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87
I turn my attention to the pile of papers before me. “I don’t care who you fuck as long as you stay away from me. You are a political prisoner here, Princess Vivian. You want to have a child, have one. I’m sure it will keep you busy.”
Vivian slams her hands down on the desk, her voice raised. “What am I lacking? I am more beautiful than that little tramp! I am of royal descent! You should be grateful that I’m allowing somebody like you to lay with me! Do you know how many men have begged me for a sliver of my attention?! That woman—Nobody even knows who her parents were! She could have been the child of a prostitute, for all you know! She and I are worlds apart! I am better than her in every way! You should feel lucky to have me!”
I lift my head. “But you are not her. Leanna is my mate, my wife, and my queen. Not you.”
“But she’s dead!”
I shrug. “You’re still not a good enough substitute. You can cry about it all you want, but you aren’t half the woman that Leanna is. If anything, you’re simply a cheap copy. And I don’t want anything to do with you. If you try to look for me again, you’ll be spending a week in the dungeons.”
Her body quivers in rage. “A copy? How dare you call me that cheap whore’s copy?!”
I’m on my feet in an instant, my hand wrapped around her throat. “Cheap whore? My Leanna? I think you’re confused. You are the whore here, Vivian. I know the name of every lover you’ve had in your bed. My Leanna is pure. She is loyal. And she is my mate. You are nothing.”
I toss her to the ground, and she clutches her throat, her eyes watery but filled with anger.
“I know everything you put my mate through. Every humiliating act. You’re lucky I don’t hit females. And you’re lucky the elders stopped your execution when they did. Because what I had planned for you would have surpassed anything you put Leanna through. I would have broken your pride, your body, and then your mind.”
Trembling, she scrambles away from me now. “You’re crazy!”
“No,” I say simply. “You’ve simply not recognized the beast that I am. So, I will say this again, Vivian. Go fuck your lovers before I forget how useful the Eastern Kingdom is to me.”
She struggles to her feet, her face red. “If I end up getting pregnant, Cedric, I will pass it off as a child of yours. The elders will believe me. I can find a way around the blood test.”
I give her a cold look. “If you get pregnant, the child will be sent to the Eastern Kingdom to be raised. You are a political prisoner, after all, and if you have any other children, they will share your fate as political prisoners. And if this is something you and Bella have been plotting, to create a child of royal blood from your bloodline alone, you will not like what I do in response. You’ve not yet seen what I’m capable of.”
“The elders would never allow—”
My eyes narrow. “You seem to forget your place, Princess Vivian. Perhaps I should remind you.” I grab her by the upper arm and drag her out of my office.
“What are you doing?! Let me go!” she cries out as I pull her down the corridor. My grip isn’t too tight to hurt her, but if she keeps struggling like this, it’s going to leave some marks.
There are guards standing by the entrance to the next corridor, and I throw her at their feet unceremoniously. “Escort the princess to her bedchamber and confine her there for a week. She is not allowed to leave that room till the week is up.”
“Princess?!” Vivian shrieks. “I’m the queen!”
“Leanna is the queen. You are the princess of the Eastern Kingdom. And you are a prisoner of the North,” I tell her coolly. “If your bedchamber is too restrictive for you, you can always reside in the dungeons instead.”
The guards try to help her up, but she pushes them away, hissing, “Do not touch me! Don’t you know who I am?!” They exchange a look but allow her to get to her feet herself. “You can’t do this to me, Cedric!”
I begin walking away and throw a glance at the soldiers over my shoulder. “If she doesn’t go willingly, take her by force.”
I watch as the guards approach her again. She screams, “I can walk!” and storms off, accompanied by the guards. I continue with my day.
When I return to my office, it’s not empty. Rothan is standing by the window, looking outside. He turns around when he hears me enter. “Well, that went as well as expected. The elders may very well try to replace you, you know. They go on and on about the royal bloodline, but they don’t really understand why it’s so important.”
“As long as one parent has royal blood, it’s fine.” I sit down at my desk. “And let them cry all they want. They’re not going to remove me. If they get rid of me, there will be no one to fight at the border for them. The monsters will run rampant. Those old fools haven’t battled in decades. They’re just sitting in their mansions, growing fatter by the minute.”
“They’re going to start wondering why you’re taking action now and not eight years ago,” Rothan points out.
My lips twist in a grimace. “Eight years ago, I thought Leanna was dead. The monsters around the Veil were out of control. I couldn’t both contain them and keep my people safe from whatever retaliation the elders would have taken against them for executing Bella and Vivian. Things are different now.”
“That’s true,” Rothan agrees. “But to come at the elders like that? And then appoint me as your delegate again? They’re losing their minds. You know how much they hate me.”
I give him a sharp smile. “They should be more worried about how much you hate them. They had your father executed on false charges. As my delegate, you are well within your rights to torment them.”
Rothan rolls his eyes. “Yeah. That’ll keep the peace.”
I sign some documents and hand them to him. “My seal is still in my desk. Use it if you need to. I want daily reports on what the elders are doing. If they start taking their aggression out on the commoners, let me know.” I look around the office to make sure we’re alone. “And once Leanna returns, there will be massive changes in this kingdom. My mate finds comfort in human technology. We’re going to have to start implementing some.”