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Chapter Five
Candace knocked on my office door, which was odd. I usually didn’t see her except in the early morning and the evening lately. Not like when I was trapped in the tower most of the time with only her to ease my loneliness.
“Candace?” I asked, putting down my pen. My hand was cramping from signing too many papers anyway.
“The High Council has requested your presence,” she said, her eyes wide.
“They requestedmypresence? That’s not really the way it works. A queen is not summoned by anyone.”
She shrugged in a don’t-kill-the-messenger kind of way. “I am only relaying the message Your Majesty. They are already in the meeting room…waiting.”
No warning. No time to think. No time to do anything.
The High Council had some nerve.
“Candace, get my mates and have them come to the meeting room as soon as possible. Leif first, please.”
She nodded and sprinted from the room. Leif would back me up with no-holds-barred if they were bringing me in for a tongue lashing.
High Councils don’t have meetings because they like it.
Well, maybe not all the time.
I took my sweet time walking down the halls the long way through the corridors and back of the castle. They’d summoned a queen; they would have to wait.
Oh man, my ego had swelled.
I opened the double doors of the meeting room and stepped inside. “You summoned me, gentleman?”
I couldn’t hear them, but from their mouth motions and grimaces, they were grumbling and not pleased one bit.
With a sigh, I sat at the head of the table and waited for them to speak. The man to my left, the oldest of the bunch, turned to me and patted my hand like he didn’t already have my attention.
My wolf felt Leif enter the room before I saw him. His animal was none too pleased to see even a geriatric man touching me.
The geriatric man went on. “Your Majesty, Bors was spotted again. We are concerned not only for your safety but for the safety of the kingdom. As the High Council, we feel it is our responsibility to give you one last chance at redemption.”
I scoffed mentally but, on the outside, remained calm. The last thing these men needed was for their ego to be fluffed by knowing they’d struck a chord inside me. “And what is it exactly I need redemption for?”
Leif sat in a chair directly to my right, in a corner. It might’ve looked like he was being obtuse about the meeting, but I knew better. He was getting a vantage point.
“For not handling what should’ve been handled. Your security is not doing its job. Bors was inside the walls once again. Let’s face it, Your Majesty, what you’re doing isn’t working. You need to fix this or…”
I leaned forward. “Or else what?”
My wolf was furious. She paced inside me, waiting for me to give him the right to take over and show these people a little respect.
The man put his nose in the air. “The High Council will have no choice but to take over, deeming you unfit to rule. We cannot risk the lives of everyone in the kingdom just because you are too busy securing your mates.” He shot Leif a stink eye to which Leif answered with a growl. I felt the rumble in my chest as though it were coming from me.
I stood, finished with this bunch and their bullshit. “Like hell you will.”
