Eventually, Titan did what I knew he would.
“Asteria, come on,” he grunted, tilting his head toward the door. I raised a brow, smirking at him. I figured he’d ask me, but it said a lot about his confidence in her that he’d ask Asteria.
“What?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “Where are we going?”
“He always does his best planning while sparring,” I told her, giving her a quick kiss and a smack on the ass, sending her out the door.
She looked back at me, bemused, but followed Titan without complaint.
“What in the Otherworld?” Altan shook his head, his braids swishing against his back with the motion.
“What?” I asked, cocking my head to the side in confusion.
Zakat snorted, leaning against the war table and crossing his arms. “What, he asks.”
“What the Tartarus kind of operation are you running here?” Altan asked, shaking his head. “This is… not what I expected.”
“We told you why we were attacking the other kingdoms already.” I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, you may not be the evil bastard we assumed,but...” Zakat emphasized, gesturing dramatically. “This is still not what anyone would expect. I can’t ever imagine my father acting like that with his underlings.”
“Or mine.” Altan snorted in agreement.
“See?” Zakat moved to swing an arm around Altan’s shoulders, and the man quickly shrugged him off.
“They’re not underlings, for starters.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “This is exactly the problem. The kingdoms have lost sight of what we were chosen for in the first place.”
“And what’s that?” Altan asked, cocking his own head to the side now as he shifted away from the table, backing out of Zakat’s space.
“As king, it’s my job to lead my kingdom.” I tried to explain. “To keep them happy, healthy, and prospering. Not to exert control and lift myself up. This doesn’t work if we expect our people to be our servants. We are meant to servethem. We give our lives to the cause of the kingdom. But the rulers of Celesterra have been corrupted. With greed, pride, you name it.”
The two were quiet, but were clearly thinking over what I said. Before they could respond, however, Eryx grabbed my attention.
“Calix!” he called from the doorway, and I turned toward him. “Nithe’s on his way into the city now. We can meet him.”
I nodded, popping out into the hall to find a servant who could track down Ilta. She arrived within a few minutes, glaring at me for some reason.
“You didn’t even tell me that you were back?” she huffed, crossing her arms. “Where’s Asteria?”
“She’s with Titan. And I’m sorry, we wanted to grab him quickly and get him working on this before anything else,” I explained, cringing slightly.
She glared, blowing breath out of her nose like Titan in minotaur form.
“Fine.” She finally uncrossed her arms, returning to her bubbly smile. “Now, what do you want?”
I chuckled, shaking my head at her. “I have two princes who need rooms to stay in.”
Her eyes widened, and she threw her arms up in the air. “Nox, Calix, anything else?”
“Well…” I drew out, raising a brow.
“Oh, no you don’t.” She stomped, and I struggled to hide my smile.
“I think you’ll enjoy this, actually,” I promised, and her mouth pursed, her lips shifting side to side in thought.
“Go on then.” She waved impatiently, tapping her foot.
“We’ll need to introduce everyone to Asteria,” I said, and her eyes began to light up. “I’d like you to plan a formal court address, where I’ll bring her out and make clear my intention to make her queen one day.”
