“I am the king now,” he murmured. “Do you dare disrespect the Alpha King?” A small growl sounded in his words and it had me shaking my head.
“N – No, Your Majesty.” Unable to look at him, I looked away as I sunk into the plush seat of the queen. A few people gasped but someone shouted.
“Your Highness, you cannot put just any woman on the queen’s throne!” It was Scarlett’s father. I looked around the hall for the queen and saw her already staring at me. I had not mated with Killian yet so technically, she was still the queen. He put me in her seat and she was furious.
“I am the king now.” Killian’s quiet words resounded in the room. Then he took his seat on the throne, adjusting the crown on his head. “Let me formally introduce you to my mate, your queen.”
“Killian, you dare put that whore in my seat?” It was the queen that spoke this time with a voice lacking her usual mocking tone. Her eyes flashed red. An Alpha. I shivered.
“I am the king now, mother,” His tone mocked her. “You will regard me as ‘His Majesty, Alpha King Killian the First,’ from now on. As for my mate,” he paused. “Let it be known that an insult to her is an insult to the Alpha King, a crime punishable by death.” The hall froze. “My beloved mother,” he continued in an even tone as if he did not feel the effect of his words on the people gathered around. “I understand you did not mean to call my mate a slur so I will ask you to apologize.” Silence reigned in the room and everyone, myself included, held their breath. “Right. Now.” He spelt the words out with venom in his tone.
“Killian, you cannot be serious.” The queen swayed, her eyes shifting to mine for a brief second.
“Do you want to call my bluff?” The hush in the room deepened from his chilly words. “Apologize.” He did not even wait for an hour after his coronation to show his tyrannical behaviour.
“I – I am sorry.” Even the haughty queen looked frightened.
“On your knees.” My mouth fell open. “You will apologize on your knees.”
“You will apologize on your knees.”
The queen laughed as if his words were a joke but her expression contorted making her laughing face seem more like a grimace.
“I am still the queen, you little -” Someone placed a hand across her mouth to stop her but she slapped the person’s hand away. “How do you expect me to get on my knees for this – for this -” Her eyes darted to me and an ugly expression twisted her face. She swallowed the slur on the tip of her tongue when she turned back to Killian. Whatever she saw on his face had her swallowing.
“Will my first decree as the Alpha King be for your beheading, Mother?” My mouth went dry after he spoke.
“Your – Your Majesty.” It was Scarlett’s father that spoke then. “It will be a disgrace to the royal family for the queen to get on her knees. As a symbol of the dignity -“
“You’re giving me a headache, Alpha Hawke.” Those words spoken with quiet warning silenced the restless crowd. “I will take your silence as defiance against the throne – MY throne.” A cruel smile crossed his lip for a split second.
The queen wore a frightening expression on her face that looked both agitated and enraged.
“Your Majesty -” Someone else tried to intervene but a single look silenced them.
“Very well. My mother has decided to undermine the power of the throne in the presence of everyone so I will have to act accordingly as the king.” The king clapped his hands twice and a group of men dressed in red and black uniforms materialized from nowhere. At a glance, it seemed they had materialized from thin air but then I noticed they’d been standing at the sides all along, still as statues blending in with the hall’s decorations.
“For contempt against the throne, I, Alpha King Killian the First, sentence Dowager Queen Cordelia to de – ” A scream rent the air, cutting off his words.
“I’ll kneel!” The words were wrenched out of the queen followed by a burst of bitter and chilling laughter. “If the king asks me to kneel, who am I not to kneel?” With grace and dignity, she gathered her flowing apparel and lowered herself to her knees.
Murmurs broke out around the hall. Some people gasped and others dared to point at the queen on her knees. I couldn’t keep my mouth from falling open at the dignified woman on her knees in presence of both alphas and omegas.
“I apologize, Your Majesty. I am sorry for unwittingly insulting your Luna.” She spoke with a drawl and again, her words ended with a harsh and bitter laugh.
“You should not be apologizing to me.” Killian spared me a glance. The queen’s gaze followed his and landed on me. Her gaze was blank as she gave a small nod.
“I am sorry for insulting you,” she muttered in a quiet voice.
“Apologize for earlier too,” Killian interjected. Her eyes flashed with hostility for a second but she nodded again.
Like a little child, she opened her mouth and followed instructions. “I am sorry about earlier too.”
“It’s – It’s okay,” I muttered with flaming cheeks.
Her apology and humiliation should get me excited but I wouldn’t deny it was too much disgracing her in presence of everyone like this. Even I felt sorry for her and I wasn’t the type to feel sorry for the misfortune of those that tormented me.
She was the queen, the most respected woman in the kingdom. Whether the dowager or not, she was still the only legally recognized queen in the kingdom, a dignified symbol of the royal family, and she had been forced to her knees to apologize to a peasant girl who she’d tried to intimidate.
“Very well. You may rise.” Two girls rushed to the queen to help her up but she shrugged them off, standing on her own and exiting the room without a backward glance, her shoulders stiff.
“You all may proceed to the reception,” Killian addressed the equally terrified and excited crowd. “Come.” He offered me a hand and I took it after a moment of hesitation.
I understood that all these were his methods of getting the kingdom to believe in our sham of a mating but it still unnerved me that he could treat the woman he called mother with such cruelty. There was no doubt that this was a dangerous man to play with but telling the woman that raised him to kneel before a crowd of people beneath her painted him in a more cruel light than I’d first seen.
“Was that – was that really necessary?” I asked as we left the throne room.
“You are in no place to question me.” The cold words shut me right up.
“Right,” I muttered.” Yes, I should not forget my place. I was nothing but a fake mate that he was using to get Scarlett off his tail.
“If you think it was for your benefit, it was not.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to believe he did all that for me. The queen had tried to insult him by making me wear a slave choker that belonged to his mother. That was his revenge against her but he dragged me into it. He needed an excuse and as usual, he used me.
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