Chapter 42 The Night of Reckoning
Adrian’s POV
The dining-hall doors boomed shut behind the last guard and the iron bar slid into place with a final, deafening clang.
Locked. From the outside. No one was leaving until I said so.
Thomas had Levi face-down on the marble, one heavy boot planted squarely between his shoulder blades, Levi’s arms wrenched so high behind him I could hear the joints creak. Everyone else sat exactly where I’d left them, hands flat on the table, not daring to breathe too loud.
I rolled my shoulders once, cracked my neck, and let the silence stretch until it felt like it would snap.
“Finally,” I exhaled, almost to myself. “Alone.”
I flicked two fingers at the nearest guard. “Take Prince Ronan to the south wing. His family will be retiring soon, once I’m done fixing their attitude.”
Ronan stood without a word, not even sparing his family a glance. His mother’s head snapped toward him, eyes blazing with barely restrained fury.
“You traitor,” she hissed under her breath. “How could you betray your own family?”
Ronan leaned in just enough for her to hear. “You betrayed us first, mother.”
Then he walked out, spine straight, heels clicking, gone.
I cracked my knuckles, slow and deliberate, and started pacing the length of the table like a caged animal that had finally decided the cage was the problem.
“Somebody,” I said, voice perfectly calm, “tell me what the actual fuck is going on here. Because I know damn well Levi wasn’t just talking shit for fun.”
Margaret shot to her feet. “Adrian, I swear on my life, he was bluffing! He’s always been dramatic! You know how he is.”
I let out one short, humourless laugh. “Your son’s life, you mean? That’s exactly what you’re going to lose by lying to me henceforth.”
She went ghost-white and sat back down hard.
I stopped behind Levi and crouched so we were eye-to-eye. Thomas kept him pinned like a butterfly on a board.
“Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, cousin,” I said conversationally. “I sent you to the western mountains to learn some manners. But you came home without informing me. The first day you arrived, what did you do? Walked straight into my throne room and tried to put your hands on the queen. In front of me. Then you brought a bloodsucker onto my land without my permission. I was this close to ripping her throat out. Would’ve started a war. But I didn’t. Because I’m generous.”
Levi spat blood onto the marble.
I stood up slowly. “Not even a full week later you came home, and now you’re trying to drag my mate into whatever little fantasy you cooked up. Tell me, Levi.” I dropped back down, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and yanked his head up so hard his neck cracked. “Do you smell her on me?”
He snarled, struggling uselessly. “I’m still a prince, Adrian! How dare you let your beta treat me like this? This is an insult to royalty!”
“What’s an insult,” I said, voice dropping to a whisper, “is that you opened your filthy mouth at all. I could kill you right here and not a single soul in this room would lift a finger.”
Margaret dropped to her knees again, tears already pouring. “Please, he’s my son—”
“You’ve been begging for my attention since the second you stepped foot back in this palace,” I told Levi, ignoring her. “Congratulations. You have it. All of it. And trust me, you are not walking out of these doors the same way you walked in. You’re going to lose something tonight. Let’s hope it’s not your life.”
I straightened, clapped my hands once, loud. “Here’s the deal. Anyone who tells me the truth gets to leave this hall with all their limbs attached.
Anyone who doesn’t…” I smiled, slow and sharp. “I start collecting fingers. Then hands. Then whatever else I feel like. Who wants to talk?”
Nothing.
I kicked a chair so hard it flew across the room and exploded against the far wall.
“Five.”
I dragged one claw down the stone wall. Screeeeech.
“Four.”
Screeeeech.
“Three.”
“Fine! I’ll talk!” Ariston’s voice cracked like a whip.
He slid off his chair and onto his knees. A king on his knees in front of me. Symbolic as hell.
“I’ll tell you everything, your majesty,” he said, hands trembling, “but swear nothing happens to my family.”
I tilted my head. “You’re not in a position to negotiate, Ariston.”
He bowed lower, forehead almost touching the floor. “Please.”
I let him stew for three heartbeats. “Talk. I’ll think about it.”
He sucked in a shaky breath. “After the convoy brought Arabella here a year plus some months ago, Levi came to me the same night. Said he felt the mate bond the second she crossed the border. Demanded I give her to him. I told him the marriage to you was already sealed by the council. I begged him to stay quiet.”
I folded my arms. “And?”
“He wouldn’t drop it. I couldn’t break the alliance…it would have offended you, ruined everything. So I made him a promise instead.”
“What promise?” I asked, voice flat.
“That once you found your true mate, we would file for a plea to the throne…maybe a royal pardon…and return Arabella to him.”
I stared at him. He stared back, sweat rolling down his temples. Bullshit.
He’s clearly lying, but I decided to play along.
“If I find out you’re lying,” I said quietly, “what should I do to you?”
“I’m not lying,” he whispered. “If there’s even a hint of falsehood in what I just said, do whatever you want to me, your majesty.”
Fools.
I waved a hand. “Escort my in-laws to comfortable rooms. For now. We will see in the morning.”
Guards moved in and led them out.
I glanced at Margaret and Levi while mindlinking Thomas. It was about time Levi learned a lesson.
Not long after, an omega came running towards me, and handed me the thickest cane I’d ever seen.
I handed it to Margaret, a predatory grin curling at my lips. “Parents handle their kids when they act out. You just admitted he did. I’m giving you the opportunity to correct him.”
“Whip your son,” I ordered.
Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped the cane. Then she stared at me like I’d grown a second head.
“What…what are you sayin? How can you ask me to do such a thing?” She said in a broken voice.
“Whip his ass right now,” I repeated. “Or Thomas cuts his arm off. Your choice.”
Levi started thrashing as Margaret sobbed. “Mother, do it! Fucking do it! I don’t want to lose an arm. Dammit!”
She continued crying as she raised the cane like it weighed a ton. The first hit was pathetic, barely a tap.
I growled low. “Don’t test me, Margaret. Harder. And don’t stop until I say so.”
The second one split his shirt. The third drew blood.
She kept going, sobbing, begging me to stop. I didn’t move, didn’t blink.
Not until his back was shredded raw, blood pooling under him, shirt hanging in ribbons. Not until Margaret’s arm gave out and she collapsed beside him, cane clattering to the floor.
The hall cleared minutes later as my men dragged them both out.
Thomas walked closer to me, holding one single sheet of paper.
“Your Majesty,” he said, voice tight. “The DNA results you requested. It’s ready.”
My stomach dropped to the floor.
I couldn’t take it from him. Couldn’t even reach for it.
Because if that paper said that boy Caroline had really was mine…
Marking Kira would kill her. The law is ancient, unbreakable… any royalty who marks anyone after fathering a child sentences that marked female to death by the throne itself.
If it were to be when I was mateless, I wouldn’t really mind. Mostly because I didn’t know better. But now, I already have my true mate sleeping in my bed right now.
How the hell am I supposed to mark someone else when the woman the Goddess made for me is right there?
Stop overthinking, Adrian. It might be negative.
I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth screamed.
“What does it say?” I said to Thomas, forcing the words out.
Thomas looked down at the paper, then back up at me. His face went carefully blank.
“Your Majesty…”