Page 65 of Lycan King's Captives
My heart sinks at the mention of the treaty. The thought of being forced into a loveless marriage to strengthen ties between kingdoms makes me sick to my stomach. “What did he say?” I ask, already dreading the answer.
“They want us to send a representative to discuss terms,” my mother answers, her voice clipped and businesslike.
I nod slowly, trying to think.
“You want to break the treaty,” my father says abruptly and my mother gasps.
“That will start a war,” my mother exclaims knowing exactly the consequences of the council coming down on us. Her father after all was the reason these laws were put in place, yet Vin backed us with the council, and if he revokes his favor, not only is my kingdom in debt to him but also at war with him and the council.
“No, we’ll find another way, you can’t just breach the treaty, you’re already married, we would risk?—”
“Losing the kingdom,” I finish for her.
“You’d really risk your throne for her, wouldn’t you?” my mother says like she is just figuring that out.
“I’d kill for her,” I warn her.
My father growls. “Enough, we already have a fight on our hands, we can’t be fighting amongst ourselves, not if we are truly going to war with the Dresdans,” my father states. Yet I can see the guilt on his face, he is the reason we are in this mess.
“The council we can handle, that won’t be an issue now that you’ve found your mate. They don’t have to worry about your sanity once Sienna marks you, but Vin— he will declare war.” He curses under his breath.
“Carina won’t agree to the divorce?” my mother asks. I shake my head, and she runs her fingers through her hair. “So that leaves Sienna to challenge her which will force an annulment, or?—”
“War,” my father breathes, and I nod, chewing my lip.
“Sienna doesn’t stand a chance against her, she will struggle to shift,”
I admit, I never should have suppressed her Lycan side.
“So where does that leave us, leave the kingdom?” my mother asks, staring at my father. He thinks for a second and I pray he has an answer because right now I have none.
“Keep up the arrangement.”
I go to protest, when he holds up a hand.
“For now, we don’t need a war. You’ve held the wedding off an extra month; that gives us a month to speak with the council, clear this debt with Vin and also to get Carina to agree to the divorce, we have time,”
“Then what? Carina won’t go along with it.”
“We ask to renegotiate the treaty, come up with something else perhaps, or seek permission from the council to break it.”
“And what do we offer the council, Father? We have nothing to offer. Legally, right now, Vin owns us!”
“We’ll think of something. Have Javier start looking into the Dresdans, I will send word to the elders about requesting their council, for now we bide our time until we find a suitable solution, one where it doesn’t end in bloodshed,” my father tells me.
“And Sienna?” I ask, glancing at my mother.
“I will speak with her,”
“I don’t want you near her!”
“Xandros, she can’t make it up to the girl if you don’t let her near her, your mother won’t harm her,”
I scoff, she already has.
“I mean it, Xandros, I will make things right, I’ll try with her,” my mother says, yet I don’t trust her, and right now I need Sienna to mark me. Because if Vin learns of me wanting to break the treaty, he’ll come for her, and try to kill her, which in turn would force me to take his daughter as my mate or have the council take the kingdom and he knows this. Lycan’s can’t rule without a mate, and he can’t touch her if our bond is solidified, or he kills me, which breaks any treaty we may have by forfeit. I need Sienna to mark me, to keep her safe, to stop the fall of my kingdom.
“Fine, can I go? I want to get back to my mate.”
