85. The Verdict

“Alpha Charles,” King Erik said, folding his arms.

“It is an honor to be in your presence, Your Majesty,”

A few nobles sneered and snickered, knowing that Alpha Charles was being as shady as a Fox.

Every one knew of the history between The Red and Golden dragons. Because the Dragon race was a fading breed, each clan had a circle of taking their dragons into long term hibernation. During one of the rotations where it was time for the Golden dragons to enter hibernation, The Red dragons attacked their clan and murdered almost all the Golden dragons while they slept. The only surviving Golden dragons were the Alpha Royals, the best of golds- which was a term that was no longer used after all the other Golden dragons were dead. The mass murder known in history as the Golden Sun Massacre was led by The Red dragon Alpha Colium, the father of Alpha Charles.

The gods will not let a retaliation take place because were the Royal Golden clan to retaliate and trigger a Civil War, they would only succeed in wiping out the dragon race. So they delivered the head of the evil red dragon Alpha and that was the end of the matter: The gods kept promising that the Golden dragons will rise again but without White dragons- who had mysteriously disappeared over the years, it would be extremely difficult to birth more Golden dragons. For only white dragons could bring about Golden dragons. The present Queen however, was an exception. Perhaps this history was the only reason the gods had fated Reya to both men.

After the death of Alpha Colium, Alpha Charles was enraged and begun to challenge King Erik for his throne- a feat he never managed to see through despite challenging King Erik five times. He had claimed that the era of Golden dragons sitting on the Golden throne had gone and a new age should be born. Using this, he tried to rally the other clans to himself but it would never work for as soon as The Royal Dragons lost their Golden dragons, they began to form alliances with the other clans. It was said that the only reason Alpha Charles had stopped trying to challenge King Erik was because his favorite daughter Charlotte had ended up passing away because of his relentless cunning.

With their horrid history, it was understandable that the King refused to allow Alpha Charles into the Great Parliament and had restricted much of his power.

“Our forefathers, the past kings and Red dragon Alphas have a history of disputes that has forced our clan relationships to sour. Our ancestors fought and brought their feud on to our heads, forcing us to be at opposite terms. I have done my best to ignore you and your clan despite your overbearing need to irritate me, but when you send in your son to rape a member of my clan, I cannot turn a blind eye,”

Murmurs flooded the Meeting House as the gossip loving nobles feigned ignorance of the event that took place last night.

“It is unacceptable,”

The Red Duchy family were being quite verbal in an effort not to be lumped together with the Red dragon clan.

“I understand your concerns, your Majesty,” Alpha Charles cleared his throat, his face stoic with seriousness and voice loud.

“What Castiel has done... it is dishonorable. It speaks horribly of the Red dragon clan,”

“And yet you are the only tier in the Entire kingdom of Draconis that has not abolished the ownership of love slaves,” the Red Duchess cuts in, pouring more salt to the wounds caused by the sins of Alpha Charles.

Reya frowned softly and folded her hands.

The Red Duchy family was becoming a little bit too desperate in their efforts to separate their actions from that of the Red dragon clan. Reya made a mental note to look into their history and any prejudices against them.

“I am an independent tier. A sovereign clan that has been cast out from the rest of the dragon clans. What I do is none of your business as far as I do not belong in the Parliament of dragons. You should learn not to interrupt me, Duchess Karen,” Alpha Charles announced.

The Duke of The Red dragons in the royal dragon clan’s face hardened considerably but for some reason, he chose to keep quiet.

“Now, Castiel has done a horrible thing. But I assure you that I have nothing to do with it,” Alpha Charles declared, causing yet another wave of murmurs to seep into the crowd.

Reya could not hide the look of disbelief that fell over her features. By the gods, she was so furious! Her head pounded in resonance with each furious beat of her heart and a surge of violence seeped into her veins, overwhelming her with the impulsive need to beat Alpha Charles to a bloody pulp.

The man had ordered for her rape, had convinced his son that locking her up and sexually assaulting her for a weeks was justice to her. If he could do something like that, asking his son to anger the Golden dragons by sneaking in and doing it in the middle of the night was not far beneath him.

“Lies!”

“He should be removed!”

“A slave owner and demon with no moral compass! He should never head the red dragon clan!”

The nobles shouted obscenities at him and Reya dug her nails into her palms, counting to ten and hoping that her temper did not get the best of her and make her shout too.

*”The parliament may be a circus at the moment but do not show your emotions on your face. They want a reaction from you. Do not stoop to their levels,”* The Queen’s voice warned in her head.

Reya nodded once and leaned back in her seat, shutting her eyes.

“You claim that your son did not act on your order?” The Sovereign Beta Prince Zachary asked, raising an eyebrow.

“He came into the clan with no troops that I sent off. I had nothing to do with that. Why would I even want to touch a destined Princess?”

“I suppose it is not far beneath you considering you are the only tier in this entire kingdom that has not abolished the ownership of love slaves,” The Red Duchess said, her lips curling into a disdainful sneer.

“Love slaves that are well paid for. You shame them because that is their livelihood. Moreover, I am the only tier of this kingdom that has not been allowed into the Great Parliament. I suppose I am allowed some certain liberty. You will watch your mouth when no one speaks to you, Duchess Karen,” Alpha Charles answered, his voice surprisingly smooth but a hint of irritation and condemnation in his eyes.

The Red Duke’s face hardened considerably but he chose not to speak on anything. Reya made a mental note to read on their history. The Red Duchy family’s desperation to untether themselves from what ever opinion the other clans had of the Red dragon clan was suspicious. She wanted to know if there was any prejudice between them.

“Now, if you do not believe my claim. I believe Castiel should give an account of what exactly happened. While I do regret the unfortunate event that has taken place, I do not want to be bound by his actions or suffer for it,”

The Lord of The Sea tensed visibly in his seat and his hand slid down to his sol sword attached to his hip.

Soon, the doors of the meeting house were opening up and Castiel- or whatever bloody pulp that had lost all of its brilliance stature was brought in by two Gargantuan guards.

If anyone told Reya that the powerful Alpha dragon shifter that had brutally assaulted her for months on end was now the misery figure with two arms void of hands hanging limply by his side, chest and back riddled with the lashes of whips that had turned him into bloody ribbons, a tear ripping his lips apart so that his teeth hanged from the opening and his hair had melted into his scalp, she would never have believed it.

Even though her nose was pretty much human, she knew Castiel smelled like a rotten carcass.

Reya looked away with a shiver, her reaction surprising herself. She should be happy to see her abuser reduced to nothing and marching to his death but it only made her skin crawl with confining goosebumps. Bile was rising up her throat as flashes of what he had done to her in the past resonated in her mind.

Her heart dropped and she almost vomited as Castiel’s frame collapsed on the first step, clearly indicating that he was not strong enough to enter the ring of judgment.

When Reya noticed a commotion happening in the house of Royals, she turned her head towards them only to find Prince Aidan walking down to the House of Commons, his steps powerful and his bouncy blonde hair catching slightly with the wind.

Reya’s eyes widened in astonishment when she realized that The Handsome Prince was not walking up to Castiel but was in fact, making his way towards her.

“Come and sit with me,” he held her gloved hand, his face rather frozen to conceal the fury he felt.

But his rare eyes shone with worry and tender care that made Reya understand why he had come to her. Even from afar, he had seen that she was clearly uncomfortable with Castiel being within her vicinity.

“Your highness-“

“I insist, please,” he cut her off, placing a kiss on her fingers.

“If it pleases you, my prince,” she lowered her eyelashes before rising.

All through her trek to the Prince’s throne, she purposely ignored the nobles but spared one Look of resentment at Alpha Charles.

The vile man responded with an evil smile.

Reya took the steps up to Prince Aidan’s throne and was pleased to find the chair was slightly too large and will allow for her to wedge in her frame beside the First prince. Surprisingly, Aidan sat before her- which was rather not gentlemanly of him.

Before she could say a word, the cunning Prince pulled her down to his thighs and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Your highness,” she choked out, her cheeks as red as strawberries.

“Aidan,” The King’s disapproval could be smelled from a mile away.

Reya forced her glance away the sprawling crowd of nobles, certainly not used to being on top the hierarchy of the Parliament of dragons.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Simply protecting my future wife,” he answered swiftly.

“I am not comfortable and neither does she feel that way close to such a vile criminal. If you deem my actions unreasonable, I will gladly accept a punishment,”

The King let out a sigh that only the immediate royal family could hear.

“Very well then. This will not repeat itself,” he said smoothly and tightened his arm around Reya.

Reya let out a mortifying squeak before squirming on his thighs, clearly unnerved by his sudden actions.

Goosebumps that made the hair on the nape of her neck to stand exploded and that was when she realized the cunning prince had lowered his mouth to her ear.

“Fluff your dress but do it naturally. Don’t ask questions, there’s not a lot of time,” his voice was whispered and quick.

“I’ll tap your waist twice when it is enough. Trust me, Reya,” he urged before leaning back.

Reya tried her best to look natural and did not exactly fail. But what was up with the Prince?

She casted a curious glance at the Lord of The Sea but he appeared to be unaffected and calm by the display- which directly

Meant he was purposely ignoring them by turning away.

The Father of the Younger Beta Royals rose to his feet in his box, staring on at Castiel.

Just like that, the attention was peeled away from Aidan and Reya.

Swiftly lowering his head, he continued whispering to her.

“I will give you two rings to put underneath your gloves. Put the ring with a wingless dragon engraved in a blue diamond the color of the sea on your left finger and the more ostentatious ring on the right. If you catch eyes on you, stop trying immediately. But you need to be as fast as possible. There’s not a lot of time,” he cautioned.

And with that, he pulled her into his thighs and tucked her head under his chin.