Surely, he has to have noticed the growth. No one can be that ignorant, right? That blind?
If I were king, I would have had the darkness dealt with long ago, but I can’t afford to think like that now. I am not king anymore, but a disgraced monster who was banished to live at the edges of his world, his only solace that his human mate would one day return to him.
We tread up a long, spiral staircase, getting closer and closer to the throne room, and my heart jumps to my throat. Any moment, we will be back in our old throne room, and I will once again have to gaze upon my throne like the commoner I am.
No doubt my uncle will be as smug as a fox, watching his late brother’s four disgraced sons bending the knee for him.
He is going to humiliate us, but I am more concerned about the two human women we have in our company. One is our mate, so he won’t touch her, but there’s another who is yet to be claimed.
She’s only fifteen, but I wouldn’t put it past my uncle to stake his claim. Monsters by tradition will wait until women are of age, but he has always been a sleazy one.
That’s why we box them in right now. Two monsters in the front and two at the back. It should give them some semblance of safety.
Finally, we reach the top of the staircase, and now the guards lead us down a series of winding halls. My brothers are just as tense as I am, well, except maybe for Madoc, who looks ready to fight.
The guards are afraid of him. They never even bothered to confiscate his weapons, and I hope he doesn’t do anything foolish.
We should have left him at home.
Strange. This castle was once our home. Each of us was raised here from spawn, but now it belongs to our uncle, and if Father could see us now...
Would he be ashamed?
The clamor of voices reaches my ears, and I stand straighter, trying to look as dignified and poised as I can. When we enter the throne room, all eyes fall on us.
The whole court is here. They used to be our court, but now they serve under the might of our uncle. Several of them look pleased to see us, and I don’t mean that in a pleasant way.
Monsters who once respected us, but now they laugh and sneer as we enter one by one. Belle and Alice hide between the four of us, and good. It’s best they remain hidden.
One of them is an unclaimed virgin, and highly vulnerable, so we must keep her safe.
The crowd parts, and now my uncle comes into view at last. He lounges back on his throne, well,myold throne, wearing an embroidered cape of velvet, and he hasn’t changed at all.
He’s still foul. His features resemble that of a wild boar: large, wet snout, tusks, and beady, sunken eyes. Those eyes don’t leave us as we line up, keeping Alice and Belle from his prying gaze.
A dry, rasping sound comes from his chest, and I sense Madoc’s low growl behind me. We mustn’t give in. Our uncle is only trying to bait us. He hated our father, and by extension, that meant he hated us too, so he is going to make an example out of us.
“Well, well, if it isn’t my four favorite nephews...”
None of us reply. We just keep our heads bowed, showing our respect. To my surprise, even Madoc keeps it together, and I’m impressed.
He leans back on his throne, tapping his claws against the arm of my former throne. “Well, are you going to bow?”
I glance at Madoc. His molars grind together, and I communicate with my eyes.Do as he says. We’re outnumbered.
Madoc’s body shakes, and for a moment I think he’s going to burst into flames. I once saw him breathe fire, so I know that’s not impossible. While the four of us may be strong, coming from excellent breeding stock, we need to play our cards right and bend to our uncle’s every whim.
There’s a reason why our uncle hates us; his brother, our father, was the favorite child. Quite often, monsters are born in pairs, one normally being the spare, surplus. Back then, monster populations were dwindling, so it was common for human women to bear two children, and then the offspring would go on to compete.
It was pretty obvious who was the strongest of the two brothers. Our father obviously got the best genes, and in turn, our grandfather nourished him and raised him as his successor while our uncle got ignored.
So as payback for his cruel childhood, he will force his brother’s offspring to bend the knee for him. He’s going to love every moment of this, but we have to do as he says.
So we all get down on our knees, Belle and Alice included, and now we wait for our uncle to speak. He basks in the moment, taking his sweet time, but I try to maintain my composure. Madoc is trembling, smoke billowing from his nostrils, and I try to communicate with him internally again.
“I thought I made my feelings clear one hundred years ago,” our uncle speaks at last. “So there better be a good explanation for your sudden arrival.”
I sigh, glancing his way. “There is, Your Majesty. The darkness has been getting worse in the human realm. More and more humans are succumbing to the Abyss. The wraiths are out of control, and it won’t be long before our own world is thrown into chaos. We must act."