I opened the passenger door, and the girls slid into the back. “You are really committing to the long hair, eh?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “When you say it like that, Aim, you make it seem like I don’t look devilishly handsome like my mate tells me.”
I cracked a smile as I waved my hands around his head. “It’s in this weird in between stage that looks-”
“Horrible.” Toya giggled and Jora slapped a hand to his chest.
“You wound me, Toya.” He turned in his seat. “I’ll have you know I can just make the tiniest of ponytails.” All of us lost it. He scowled as he turned back. “What can I say? My mate asked for long hair. I’ll grow the long hair.”
I nodded. “As any good mate would.”
“It works for the king.” Toya pointed out and I felt my stomach flutter.
Jora pulled out of the garage and he headed toward the store. “Clair told me he had to silence his phone for the time being.”
“Who?” Wendy leaned in.
“Rowan, the king, apparently he has email after email coming in nonstop all day. And normally, while he would usually become more and more agitated with each passing notification, this time his smile got bigger and bigger.” Jora turned to me. “Know anything about that?”
“Who’s Clair?” She asked again, and everyone else turned to look at her.
“The elite personal warrior to the king?” Jora dropped his head.
“The most badass woman in the history of women.” Toya grabbed her shoulder. “Wendy, you have to have heard of Clair.”
She just shook her head. “She is the best female warrior there is.”
Toya turned to me. “I think you might actually give her a run for her money.” I scoffed, but she shook her head. “We know you hold back during training.”
“Well, I’m stronger than you guys.” I turned back and shook my head. “Anyway, the emails made him happy?”
Jora howled. “Very much so. The council was all confused, asking why he was receiving so many emails so quickly. But then they got a call from someone and the council mood shifted.”
“Shifted how?” Toya leaned between the seats.
The smirk on Jora’s face said it all. “Every email that came in, Rowan would smile and then would frown. By the end of the meeting, they were asking the king to give them access to his personal email so that they could handle them.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Please tell me he said no.”
Jora shook his head. “He told them to go fuck themselves. That this was his personal email and they wouldn’t get access to it ever.” I felt the knot in my stomach loosen.
“Good.”
“They tried to argue. Said they had the right to see all applications. But the king just told them they were getting half of the applications and already have to deal with those. The ones emailed to him. He would handle himself. That way, he was a part of the process.”
We pulled into the super store parking lot and hopped out. But Jora just kept talking. “The council then tried to argue that it would be unnecessary for him to be that involved in the process so that every girl has the same starting point, but the king disagreed. He turned on them. Clair sent me a video.” We were walking into the store when Jora handed me his phone. He clicked the play button and Toya and Wendy crowded my back to watch.
Rowan was just turned to face the mob of men behind him, and you could tell he was agitated. “What do you mean, I shouldn’t be involved in the selection? It’s my fucking mate we are choosing here.” Clair had to adjust her body, I am assuming, to keep the phone hidden. “Why should I let you all choose my mate without any of my input? Did you think I was just going to fall in line? Did you assume I would just accept any woman you choose that is under your thumb and happily make her my queen?” Rowan turned and walked away from the trembling men. You could tell they were pissed that he wasn’t falling in line.
“You can’t do this.” One councilman screamed and Rowan turned.
“You keep forgetting this is my life. I am king. You are just my council and I am getting really fucking tired of you trying to control everything I do. It is not your job to control me, it is your job to counsel me and the fact that you all keep pushing the envelope is making me seriously question if you are still necessary.”
A stillness settled over the group of men. “What are you saying?” I could hear the threat in the words.
“I’m saying you were put in place in case the worst happened to my father when I was too young to figure things out. And it did. The worst happened. My father passed away and I was left alone with you guiding me. But…”
“But what?” One of them stepped forward, and Rowan’s eyes tightened.
