Page 75 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
The room was utterly still, but he didn’t give a single fuck. They wanted to pull him in here and blame him for what was happening when he’d told them from the beginning that caging her wasn’t going to work? That it would blow up in their faces? Blame him for her bringing their most sacred spaces to ruin in a single godsdamn night?
Control the uncontrollable, or to fury they both lose.
He held Rordan’s stare a moment longer before locking eyes with each Lady in turn. Serafina. Celeste. Falein. Anala.
And he could swear the Anala Lady was fighting a small smile when she calmly said, “Heir St. Orcas makes some valid points. Of course, we would never suggest putting a fellow Lord on trial, but I do believe we have questions. We were told she was being held beneath the Pantheon until decisions could be made, and yet…”
“And yet what?” the Achaz Lord snapped. He flung a hand in Theon’s direction. “Ask the one who broke her out.”
“I did no such thing. I have not seen her since the Sirana Gala,” Theon replied, steepling a finger along his temple.
“Lies,” Rordan hissed.
“In case you’ve forgotten, the female has a vendetta against my entire kingdom. My people were slaughtered. I’ve been tending to them while my father’s fucked off togods-know-where,” he drawled. “My attention is on our defenses.”
“Then why are you in the Acropolis today?” the Falein Lady asked.
“Supplies. As well as substantiating rumors,” he answered. “As a fellow lover of knowledge, surely you understand desiring facts, proof, and truth before believing something to be true.”
Lady Farhan nodded in agreement, just as Theon had known she would when he appealed to logic.
“And now that you have seen with your own eyes, what is your next course of action, young heir?” Lady Aithne asked, embers crackling at her fingertips as she held Theon’s gaze.
He sat up a little straighter, his hand falling to the armrest. “I plan to do what’s best for my people.”
“And what do you believe that is?”
“To protect them from the dangers of the realm.”
“Indeed,” Lady Aithne said, and he didn’t know what to make of the Lady’s response. Her face was unreadable, and she turned away from him as she said, “His worries are valid, and he only seeks what we seek for our own kingdoms. I think his actions have proven such these last months during Valter’s…absence. He has taken on immense responsibility far sooner than any of us did.”
“What are you insinuating, Kyra?” Rordan gritted out.
“Valter has failed his kingdom,” the Anala Lady said. “I move we allow Theon to take the necessary steps to take his seat and formally recognize him as the Arius Lord.”
The fuck?
Theon sat up straight, shock rippling through him. That was the very last thing he’d been expecting her to say, and judging by the shock on the other rulers’ faces, they hadn’t anticipated it either. It clearly had not been discussed, but a motion had been made. It would have to be voted on. Theon wouldn’t be allowed to vote, and this type of decision had to be unanimous. There was no way it would pass, but Kyra had planted a seed that would linger.
“Absolutely not,” Rordan barked.
“That is not how this works,” Kyra replied calmly. “A motion has been brought forth. Unless you are saying you have absolute power here?”
“Of course not,” he gritted out from between clenched teeth. “But this has never once been discussed?—”
“On the contrary. It has been discussed at great length since Valter went missing. Something none of us knew anything about, right?”
Oh, she was good. That was all Theon could think as he watched this play out. All the rulers were manipulators, but to watch them manipulate one another?
“We have all been paying attention to how Theon has handled matters, and while we were irked about his absence at meetings, he was tending to his people. That is the role of a Lord, is it not?” the Anala Lady went on.
“That is a valid argument,” the Falein Lady said, clearly thinking deeply. “He has also offered to help with Tessa repeatedly. Would have taken responsibility for her once more if it had been granted. Comparing his time with the female and yours, Rordan, he did appear to have more control of her.”
“That’s bullshit,” Rordan snarled, his face becoming red with rage.
“Is it?”
And Theon nearly fell out of his chair at the female that had asked that question.
