Page 26 of Fastlander Fealty

“He didn’t do anything to your Pride,” Corey yelled.

Silver gestured toward Ace, careful not to look at him. “He killed the next King, who unfortunately happened to be the father of the current King. He happened to do it in front of the current King, and vengeance has been burned into his mind since he was twelve. Ace has just been hiding really well for a long time.”

Corey went dead-silent, along with everyone else on their little floating fight-barge. “You got your story wrong,” she growled, her eyes flashing brighter green.

“Wait,” Ace murmured. The look on his face was that of someone who had seen a ghost. “Wait, Darius…” His dark eyebrows drew down farther as he lifted his lightening gaze to Silver. “I remember fighting my uncle Darius.”

Silver held her hands out again. “Darius was Rook’s father. Rook says he tried to defend his dad and you nearly killed him too. I’m not starting shit, or spreading rumors, I am simply telling you part of the reason there is a target on your back. Your dad maimed half the Pride, and you took on your uncle, who was gunning for King.”

Ace’s eyes widened. “I didn’t remember any of this,” he murmured in a haunted voice. “They had staked my mother and come for me and my father, and I just...I couldn’t remember big stretches of time. It’s patchy.”

Silver shook her head. “Wait, what do you mean they staked your mother?”

“Vampire, mother fucker,” Corey snarled. “Your innocent little Pride killed her.”

Owen could see the gooseflesh on Silver’s arms from here, and her soft brown eyes filled with shock. “That must be a close-kept secret,” she said softly. “There’s not even murmurings of that. The stories are of an attempt to overthrow the Pride, and put a submissive on the throne.”

Ace laughed darkly. “A submissive? You mean my father? Or me? You should tell them to come now. Come get me.”

“Ace,” Gunner warned.

There were three loaded moments of silence, and then it was Silver who spoke. “I wasn’t in the Pride until a few years ago. I grew up in a different Pride far away from that war. I heard about it when I was a cub, but the stories changed a lot, and fuck! I’m going to die for this, just so all of you know.”

A rumble escaped Owen’s chest, and Captain gave him a dirty look. Owen didn’t care about that idiot’s judgement. He didn’t like that Silver was talking about dying.

Silver heaved a sigh. “Truce. Please. I don’t want to do this either. I didn’t fucking sign up to come into the Blue Dragon’s territory and expose myself on day freaking one.”

“Then why are you doing this?” Corey demanded.

“Because I was one of the Queens.”

The silence was back, and the shock on the Fastlander’s faces likely matched that on Owen’s.

“You’re the Queen?” Ace asked, hardness in his tone.

“Not anymore. I was one of them. Rook is King now. He’s taking on multiple Queens. I messed up and I’m at the bottom of the Pride. I’m shunned. I went from Queen to shunned.”

“That’s how he got you to do this?” Owen asked, disgusted.

“Can we just all do a truce? Don’t ask anything else of me, and I won’t ask about you. If I could leave now, I would, but I’m in the middle of a freaking river in unfamiliar territory. Give me time to get out of the water and get to my rental cabin, and check out, and I’ll head out of this territory.”

“And give your Pride information,” Corey growled.

“You’ve given me nothing to take back,” Silver pointed out. “All you have to do is give me nothing until we get out of this water, and you’re good.”

“What is the scar on your face?” Ace asked low.

“She said truce, man,” Owen growled as he swam toward the raft. He didn’t like Silver alone, and that’s what it felt like right now—her versus the Fastlanders. “Stop asking her questions.”

“I want to know what the scar means,” Ace gritted out. “I want to see if it is what I think it is.”

Owen turned in the water to launch on him, but he got some back-up from an unexpected ally.

It was Hallie who spoke up. “She asked for a truce and that’s fair—”

“She doesn’t make the rules!” Corey said.

“I do,” Gunner snapped. “Hallie is allowing the truce, I back her. Truce it is. Don’t ask the lion any more questions. In fact, let’s all go home.”

---