“You forget, boy” —venom dripped from the word— “that I was there—” Ishida’s eyes were crazed as he vibrated with virulent energy.
“When?” I taunted. “Where?” I knew full well Ishida had spun his narrative over Nix’s involvement in Ahmya’s death, one that made Nix the attacker and the murderer. According to Ishida, he’d stumbled on the entire affair only to view the moment Nix incinerated his daughter to nothing more than ash on the wind. The large crater left in the forest that he couldn’t cover up or hide was explained away as his reaction to grief and a hopeful retaliation against Nix, though he claimed she was already gone by the time it careened from the heavens, her mission accomplished and her competition destroyed. A tale he’d conveniently left me out of so I wouldn’t be questioned about the events of the day.
The only person in the Lodge who knew the truth was me. But Ishida and I both had something to hide, a mutually beneficial silence we’d unofficially agreed to. He didn’t want anyone to know of his involvement in his daughter’s death, looking to avoid the perceived weakness he’d be labeled with if the Council and other shifters ever found out about how Nix actually bested him. And I didn’t want my true feelings nor the depth of my connection to the pretty Phoenix to be uncovered either. Such information would surely mean my death. Luckily, I’d been able to weave my own tale, one that consisted of blind infatuation and lust that had quickly cleared when I saw what she’d done to Councilman Khan before siding with the rebellion. One forgiven after many tedious tasks meant to test me before the Council officially offered me my throne.
Ishida’s glare was only dissuaded by the sharp bark of Stepanov calling him to the table. “You are late. Again. Let the boy go and join us, Ishida.”
With one last incline of my head to the remaining councilmen, I took my leave, the long, warning look my father shot me staying with me as I strode down the hall to the waiting women.
My jaw ticked at the diminutive way they bowed and squirmed on their feet before following me. I led them down twisting hallways and descended a flight of stairs.
“This... this isn’t the way to your chambers,” the brunette girl commented tentatively, and my lips quirked to one side as I finally relaxed enough to take a deep breath.
“No. It’s not.” I stopped outside the familiar door, opened it, and held it for the women who shuffled quickly past me and into the room beyond. “There should be a few articles of clothing left in the dresser and the TV functions easily enough.” I waved to the two items as I mentioned them.
“You’re... you’re not going to... we’re not gonna...” The last girl stuttered, her wide eyes meeting mine for a slip of a second before she seemed to remember my alter was a basilisk.
“No. Let’s just say my mood is soured due to current circumstances.” The statement was vague enough to imply Ishida had gotten under my skin and ruined my appetite for carnal pleasure that evening, but in my mind, it alluded to the truth. Now that I’d found my mate, I would never touch another woman again.
Nix was the only one I ached for.
The only woman I would love with both my body and my heart for the rest of time.
I’d never sully our relationship by placing my hands on another woman, even if it made it harder to hide my devotion to Nix from the Council. I’d just have to get creative.
Swallowing hard, I ensured my desire to get back to Nix was buried deep and heavily shrouded. If there was one thing I’d learned from Damien’s dad, it was that someone was always listening, even to the things that weren’t said out loud. Especially to the things not spoken.
“You’re free from my attentions for the evening. All I ask is that you lie low until morning and speak to no one about my leniency.” I tried to maintain my Councilman facade, but it was fading fast, and all I wanted was to retire to my room. Alone.
“It’s true, isn’t it?” The brunette tilted her head and looked at me as best as she could without meeting my gaze.
“What is?” I inquired, my eyebrows pulling down as I debated whether my secret was precariously close to being revealed.
“That you’re the nicest man on the Council.”
I wanted to scoff. If they knew the terrible things I’d done as I jumped through hoops at the Council’s behest to prove myself, they’d be singing a different tune. The soot of the Council’s evil was already staining my soul, never to be clean again. This role, while important, had more than taken its toll, and I counted down the minutes until I was free from it.
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” I countered, but I meant what I said. If anyone caught wind of my status with the rebellion, just having been associated with me could get these women killed between one heartbeat and the next. “I might just be the most dangerous one of them all.”
Two
Joshua
I slid the key into the golden lock decorating the ostentatious wooden door of my suite. The muscles in my shoulders were so tense they spasmed and ached, my position wreaking havoc physically as well as mentally. Entering the room, I retreated into my sanctuary and leaned heavily against the closed door. With a sigh, I dropped my head into my hands and pressed my palms into my eyes.
“Hard day?” a familiar male voice asked from deeper within my apartment, and I glanced up, already knowing I’d find my ‘servant’ and longtime friend, Tao. His black hair was swept back, the style he’d shaped the strands into this morning messier from a full day of running his hands through it. Dark, thick brows framed a set of brown eyes that seemed amused by the sheer weariness I displayed. He stood only an inch taller than me, but where I was sagging from the weight of my day, he stood straight and rigid like a statue, his hands behind his back in a formal stance that reminded me more of a military commander than a servant.
Though I was always happy to see him, especially now when I had so few people I could trust, I couldn’t deny the overwhelming longing that whispered through me. I wished that masculine voice belonged to Damien, Theo, Killian, Hiro, or Ryder. I missed them nearly as much as I missed Nix. The ache from being apart grew in strength with each day I marked off on my calendar.
Tao waited expectantly for my response—not that he didn’t already know the answer. Every day that was hard on me was equally hard for Tao. Being a rebel in enemy territory was dangerous and fraught with anxiety.
Kicking off the door, I scrubbed a hand over my hair, tousling the strands. “It was more like a veritable hell.”
He huffed a dry, humorless laugh. “The price we pay, I suppose.”
And it was true, though Tao had been paying his dues to the rebellion long before I had. Where my life had been cushy, Tao’s had been nothing but hardships. Taken from his family as a toddler, he was groomed by the Council and allowed to grow up in the Lodge just down the hall from me. We’d become quick friends until our lives careened down drastically different paths when we came of age. Born of two equally matched mythologicals—a zouyu and a qilin, both creatures who only appear in the presence of a worthy, benevolent ruler—Tao’s lack of shifting was seen as a direct affront to the Council. Thanks to the generosity of Gaspard, Tao narrowly escaped the Council’s wrath with his life, dedicating himself to serve them in a different capacity as a low-level mythological slave. It helped that precious few shifters knew of his heritage, thus saving the Council from public humiliation. There was no doubt in my mind that had others known of the situation, Tao would have been executed for treason at the young age of eight.