KILLIAN’S POV
“Get lost.”
Her beautiful blue eyes widened with surprise as though she had been expecting something other than what I had told her.
She lowered her gaze and bowed before leaving. I watched her against my will.
She was irritating, aggravating, annoying and yet… yet there was just something about her that triggered me and my wolf.
I went to get changed. The meeting had gone on for far longer than I thought it would. The council had seemed more on edge for some reason. I wondered what I was missing.
I heard a knock on my door then Talon stepped in. He was my second and my most trusted person. As much as I trusted anyone really.
I pulled on my shirt. “Have you delivered my warning?”
“Yes, Prince Killian. No one will touch her from now onwards.”
“Good.”
I had intended to send the girl out of our lives by making life difficult for her. After all, she was here to make her life easier by shacking up with Cillian. I did not doubt that she had given some sob story and convinced him of her innocence and naivety.
Not that it would have been very hard with my brother being the bleeding heart that he was.
But when I heard what those men had done. What they had attempted to do. I lost
it.
My fury had taken over me and while I had wanted to do nothing more than to torture them for hours and watch them break, I didn’t have the control required for that after I had seen her bruised face, her shredded dress and scented her fear mixed with the scent of those men.
But the bruises were gone as I had seen this morning when I moved closer to her. She was fine. Cillian had taken care of her all night long after all. Or so I had been told.
The thought of him next to her caused something akin to jealousy within me as I imagined what they could have been up to. I know what I would have been up to if I had been in her room all night long.
I recalled how she had felt beneath me that day in my room. How wet, needy and desperate she had gotten in mere minutes. If I had an entire night
The voice of Talon’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Prince Killian, your aunt, Lilly wishes to speak with you.”
Aunt Lilly was here? How peculiar. I didn’t know whether to be happy or cautious. She never made an unplanned visit. Every move of hers was meticulously thought out and political. The fact that she hadn’t told me about her coming meant she wanted to take me unawares. I was instantly filled with caution.
“Where is she?”
“In her quarters.”
As the younger sister to my late mother, she had a set of rooms she had lived in when she still stayed in the palace.
She left after my mother died in labour with me in her arms immediately my father began to collapse under the grief of losing his mate.
I heard she had tried to take both of us but my father had refused because both of them had never seen eye to eye. He had given Cillian to his own sister, Celia to raise instead and Aunt Lilly had never forgiven him for it until his passing.
Growing up with her had shaped me in so many ways that I was grateful for. In her time of glory, she had ruled court from behind the scenes with webs she spun and many mind games.
I heard the only reason my mother had married my father was because of her scheming to begin with even though they had ended up ridiculously in love to the extent that her death broke him.
When I entered, she stood, her skin unlined and her back still unbent by age and her hazel eyes similar to mine sparkling with humour. She could have passed for my older sister.
“My boy, you look dashing. You are taller. The throne suits you.”
“Auntie.” I kissed both of her cheeks fully aware I had not grown a centimetre since the time I had come to the palace. “It is good to see you. What brings you all the way in here?”
We had lived at the city perimeter. Aunt Lilly said she wanted to distance herself from the intrigues she had so loved before, she was retired so to speak but I found that difficult to believe as she had still kept her hands in every pie even after she left.
She had probably done it to ensure I had been moulded exactly to her desires so I didn’t turn out ‘dumb like my father’.
She looked at me with feigned hurt as we settled in chaos directly opposite each other.
“Can’t I come to see how you are doing? Must there be an interior motive?”
I raised my eyebrows skeptically.
“With you, there is always an ulterior motive.”
Aunt Lilly laughed airily. “Fine, you got me there.”
Her smile disappeared along with her air of maternal benevolence. Her tone was cutting and direct when she spoke.”You still haven’t chosen a bride.”
“A bride?” I was shocked. A bride? Where was this coming from? “That is what you came here for? I didn’t know you wanted a grandchild so much.”
Aunt Lilly scoffed like she didn’t expect such a stupid deduction from me. I didn’t feel too bad about it, she thought almost everyone was stupid compared to her. To be fair, they often were.
“Like I care about that. You must know that you are the only one fit to rule. You have seen your brother. He is weak and soft.”
And everyone loved him. That was the first thing I noticed when I came back here. Maybe it was because he had been raised here but while I found him insufferable and most times downright idiotic everyone loved him.
They would cower when I entered the room, I was the uncouth, extremely short-tempered and sometimes -okay most times- violent one who had been raised with foreigners.
Even though we had the same face, their reactions were completely different with Cillian. They were friendly, and open to speaking about their troubles. It might have irritated me initially but I didn’t envy the ease with which he related to them.
It was wrong and bred disrespect. Fear and respect were the only emotions a subject should have for their ruler. Love was unneeded and overrated.
Aunt Lilly took my hand as she spoke.
“He cannot make the kind of decisions necessary to take control of this kingdom.”
She was right. It was the same way he had failed to kill those men that touched Rosalind opting to talk first instead of spilling their blood.
Her voice was lower as she spoke.
“The council wants power, the ministers steal from the nation’s treasury. Your treasury. If you let them, they will drown us all. Only you can undo this.”
Yes. People here were greedy and although my aunt had warned me of that, I had been unprepared for how much it would be. But…
“How does a bride factor into all this?”
Her hold on my hand tightened and I almost winced. Because of how small she was it was easy to forget, she was strong and had taught me how to fight immediately I could walk.
“Have I not taught you anything? A bride is more than just a wet hole to fuck, she is the key to opening doors for you.”
Aunty Lilly had a foul mouth for a woman. For anyone in general but I was listening. I rather liked keys.
“If you were to marry a girl from a politically strong family. Not too strong but strong enough and she conceives, you can assume the throne fully and remove Cillian from power. Permanently.”
Permanently.
I thought of it. It could work. Find a simple-minded girl with the right bloodlines. Fuck her, get a child and secure my hold on the throne. Yet I wasn’t sure I could. Not like this.
“I don’t want to steal my brother’s crown.”
I had no doubts that if we had still been outside the palace, Aunt Lilly would have slapped me so hard my head would spin but now I was a crowned prince so she settled for diplomacy.
“Your brother feels burdened by that crown. We both know he will be happier going around and helping people than sitting on a throne and ruling.”
How she could know so much about Cillian when she refused to meet him was beyond me. But she was right. Every second he was always looking for someone or something to rescue. That suited him far better than the throne.
She continued.
“My sources tell me he is infatuated with a maidservant currently. If he were without his crown, he would be free to fall in love with as many low-class girls as he wanted.”
She knew about Rosalind already? Retired indeed.
She kissed my forehead, once more the image of the loving elderly aunt.
“Think about it, my love. I must return home.”
Then she kissed my cheeks and she was gone.
For a while, I thought of it. My aunt only wanted what was best for me and her plan held merit. It wasn’t like Cillian could hold the throne anyway. The council would eat him alive.
The day didn’t get any easier as I went to the petition room to get through the requests of the day. Rosalind was there.
Apparently, she would now be working with him as his personal assistant. What a load of bull.
That girl couldn’t assist with anything even if she wanted to.
I had done my research. She was from the districts. My district to be precise so I knew she was only using my brother as a stepping stone to elevate herself.
I ignored them and focused on my petitions. They were all the way on the other side of the room as well. I heard her laugh at something Cillian said and my pen broke in my hand.
I looked at the broken pen and I frowned, controlling my anger.
I refused to be jealous of Cillian over a poor low-class whore.
Rosalind didn’t matter to me, but at that moment I decided I wasn’t going to follow my aunt’s advice and allow Cillian to be free to pick his mate.
I wouldn’t give her the opportunity to latch onto my brother even more.
I would separate them by any means necessary.