“Drac, all is well?” Gidon drawled from where he stood in their meeting room.
Drac barely contained a snarl and Gidon raised his brows.
Drac’s blades stepped forward in unison and flanked him. They were ten of the deadliest warriors he presided over…and the most loyal.
“My mate has need of me. I leave for Boreas,” Drac stated and simply shiktred away. His blades followed without hesitation.
***
Boreas—High Council tribunal
“I refuse, my lords,” Saieke expressed for the third time.
“Very well, Princess.” The high chancellor Azul grimaced as he stroked his beard. “This tribunal has declared that you will be whipped with the aid of the wind until you reveal the name of your consort and his kingdom. The Nuria, king demands satisfaction and recompense and it will be given”
Saieke had expected this and tried to harden against the fear. She had known pain would have broken the barrier and Drac would have felt every lash. She could only hope he would honor her request not to harm her people. She could feel the Nurians rage and determination. If she were to name Drac now, they would move to take her immediately.
Within seconds, she would be stripped and mounted by King Ajali…after they poisoned her to ensure she was not with child, and then healed her with the elixir.
I am coming for you.
She froze. He was coming to Boreas?
Do not harm my people
Then reveal my name.
The Nurians refuse to cancel the binding oath and will seek to return me to their kingdom as their king’s bride. Once I reveal your name, King Ajali will take me away. He will rape me Drac. He will need to ensure I cannot escape binding. I will fight…but I will not win. I prefer to be beaten instead of the king violating my body, she whispered to him.
The rage that burned against her mind was so cold she shivered, causing her mother’s eyes to widen in alarm. If you reveal me, he would not dare to think to bed a Darkan mate.
She did not think King Ajali would care if she was the mate of a Darkan.
He will not care. And when he beds me forcefully, you will kill him. Everything Gidon is working for will be lost once Nuria turns with vengeance to your realm.
You are ours to protect.
She steadied herself as she was led into the center of the room. Manacles were slapped on her wrist, and her arms were stretched over her head and wrapped around a column. Her feet were drawn roughly apart and manacles also clamped them to the ground.
The warrior that chained her could hardly meet her eyes, and she could feel the rage and pain from him on her behalf. She was shackled tightly and sweat beaded her upper lip.
Everything relied on her being stalwart. If only they knew the bloodshed she prevented from hiding her consort.
The cruel irony.
***
Izumi willed herself to remain impartial as a queen to see her daughter punished. She understood the rage that King Ajali felt at the blow that she dealt him. He would not rest until he had the name of the one who betrayed and dishonored him.
She could also sense the turbulence that churned from her daughter’s chakra. Izumi wished King Ajali could feel what Saieke felt and probably then he would relent. To sense the emotions of others through their chakra was a gift Saieke inherited from her, and no one else could feel the tangled mess of emotions in the chamber. From the Nurian king she felt great resolve and rage, and Izumi feared that his desire for this great land would be their downfall.
War and death hovered if Saieke did not bend, and Izumi feared she would not. She had never imagined that her only child would be so obstinate. Saieke now faced a vicious whipping and possible imprisonment when the King absconded with her, yet she refused to yield. Izumi did not know whether to admire or strangle her daughter.
The queen’s stomach clenched as she felt Saieke’s pained breathing as her arms were stretched high above her head in the manacles. This was more than a punishment, it was humiliation. To be whipped in the council chamber before the most influential aristocracy of their kingdom was horrifying.
Izumi gripped the edge of her chair. There was a tense silence in the room as they hoped that Saieke would change her mind before the whipping commenced.
“Princess, we give you another chance to reveal your lover,” Azul intoned.