“Are you going to do it again?”
“No, not me personally,” I admitted. “My brothers and cousins might.”
She went quiet again, for longer this time. Finally, after I’d given up hope she was still awake, her voice came through softly.
“I can’t let this happen to anyone else.”
“What?”
“I’m trapped in a closet, so I don’t know what I can do,” she said through a mirthless laugh. “You can’t just kidnap women — that’s not something you should need to be taught.”
I nodded and leaned my head back against the door.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I sighed. There wasn’t much hope I could convince the others out of it. They were already half-starved for their mates. The least I could do was try, though. I owed her that much, I thought as the remaining light went out.
The next morning, early enough that I was sure she wasn’t awake yet, a meeting was called.
My brothers and cousins were all there; the six of us met in the conference room before the sun had even risen.
“Is it true your bride won’t come out?” Tierner sneered. I rolled my eyes at my cousin and sat down at the table as a servant filled glasses with dark coffee.
“This may not be the best approach,” I admitted.
“Are you sure she’s your fated mate?”
“Yes.” I nodded with a smile. “I can feel it in every inch of my being — even being this far away from her is murder.”
“Is she a shifter?” Rhaef asked.
“No.”
“How can you date someone outside of the species,” he frowned.
“I’ll marry her. She’s going to be queen, so watch your tongue,” I countered.
He nodded, looking frustrated, and kept his mouth shut.
“Was it easy to find her?”
“It took less than a day, but I wasn’t careful, and so I was accosted by a couple shop keeps.” I laughed. “The people in Ember Abyss are overly cautious… remember that if your mate is there.”
“Why don’t you just pull her out?” Tierner looked annoyed with me for not doing this already.
“I don’t want to make her hate me, if she’s to be queen she deserves respect,” I explained.
“If she’s to be queen, she needs to learn to listen to you no matter what,” Tierner growled out. “You’re back now, and I’m the next oldest. I’ll ask the seer to send me out. I’ll probably have offspring before you do,” he sneered.
I got what he was implying from this and didn’t like it.
Our kingdom moved generationally. The first to be born in a generation of children from the immediate royal family was set to be ruler. My father was the oldest, and he had me before any of his siblings had offspring, so I was set to rule. If I died without children, my oldest cousin would get the throne since he was older than my brothers.
The royal family was obsessed with having as many children as possible to heighten their chances of having a boy first.
He was threatening my unborn child’s right to rule.
I wanted to kill him for that, but I knew better than to show my emotions. I had to show that I could be a good and clear-headed ruler.
“Do what you will.” I kept my tone level.