Page 86 of Storms of His Wrath

“King Sy,” Otenyo said, his voice steady despite the blood trickling from his split lip. “Come to finish what your battle chief started?”

Akoro closed the door behind him with deliberate care, the sound reverberating through the chamber like a death knell. He’d dismissed the guards for this conversation—what needed to be said between them required no witnesses.

“You attempted regicide,” Akoro said, settling into the chair that faced the chained soge. His Alpha dominance filled the space between them, controlled but unmistakable. “You put innocent lives at risk. You betrayed your oath of loyalty.” He leaned forward slightly. “I want to understand why before I execute you.”

Otenyo’s laugh held no humor, only bitter resignation tinged with righteous fury. “Betrayed? That’s rich, coming from the oath-breaker himself.”

Akoro’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

“The blood contract,” Otenyo snarled, straining against his chains. “The sacred agreement you made when you dissolved the dynasties and forced us from Onn Kkulma. I am descended from the Vos line. You swore on your family’s blood that no more wild magic would attack the region. That our exile was the price of permanent safety.”

Understanding crystallized with uncomfortable clarity. “The contract promised protection in exchange for your acceptance of Sy rule,” Akoro said evenly. “You gave up dynastic claims to the capital. I promised wild magic would never threaten populated areas again.”

“And yet it did!” Otenyo’s roar echoed off stone walls, his fury finally unleashed. “Months ago,nnin-eellithitore through our city! Killed dozens of our people! Destroyed buildings that had stood for centuries! The very catastrophe you swore would never happen!”

The memory of that day struck Akoro—the screams echoing through Onn Kkulma’s streets, the acrid scent of burning stone, the desperate scramble to contain magical forces that should never have breached their defenses. Naya’s escape had torn a hole in reality itself, drawing wild magic directly into the heart of his kingdom.

“That attack was unprecedented—” Akoro began.

“An Omega drew wild magic into our city!” Otenyo cut him off, spittle flying from his lips. “The very thing the contract was meant to prevent! Every person who died in that attack, every family destroyed—their blood is on your hands because you failed to capture the responsible party!”

Akoro’s jaw tightened imperceptibly. From Otenyo’s perspective, the magical breach would seem like a failure of royal protection—a king who’d allowed the very forces he’d sworn to contain.

“The threat has been stopped,” Akoro said.

“Stopped?” Otenyo strained against his bonds. “Where is she? Where is the Omega who murdered our children? Still running free while their families grieve!”

The accusation hung in the fetid air. Akoro could see the calculation in Otenyo’s eyes—a man who’d spent months building resentment, convinced his king had failed in the most fundamental duty of protection.

“And then,” Otenyo continued, his voice cracking with grief-born fury, “instead of hunting down the killer, instead of serving the families who lost everything, you disappeared! Vanishedinto the wasteland chasing foreign schemes while we buried our dead!”

The words cut deeper because they held an uncomfortable truth. Akoro had indeed left immediately after Naya’s escape, pursuing her across dangerous terrain while his people dealt with the aftermath of magical devastation. “I brought the Omega out for all to see, I allowed the people to decide her fate. I?—”

“My nephew was eight years old,” Otenyo’s voice broke, and Akoro’s excuses seemed to die on his tongue. “Playing in the market when the sky caught fire. He died believing his king would keep him safe, and you weren’t even here to mourn him!”

The image of small bodies pulled from the wreckage sent familiar guilt through Akoro’s chest. He remembered the memorial services, the faces of grieving families who’d looked to their king for answers he couldn’t provide.

“The responsibilities facing this region required—” Akoro said.

“Required what? More foreign entanglements? More distant schemes?” Otenyo’s eyes blazed with righteous fury. “Months, and what justice have you provided? What service beyond pursuing your own interests?”

Akoro studied the chained soge, recognizing the dangerous truth beneath his accusations. From the outside, his recent actions would appear exactly as Otenyo described—a king who’d abandoned his duties to pursue personal desires while his people suffered the consequences.

“So you decided to kill me,” Akoro said quietly.

“I decided to remove a king who’d forgotten his agreement.” Otenyo’s voice held grim satisfaction. “Someone had to answer for the broken promises. Someone had to pay for abandoning the innocent while chasing foreign corruption.”

“And the woman riding with me?” Akoro’s voice dropped to something more dangerous. “Your crossbow bolt could have killed her just as easily.”

Confusion flickered across Otenyo’s features. “Some camp follower? I don’t care about?—”

“Princess Naya of the Lox Empire,” Akoro interrupted, his Alpha dominance sharpening. “The woman who risked her life to stop thennin-eellithistorm that would have destroyed this entire region. That is the justice and service the people got! Freedom fromnnin-eellithi. The Solution found now in our lifetime. She did that!”

Otenyo’s face twisted with revulsion. “A foreign manipulator poisoning your judgment! How fitting that the oath-breaker surrounds himself with outsiders while his own people suffer!”

The casual dismissal of Naya’s life, the willingness to murder an innocent to satisfy wounded pride, ignited something cold and lethal in Akoro’s chest. Whatever legitimate grievances Otenyo might have had, his readiness to kill bystanders revealed the corruption beneath his righteous anger.

“The execution would have been just—my removal of another foreign influence corrupting our rightful king!” Otenyo snarled. “Every outsider who captures your attention is an insult to thessukkurianblood spilled for your failures, and I will hunt every one of them down until we are back where we’re supposed to be!”

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