Chapter 0107
Still, my father trusted him and sought his counsel for many matters, especially when our kingdom was at war. As much of an asshole as I think Clark is, he has something valuable. Knowledge. It’s the only reason I didn’t have him executed after I saw how he had been mistreating the feeders and letting the guards debase and abuse them.
He puts his book down on a table and gets to his feet slowly. He gives a shallow, mocking bow. “Your Majesty. To what do I owe the honor?”
“Don’t be clever with me, Clark. I’m not here to play games.”
“I would never dare to suggest a thing, sir.”
I resist rolling my eyes and take the seat across from him without a word. He sits down and waits for me to speak. I have vague memories of my father’s war council, a select group of a dozen men he had implicitly trusted to help him win wars. I have a war council of only two men I can trust.
“I need a war council.”
“About time,” Clark states. “I would have advised you to put together one before rallying the troops.”
“I would have asked for your advice if you hadn’t done what you did to the feeders.” I think of what almost happened to Emory because of him.
“Are we really going to go over the rights of feeders, again? You always were more soft–hearted than you needed to be. Your father always worried about you and how you would fare-”
“Enough,” I snap. “I didn’t come here for a lecture.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Clark amends, glibly. “How may I help you?”
As much as Clark annoys me, he has been my advisor since I became king. It’s easy for me to tell him my concerns with the war and how I am at a stalemate with an egotistical king. As I speak, I think of my father who would have already thrown everything he had at Peter. He acted quickly, sometimes too quickly, and I didn’t want to find myself backed into a corner as he sometimes did.
Clark removes his spectacles and wipes at the lenses with a handkerchief. “I would think the solution is obvious, sir.”
Frustrated, I demand, “And what is that?”
“Give him back his son and marry his daughter. Prevent bloodshed for your people and save your kingdom.”
“I can’t marry Opal. She’s carrying Lex’s child.”
“Why does it matter?” Clark replies. “As long as it’s the same bloodline, your legacy lives on.”
“She’s awful, a total raging bitch. We would never be happy together.”
“You already knew that before, and you were still willing to marry her.”
“That was different.”
“Before you had your little she–wolf by your side?”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0107
“Careful, Clark,” I warn. “You say one bad thing about Emory, and you will spend the next hundred years in the dungeons instead of your comfortable suite.”
Clark put on his glasses, his expression grim. “Do you want to know what makes you inherently different from your father?”
“What?”
“Like most royals, he understood that duty comes first. Love is a privilege you are not afforded when you already possess so much power.”
I swallow hard. I’ve known this truth my entire life. My parents didn’t hide the facts of this life from me, and I had accepted it for the longest time. That was before I met Emory. I could no more give her up now than I could live without blood. I needed her.
“I won’t lose her,” I confess in a whisper. “I don’t know what I would be without her.”
“Better off,” Clark concludes. “After all, Kane, she’ll age and die like all of her kind. And you’ll be alone once again, but this time with a broken heart. And if you’re not careful, no kingdom.”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0107
“Careful, Clark,” I warn. “You say one bad thing about Emory, and you will spend the next hundred years in the dungeons instead of your comfortable suite.”
Clark put on his glasses, his expression grim. “Do you want to know what makes you inherently different from your father?”
“What?”
“Like most royals, he understood that duty comes first. Love is a privilege you are not afforded when you already possess so much power.”
I swallow hard. I’ve known this truth my entire life. My parents didn’t hide the facts of this life from me, and I had accepted it for the longest time. That was before I mét Emory. I could no more give her up now
than I could live without blood. I needed her.
“I won’t lose her,” I confess in a whisper. “I don’t know what I would be without her.”
“Better off,” Clark concludes. “After all, Kane, she’ll age and die like all of her kind. And you’ll be alone once again, but this time with a broken heart. And if you’re not careful, no kingdom.”
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