Dark Alpha: A Fated Mates Novel

26: HALF HIS KINGDOM

~SINCLAIR~

Ordering his Keepers to stay back while he went to retrieve Vannie might have been one of the hardest things he'd had to do as King.

But seeing Vannie's face at his proposal? He knew it was the right call.
"Vannie?"

"Nothing," she said with a jerk. "Yes. Lead the way."

His battered heart broke for her. For them. "Vannie, you're their Luna. They'd die for you without blinking an eye. The last thing they want to do is hurt you."

She gave him a sharp laugh. "Easy for you to say, isn't it?"

Yes. She may be able to get past his own involvement because despite everything, he hadn't been the one to torture her. He hadn't been the one to whip her over and over again — everyday — with silver. He hadn't been the one to taunt and humiliate her.
But he was going to keep believing that if she could forgive him, then with time, she would forgive them. The opposite would cause a divide in the Inlands.

"I apologize," he said. "You don't have to meet them now if you don't want to. I just want you to think about it? Please?" He thought about the hopeful looks of his Keepers, and somehow, he wanted Vannie's forgiveness for them.

She nodded. "I'm not completely irrational, you know. I know it was only a couple of Keepers that were in charge of my punishment, not all of them. I just—hearing that honorific still freaks me out, I guess."

She was too honorable, his mate. Recovering so fast after everything she'd been through and willing to talk about it — with him, no less — he didn't know what to do with the effect of it all. Any more of this, and she'd send him to his knees. Did she know that?
"Come on. I'm serious. I want to meet with them. It's better to get it over with now."

He wanted to refuse, but his men just wanted to be near her, so he knew not much of a disaster could truly occur. "Are you sure?" He asked again, because even though he wanted her and his people to coexist peacefully, he'd choose her everytime.

If there was a choice between Vannie's comfort and half his kingdom, he'd be giving his people and lands as tribute in the blink of an eye. That made him a bad King, clearly. But that also made him Vannie's male.

"Yes," she agreed, and smiled up at him. That, of all the other things, sealed the deal. Vannie had a rather stunning smile. He'd only earned a few of them, but each time, they knocked him off his feet.

And that was before she took his hand and began to lead him in the direction of the palace. "I brought a vehicle," he said with a voice gone hoarse. She was trying to kill him, smiling and touching him at the same time.

Her eyes danced with excitement. "A mount?"

He wrinkled his nose. Again. God help him if she figured out her mannerisms were now his, too. "We're in the Inlands now, Luna. We don't use primitive forms of transportation like horses," he said, like he wasn't thinking of his stables and which horse to gift her if she truly liked riding.
The gold one with the black mane would be good for her. Ah, yes. Gold, like Vannie's gorgeous, gorgeous skin.

Like the smart a*s she was, she eyed his sword that was sheathed at his side. "What were you saying about primitive again?"

Smiling, touching him willingly, and now, teasing him. She clearly didn't want him to survive this conversation. He wanted to ask about the reason for this turnaround, but it wasn't exactly a turnaround. Since that night in his chambers, the Queen had been. . . thawing. For him. She didn't hold that note of suspicion in her eyes anymore, and now, she seemed almost kind towards him.

Like Alaric tried to hint earlier, Sin knew there was something simmering in the background. The fates wouldn't be kind enough to let him go just like that. But he also knew that he'd remember these few moments she'd given a piece of herself to him. Till he took his last breath.

"So where's the vehicle?" She asked with a jaunty tone, and he ushered her to the cove beside the gate where he'd parked.
She gasped when she came face to face with fifteen hundred measures of steel. "What is this. . . contraption?"

Sin beamed with pride. "It is a motor."
Hesitantly, she traced one long finger over the hood of the vehicle. The Inlands were the foremost in technology, so clearly, it was her first time seeing something like this. He would commission one for her post-haste.
Especially if she'd let him teach her how to drive it.

A thrill ran down his muscles at that last thought, but he brushed it away, focusing on helping her with the door. She got in gracefully, every inch the Queen of his dreams, and he drove her to the training fields. She eyed the interior with awe, not bothering to filter her emotions. He grinned.

His men must have smelled her from afar, because as they became visible in the horizon, he could see they were all on their knees. He sighed, wishing he hadn't taught them so well how to be supplicant. Vannie stepped down from the car without waiting for his help this time, but refused to cross the threshold into the fields. Apparently, this was where her limit was today.

But the Keepers looked content, anyway. When he got closer and ordered them to start sparring with their weapons again, they fought harder and faster, showing off their forms for their Luna.

He knew their relationship would only ever be that of a Queen to her subject, but it was stronger, the urge to kill other males. It transcended territoriality over his female; it was a pervasive, roiling monster inside of him that considered every glance towards her a threat, and perceived every approach towards him as an act of outright aggression.

So caught up in his thoughts, he didn't initially notice that one of the short blades a Keeper-In-Training was using had been knocked off by his opponent. And was coming straight for Sin.

This was one of the things he'd come to expect while pairing the Keepers-In-Training with advanced Keepers, so Sin wasn't surprised. The blade came closer to his face, and he guessed he could have caught it if he really wanted to. But he waited for it to nick his cheek. Hoping that Vannie would—

Ah, there. The blade stopped a centimeasure away from his cheek, floating in the air.
And there was Vannie in the sidelines, as beautiful as ever with one of her hands in the air. She'd wielded the magick that protected him, probably before even thinking about it. Once she (and everyone else in the fields) realized what she'd done, she let her hand fall. Without her magick to keep it in place, the blade cut a thin line on his cheek.

But he'd seen what she was hiding, anyway. And f*ck, was it glorious.

A/N
No, the steamy scene hasn't happened yet. I apologize for raising your hopes up.
Tell me what to do to make up for my oversight..😪 I just think Son needs to suffer more before getting laid.

Oh, and happy Sunday.