Page 217 of Settle Down, Princess

I wished I could say that John’s situation was an anomaly, but it wasn’t. From what Bill was saying, the people were hurting before Magnus’ death, but they’d also been hurt because of it. People were massing around one large building, black robed sisters ushering the wounded in.

“You have everything you need, Sister?” Selene asked the nearest woman.

“More bandages wouldn’t go astray and some more pain-ease, but we’re surviving, Raven,” she replied, then looked past Selene to me. “Oh, Your Highness!”

“Your Majesty,” Selene corrected mildly. I blinked and so did the sister. “You might want to look at your marriage contract, Jessalyn. I’m fairly sure there’s a clause in there that makes you regent of all of Khean upon the death of your husband.”

“Husband?” I shook my head. “I have four mates, but no ceremonies have been held.”

“So you weren’t married to Magnus before the grand nave, in the central cathedral?”

How had Silas thought he’d have a chance of becoming Raven? I thought as her cool gaze met mine. Nothing got past Selene, nothing.

“I was,” I replied between gritted teeth.

“Then it's past time I get you home…” Her focus shifted to the sky that was slowly turning purple and orange. “Queen Regent.”

Chapter 120

Arik

This was why I never wanted to be king.

“We must obliterate our enemies!” the new Duke of Fallspire shouted across the table. “Make both countries think again before ever bringing their troops to our borders.”

“They hadn’t even considered it until the wolf shifters left their posts.” The general shot a dark look at the wolf shifter contingent who were now bunched up in one corner of the room.

“Something we wouldn’t have been forced to do if the king honoured the treaty,” Creed shot back. “One that needs to be rewritten before even one of us leaves our packlands to meet the enemy.”

“We can defend our territory just fine,” a wolf shifter drawled, the humans around the table hissing in frustration. “You are pack, and due to our familial bond, we are honour bound to protect you as well, but not at the expense of our lands, our mates. A new treaty must be hammered out.”

“While we wait for your elders to arrive?” one of the border lords cried. “If we are pack, then will you explain to the widows and orphaned children on my land how this tragedy came to be?”

“Will you?” Creed replied. “If your people need you, why are you here? Why are you not fighting to protect them.”

“Because we must form a united front…”

I couldn’t help but smile at that, because if that was the key to success, we were doomed. Every man and wolf shifter argued around the table, insisting what they needed was the most important thing, which was perhaps roused by the shade of my father. He materialised in the chair beside me.

“You need to find a way to unite them,” he told me.

“Easier said than done,” I muttered under my breath then leant forward, resting my arms on the table. I raked my eyes across the map, and all of the counters, bloodlessly organised as if each one didn’t represent real men, real wolf shifters, who would be sent into a situation they might not survive and that? It weighed upon me like a tonne of bricks, making each breath an effort to take. “Though I’m open to suggestions right now.”

“What?”

I blinked, dispelling my father’s image and seeing Silas there instead. He stared at me quizzically, but I just shook my head.

“Is it dinner time yet? We’re getting nowhere. Let’s find Jessalyn and—”

“Your Highness.” The general got to his feet then bowed. “I appreciate that we find ourselves in a thorny situation, but the issue is pressing. Reports are coming in of troops getting closer and closer to our borders.”

“And I have told you to take every soldier you have to protect it,” I replied.

“Including the wolf shifters?”

I caught the avaricious gleam in his eye. He was like a hunting dog with the scent of blood in his nose.

“I cannot order the members of the wolf shifter nation to do anything until the elders reach us. They are old and cannot travel for hours and hours full speed while on horseback. I have no authority over the wolf shifters until an agreement is made.”

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