Page 100 of Kingdom of Aramis

After lunch, my wives decide they need to make some changes to Colbie’s suite. If she is going to have eight mates, then she’s going to need more space, so they hurry off to make arrangements. Hopefully the magic took care of that too, but Colbie didn’t mention anything earlier, so they want to check.

I don’t want anything to do with that, so I head toward my office, or I guess Colbie’s office, to clear out my personal items and transfer them to a new office. My family will move into the other wing of the castle once the councilors get their notice to vacate. I can’t say I’m going to be sad to see them go. Most of them have been a thorn in my side since I first received the mark, constantly shooting down my ideas of making shifter society more inclusive.

I haven’t been as successful as I would have liked, and I’m hoping Colbie’s suggestion to add a member of each race to the council will go far in bridging that gap. The equines made theirhome in a settlement on the far edges of the shifter kingdom in the hopes they would be left alone. I’m not sure how successful they were. It isn’t right, they should be welcome wherever they want to live and not have to uproot their lives and make new ones because of some antiquated ideas about prey versus predator animals. The equines are just as fierce, even if they don’t have claws or fangs.

My office smells like leather and ink as I take a seat in the large leather chair behind my desk. I sigh, rubbing a hand across my face. I’m tired, and I am not sad about stepping aside. There was so much I wanted to do during my rule, and the council blocked me at every turn. I’m happy to see the back of it, but I’m also happy to be able to support Colbie with her reign. Maybe with Mia, Sable, and me replacing the current council, we will be able to push for the initiatives I wanted, but was constantly blocked from doing. If only we had known how restrictive they would be when I first started my reign.

Standing up, I go over to a cabinet, pull out a crystal decanter, and pour myself a glass of whiskey, adding a couple of ice cubes from the machine next to it. Our staff keeps my office well stocked, knowing I regularly need a drink after dealing with the council, and I’m just taking a sip when my office door flies open.

“What is the meaning of this?” Vallen Tideman waves a piece of paper wildly in the air. His eyes blaze with fury, and I see fur ripple across his arms like he’s trying to control his shift.

“Come in, Vallen,” I invite dryly, gesturing to the chair in front of me. “Would you like a drink?” I hold up my glass of whiskey, though I’d rather spit in it than offer him any, but I need to keep the peace for now.

“No, I don’t want a drink,” he snarls as he stalks farther into the room, still grasping the piece of paper in his hand like it’s going to stab him. “I want to know what the fuck this is!”

He slams it down on the desk, and I sigh before moving over to look down at it, taking a sip of my whiskey as I do. The smoky warmth soothes my body slightly as I look over the information. My eyebrows jump when I read what’s on it. It’s a copy of the missive Gracelin sent out to the mer, equine, and fairy communities, inviting them to submit representatives for the council positions.

“How did you get your hands on this?” I ask him suspiciously. This information hasn’t been made public yet, nor has the council been advised of the queen’s decision. She was going to tell them at the same time she relieved them of their positions. We obviously have a loose-lipped employee, or he’s paying someone to funnel him information—probably the latter, if I’m honest. I’m not surprised.

“It doesn’t matter. I will not work on a council with inferior shifters on it,” he declares righteously.

“I don’t think that is really going to matter,” I reply vaguely, moving around to my seat and sitting down. He doesn’t know he’s being replaced yet.

“The council has always had six members. Expanding it goes against tradition,” he argues, slamming his hands down on the desk and staring down at me like he’s trying to intimidate me. It doesn’t work. I may have lost some of the magic that made me a ruler, but I am still more powerful than this slug of a man.

I raise an eyebrow and take another sip of my whiskey, refusing to be cowed. “There are no rules governing the number of council members. That is a decision for the crowned ruler.”

He sneers. “The crowned ruler? Have the queen’s mates shown up yet? She can’t and will not be crowned until those mates appear. That is very clear in the rules.”

I place my glass down on the desk, holding his gaze. “It doesn’t matter if she has been crowned yet or not. She wears the marks, so she is the queen, and as such, she decides on themembers of her council. If she wants to add new ones or replace current ones, that is completely up to her.”

I didn’t think his face could turn any redder, but it does, and again, a wave of fur ripples across his face before he locks it down. He really is very close to wolfing out. I bet the thought that he would shred his thousand dollar suit is the only thing keeping him contained.

“We’ll see. She isn’t crowned yet, and with the way it’s going, she’s never going to be. No mates have presented themselves. I wouldn’t get too comfortable with her. She’s weak and doesn’t have mates to protect her, and the challenge day is still to come, so she could very well find herself in trouble.”

He isn’t subtle with the threat in the least, and I could summon one of Bryson’s teams to have him arrested, but I’m much more interested in seeing this play out. I can’t wait to see his face when he finds out my son and his bond group are her mates and that she now has eight of them, not to mention that she’s a hydra shifter. I can’t wait to see his face on challenge day. I pray to the goddess that he challenges her. I’d love to see his face when he finds out what creature she is.

“Careful, Tideman. You’re walking a fine, treasonous line with those words. I have every right to call for your arrest.” I stand up to my full height, which is slightly taller than him.

He scoffs but steps back. “Nonsense. Challenge day is for her to prove she can protect us against anything that may endanger the shifter race. If she’s not up to the task, then it is a shifter’s right to challenge her.”

“Yes, it is, but if something were to happen to her between now and challenge day, then you will be the first person I look at,” I warn him, and he snatches the piece of paper off my desk.

“This isn’t over. I’ll be informing the rest of the council of her choices. She might not like what the consequences of her actionsare,” he threatens before storming out of my office, slamming the door behind him as he goes.

“Fuck!” I run my fingers through my hair before dropping down into my comfy leather seat. “He’s going to be a problem,” I mutter.

“Yes, he is.” The voice comes from the corner of the room, and I startle, spilling my drink I had just picked up.

A man steps out of the shadows, and my eyes widen. “Holy fuck, Titus, you scared the shit out of me,” I snap at the Chaos king’s assassin and spy, who wears a smirk on his face. “How long have you been there?” I ask him, knowing I hadn’t seen him when I first entered the room.

He shrugs. “Since you arrived,” he admits. “So your new queen is going to replace your current council?” he asks, pulling a book out of the bookcase and slowly flipping through it.

I watch him closely. Titus has been my contact with the Chaos king for the last few years since his predecessor decided to retire. The Chaos king has a league of assassins who spy for him, and he has one assigned to each kingdom. Titus is mine and chose to make himself known to me so we can share information with one another at the blessing of the Chaos king. Titus is a half fairy shifter, half fae, which is why he was assigned the shifter kingdom. His mother is a fairy shifter who fell in love with a fae and chose to leave for the Chaos Kingdom so they could be together. He’s tall and slender and has pointy ears like a fae with long pale green hair, which I assume is from his father. I haven’t seen him in his fairy form, but the man is a living, breathing weapon with knives strapped all over his protective black leathers.

He puts the book back on the shelf and helps himself to my bar, pulling out his favorite fae wine, which I keep specifically for his visits.

“Yes, she is,” I confirm when he doesn’t ask anything else. “Queen Colbie may be just what this kingdom needs—a breath of fresh air,” I tell him. “She sent missives to the mer, fairy, and equine shifters, inviting them to submit candidates for council representation.