Page 263 of Onyx Cage: Volume II

I understood her ire, but I wasn’t sure I shared it. Had I not made the vow to keep Iiro safe, I would have happily let him burn. It would have been the cleaner course of action, to be sure, and Arès was nothing if not practical.

My wife, somewhat less so when it came to the people she loved.

Despite the constant throbbing in my chest, I couldn’t just sit here while the other dukes discussed the future of Socair. By the third day, I demanded to be brought to the council room, and Rowan, of course, adamantly insisted that I stay in bed.

Despite the healer’s many reassurances about my steady improvement, my wife remained convinced I might die at any moment.

I couldn’t blame her, not when I remembered what it was like to be on the other side of this. We hadn’t even really belonged to each other when the fever threatened to take her from me, and those days had numbered along the worst of my life.

Still, I needed to get out of this room.

She finally relented, albeit reluctantly, so I slowly made my way downstairs, with a detour to Kirill’s room. He was in a private room on the floor underneath ours. I was beginning to suspect that we had actually been housed in one of the royal suites, perhaps because we were more removed from the others that way, and therefore more secure.

Kirill was propped up against a pillow, his only visible eye open but narrowed in pain. He looked even worse than I felt, but he still had a smile on his lips when we walked in the door. My gaze lingered on the bandage over his other eye, or rather, where the eye used to be, according to Rowan.

I sank into a chair, the short walk tiring me more than I wanted to admit, and surveyed my friend with concern, a small amount of guilt creeping in. He had lost his eye fighting for me.

But at least he hadn’t lost his life. There was relief in that.

“Don’t give me that look, Van,” he said flippantly, correctly interpreting the expression I was too tired to hide. “Though your wife clearly prefers pretty men, mine likes the rugged type, so she’ll be thrilled with this turn of events.”

I gave him a tired smile, shaking my head, and Rowan chuckled softly next to me.

“Pretty?” I demanded.

“It’s the eyelashes,” she said with a flippant glance at me.

Though she had no maid here, she had tamed her curls into submission in one of her warrior’s braids. She was dressed simply in her black travelling dress, her face free of cosmetics, and still the sight of her smirking up at me had my breath seizing in my lungs.

Kirill shrugged smugly at her agreement, and I pretended to take offense before forcing myself back to my feet. With a brief farewell, we continued our trek downstairs.

It was even slower going down the stairs to the council room. Each step jarred the wound in my chest, but I pushed the pain away before Rowan could see it on my face.

Finally, we made it to the room where the eight dukes were sitting, plus Yuriy, who had been acting in my stead as the next-highest-ranking member of Bear present.

Except for my wife, of course, but even if the men would have allowed it, she had refused to leave my side.

Yuriy jumped up from his seat. I settled into it, glaring at Mikhail until he vacated his own chair in favor of one further down so my wife could sit next to me.

I knew something was wrong when all eight sets of eyes settled on me warily. Nine, if I was counting Yuriy’s hesitant glances. My eyebrow raised of its own accord as I met each of their stares in turn.

“We’ve been discussing the next steps,” Korhonan said, hesitation clear in his tone. “Technically, by succession, the crown would fall to me…”

Now both of my eyebrows shot up. He had told Rowan and me in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t be taking the throne.

If I was being honest with myself, Korhonan wouldn’t make the worst ruler, but I wasn’t convinced he had the discernment or the strategy necessary to unite Socair.

Nor was there any world in which I was willing to be in subjection to him.

“But I don’t want it,” he finished before I could say any of those things.

“All right,” I said evenly, “so we go back to the way it was, as we discussed.”

Arès cleared his throat. “We believe that Socair would benefit from a more united front.”

Rowan shot him a look, but I didn’t think that was in response to his words as much as her general resentment of the man. I bit back a smile at her characteristic ruthlessness before returning my attention to the matter at hand.

“You have made it abundantly clear on more than one occasion that you don’t believe the monarchy should be reinstated,” I reminded the Lynx duke.