Page 19 of Sins of His Wrath

“This is an act of fucking war!” Nrommo rose from the table, his face twisted with rage.

“The war started when we took her,” Oppo shot at him.

“So she’s gone?” Ranin sounded alarmed. “She’s back with her people? Are we in danger?”

Akoro held up his hand. “She is very powerful in ways we didn’t anticipate,” he said to Tshel. He glanced at Nrommo. “Yes, this has started the war early, and unfortunately, our people have suffered in place of our army. We will rectify that.”

Nrommo nodded, his eyes fierce and his mouth tight as he sat back down.

“It’s unlikely she knows how to get back here,” he said to Ranin, “but we will scan for portals. I think we are safe for now.”

“Has she done anything like this before?” Nanaek asked. “I thought they didn’t have this kind of magic in their land.”

Akoro exhaled. “They do, but not in the same way. There were no reports that she’s been able to do something like this.”

“So she may not have survived?”

“She survived,” Akoro growled.

“How do you know?”

“We haven’t seen the extent of her powers,” Akoro said, “but clearly she is extremely capable.”

“Which is why I warned you not to take her,” Prillu said quietly, her whole body taut.

Something in her voice made everyone around the table go silent.

“Respectfully, my king, I warned you multiple times against taking the princess. We all did.” Her eyes swiveled up to meet his. “It wasn’t worth this risk.”

“I must agree,” Nrommo rumbled. “Our army has been forced to respond to this crisis when we should have been invading the new land. The princess has killed over a thousand of our people, and if she made it back, she has no doubt warned her people. They will prepare for our attack. We have lost the element of surprise and it will be harder to….”

Akoro straightened, rising to his full height as he stood at the head of the table, and Nrommo’s words faded. He looked at them all around the table. “You all swore your lives to the Sy Dynasty. You’ve all done your jobs well, but part of that oath was a sworn belief in my ability to save our people and redress the suffering that has been inflicted on us from afar. You may not always agree, and I will hear your well-reasoned advice, but you do not question me. I ask for your counsel and expertise, not your reproach about my decisions.”

Prillu’s eyes were hard. “I have never known you toevermake a mistake, my king. Never. That is part of the reason we all took this oath. You have one of the best minds in many generations of the ssukku?rian people, but this thing with the princess?—.”

Akoro’s muscles tensed. He had known Prillu was upset, but now she was directly challenging him. His hands curled into fists against the table, and the room seemed to shrink around them.

“Prillu.” He said her name low and firm, a warning in his tone.

He should shut this down. Now. But Prillu had been at his side for years. She had served him unfailingly, her loyalty unwavering, and she was also the best strategist in the room. He needed her, yet he couldn’t ignore what she was going through, not when her little boys idolized him and insisted they wanted to be warriors one day in the Onn Kkulma army because of him.

But if she kept pushing him, he couldn’t let it slide.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke, the tension between them thick, and Akoro could feel the weight of the council's eyes on them.

He leaned forward again, bracing his arms on the table. “The reason this happened is because when I took the princess, I didn’t realize I was kidnapping my mate.”

Oppo remained still, his eyes low, but every other every face around the table drained with shock.

“She is what?” Tshel whispered, rising from the table.

“How do you know?” Ranin asked, his voice hoarse.

Akoro shot him a look. “I know.”

“When did you find out?”

“While she was here.”

---