There is barely any room in this vast chamber for his ego, but somehow the cardinal manages to bring it full force. I’m just glad I’m not currently being murdered. I know very well that I am lucky to be alive.
“You’re going to have to pick one of your mates to marry,” he says. “It may very well be that the mate bond has selected three, but when we throw the royal wedding in a year or so, it should probably be with one man, in order to avoid a spate of hypergamous copycats.”
“You mean I can’t be with all of them?”
“My dear, you can be with whoever you want to be, but you still have to follow religious constructs. Marriage is fairly important.”
“I suppose.”
I have the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. This feels too good to be true. Everything I never wanted, no punishment for committing what should be the worst crime in the nation, only reward.
People dream of becoming king. The likelihood of any woman ever becoming the king is close to zero. There used to be a wordfor a female king, but that has become so anachronistic as a concept I’ve forgotten what it is.
“What are you thinking?”
“I think I’m going to be very late for work.”
The cardinal laughs indulgently. “Yes, your day job, as it were. Born to be a harem girl, fated to deliver parcels, and then forced to rule. Quite the character arc.”
“Your eminence,” I say, as a thought occurs.
“Yes?”
“Do you know where I came from? Who my parents are? People will want to know.”
“Unfortunately, I do not,” he says. “Your birth was never recorded, which makes you… well, a little lost in the world.”
“I don’t have a last name. Will they just call me King Darcy?”
“They’ll call you whatever you want to be called.” He smiles at me. “You have to understand, Darcy, the world is now at your feet.”
“And my mates are unharmed? I’d like to see them, please.”
“Yes, they are quite alright. They put up a fight, but they lost, naturally, being trained as King’s Guard.”
I think my first act might be to up the quality of training for the academy. This needling is already beginning to get to me, even though I know it is not serious.
“Do they know what happened, why you’ve taken me? Or are they in the dark?”
“You will have the privilege of informing them of your change in station.”
“Oh. Excellent. Can we do it now?”
The cardinal smiles indulgently. I know he thinks I am a useful idiot, and maybe I am, but it is better to be an idiot king than an idiot captive.
I desperately need to see my mates. I need them by my side. I need to know that they are unharmed. The assault that captured us all so roughly could have done very real damage.
The wait for my mates is slightly awkward. There’s a part of me, a very large part that is certain this is somehow a trick or a trap. It feels too good to be true.
“You mean this, right?”
The cardinal smiles that indulgent smile again. “Some people would be afraid to offend me by questioning my word.”
“Ah. Well. I’m not some people.”
“You’re not, are you. Yes, Darcy. This is all real. You’re going to have to pick a last name, though. For your dynasty.”
The only last name I can think of is Bitten. That’s Einar’s last name. Maybe I should ask Rafe’s and Kirin’s. Maybe we can triple-barrel that shit.
