Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
I shook my head in bewilderment, turning to Leala and putting a hand on my chest. “Am I unpardonably jumpy, or is he nuts? Because I have a meeting to get to, and I don’t want to leave you with any surprises.”
“What surprise?” Cecil grumbled, approaching Aurelia with the first horrible garment to try on. “You find your small dick, that’s the surprise.”
“Both,” Leala answered, giving me a small nod to release me.
If a dipshit like Cecil could fool me, it was no wonder I couldn’t find any of Granny’s people or learn her secrets. Or did he just confuse me? Either way, this was not my best moment.
I gave Aurelia a commiserating look before motioning at Leala. “I’m going to leave this to you. Use the whip if you have to.”
I closed the door amid Cecil’s protests and hurried to the place where I really should’ve been this whole time. At least I’d gotten to see a lovesick Aurelia for a bit. That had been sweet. She and the beta deserved this happiness. If I could only get my finger out of my ass and come up with a better plan than Cecil to ensure they kept it.
Down on the second floor, I headed to a mostly unused section of the castle, reserved for privacy when meeting with foreign leaders or dignitaries. There were no eavesdropping holes in the walls or drafty tunnels where someone might overhear what was going on.
The royals were present, along with Arleth, Hannon, Weston, and a still-very-reserved Micah. He and the king were not on good terms, but he was the commander of dragons. For now. He had to be in on this.
They stopped talking after I walked in. There were no staff on this side of the door, only a pitcher of water anyone thirsty would have to pour for themself. Until the door was clicked shut behind me and I had settled into a chair at the table, the king busied himself by shuffling some papers around.
“Micah, I’ll expect a report when you’ve got the dragons better aligned with Weston’s new strategy,” he said, pulling a piece of paper in front of him.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Micah answered, his tone flat.
“Now, Hadriel, this report you have,” the king said, looking at me. “The findings are similar to my mother’s, but with a lot more history. Who gave this to you?”
“I made friends with a sexually confused scribe while he was traveling. We’ve kept in touch. He has access to the archives.”
Arleth flared her hands and sat back. “Then he would know.”
“So, if I’m reading this correctly . . .” The king looked through the report. “At the time when Aurelia’s mom would’ve been in the court asking for help, her father would’ve been four levels down from the beta, correct?”
“Yes.” I entwined my fingers on the table. “He had more power but less experience than his superiors. His lower standing but stronger power made him perfect for seeing cases of suppression. She would’ve been directed to him, and given Aurelia’s age and some guesswork, they would’ve been within five years of each other, give or take. Aurelia is beautiful, Eldric is still good looking, and her mom drew his notice, so she was probably also beautiful. A little proximity, and whoops! Banging, then baby.”
Nyfain put his finger on the page. “It says here that he has two children. One is twenty-five, one is twenty-nine, and his current mate is the mother of both.”
Weston tensed. “Aurelia tells it like her mom was in love and thought the relationship would go somewhere. If she knew he was cheating, she didn’t pass the info on to her daughter. I’m not sure we need to mention that part.”
“That woman has the most fucked-up life I think I have ever heard of,” Finley said, “and my past is pretty gruesome. At least I knew where I stood. For her, the hits just keep coming.”
“It’s not any more fucked up than ours,” Nyfain said. “All of us in this room have difficult pasts. She has been operating with incorrect knowledge, and the bad shit keeps piling up. It’s why she belongs here.”
“In a kingdom full of people who blame her for the drugs that killed their loved ones?” Micah quirked an eyebrow.
“We’re working on rectifying that.” Finley entwined her fingers. “We just need a good story to merge it all together. Bringing her here as a captive didn’t help. It didn’t set the right tone.”
If the situation wasn’t so serious, I might’ve injected a little humor by mentioning Cecil’s plan . . .
Weston looked completely torn up. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“You were doing as you were told,” she responded.
“I know. Like I said, I wasn’t thinking,” he growled.
A sizzle of power gave me goosebumps. The last thing we needed was the beta and the dragons to fall out and for the fairies or wolf kingdom to take both Weston and Aurelia. Vemar would go with them, and likely a bunch of wolves, too. This kingdom would go from the best to limping along. We needed to keep things together.