I frowned at that but trusted that Cyn knew what he was doing. Juri, however, looked worried.
“Sit down, Juri,” Cyn said as he waved at the long table in the center of the room.
Juri's stare went from me to the King before he went to stand beside a chair. He was smart enough to wait for the King to sit down at the head of the table before he sat down. I took the chair beside Cyn.
“Your Majesty, I assume you're upset with me for the way I treated your mate, but—”
“You knocked him unconscious, broke his nose, locked him in a cell, and thensomeoneused the relic on him,” Cyn said.
The knights went tense, several moving their hands to their sword hilts.
Juri had already gone pale, but now his milky complexion curdled. “You . . .” He looked at me. “You told him you were—”
“Do not insinuate that my mate is a liar!” Cyn roared.
Juri shrank back. “But, Your Majesty, no such thing happened. It couldn't have.”
“It did! I witnessed the results.” Cyn let that sink in, watched as Juri comprehended what it meant, then went on, “The mating bond freed Ru'din from the power of the relic and released his memories.”
“And he saw me use the relic?” Juri scoffed. “I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but if that is what he said, he is lying.”
“Heis sitting right here,” I snapped. “And that's not what I said. I woke up in a cell and saw a bright light. I couldn't make out who was behind the light, but I heard a voice. I believe it was masculine, but it was difficult to tell. It had a resonant tone, such as you'd use for spell-casting. That voice commanded me to kill King Cynric.”
The Dragon knights shifted angrily while Juri sat back in what appeared to be genuine confusion.
“If that is true, it was not me,” Juri said. “Your Majesty, I would never betray you.”
“You may have been under the relic's control yourself, Juri,” Cyn said.
“What?! No. That's not possible.”
“If you were, you wouldn't have a memory of it. Ru'din’s memory was only restored when the mating magic broke the spell. Otherwise, he would be as clueless as the Chelli man who poisoned me.”
“But . . .” Juri frowned. “No. They would have had to get me alone, and I was on guard. I remember no strangers in the castle.” He grimaced to add, “Beyond the Shanba priests.”
“The priests who came to tell me about the stolen, dangerous relic?” Cynric lifted a brow.
“Yes, I see now that I should have told you about that after our meeting.” He sighed. “Honestly, I didn't think it was important, and you seemed so upset with me when I asked you to meet with them.”
“You didn't think that the theft of a mind-controlling relic could pertain to my poisoning by a harmless Chelli man who swore to have no memory of what he did?”
“I see now that I was foolish.”
“No, Juri, what was foolish was assaulting a man who had saved my life and was protecting me.” Cyn leaned forward. “You may not have known Ru'din was my mate, but you knew I valued him.”
“I also knew that you left the safety of the castle because of him!” Juri slammed his fist onto the table. “You just left! I'm not a king. I don't know how to rule. If I wanted to rule, I would have entered the Crown Tourney. I did not because I do not. I'm best behind the throne, aiding royalty but not ruling. You left me, Cynric!” He pointed at me to add, “And he wouldn't tell me where you were!”
Cyn sat back and regarded Lord Juri gravely. Finally, he said, “I left a note.”
“You left a note?!” Juri tossed up his hands. “For fuck's sake! You took off with a Raltven thief in the middle of an investigation on your attempted assassination, and all you left me was a note saying you had to make a tactical retreat! No instructions on what to tell people or how I should deal with the countless appointments you had scheduled. I'm sorry I hit Ru'din, but I was frustrated and desperate. I put him in a cell to scare him into revealing your location. But when I went back to the dungeon, I found the cell door open and Ru'din gone.”
“You can't lock up a thief,” I said with a smirk.
A few of the knights snickered. I shot them a wink.
“For fuck's sake,” Juri growled. “I am not a traitor.”
“Because you have been loyal to me for all these years, I will give you the courtesy of believing you,” Cyn said. “For your service, I will also forgive the assault on my mate. But if you prove to be a traitor, I will kill you myself.”
