82

“Your Majesty, you are crossing a line!” Bella gets to her feet, her expression outraged. I stare at her in silence, and she falters. However, true to her personality, she mutters, “Don’t disrespect the queen.”

Once she sits down, I look at the tense faces in front of me. Under that tension is arrogance. They truly believe they can get their way. Studying them, I’m pretty sure of what they plan to do. Controlling me is getting harder for them, so they intend to have me sire a child, and then they will find a way to get rid of me so that they can put that child on the throne. With Vivian already in their pockets, they will then be able to fully control the kingdom.

They must really think that all the fighting on the border has dulled my intellect.

“I didn’t realize the noble families paid such close attention to the laws of the kingdom. But if that’s the case, let me enforce another law. The one that says each noble family has to appoint one member of their family to go fight on the border. I’m sure you remember that there is a law governing this.”

I see their expressions shift to uneasiness.

“I have been wondering why the noble families have been sending such weak fighters to the border. Or to be more exact, I’ve been curious why nobody from the main families have fought at the border in the last two decades. There’s a new squadron that is going to be dispatched tomorrow. I will be choosing whom to send from the noble families. After all, it is my right as the king to choose, according to the laws of this kingdom.”

“Sire, you can’t do this!”

I watch as the elders cry out in alarm. I gaze at them in apparent boredom.

My eyes come to rest upon Bella, who is sitting beside her father, Henry, one of the elders of the council. Bella recently became the head of her family. She’s watching the proceedings in stony silence now.

“You say I can’t do this?” I study her father, who was the one who spoke up. “Why not? I think I’ve been quite lenient so far by letting you select who to send to the border. As I recall, it is up to me who goes and fights. I’m simply exerting my right to choose.”

Henry Asher tenses in his seat. “Times have changed, Your Majesty.”

“I don’t think they have. The laws sure haven’t changed, as you have just reminded me.”

“Then, perhaps they must!” The man who speaks now is Luther Fenrin, Derrick’s uncle, the one who removed Derrick from the family for refusing to marry Bella.

“That sounds reasonable.” I shrug. “Maybe I should start by reducing the power and authority of the noble families. I feel they have far too much say in the king’s personal matters.”

A strangled silence falls upon the room, and I smile sharply. “You’re also free to try to depose me before I produce an heir for you to control. Would you like to give it a shot?”

The elders exchange troubled looks, and finally, one of them says, his voice cautious, “Your Majesty, why are you acting this way? The kingdom has run fine for the past eight years. Why are you suddenly trying to make changes?”

My smile widens, and I feel anger burning through me. “It’s interesting that you specify the past eight years. Because for the past eight years, I’ve rarely returned to the castle, and this council has had free rein to do as it pleased. If anything, I would say that you have been running the kingdom for the past eight years. Am I wrong?”

My attention moves to Bella again, and she meets my gaze, anger sparking in her eyes. “Well, we didn’t have much of a choice, Your Majesty, since you ran off to sulk because you didn’t get your way.”

My smile fades. “Sulk? The people I protect betrayed me and tortured my fated mate. They then proceeded to hold the safety of the common people as hostage to prevent me from punishing the aggressors. I think ‘sulk’ isn’t the right word, Bella.”

She turns pale and looks away.

“You were not betrayed, Your Majesty,” her father says sharply. “We were looking out for you. You fight on the border, and most of the time, you do not seem to understand the integrity of the royal bloodline—”

I slam my hand down on the table, causing a silence to fall across the room. “Do not tell me about the integrity of the bloodline. Right now, it is your own bloodlines you should be worrying about. I will send a list to each family by the end of the day. The individuals named therein will be sent to the border to fight. If they perish, I’ll send the names of their replacements.”

“We will not allow this!” one of the elders roars, and I pin him to the spot with my eyes.

My voice is soft, though. “Allow this? Since when are you in a position to allow me to do anything? Or have these past few years led you to forget your place? Have you suddenly become the king?”

The temperature in the room drops by a few degrees.

Crossing my arms across my chest, I look at each face. “I’m not a child anymore. You can’t force me to do your bidding. Go ahead and try. Eight years ago, I was grieving my mate—”

“Your mate is here in the castle,” Bella spits out. “That low-blooded woman was not the queen!”

“On the country. Even if Leanna signed her name as Vivian, all that means is she signed her name wrong. I would not consider that deception, and it certainly doesn’t make Vivian the queen. I’ve never officially mated the woman you claim to be the queen, not even in the legal sense. So, she is still just a princess. And definitely not my mate. You can quote all the laws you want. That woman is not my mate.”

Henry Asher exchanges a look with the other elders and nods subtly before speaking. “Your Majesty, if you insist on behaving this way, then the noble families and I will follow through with what we said—”

“You mean you will pull resources from the local villages and towns?” I blink. “You will try to harm the people of this kingdom so that I bow down to your wishes?”

Henry shifts in his spot uncomfortably, but his jaw is tight. “It’s unfortunate, but the noble families have a duty to make sure the royal family continues its progression. We demand that you officially mate Vivian and be done with this nonsense. You need an heir, and this time, during the full moon, we insist that you impregnate her. And the laws have to be changed with regard to the noble families fighting at the border. They are outdated—”

“Or”—I stare at him—“I could simply remove all of your land from you since, according to your threat, you seem to be incapable of looking after your people. How about that? Or how about I simply wipe out your entire family since you are being defiant in front of your king? There are plenty of soldiers in my army who have worked hard and should be rewarded with more land. I can give them yours.”

Bella looks horrified. “Cedric!”