he wasn’t allowed to make me feel like I was in the wrong when his blood was traitorous.
With a curse, I dragged myself away from him and stalked from the room. The doors banged against the wall, nearly muffling my order to have him returned to his apartment.
The people in the halls of Este Castle parted in a silent wave, hurriedly acknowledging my presence as I passed them. I needed to bury myself in something wet and warm and forget all about the people who continued to betray me. I would not lose control over the Night Realm, not when so many other things had been snatched from me.
Taya waited for me in my chambers, sprawled across my bed in a satin robe. Her red hair fanned out over a pillow, and as I threw my sword to the ground, she straightened, the green fabric pooling around her waist and baring her breasts. “I’ve missed you today, My King. Where have you been?”
“Shut the fuck up and suck my cock,” I growled, yanking her head forward and down. My knees hit the edge of the bed, and she fumbled with the fastenings of my pants before shoving them down my hips. Her golden eyes flicked up to me as she wet her lips, then she lowered her head and wrapped them around me.
Her nose hit my stomach on the first stroke, and she gagged, sucking my cock deeper before releasing it with a heady moan. Bunching up the silky green fabric on her back, I ripped it away, leaving her naked in the cold room. She shivered but did not complain as she licked the underside of my shaft. A pointed nail scraped the center of my balls, and I groaned, grasping the back of her head and forcing her lower on my dick.
