I looked at Dimitri and he was beside me in a flash, taking my place, holding Ava for me. I stepped forward, stalking towards Gabriel. He shrank as I reached him.
I grabbed his collar and lifted him up straight. There was no fun in owning a man who wasn’t man enough to even stand straight in front of me. “Avalyn is mine. Not because I’m her mate. But because I own her fucking heart and soul.” I growled, loud enough for everyone to hear, enough for her to hear. “My kids, Niklaus and Viktoria are mine. Straight out of my balls. My family is mine. Not by blood but by choice. My Kingdom is mine. Not because I care for the throne or the crown. But because I killed the tyrannical bastards who ruled it first. Because I care for the people. Because they care for me. They bow for me.” I growled in his face.
He was looking at me with wide eyes, scared out if his wits.
“Kneel,” my command shot through the open ground and the thuds of every single person’s knees hitting the ground echoed. No one made a sound. Even the birds were silent.
He looked around, terror in his eyes as he looked at hundreds of people kneeling before me. I didn’t even have to look to know that.
I tossed him away and he fell on the ground as I loomed over him.
I stretched my arms out, showing him that I owned everything and everyone around me.
Including Ava, Mom and Valerie who was a part of my jurisdiction because she was mated to Javier. Faelern and Fiyona were from a different dimension and probably from a different solar system or even universe.
Sun was the ultimate source of power in this solar system. It is the reason the moon shines. It is the reason for the existence life.
All them could feel the power I embodied. But I hadn’t used my powers to get them to submit to me.
This wasn’t a slave kneeling for their Master. This was people kneeling for their King. It was on one knee, shoulders straight and their eyes on their King-me. The werewolves had their claws out, the vampire had their fangs out and the witches had their hands on their heart. There people were ready to fight for me, if commanded to do so.
His eyes lowered and he started scooting backwards on his arms and ass, trying to get away from me.
“Rise.” I commanded and lowered my arms.
Everyone slowly got to their feel. “Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.” The people started chanting and Gabriel started looking around in horror.
He got to his feet and tried to run away but the people standing there threw him right back on the ground in front of me.
“Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.”
He got up and tried to run in other direction. They got a few hits in and then threw him back at my feet.
“Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.”
His head spin as he tried to find a way to escape. But no one was going to let him get away. No one was going to let him leave alive. He is a dead man. And he knows it.
“Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.”
I raised my hand and silence ensued in the grounds once again.
I couldn’t express just how much I wanted to kill this lowlife. And then smash his heart at the bottom of my shoe like he was no more than a pest. But I vowed to be a better man for Avalyn and my kids. No matter what, he was her mate. No matter how wrongly, no matter how twisted it was, she loved him. And I love her. And I respect her. And she wanted no more bloodshed. She was tired of fights and wars. She wanted peace. And this would be me giving her just that, no matter how much I want to kill him.
I would change the rules. Starting now. No wars. No punishments. No slaves.
Sparing his life would be my peace offering to Ava. A token of peace for all the times I didn’t listen to her about slavery, for all the times I fought with her about going to war, for the times I ignored her when she wanted to stop the punishment system.
He would go back to the Faye Dimension and not show his face to us. I would ban him from Jivan Dimension. Yes, I could do that.
“I’m not going to kill him.” I announced, registering and ignoring everyone’s shock. “As an act of good faith, towards Avalyn, I’m going spare his life.” I turned around and tooked at Ava. I was doing this for her and she had to know it. “Whatever happened, he was-,” I had to spit the words out, “he is your mate. Killing him will hurt you. And after everything, that is the last thing I want.”
Tears filled her eyes and took a step forward, towards me, almost unknowingly.
“From this day forward, I ban wars over people, place and possessions. My explicit permission will be required for any sort of fights. Death by punishment will be the outcome if this law is not followed.”
Ava looked at me like I was singing an ode to her. Like I was offering her the world from the palm of my hand. Her shone with with tears but they didn’t look like sad tears anymore. The expression on her face was something I couldn’t decipher for the life of me.
“From this day forward, I ban punishment of lashes, silver tipped and silver lashes, silver collars, collars along with any sort of prisoner brutality. A new list of humane punishment that fit the crime will be mailed to everyone.”
She gnawed on her bottom him, looking ready to pounce on me. But I wasn’t done yet.
“As the first step to eradicate human slavery,” I started and Ava’s hand covered her heart, as if she was convincing herself that it was real, “the kidnappings of humans is banned. All the existing slaves in the supernatural world are a property of the Kingdom. I will set up a committee for the protection of their rights. They will be paid justly in accordance to the kind of services they are willing to offer. Forceful touch and penetration of a slave will now also be considered rape and the same punishment will be given if the rape were to happen to a witch, vampire or werewolf. Prostitution houses will be set up where willing humans will work and be paid to do. Schools will be set up for slaves for proper etiquette and training. You can approach the school or the slave houses I plan to set up if you wish to get a slave. The proper procedure for the same will be established. Further details will be forwarded to everyone once the new system is set in place.”
“But slavery is a part of culture and tradition, King Nikolai. We need them.” I heard a voice.
I turned around to face the man that said it. He looked scared but I appreciated his courage. I didn’t want to be unapproachable to the general public.
“Culture and tradition is nothing but years of habits. A revolution took place when Vampires and Werewolves came together. Us living together, peacefully, will be our culture in a few decades. And this will be the start of a new culture and new traditions. One where there is no place for hatred and brutality. Not amongst ourselves, and towards humans either,” I replied and he bowed his head.
“What about punishment for slaves, King Nikolai? We all know that humans are greedy and if give a slice, they will want the pie. Giving them so much freedom can also mean that they might contact humans outside our world and our secret will be out. Our privacy and security will be at risk. And unfortunately, it almost happened a few years ago.” I recognised the female that asked it. Eva. She had helped Ava with the welcome party for the Vampires from Mozog back at the Rogue pack.
“Speaking freely, I haven’t given this much thought but I’m going to build on it. Once everything is decided, everyone will be notified. But I assure everyone that the supernatural races will never be at risk because of humans. For me, my people come first,” I said the truth.
“You said a brutal punishments are banned. But what about the handing punishments that fit the crime? You can’t let Gabriel go.” Viktoria was the one who said this. She was standing on the porch of the house, Eliyah besides her. “I don’t forgive him!” She said, her small but strong voice echoed in the silent open land. In that second, I knew she would grow up to become a strong female. She commanded the ground with her voice. Even though she was younger that everyone present here.
“Tori-” I started but she had already moved on from me and was glaring at Gabriel. I wondered how much of that had she listened.
And then I heard a choking sound. I whipped around to see that the Kozlov family dagger was lodged in Gabriel’s throat and he was gurgling blood out of his mouth. He fell down to his knees, his wide eyes, looking straight ahead.
Who the fuck did that? I looked around.
Niklaus walked towards him, appearing out of nowhere. I saw him look at Tori and she nodded. Had this been their plan? Her little interjection was just so she could distract us and Klaus could go get the dagger and kill him?
My feet were rooted to their spot as I watched my son stood in front of Gabriel.
“No one makes Mom cry.” He hissed, his voice clearly audible too. And then he placed his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder and pulled the dagger out of his throat.
Blood spewed on his face but my son didn’t care. He pushed Gabriel away and on his back, looking with cold eyes as he watched him bleed out.
I got chills.