The messenger had sworn it was urgent Darian rushed to the Palace.
It was barely morning when the Emperor summoned an emergency court meeting. The sky was still a deep shade of dark blue, with a handful of stars refusing to disappear, when Darian climbed into his carriage and rolled off to the palace.
The worst part?
The damned Emperor never even showed up.
Instead, his right-hand man arrived in his place. A broad-shouldered man in his thirties, with a scar running from the corner of his mouth down toward his chin. He took the Emperor’s place at the head of the table and announced that the meeting would proceed as planned.
Apparently, the matter was regarding the farmlands the Emperor was so determined to seize from the commoners.
Darian already knew how the meeting would end.
His uncle’s court was filled with bootlickers who would agree to anything as long as it pleased the man sitting on the throne. The moment the proposal was brought forward again, heads began nodding around the table. Not a single one of them bothered to question what would happen to the families who depended on those lands to survive.
The few righteous vassals left in the court had little power to oppose them. Most had been deliberately placed in positions where their voices could easily be ignored, while the rest had either been silenced, disappeared, or turned their loyalty toward the usurper.
Half of the old King’s men had been buried beneath the convenient guise of accidents.
Darian had heard enough of those accidents to know better.
By the time an hour had passed, his patience had worn thin. With the Emperor still absent and the court going nowhere, Darian finally brought the meeting to an end himself.
He had barely made it a few steps away from that nest of vipers when a palace maid approached him.
She bowed quickly before informing him that his uncle had summoned him.
What did he want now?
Darian now stood inside the Emperor’s chambers, his hands clasped tightly behind his back as he fought the urge to grab the man sprawled shamelessly across the bed and drag him off it himself.
The room reeked of wine, expensive perfume and sex, the heavy scent hanging in the warm air. Erik had his face buried in a woman’s breast when Darian arrived, while another woman lay beside him with little more than the sheets covering her naked body.
Darian’s gaze shifted toward her, his brows furrowed slightly when he noticed her pointed ears.
He was doing elves now?
Great.
Erik raised his head slightly when he noticed Darian’s presence. "Oh? You’re here?" He sat up, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed before standing.
"You summoned me?"
Darian’s eyes shifted toward the elf girl who had her back at him. Dark bruises marked her shoulders, standing out against her pale skin. She kept herself covered with the sheet, her fingers trembling as she held it tightly against her body.
Erik followed Darian’s gaze and immediately smirked.
"You want her?"
Before Darian could answer, Erik grabbed the elf girl by the arm and pulled her from the bed. She let out a startled yelp, scrambling to keep hold of the sheet as it slipped from her body.
"I can trade with you," Erik said, his amusement growing. "The Calypso for the elf?"
Darian’s jaw tightened at the suggestion, and Erik noticed.
His smirk widened as he dragged the trembling elf closer before pushing her toward Darian’s feet.
Darian took a step back, his nails digging into his palms.
"I’ve always wanted to see what’s better about those legs of the Calypso." he chuckled. "Perhaps a cute pink cunt."
Oh gods he wanted to punch this man.
Darian’s patience was beginning to fray, and he wasn’t sure he could spend another second listening to his uncle speak.
"Is this why you summoned me?" he asked coldly.
Erik smirked again, still looking amused by his irritation. "You’ve never been a fun one..." He turned toward the bed, reaching for his wine glass before taking a slow sip.
"Are you aware of the Reedsworth family of the West?"
Darian’s brows furrowed.
Of course he was aware of them.
The Reedsworths were a powerful family of vampires who controlled one of the largest shipping routes through the Western Sea. They in charge of transporting food and supplies to the navy stationed along the waters, yet somehow, a large portion of the money and grain allocated to them always disappeared before it reached the soldiers.
They were a thieves of taxes and grain.
But that wasn’t even the worst of it.
The Reedsworths were traffickers.
They sold human children to the highest bidders, transporting some of them across the sea as though they were nothing more than goods.
Darian had been on their case for a while, but the Reedsworths were a family of slippery bastards. Every time he thought he was close to uncovering something, the trail went cold.
He watched Erik take another slow sip of his wine. "I’ll take that look as a yes," Erik said, studying his face before nodding toward him.
"They’re hardly involved in the affairs of the court..." Darian forced his voice to remain calm.
"Regardless..." Erik lowered his glass, his expression shifting into something far more deliberate. "I was thinking of a marriage proposal between our families."
Darian’s brows immediately drew together.
Erik smiled. "I suggest you marry Lady Samantha Reedsworth."
Darian’s fingers dug into his palms behind his back, his eyes remaining cold as they stayed fixed on his uncle. The two women on the bed watched them both, their expressions caught somewhere between fear and curiosity.
"Why?" Darian asked.
"An alliance between two great houses never needs questioning."
"Of course it does. Especially if you had something to do with it."
Erik clutched a hand against his chest in mock hurt, his expression becoming dramatically wounded. "You wound me, nephew."
Darian’s eyes narrowed slightly. "And if I say no to this alliance?"
Erik chuckled coldly, the sound doing little to hide the threat beneath it.
"Then Adelaide gets to have a wedding."