Scorpio
I was mad. Well, that wasn’t news. I was always mad recently. I couldn’t believe we had lost. We had lost woefully to the vampires and had barely made it back to our land when we had fleed.
I winced as the maid dabbed a piece of cotton wool on my face, using it to clean my wounds. I would heal pretty quickly but I had survived enough wounds from the fight that I would like to clean them up and not look like what I had fought. The men would soon come in before my body was done with the healing process and I didn’t want to look as pathetic as I felt. I felt ashamed of myself already and I didn’t want to look more shameful in their presence.
“I’m sorry, your highness.” The maid apologized as she realized that I had winced.
I dismissed her apology with a wave. “Don’t worry about it. I knew it would hurt before I called you to wipe off the dried blood on the wounds.”
She paused and looked at me as if she couldn’t understand why I was being humble.
I sighed. I was injured. She couldn’t expect me to bark orders at her. “Be fast about it, girl.”
“Yes, your highness.” She snapped to attention and continued to wipe at the wounds.
I knew I had already lost some of the respect the men had for me with how we had all run with our tails between our legs as we escaped from the war field and that shouldn’t have been so with how much I had given the men encouragement before we left that we would conquer the other vampires and come back with them as slaves.
We hadn’t conquered them and it was by pure luck that they hadn’t taken us as slaves in their land. I doubted that they would care about taking us as slaves even if we hadn’t escaped. They loved peace in that land and wouldn’t ever have dreamed of having the reminder of a war in their land which was what would happen if they took us as slaves.
They cherished their peace a lot. That was why the former king had gone ahead to sign an eternal treaty with all the kings of the other lands, a treaty I didn’t respect. I had thought that they were weak because they loved peace and that was why I had been arrogant and believed I could win them, even with five hundred men at my disposal. I had thought they wouldn’t be able to fight because they hadn’t been able to feed on blood for days.
I should have known that loving peace didn’t equal not knowing how to fight for one’s self. I wondered if I would have not gone to the war I had known that I wouldn’t be able to suppress them as I had thought. I shook my head. I would still have gone on with the war. My pride wouldn’t have allowed me to stay put on what I wanted without giving it a try.
I felt hurt though that I hadn’t seen Ava all through the war. It was as if she hadn’t been bothered to know of who wanted her, as if the person didn’t matter. I wondered if I would have seen her if we hadn’t been blocked by the vampires at the border and had been able to get into the city.
I couldn’t stop wondering where they had found the werewolves. Those werewolves had been another reason we had lost. I had expected the men to be weak but they had built up their stamina and fought through the war with their unrelenting determination. The werewolves had fought as well, slashing through my men without inhibition. They were very observant and were quick to jump to the aid of any of their men who were getting tired.
Some of my men had panicked and ran home after seeing how the werewolves were fighting ruthlessly. I had almost thought that the werewolves had a personal vendetta against us if I hadn’t been so sure that I didn’t know of anyone that was a werewolf, much more one that I had offended enough to hate me.
The war was over and I felt like I was over with it. I had nothing but shame and rage coursing through me.
I heard footsteps approaching and also the murmurs of the men as they approached my chambers and quickly ordered the maid to leave before they arrived.
She bowed, picked up the bowl of water that she was dipping the cloth in to clean my face and left the room.
I kept my facial expression blank as the men walked in. They were angry and didn’t bother to hide it. I knew they had their right to be angry at me but they should still know that I was the king.
I looked at the harsh expression on the men’s faces and knew it wouldn’t be in my best interest to remind them that I was their king. They knew that already but it didn’t seem like they cared about it.
I cleared my throat. “Why are you here, boys? I don’t remember calling for a meeting.”
“Why did we really go for that war?” Ashar, the leader of squad one asked.
I blinked at him, wondering if he had made a mistake with his words but he didn’t act like he had. He didn’t gasp and tell me that he was sorry but kept on looking at me, waiting for a response.
I was doomed. No one was meant to reply to a king’s question with another but it seemed my men were angry and done caring about protocols.
“Why are you asking that from me?” I replied with a question as well. Two can play the game. I had to teach and show them that what they were doing wasn’t appropriate even if they were angry. “Didn’t I tell you that already? That we were going to war to increase our territory because their king is not fit.”
He shrugged. My eyes popped wide in surprise. He shrugged. Did he just shrug? Did he? I wasn’t in a good mood and it would be in his best to annoy me further. I wouldn’t want to order to have his head taken off his neck.
“We heard something else. We heard we actually went to war because you coveted the mate of another king. That is ridiculous, if you ask us.”
I knew it wasn’t allowed in our custom and that was why I didn’t ask for their opinions. “And you dared to believe that over the words of your king?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
Who could have told them that? I allowed no one but the messenger I had sent know about the letter I wrote to ask for Ava in return for peace. The messenger was a well trained professional and I didn’t think that he would have opened the sealed letter to read the contents before delivering it. I growled to myself. If he had done that, then his head would have to dance on the ground.
“Yes, we do, your majesty. We heard it from a believable source as well. Why do you think the men didn’t fight?”
I stared at him. He was right. The men hadn’t fought. That was true and I wondered why they had suddenly all become tired at once. I had expected over two thousand soldiers to fight with me but only five hundred of them had showed up. I didn’t know what else I could have thought of that when the general himself had walked up to me to tell me that the men shouldn’t all go but the best of them since we were stronger than the other vampires.
I had accepted that. I found it shocking to believe there was another reason for it. The men had decided not to fight with me because they believed I was fighting for the mate of another person? That was true but who had dared to tell them that rubbish?
My lips burrowed in anger. “Who had dared to soil the name of the king and mock his words?” I growled.
The men didn’t reply and kept their heads bowed. Good. I nodded to myself. They still knew how to fear their king.
“I did.”
The men all turned at the sound of the voice and I glared at the man who had come in. How could he? How could he dare to betray me?
“Your majesty.” He greeted but not with a bow. He was angry, more than I was and I wondered what was wrong with him. I was the one who had been stabbed in the back by him.
“Please excuse us, boys.” He turned to the soldiers. They bowed and trooped out of the room. I watched with annoyance as they walked out. I wasn’t done with them and yet, they had been ordered out by someone else in the presence of their king and they had obeyed.
How low did they have to make me feel?
“Why did you, Jasper? You told the men that I was fighting for the love of a woman.”
He nodded. “I also told the general to tell you what he did, knowing that your arrogance would make you believe him to be right. I can’t let our men die for a reason as sick as that.”
“Die?” I snorted. “We would have won the war if I had gone with my total army.”
“It’s funny how you didn’t deny that the reason for war was sick, your majesty. I heard there were werewolves.”
I hissed. The men had flappy mouths. How could they have told everyone of the ordeals already?
“The men wouldn’t die. The werewolves wouldn’t have been an issue if the men with me were much.”
He shrugged. “Maybe they wouldn’t have died but I wouldn’t let our valuable army lose their integrity fighting over what is not worth hearing of.”
“Jasper!” I growled at him. “How could you be this insolent?”
“It’s for your sake, friend.”
“Friend?” I snorted at him. “You dared to betray me and now call me friend. I’m your king. Since when did you start wielding authority when I do? I ought to have you head taken off.” I hissed at him.
“The court officials are outside, waiting to dethrone you if I don’t come out in the next one hour. Your cousin has always been a better fit.”
I hissed again at him. “You dared to plot treason against me.”
“No, but I’m telling you that I have leverage and you can’t kill me. I don’t believe also that your cousin is better than you are but I want to tell you that you should be careful of going overboard and thinking you can’t be replaced. Even if you are the king, there is a boundary that you should never cross.”
“Why are you doing this? I thought you were my friend.”
“I’m doing this because you are my friend. I don’t want to fall down a dark path. I can’t watch you keep acting crazy without doing anything, even if you kill me for it. You have to wake up, Anthony. You have to stop being greedy and delusional and go back to being the sage king that you are required to be.”
I sighed. I had nothing to pursue again. Ava clearly didn’t remember me and didn’t care about me. I thought I had nothing to lose but it seemed I could lose my throne. “Are you serious of my cousin being better than I am?” I asked in a low whisper.
He chuckled. “Of course not. You are your father’s son and you deserve to be king.” I chuckled as I glanced at him. He was crazy.