“Why are you dressed that way, Draylon?” Father asked, regaining his usual condescending tone. “You are a king now, not a common soldier.”
“Father,” Draylon ground out through clenched teeth, though he didn’t want to consider their relationship right now. “You plotted to kill my husband.” Might as well get things out in the open.
Father shrugged. Draylon wanted to smack the smugness off of the man’s face, and his fingers itched for his knives. “If it justified our invasion of Delletina and we subdue our sworn enemy once and for all, then what’s the cost of one life for the greater good?”
What? The arrogant ass freely admitted to his sins! “Greater good? One life? It’s not just Yarif’s life we’re talking about, but an unjustifiable tide of misery and death based on a lie. A scheme that would kill common folk in their fields and my soldiers by the hundreds.”
Father rested his folded hands on the desktop, the picture of nonchalance. He had no idea how badly his own son wanted to make him pay. “They’re my soldiers if you recall.”
“Yes, your soldiers, over whom you gave me responsibility as commander. My friends. Soldiers I’ve sworn to treat honorably. And what of the cost of innocent lives? Delletina might not be part of the empire, but that doesn’t make them our enemy. The people there are merely people, raising crops and families. Did you consult with Avestan on this plan of yours?”
Father glared over Draylon’s shoulder at Avestan. “He does as he’s told, unlike you.”
Draylon didn’t even try to keep the growl from his voice. “You’re talking of a scheme to kill my husband. I seriously doubt Avestan would have stood by doing nothing while you killed his bride.”
Father snorted. “What do you care? You were against the marriage from the start. You should be glad to be rid of him.”
Once more, Draylon fought back flaring hot rage. “He’s mine. I swore to honor and protect him. I do not take my duties lightly, even for my emperor. Yarif has proven his worth time and again.”
“As he will prove his worth in my plans.”
“Plots, don’t you mean?” Draylon rested his gauntleted hands on the edge of the desk, leaning over, a predator at his most menacing.
Father likely still saw a small boy in leading strings. “A matter of interpretation.”
“You’re provoking an unnecessary war! Look, Father, I bit my tongue when you married me to a stranger.”
Father pursed his lips, blowing out a harsh breath. No doubt his anger boiled close to the surface. No one naysaid the mighty Emperor Soland Aravaid without facing royal wrath. “Bit your tongue, you say?”
Draylon ignored the jibe. “On this, I put my foot down. When there’s an honorable reason to fight, I will lead my troops into battle, but you will not, I repeat, will not harm my husband.”
The words caught up. “You mean he’s alive?”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty, he is very much alive despite all your great efforts. I can’t say the same for Commander Illa and her untrained misfits.”
This time, Father winced. Yeah, he wouldn’t like Draylon depriving him of a useful tool.
Draylon twisted the knife. “Yarif is safe, and you won’t get to him.”
Father glowered, growling out a warning. “You threaten to stop me?”
“No, I promise to stop you. If I must, I’ll leave, taking him with me.” And wouldn’t that cause a scandal? Draylon might not hold much sway here, but he now bore the title of king in his own right. Though Avestan would likely bow to their father eventually, he’d at least pause and think first about something for which Draylon felt so strongly.
“Furthermore,” Draylon continued, “King Niam of Delletina might be persuaded to join the empire. No wars needed if his conditions are met.”
“You met with King Niam?” Father blurted.
Draylon had omitted the details while talking to Avestan. “Yes, I did. And began negotiations.” Draylon wouldn’t reveal Yarif’s kinship, not yet, anyway.
“You talk of treason.” No traces showed of the man who’d taught Draylon to ride a horse or to hunt. Father had shown no paternal warmth since Draylon’s twelfth birthday, saying Draylon needed to become a man. No, this was an emperor addressing a subject who’d displeased him.
Enough of trying to win a father’s approval at the cost of making his own choices. While Draylon had been against the marriage from the start, it made perfect sense, especially now that he’d come to know Yarif, his fierceness, dedication, and loyalty. Though no soldier by any means, Yarif could fight and possessed all the qualities Draylon sought in his officers.
Draylon didn’t even want to think about what a good assassin Yarif might make.
Regardless of how much Draylon thought he’d lost, Yarif had been forced to marry his father’s killer before even being allowed time to mourn. If, despite that, Yarif was willing to gamble his life on Draylon and what they could achieve, then Draylon would do no less.
He couldn’t right the wrongs of the past, but he’d damn well try. “No, I talk like a man protecting his family. Unlike some I could name, family means something to me, regardless of how the family started.”
