Wings, Beasts and Claws: Violet Embers

Ch. 9 : Lies and Declarations

*King Dorian*

The next two days passed by in a chaotic fog of information gathering, meetings and interrogations. Arden and I rushed around nearly every corner of the underground prison as we interrogated the prisoners and were called out when new information would be obtained. Hours standing over stacks of documents and discussions behind closed doors had left us at a dead end and with very little useful intel.

The prisoners themselves had only revealed minor things about the attack and themselves, like their names and what city they were from. But the one main thing that had been the common factor about them all was that they were bitter and prepared to die. One of them had let it slip that the woman he had fallen for and had been courting for months had found her Mate and left the city they lived in. He hadn’t found his own Mate and was still stuck pining after the woman that left him, shouting insults at every man that wore a Mate Mark.

Council members were gathering in the city now and things were starting to fall into place in preparation for the meeting tomorrow.

I had also tried to make time for my children who were happily back to their old selves now, thanks to Ivy, Morina and Amara. My sweet wife had also made it a point to visit me and push me away from my workload a few times. I knew that she was worried for me and her bursting through the office at random moments was her way of helping me get some rest, even if it only lasted for a few minutes. But I was completely consumed with the tasks at hand.

It wasn’t just the ‘Order of Will’ now that was my main focus as I toiled away behind my desk. It was the very Nobles that had sworn fealty to me after I was Crowned that were beginning to pose a problem.

The bastards that followed Duke Zenan in disparaging my Amara and dared to request that I take on a concubine were starting to rise. And rumors were circulating about my Queen and our children within the Palace and all of High Society. They said that my fire-wielding, NonShifter Queen was the reason why the Palace grounds had been attacked. That she had weakened that strength of the Royal Knights and risked the lives of Noble children because of her weak blood. Many claimed that no one would have ever dared to attack the Fafner Palace before, and having a NonShifter Queen had made the Black Dragons look weak. There was also a pathetic lie being passed around that our son Cal wasn’t truly a dragon, and that the Royal Bloodline Blessing had been corrupted to hide the fact that Amara had given me weak children.

Of course, with hundreds of witnesses present to see the truth for themselves, that lie was slowly dying down.

But the rumors regarding my Queen set my blood ablaze, and I fought to remain calm and not Shift within the Palace when I had first heard it. And my loving wife had simply brushed it off, telling me not to focus on it and that she would take care of it herself, since she was the focus of those vile words.

I couldn’t step away though. I couldn’t make myself back off and helped her dig into who had started those rumors so they could be punished properly for insulting my Queen. Proof was difficult to find though and the stacks of papers regarding the growing number of the Order were keeping me too busy to look into it well enough. And I was thankful to my close friend Galen for these two days, readily accepting his help before he gathered his wife and rushed back to his Kingdom.

He had gotten word that a mass of armed men bearing the Order's insignia had been spotted crossing the Snow Rush river that led to the entrance of the Capital. They had settled somewhere in the forest beside that massive, and rapid river and he feared for his kids and his mother, hoping that what had happened during Cal’s banquet wouldn’t come to pass.

On the day of the council meeting, Amara and I met up in our office to go over what I had learned, walking in together and quickly taking our elevated seats at the forefront of the room.

Dozens of men and women were seated on large and evenly spaced desks that resembled the pews of the Temples. This granted each Noble their own personal space as well as allowed everyone a clear view towards the front of the room. Each person here was the head of their home and a core representative of the region or ranking. The Commander as well as the ten Captains that worked under him were seated near the front, with my brother-in-law Arden among them after he had become a Captain two years after we had met.

The facts of the attack and the near a*******n of the children present was being discussed when a trio of Knights that I recognized as the main Gate Keepers burst into the room. All heads turned to them as they rushed towards Amara and I, their Captain standing up and lookin enraged and confused at having his men interrupting proceedings. They stopped right in front of our seats and dropped to their knees, my hand quickly gripped by my beautiful Queen who looked anxious and fearful.

“Please, forgive such blatant, crude behavior, Your Majesty.” One Knight said, panting through his words along with his companions as if they had run the whole way here. “But we need to show you what was delivered to the Main Gates.”

The man to his left stumbled as he stood up, raising his hands up to present a slightly torn piece of long parchment that had been rolled up. I got up and took it from him while the other man presented something made of balled up cloth to Amara. I unrolled the paper and felt my temper begging to climb as I read the short hand-written message.

“Dorian…” I turned and found my Queen’s eyes wide and glowing faintly as her features twisted in anger.

She turned the stretched out small square so I could see it and a sharp growl rang out from me, making everyone but Amara flinch and crumble to their knees.

The cloth looked to have come from a small banner of flag that was typically sold in the Capital. It was a soft gold color that was stained with what looked like a mixture of blood and mud. An embroidered symbol took up the center of the little square and was something that everyone in my Kingdom was raised to recognize. It was a large deep red bolt of lightning with the ink black wings of a dragon on either side and the tail of said dragon wrapped around the bolt with a triangle shard of gold resting on the bolt of red, right above the tail.

It was the symbol of my family. The Royal marker that identified us as a Kingdom and represented our land and people. But this sacred symbol on the thin cloth before me had been crossed over with something red that I guessed to be dried blood. It spelled out one word that I had been constantly hearing to define my children and my wife. A word a was sick and tired of hearing and reading.

‘Weak’

I turned to look at everyone that was slowly returning to their seats, my eyes ablaze when I looked at Duke Zenan and the others that wanted to get rid of my Mate.

“The Order of Will has declared war against our people!” I belted it, raising the parchment I held as gasps and murmurs of shock spread throughout the room. “Their leader has insulted our lands, our home, and dared to attack our children!” Amara raised the flag she held, turning it over to show everyone the fuel to our anger that had caused me to growl. “They dare to challenge the Black Dragons bloodline as well as my Fated Mate, YOUR QUEEN!” Arden and those loyal to Amara growled in response, standing while the group that was against her flinched and cowered back in their seats, except Duke Zenan. “They have spilled blood in my home, spread the seed of fear in our cities and taken the happiness of our people who had found their own Mates… “ I glared at the parchment in my hand, letting my dragon Erebos surface as I watched the small sparks of bright red lightning jump all over my hand. “For the sake of them, and for the sake of my own family and our treasured lands, I will incinerate this Order out of existence.” The arching red current then moved towards the crumpled up page, setting it on fire before I let it go.

Before the burning paper touched the floor, the flames surrounding it changed color, becoming violet as I turned to find my breathtaking wife glaring at the flag she still held. The page floated for a moment while she covered the cloth in her flames as well, joining the two together. Then, with a delicate snap of her fingers, both insulting objects were reduced to ash and her whole body became engulfed in her dancing amethyst flames. She reached out and took my hand, smiling softly before turning to look out at the cheering Council members and Knights. I did the same as her and released even more small bolts of lightning from all over my body, quickly catching on that she was displaying our might and power as the rulers of this Kingdom.

This showed that not only was the Fafner King a dragon that could manifest bolts of red lightning, but his NonShifter Queen was greatly gifted as well, and not an easy target by any means.

'We will destroy them all.' Erebos said, growling in the back of my mind while he passed. I could feel his craving to spill blood, his uncontrollable need to tear someone to pieces and soak his claws in a river of crimson. But having our precious Mate beside us was helping to keep him and myself calm, and I clung to her tighter.

After the meeting, Amara and I both nearly collapsed onto our seats, our bodies drained from holding on to so much power for such a long time. When we felt like we could move again, I pulled her to me and kissed her, feeling like time was completely against us now that we were officially at war. She wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly, no doubt consumed with worry and sadness at having to send me and her brother off to war. It was something that couldn’t be helped, being King and a highly skilled swordsman, I couldn’t just send my men out there. And with my father staying back and my heir safely protected within the Palace, there were enough dragons left behind to allow me to fight.

“How long?” Amara whispered, her bright eyes searching mine after we pulled away. “How long before you go?”

“A week…” I reluctantly told her, watching as she closed her eyes and buried her face against my chest. “I’ll come back to you, to our kids…” I kissed the top of her head as I held her, feeling her grip on my shirt tighten even more. “I promise.”

She shook her head then, reaching up to cup my face in between her warm hands, her deep jewel like eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“You can’t promise something like that…” She kissed me then and we slowly returned to our room after that, wanting to be away from everyone and everything and just hold each other before we faced our kids and family with the news.