Page 20 of Bred By the Emperor

Okay, then. I have a situation to deal with.

I blow out a breath and rouse my wife. Lili puts her dress on as best she can, with my ceremonial robe over it, and slips her hand into mine. When Zarek sends the all-clear, I punch the code to exit the safe room.

“You look smug,” Lili grins.

“You’re one to talk.” She looks incredible. Thoroughly fucked in the best way possible. Disheveled and happy. She laughs, leaning briefly against my shoulder.

“I married a menace.”

“Yes, you did. I have a lot of time to make up for, darling.” I kiss her once, chastely, on the lips. “We’ll have a real wedding night tonight.”

Outside, the ballroom is in shambles. Kenton stands in the center looking utterly exhausted, and not in the adorable well-exercised way that my wife and I do. I realize instantly that disappearing with my new, young, controversial wife, might have been a tactical error.

Kenton’s gaze lands on me. “...Nice of you to join us.”

“I was busy.”

“Yeah, I figured.” His eyes flick briefly toward Lili, then back to me. His jaw tightens. “We’ve got a problem.”

“Besides your attitude?” I’m seriously considering strangling my firstborn.

“This isn’t funny.”

“I wasn’t making a joke.

He crosses his arms. “Can I talk to you in private?”

“Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of her.” I tuck Lili against my side. I have enough experience with war to know an ambush when I see one. Kenton has been waiting for me to come out of the safe room.

He motions for me to follow him. Lili and I pick our way over rubble to the hallway, which is relatively intact after the explosion. He leads us into a windowless conference room with maps pinned to the walls and security footage blown up to identify suspects. He strides around the conference table and tosses a thick folder across the gleaming surface.

“The rebels had help with planning the attack.”

“From?”

Kenton’s eyes flick toward Lili.

My grip tightens around her hand.

No.

Her mouth forms an O of shock when Kenton smacks the map depicting the southernmost tip of Kellimar. Not far from the border where the rebels had struck yesterday, before all this started.

“They were staging supplies inside Kellimar’s borders, here.” Kenton taps the map. An icy dagger of betrayal strikes my heart. Lili can’t be involved. I don’t believe it. But…I can’t entirely rule it out, either. Goddamn it. Why can’t anything in my life be simple?

My councilors filter into the room. One slowly removes his spectacles. Another mutters, “Christ…”

Then, silence.

“Explain,” I bite out. “Show me your proof.”

Lili goes very still beside me. Kenton opens a cracked laptop and projects onto the far wall, the only blank space that isn’t covered with hastily taped-up paper maps.

“Over the last six months, we’ve intercepted communications referencing a safe haven.” He pulls up a satellite image and zooms in. Sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. Hidden warehouses nestled deep in the canyons leading up to Kellimar’s high mountain retreat.

Kenton zooms in again. Underground tunnels. Weapons caches. All inside Kellimar’s borders. Lili stares at the photographs, ashen.

“The rebels used your wedding as an excuse to strike.”