20
1074 Words
I sat straighter in my chair. What the hell had Miranda done this time?
By the time the meeting ended, I had mindlinked my court spy to investigate exactly what Miranda had done that the council had hushed up.
Jordan was waiting for me outside the conference room.
“Long time no see, cousin.” He grinned at me.
I fought the urge to knock out his teeth.
Was this a ploy to get me to lose my temper with the council members nearby? If it was, he was succeeding.
I c****d my head to the side.
“You shouldn't have bothered with the nice guy act in there. I know you, Jordan.”
Jordan had always been a bit skewed. By the time he reached his early teens, he'd been forbidden from coming to court because of his… excesses.
A polite way of referring to his disturbing habits. It had begun small from breaking things, to torturing animals just for the hell of it and then he had progressed beyond that. He'd broken people.
Jordan's smile disappeared and he glanced away looking almost contrite.
“This is not an act, I was a different person then,” he said finally. “I really do hope you keep the throne, Dante. It's really not my cup of tea.”
Like I was going to buy that.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Someone with no interest in the throne wouldn't have come for the council meeting.”
“I was around. I thought I should drop in.” Jordan shrugged like it was no big deal.
I was so done with the pretenses.
I took a step closer to him.
“What do you want with Ivie?” I asked.
Jordan's gaze shifted.
“Ivie is a friend,” he said softly, but his expression all but said he wanted more.
“Nice try,” I said trying to rein in my temper, but my voice was more of a growl at this point.
“We both know you were using Ivie to get my attention; you have it now. Stay away from her.”
Jordan frowned slightly.
“Get over yourself Dante, you are not the reason Ivie and I are friends.”
Another lie I wasn't buying.
“You just happened to meet my mate and befriend her? ‘Coincidentally’,” I deadpanned.
“Your ex-mate,” Jordan corrected, a glint in his eyes. “Luckily coincidences don't require your belief to exist, Dante. They just do.”
I was going to kill Jordan. It was only a question of when.
“Stay the hell away from Ivie or we are going to have a problem,” I said softly.
Jordan smiled and there was nothing remotely warm about it.
“You can't threaten me to stop seeing Ivie.”
“It’s not a threat but a promise,” I snarled. “Ivie is mine and if I see you sniffing around her or taking her out on some ridiculous date again, I'll f*****g kill you.”
“Ivie is a free woman, free to make her own choices but I can't say the same about you,” Jordan said, stepping up to me, his dominance pushing up against mine.
His voice dipped to a taunting whisper.
“You, on the other hand, are a Lycan Prince mated to a psychopath, who you were stupid enough to reject your true mate for. If you want any chance at keeping your precious throne, you’ll need to focus on your mate, not Ivie.”
I didn't realize when my fist hit Jordan's face, breaking his nose.
No, that wasn't exactly right. I think it was around the same time I decided to kill him there and worry about the consequences later.
I raised my fist again to hit him when the council members poured out of the conference room, their little meeting over.
Most of their discussion paused as they looked between me and my bloodied cousin. Once again, he'd managed to make me look bad.
Jordan inclined his head to them and simply walked away without another word, but I heard his voice in my head through the mindlink.
“May the best man win, cousin.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about the throne.
I left the infirmary feeling sick to my stomach. I'd just seen what Miranda had done.
To be precise, been doing. Apparently, that maid I had caught Miranda “disciplining” had been the least of her doings.
From maids to ladies of the court, to pretty much anyone who whispered anything unfavorable about her, she'd banished, maimed and severely hurt them all.
I'd known she lashed out on her maids on her off days but this… this was unacceptable. One of the women in the infirmary would never see again.
The thought of how much she must have done to cause so much damage to a Lycan with great regenerative abilities was chilling.
I would have confronted her immediately, but she wasn't even in the palace. I settled for commanding her solo confinement to her chambers upon her return as well as cutting off all her allowances and freezing all her cards.
Miranda had a lot to answer for, and that didn't even scratch the surface of what she would need to do to atone for her mistakes.
“This area of the mall will be renovated as per the pre-existing plans,” Arnold said, gesturing to the floor beneath us.
My business couldn't wait for the crisis at the palace and my personal life to resolve themselves.
Looking over the plans in his hand and the section of the mall he'd pointed out, I nodded.
“What timeline are we looking at for the amendments?” I asked.
Arnold nodded.
“Since the mall will remain semi-operational, six months at least.”
I shook my head. That timeline wouldn't work at all.
“I’ll get the mall completely shut down. Have it done in three months.”
“Of course, Mr. Orion.”
Arnold excused himself by disappearing among the group of people teeming towards the discount clothing stores.
Aiden was at my side in seconds, holding out his phone to me.
“Princess Miranda wishes to speak with you,” he said.
I continued walking.
“She will wait,” I said.
If she had been anyone else, I would have had her executed or exiled.
- Writer
