Page 39 of Imbalance
From out of nowhere, Jace materialized and came to stand between his father and Ama, twining his hand with hers. She started to give him a narrow-eyed look of annoyance, but then I quickly saw her realize she needed to play along in front of these people.
"We are so pleased to announce the engagement of our son, Jace, to his mate, Amare," Cyrus bellowed.
What the actual fuck? Engagement?
At first the room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop, but then it quickly filled with the roar of cheering and thunderous applause.
Ama looked as white as a ghost as she forced a smile to her face, while Jace dropped a peck to her cheek. I wanted to remove his head for thinking he could kiss any part of her.
I knew deep down she was moments away from giving the bastard a piece of her mind, army be damned. She was not a woman who would roll over and be told how she was going to live her life, and she most definitely would not be marrying that prick.
"Please eat, drink, and be merry as we welcome our soon to be daughter into our joyous kingdom," Safiya yelled, clearly smitten as hell with this situation.
The partygoers resumed their chats, and couples returned to the dance floor as the musicians near the royal table began to play again.
I felt the guys gather at my back as Ama turned away from the crowd to address the royals privately. We moved closer to them as a group to support her in silence, and her words could be heard clearly from where we stood.
"I do not appreciate being blindsided like that in front of an entire kingdom, and I don't know where you heard that I would be marrying your son, but that is not true," she informed them coolly, her temper barely contained. I knew it wasn’t a smart move, but I fucking craved seeing Ama give them a piece of her mind.
The king and queen looked taken aback, but Jace was quick to cut in, "I told you guys that we had to take this slow and let her get to know us and our kingdom."
"Well, we..." Safiya stumbled, "We just assumed that she understood this made her a princess of our kingdom and that a marriage of unity was a given."
"Why wouldn't you want to marry our son? He's your mate!" Cyrus asked incredulously.
Ama facepalmed and pinched the bridge of her nose before replying, "I've told you before, but I will make it clear again: I have six other mates, and I will not be leaving any of them for your son."
"Damn right," Finias said behind me, causing a few of the other guys to chuckle.
Ama's head whipped to us at that, and she offered us a sweet smile. I was glad to see her warming back up to the group slowly after the blow out earlier, and I'm sure it eased a lot of the anxiety brewing in our group.
"Cyrus, talk some sense into her!" Safiya exclaimed, holding a hand up to her forehead as if she was faint.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the dramatic act. How was it such a foreign concept that Ama wouldn't be marrying a man she had met the day before? I mean seriously, it was common sense.
Plus, I’d had far too many fantasies of spending the rest of my life with my princess to let this prick waltz in and act like he had a devildamned right to that privilege.
"Please, just let it be," Jace implored his parents.
Cyrus ignored Jace as he pinned Ama with a genuine look of bafflement. "How could you expect us to provide you with an army, if we don't have the assurance that you're going to be tied to this kingdom in a union?"
Ama's eyebrows damn near rose to her hairline as she quipped back, "Because I was hoping that you wouldn't be exactly like the damned pure-bloods, who don't give a shit about anyone different from them."
Shock and anger filled the king and queen's faces as Ama barreled on, clearly no longer giving a shit about offending them. "I had hoped that I had found a people who wanted unity between the kingdoms. So that we could put this feud of senseless bloodshed and hatred behind us and usher in an era of love and equality."
She sounded like a devildamned queen, and an image of her on a throne with both kingdoms bowing at her feet filled my mind. My princess was a force to be reckoned with.
"How about we settle this the old-fashioned way?" Jace was quick to cut in before his parents could recover from their state of shock.
Ama arched a brow at him, "How so?"
He smirked, "A duel between your men and myself. I will choose five warriors to aid me, and if we win, you stay here with us and forget the war. But if you win, you get the army and our full support."
I swear she didn't even have time to blink before she said, "Done. Schedule it for tomorrow, and tell your armies to prepare to leave the day after. We will win."
My blood thrummed in my ears, and my heart raced at her steadfast belief in us. I knew there was no way any of us wouldn't fight tooth and nail to live up to her words. We'd ensure this victory was ours.
"Done," Cyrus shocked me by agreeing so quickly.
