Chapter 33
Lila
I’d been pacing in my rooms for nearly an hour, every step drilling further into my headache.
My thoughts looped like a bad song you couldn’t get out of your head: Damon’s claws. Alpha Rodrik on his knees. My father’s voice in the back of my mind demanding more and more from me.
“Three days. Or I pull you from the palace. Or I let your mother die.” He hadn’t said it like that, not exactly, but it was crystal clear whose obituaries he was referring to..
I knew how he worked. He didn’t raise his voice. He just waited until you were cornered and then told you it was your own fault. When he bothered to acknowledge my existence that is.
I pressed the heel of my hand into my chest, trying to quiet the sick twist in my stomach.
I had no leverage. No protection. No way out. Only an impossible task and a King who had no patience for weakness or people who wasted his time.
How was I supposed to ask Damon for a favor? Especially this favor, and right after what I’d seen him do to that Alpha.
And most especially when I’d gone out of my way to avoid him for days.
I needed to convince the most dangerous man in the kingdom to give power to my father – a man Damon barely tolerated.
Gods, I was fucked. I leaned against the wall, trying to steady my breathing, when the door creaked open.
“Elena?” Emma stepped inside, a mug in one hand, her eyebrows knitting together the second she saw me.
“You look like you’re about to either pass out or punch something.”
“Both. Definitely both.” I replied, stepping away from the wall as Emma handed me the mug. Tea fixed a lot of things. I took it, grateful, and slumped into the armchair near the window.
Emma tentatively took the seat across from me. “I take it the protest shook you?”
I hesitated. “You saw it?”
She nodded and dropped onto the couch. “Vanessa hasn’t shut up about it. ‘Did you see how fast he moved?‘ ‘Did you see the way he handled that Alpha?” She rolled her eyes. “She’s practically writing sonnets.”
I didn’t say anything for a long moment while Emma stared at me, tilting her head. “This isn’t just about watching him go all Alpha of Alphas, is it?”
I stared into the tea. “No. It’s about what happens when someone pushes too far.”
She was quiet for a moment. “He’s the Lycan King, you know how Alphas can be; if he shows any weakness or mercy, they’ll all start fighting each other for territory and power.”
My silence dragged on. Emma shifted closer and took my hand in hers; she exhaled. “What’s really going on?”
I looked up slowly
Emma’s eyes weren’t prying, just open and patjent. The way they always were when the rest of the palace felt like a trap. I’d kept so much to myself that I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to fall apart and let someone else help pick up the pieces, just once.
But I couldn’t, not all of it anyway. But Emma was my friend. Maybe the only real one I had.
“My father,” I said, the words catching on my tongue. “He’s… holding something over me. Threatening me.”
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Chapter 33
Emma’s fingers tightened slightly around mine. “What kind of threat?”
I shook my head. “The kind that makes you do things you never thought you’d have to.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “What?”
“He wants me to get a seat on the Council for him. He thinks Damon favors me, and he wants to cash in before the next trial, Before I’m out of grach,
“Oh, Goddess, Elena…”
I took a sip of tea. It didn’t help. “If I don’t do it…” I let the rest trail off, not ready to share, and not willing to say it out loud.
Emma was already shaking her head. “You can’t ask Damon for that. Not now. Not after
“I know,” I snapped. Then softened. “I know.”
“But you’re going to anyway, aren’t you?”
I nodded “I have to.”
She didn’t argue. Just nodded, slow and reluctant. “What are you going to say?” she asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
We spent the rest of the afternoon in companionable silence. And by nightfall, I’d decided the only thing worse than asking was putting it off. So I sent a simple message through the palace courier system:
Your Majesty,
If you have a moment to spare, I would request a brief private audience.
– Lady Elena Ashford
No mention of my father. No hint of why. Just enough to give him the power to ignore it. But reply came before dinner:
My study. Nine o’clock.
At 8:59, I stood outside the door, damp palms, heart beating double–time. When the door opened, Damon was already seated behind his desk, the room
dim and shadowed except for a couple flickering lanterns.
“Come in,” he said without looking up.
I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. He didn’t offer me a seat.
“Elena,” he said, finally meeting my eyes. “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”
“I was.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That’s… not the answer I expected. But I appreciate your honesty.”
I swallowed, not sure if I should drag this out or get it over with. “I’m not here to waste your time.”
“I hope not.” Damon leaned back in his chair, hands folding loosely in his lap. “So. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
I straightened my spine, and decided the best/route was the direct route. “My father wants a seat on the council. He’s aske behalf.”
petition you on his
Damon stilled. Silence stretched between us like a blade.
Chapter 33
“And you agreed to that?” he asked, voice cold.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.” His response was immediate.
This was going exactly how I thought it would go. And it was pissing me off. Damon clearly had no idea how anyone outside the nobility functioned…but I wasn’t me, not here. “Not all of us have a choice, Your Majesty.”
Hé stood slowly, circled around the desk.
“You avoided me for days. Now you walk in and ask for political power on behalf of a man I barely tolerate. Tell me, is that Elena speaking, or someone else?”
I froze. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he said, voice quiet but sharp, “that either you’re playing the Court like your father trained you to, or you’re making very foolish decisions on your own.”
“I didn’t want to ask.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because I have to.”
“You chose to.”
His voice was colder now, words precise. “You came here expecting me to reward you for surviving one trial, and for, what, catching my attention?”
“No,” I whispered.
“Then what exactly are you asking for?”
I looked up at him, trying not to flinch under the weight of his scrutiny.
“I’m asking you to consider mercy.”
His face didn’t move. “Mercy for your father?”
“No for-” I stopped myself before I could say ‘my mother‘; Elena’s mother was alive and well at Henry’s side. “– for me.” I amended.
Damon turned away, jaw tight. “I won’t be manipulated, Elena.”
“I’m not trying to manipulate you?” I could feel my frustration threatening to boil over.
“You’re asking me to hand power to a man who doesn’t deserve it.”
“I know.”
“Then why-”
“Because I don’t have another way,” I snapped, voice cracking. “And you’re the only person in this cursed palace who might actually listen.”
That stunned him for half a second. Then his eyes narrowed.
“I’m not manipulating you, I swear it.” I managed to keep my voice steady.
“Yes,” he said. “You are.”
16:40 Sat, 31 May G
Chapter 33
Damon returned to his desk and sat, as it the conversation were over
And with that, the matter was dismissed.
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