by Riley Storm
“He’s got a good heart. I think. I’ve yet to find it. See you in a few…Boss.”
Klaue was still chuckling at the byplay when he walked by one of the common areas. It wasn’t one he frequented himself. Several other cliques, those closest with Kvoss the Assassin and Korred the Magi, had claimed it as their own, and so he gave it a wide berth when he was off duty.
Right now, though, he was in and wearing the duty uniform of the House Guards. It was a black sweatshirt and pants with red piping along the legs. Rank chevrons dotted both arms like most military’s. It wasn’t the most impressive-looking outfit, but considering it was destroyed every time a guard shifted before they had a chance to strip, it kept costs down.
Muttered words greeted him from the score of shifters lounging about the area. Klaue knew it wasn’t the uniform they were discussing, but him personally. That didn’t bother him, because frankly, most of the shifters associated with the two Title Holders that hung out there weren’t worth the shine he used on his boots. The only ones who had a modicum of his respect were the pair of Asps, the men trained to assist Kvoss in taking down rogue mages.
He nodded to them, but received nothing but cold stares in return.
“How’s everybody doing in here today?” he asked with false sincerity.
“We were fine,” one of them muttered under his breath, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. There were chuckles from the audience.
“Uh oh. Got a tummy-ache? Better go see the doc for that,” Klaue said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’m sure the nurse will kiss it better and give oo a wowlly-pop.”
The shifter in question, clearly still young because of his smooth baby-face, snarled impotently at Klaue but didn’t do anything.
I thought so.
He turned to leave the room, wondering if he would miss dealing with this bullshit if he won the position of Champion? The only Title Holder that still performed regular duties as a guard was Captain, and that was Kirell’s position. If Klaue won, his duties would extend to the entire House. He would be responsible for the training programs that all shifters went through once they turned eighteen, among other things.
Hey, maybe I’ll get to beat the arrogance out of the shits like this one. They could use a bit more authority in their lives.
Now, there was an upside he hadn’t considered. He still had to beat this Korpez first, of course, but even just the thought of it was enough to put a smile on his face as he walked through the room toward the hallway entrance on the far side, ignoring most of the comments directed his way.
“You boys and girls behave, okay?” he said as he reached the far side, knowing that treating them like children would irritate them all. “I don’t want to have to get your mommy involved, you understand? So, be good.”
“We are good,” one of the Asps snapped. “Not that you’d know what that is anymore, now you’re screwing that Canim slut.”
Klaue turned and kicked the couch closest to him right at the offending shifter. Two other bodies on the couch shouted out in surprise as they were tossed wildly, the couch flipping.
He didn’t give the Asp time to recover, charging straight through the path of destruction carved by the couch. Other shifters dove for cover, none of them wanting to tangle with Klaue on their best day. Now, they took one look at his face and scattered.
“You,” Klaue said, grabbing the stunned shifter and tossing him across the room where he slammed into the baby-faced Ursa from earlier.
He ran after him, picked him up by his neck and his pants, lifted him high, and chucked the Asp straight back down. “Need.” Kick. “To learn. Manners.” He punctuated each word with another kick.
On the third one, the Asp grabbed Klaue’s other leg and pulled it out from under him. They went down in a heap, wrestling for control. Klaue took a knee to the jaw and reeled, but recovered quickly enough and wrenched the Asp’s arm around behind him until his shoulder popped.
The man screamed, and Klaue chuckled an evil laugh as he got to his feet, dodging another blow. He ducked low, hit the shifter once, twice, three times in quick succession in the gut. The rapid blows to the stomach triggered an instinctive response and Klaue stepped aside as the Asp vomited profusely.
“Next time,” he said, hammering a fist into the man’s temple. “Watch your tongue. Otherwise I’ll rip it out for you and—Ack!”
Klaue flew back as something grabbed him from behind and tossed him. Furious, he got to his feet but froze as a black blade swept from its sheath and came to rest less than a foot from his neck. Even at this distance, he could feel the radiation from the uranium-enriched blade reacting with his shifter DNA. The skin on his neck would be turning black in moments.
“Korve,” he snarled, backing down from the Queen’s Guard.
“That is enough.”
Technically, neither one was in each other’s chain of command, but when a uranium blade was ready to slice open your throat and prevent the wound from healing while you bled out on the floor if you tried to fight, it was prudent to be respectful. So, instead of saying anything, he just remained silent, though he did stand. Slowly.
Korve looked at him, then—with a nod—put the blade away.
“Go find something useful to do,” the Queen’s guardsman snapped at the other shifters in the room.
In seconds, it was empty.
“Dude,” Korve said, fury still in his voice. “That was dumb.”
“No it wasn’t,” he said calmly. “It was going to happen sooner or later. I just…shouldn’t have overdone it,” he admitted.
“Don’t tell me,” Korve said with a pitying smile. “Tell her. She wants to see you.”
“Shit.”
There was only one she that Korve would be speaking about, and she wasn’t going to go lightly on Klaue, that was for sure. If he escaped with his body in one piece, that would probably be considered a victory. Mentally preparing himself for the onslaught, he nodded at Korve and strode from the room.
It was time to see the Queen.
28
“What the hell were you thinking?!”
Klaue held his tongue. It wasn’t a question he expected to answer.
“You were on duty. You are in command of the House Guard while Kirell is away, and what do you do? You engage in some sort of honor fight with a nobody! How the hell are you expected to be able to command anything, or have any sort of position of power in this House if you aren’t able to behave responsibly?”
Looking down, he felt shame. The Queen was right. More was expected of him than this petty infighting. The Asp had no power, he couldn’t effect any sort of change. Klaue should have let him go with a threat, or simply walked away, as hard as it was.
“I am surprised at you, Klaue.” The Queen strode back and forth in front of him, fury wrought on her normally beautiful features. “Surprised, but moreso, disappointed.”
The word cut like a knife, deflating him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, then stood up straight as she whirled on him.
“Did I tell you to talk?” she snapped, clenching her fists tightly—probably forcing herself not to hit him.
“No, my Queen,” he responded promptly, bowing his head.
Kaelyn was a friend and ear to any in her House, but she was also the Queen, the ruler, and came down like a tidal wave on any who fucked up. And Klaue most certainly had fucked up. He’d told Korve that it needed to happen, but he hadn’t been thinking properly. He hadn’t been thinking as the Champion of High House Ursa, which he aspired to be. Instead, he’d been thinking simply as Klaue, mate to Jessica.
While it was true Jessica didn’t deserve to be called a Canim slut, when the words came from a nobody, they didn’t mean much of anything in the grand scheme. Now others would likely side against him, those who were neutral, wondering if perhaps there was something bigger going on, based on Klaue’s reaction. They would grow suspicious and he would be forced to fend off even more inquiries into J
essica’s life.
He was about to speak his thoughts on the matter to the Queen, to show his ruler that he wasn’t just acting chagrined but was truly thinking the matter through from multiple angles. But before he could, the doors slammed open and Jessica ran into the Queen’s office. A harried-looking member of the Queen’s Own followed, giving his personage an apologetic look that said, “what was I supposed to do, stab her?” Klaue tried not to chuckle. He knew full well Jessica’s forceful personality wasn’t easily brushed aside.
“Queen…uh,” Jessica paused, unsure of how to address her. “Your Majesty,” she said instead, choosing the more neutral route. “I must protest any punishment being given here. This is not Klaue’s fault.”
The Queen arched an eyebrow at Klaue that Jessica couldn’t see, then turned to face the newcomer. “It wasn’t?”
Jessica shook her head. “No. It’s mine.”
“Is it now?”
“Yes. I caused it.” Jessica was adamant.
Klaue felt his face growing warm as his mate came to his defense. There was literally nothing she could do, but she was trying. She was trying to help him, in whatever way she could think of. Klaue wasn’t sure he’d ever felt more cared for by someone other than his parents in that moment.
“You caused Klaue to kick a couch across a room, and beat the piss out of some sycophant asshole just looking to kiss some ass for a sprinkle more power?”
“I provoked him into it,” Jessica insisted.
“How did you do that?” The Queen’s angry demeanor was fading, and she glanced over at Klaue, but he didn’t have any answers. Whatever was going on here was news to him as well.
“By withholding information from all of you. Please though, if anyone is going to get in trouble, it should be me.” Jessica hesitated, then stood tall, spine straight, meeting the Queen’s eyes without hesitation. “Kick me out if you must, but don’t punish Klaue for this. I don’t want him to suffer for me.” Her voice dropped to the barest whisper. “Enough others already have.”
Klaue frowned, but Kaelyn beat him to the punch, the Queen speaking up first.
“Kick you out? My dear, if I kicked someone out every time they started a dumb fight, there wouldn’t be anyone left in the House!” She laughed. “No, you won’t be going anywhere. I’m mad at him for not knowing better.”
“You won’t?”
Klaue wanted to walk across the floor to his mate, to hold her, but he knew that this was important. If Jessica was going to stay here in House Ursa with him, as his mate, she needed to learn just who she was working with, to learn to trust others as well as him. Kaelyn was one of the best things to come out of the uprising, and often, Klaue felt that many of his House didn’t deserve her rule. Now, Jessica would learn how lucky Ursa had been when she survived and ascended to the throne.
“No, my dear.” Kaelyn walked over to Jessica and put an arm around her. “You must understand though, that it is your refusal to explain the mystery surrounding Canis and yourself that is putting Klaue in this position.”
“I know that,” Jessica said a little defensively.
“If you could trust Klaue, then things would be different. They could change. We could help you, my dear.”
Kaelyn wasn’t pushing hard, but Klaue could still see his mate getting upset. It was time he intervened—and the moment he stepped forward, he caught an approving glance from Kaelyn. Wait a minute, did she plan it this way? To have me step forward as the savior?
He snarled silently, letting her know he did not appreciate being manipulated, even if he could see where his ruler was going with it. Kaelyn just smiled as if to say, “it’s part of the job”.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he told Jessica, putting an arm around her protectively. “I’ll be fine in the future, I just got worked up today, and gave that bootlicker too much credit. There are other ways to beat them, ways that don’t involve me giving them the thrashing they deserve. Come on, we can go.”
He tried to turn Jessica around, to leave the Queen’s private office, but she stood her ground. “No.”
Klaue looked down, then at his Queen, then back to Jessica. “No?”
“No,” she repeated, her voice stronger. “You’ve done enough. More than enough to earn my trust. And your Queen obviously trusts you, which is why she’s playing the bad cop here.”
Kaelyn coughed in surprise.
“I worked in a factory where people ratted on each other all the time to get ahead, and middle-managers tried to play peacekeeper while also working to get themselves into a better position. I’ve seen it all,” Jessica said drily. “You could use some fine-tuning, but overall not bad. Most people would have fallen for it without thinking.”
The Queen looked down, nodding, not bothering to hide the smile from her face. “Clearly, I do not give you enough credit.” She glanced at Klaue. “Or you enough pity. She is going to walk all over you.”
Klaue wisely remained silent. He’d learned a few lessons over the years, and one of them was, “In situations where women are ganging up on you, shut up, because you’ve already lost and can’t do anything more about it, besides make it worse.”
“I overheard something,” Jessica said, her voice growing distant.
Suddenly alert at the change in her tone, Klaue listened to his mate, absorbing every word she spoke. Whatever it was, it was important.
“I was at Moonshadow Manor, visiting my sister. I’d just been laid off in advance of the factory I worked at closing. I had severance and no mortgage, so I was going to come visit for a bit, since I hadn’t seen her in three years, and then do some travelling. So I came here to Plymouth Falls, and hung out with her, even though I hate that asshole of a mate of hers.”
Captain Lorran, Klaue mouthed in response to Kaelyn’s quizzical glance.
“Anyway, we were having a glass of wine and gossiping the one night. I went to go get some more wine, and I…overheard something. Something that they absolutely do not want getting out.”
Neither Klaue nor Kaelyn said anything for a moment. Then they both spoke in a rush.
“What?”
“What did you hear?” Kaelyn came closer and put her hand gently on Jessica’s shoulder. “You can tell us.”
Something stabbed through his heart when Jessica looked up, a haunted look in her eyes. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Why not?”
Jessica looked at him as she spoke, even though it was Kaelyn who had asked the question. Her eyes pleaded with him to believe her, to trust her. That this was important. That she wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t because…
Then Klaue got it. “Your sister. They have your sister.” He cursed and stormed across the room, breathing hard, trying not to fly into a rage. The Queen’s bodyguard who had been standing near the door backed out silently, not wanting to be a hapless target of Klaue’s hulking anger.
“A hostage,” Kaelyn said primly, the distaste at the idea causing her mouth to twist. “They won’t harm her, as long as you don’t tell us what you know.”
Jessica nodded. “They made that threat before I left. They haven’t said anything to you about her, have they? Is she still alive?”
“As far as I know. Nothing but demands to have you turned over have been sent to me. I would assume they don’t want to reveal why they want you so bad. I’m sorry, that’s all I know though.” The Queen pulled Jessica into a hug while Klaue stood there, impotent, unable to fix his mate’s problem.
Or was he?
“My Queen,” he said fiercely through gritted teeth. “We need to rescue her sister. Go in, get her out. Bring her to safety.” His eyes turned to Jessica. “If she was safe, would you tell us?”
“Of course!” Jessica exploded, angry not at them, but at the situation. “I’m not staying silent because I don’t like you.” She shrugged. “I didn’t at first, you’ve been the enemy for so long, but now I’m beginning to see that maybe I was deluded. That may
be Canis is the evil here.”
“There is good in the House,” Kaelyn said confidently. “We know that. Otherwise they would have swept over us in our moment of weakness and knocked us so far down the rungs of power, it would have been decades or centuries before we recovered. Something stopped that from happening. There is also rot in them, and it is deep.”
Klaue nodded. “Her sister is mated to a Canis Title Holder. She is likely unharmed; even they would be reluctant to do that. It also means they aren’t holding her in the dungeon. She is probably under House arrest. Getting her out will be difficult, but much less impossible this way.”
His spirits fell as Kaelyn slowly began shaking her head sadly. “You know I cannot sanction this action, Klaue. You’re talking about a direct strike on Moonshadow Manor. You know how we would react if they attacked us here.”
“Again,” he muttered unhappily. “They already sent a mage after her. Onto our territory.”
Kaelyn was oddly silent for a moment. “A rogue mage came onto our property, Klaue. A rogue mage, not associated with any House. His actions were that of a rogue and not sanctioned.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“Which is why I cannot sanction any such action.” Another pause. “I must go.”
“What, why?” Klaue was confused.
“I have business to attend to. Political business. I won’t need any of my senior men for at least several days. It’s important, and I will be postponing the Trials until I am done as well. I hope you understand, but sometimes I must heed the call of the throne.”
Klaue blinked, then slowly nodded. “Of course, my Queen. You are a very busy woman. You cannot be expected to be everywhere, to know everything. You must attend to that which you know of, am I correct? You have your duty.”
Kaelyn’s eyes glowed angrily as she fixed her stare at him. “And you have yours, Klaue. See to it.”
He drew himself up stiffly, clasping both hands to his chest. “Yes, my Queen!”
Then she was gone, sweeping past the two of them and out into the hallways of Ursidae Manor.
