165

Scorpio
Jasper walked angrily into my room, his expression furious and he glared at me with venom in his eyes. I arched my eyebrows at his rudeness but I wasn’t angry.
Jasper was my friend but he wasn’t one to misbehave to me on that ground. He was one of the men who knew how to set the boundaries between friendship and duty when I had become the king of the land. He wouldn’t have done what he had done without a reason and I was curious to know what that reason was.
I wanted to know why he had dared to barge into my room without knocking. I wanted to know why he dared to look at me with those blazing, furious eyes when he knew that he could be punished for it. I didn’t think that I had done anything to offend him to make him not care about the consequences of his actions. I didn’t think that he was acting rashly as well. He wasn’t someone like that. He was one of the most cool-headed people I knew. For him to have done what he did, he had thought of it for a long time before making his decision.
That was who Jasper was. He didn’t do anything without thinking and he never reacted to issues without getting facts. That was why I had made him the chief accountant of the clan. We needed someone who was unruffled and whose head was always thinking to be in charge of our money.
He gave me a stiff bow as he walked into the room. “Your highness.”
“What is wrong with you this afternoon, Jasper?” I asked, noting the change in his words.
He rarely addressed me as ‘your highness’ as the others did. Rather, it was ‘my lord’ or ‘friend’ as the situation called for it. I had to have messed up big time to him for him to refer to me the way others would, as if I was a stranger to me.
That made me curious and I couldn’t wait for him to talk. He was one of the people I never wanted to lose their respect as I knew the people who sincerely respected me weren’t much.
“Did you launch an attack on the vampires living north?”
“Yes, I did.” I scowled, wondering if that was why he was mad at me. I was already getting mad at him for daring to question me over them.
“Why?” He sighed.
“I thought I told you all to prepare for war.” I shrugged. Why was he acting like this was strange news to him?
“I thought we have been able to talk you out of it after the meeting the other day.”
“And why would I listen? Why do you think I agreed to what you all said then?”
“Because we can’t fight with the vampires of the north. They were never our enemies. Our land signed a treaty with them.” Jasper said, his tone showing he wondered why he had to remind me of that.
I chuckled and shook my head at him. He was naive. “Wrong. My father signed a treaty with the former king of the north. Now, they are both dead and that doesn’t apply to me.”
The king of the north is my enemy, treaty or not.
Jasper groaned. “What is wrong with you, Anthony? What has gotten into your head? Why are you doing this?” He hissed at me.
I stared in shock for moments, stunned at hearing my name and didn’t know what to do. It had been long I had heard the name and with the way he called me, it sounded like a rebuke that I couldn’t help but feel like a little child.
Suddenly, I got angry and growled at him. “How dare you, Jasper?”
He wasn’t ruffled. As expected. Sometimes, his cold expression could be annoying. “Because that is the only way to get through to you?”
“Why are you tormenting others?”
“Because their king is crazy. Would you have let them be ruled by that kind of person?”
“Is that what you tell yourself? Your greed is amazing, Anthony.”
I hissed at him. “Don’t call me that.”
He snorted. “You say the king of the north is crazy, but you my friend, king of the west, are also crazy.”
“He is crazy. I’m not.”
“He is not crazy. You heard wrong. I have a friend in the land and it broke my heart today to hear him wail of the strange happenings in his land and I couldn’t say much to comfort him because I know you did it.”
“What?” I looked at him in surprise.
“Yes. You heard wrong.”
“He is not crazy? The spies lied to me?”
“They didn’t. He acted crazy for some time but he no longer is. He was already fine the time they got here and told you he was.”
I groaned. Those idiots. Why didn’t they tell me as soon as they found out? They could have called me. They could have sent me a message. They were the ones allowing Jasper to talk to me as he wanted.
I sighed as I thought of the scenario and was even giving excuses on their behalf. Maybe they wanted to see me in person to break the news to me. Then they should have rushed here as soon as they could. I would have taken action then as fast as I could. Maybe Ava would be mine already by now.
Maybe they wanted to get enough information before they decided to come home so I could have a lot of stories to listen to. I growled, tired of making excuses for them. There should have been no maybe. They should have reported to me no matter what happened and not assumed anything on my behalf.
I might not have told them why I asked them to spy on the vampires of the north but they should have known that it couldn’t have been without reason. I wanted to beat and have them punished for what they had done. I really wanted to.
Jasper noted my silence and thought that I was wracked with guilt. “Good. You should know that what you are doing has no meaning. By your actions, you are putting a lot of people in fear and trauma. Imagine how I had felt when I had to hear from my friend about all that had been going on in the land. They all couldn’t go out for fear of being beaten. They couldn’t even feed properly. I was meant to go there to see him but I can’t now. Why? The security has been heightened and they wouldn’t let anyone get through the border. Even though I have been going there for months and the guards know me, I doubt that they would let me in. By this time, they probably didn’t trust anyone of the other clans again and it’s all your fault.”
“How?” I asked with an innocent expression and shrugged. “They should have guided their territory very well. If you really want to see your friend, go through the forest.”
“Nice idea.” Jasper snorted. “Now you are shameless enough to share how you are sneaking into their land like a thief.”
I chuckled. “Be careful with your words, Jasper. When did I sneak into the land of another person? Have you ever seen me leave the palace? Someone else would have thought that I left my duties if they heard how you speak.”
I smiled. That was good. That was exactly what I wanted.
“They should have tightened their security?” I said, bored with the conversation already.
He should get himself out of my face but I was having issues telling him to get out because I didn’t want to have my friend angry over a petty reason.
“Stop it already, Anthony. It’s never been you to be sly and that is exactly what you are doing. You are attacking and shooting arrows from those poor vampires in secret. It’s not unlike you to be a coward.”
I gasped, looking at him with my eyes wide. “A coward?”
“Yes.” He nodded, without feeling remorseful for what he had said. “A coward? That is who you are. You are acting like one at the moment. I thought you always attacked with confidence. You should have shown your identity if you know what you are doing is right. You know it’s not and that is why you are trying to hide under a shadow and attacking them like a weakling.”
A weakling? I gasped. Now, that was enough. Jasper clearly wasn’t done because he kept on speaking. I knew I would have to shut his mouth very soon.
“What if they think that they are being attacked by the vampires of the south because those ones are the most aggressive? What if they launch an attack on them and this gets blown into a war that you can’t deal with?”
“And that would be nice, wouldn’t it? It means that I wouldn’t have to fight them myself.” I hoped that Ethan was gotten rid of in the war.”
He snorted. “I thought you cared about them. I thought you said you were doing this because you didn’t want them being ruled by a crazy king? You are crazier than their king if this was how you intend to save them. Do you know a lot of people would be hurt by this?”
I snorted without looking at him. It seems like he was trying to preach today. I wasn’t in the mood anymore to humor him. “Get out.” I said to him, pointing at the door.
“You have to stop the nonsense that you are doing though if you have no idea that is what it is. Do you know that their queen is pregnant? The king is not crazy as you have been misinformed and has a lot on his mind right now. You know how delicate pregnant vampires are? Do you want to lose a soul for your greedy desires?”
I had stopped listening the moment I heard that Ava was pregnant. How could she be pregnant? How? Hadn’t she just gotten married? Did she love Ethan so much that she didn’t care about risking her life so soon to have a baby for him? I wished I was the one she cared about enough to have done that.
Poor fate. Cruel fate. It was fate who had made her meet and have a crush on Ethan before meeting me.
Jasper continued. “You should find a mate, get married to her and stop dabbling into what is not your business. You are jumping into the affairs of the land that is not your business because you are lonely and don’t have anyone to keep you company. You wouldn’t be like this if you are busy loving up on your mate.”
I felt tired and didn’t think I could listen to anymore of Jasper’s tirade. I didn’t think I had it in me to be polite to him again.
“Get out.” I said, pointing at the door.
He nodded and walked out of the room as if he had been waiting for me to chase him out. I sighed as I watched his retreating figure. The crazy bastard.