78: Darius's POV

I set the notebook down on the coffee table and looked over at my brothers. Both of them had already read through the entries I had just finished. Nik’s eyes were locked on the fire in the fireplace, his ankle over his knee, and a glass of bourbon in his hand. Phoenix was sitting, knees spread and eyes locked on the ceiling, as his head was tossed back against the couch.

My voice was soft as I ran a hand through my loose hair, “Well, this changes everything.”

Phoenix’s head shot up, eyes narrowed at me. Nik turned to look at me, voice cold, “This changes *nothing*, Darius.”

I sat with that for a moment, stunned. Did he really feel that way? How could this not change everything for him? Yes, she was our mate. But the prophecy stated she would kill us, that she would bring the Kingdom to its knees. Was her life really more important than all of the Kingdom’s people’s? I stared at my brother, never breaking my gaze. I knew he loved her. I didn’t know what had happened between them since his return, but I knew that last night had been a turning point. I knew that he had never let a woman in his room— he’d taken them into his ‘fun room’ from the hallway, but never into his actual bedroom. And yet she’d been there. In his bed after we’d shared her.

His priorities were entirely skewed by finding his mate. This was not a side of Nik that I knew how to navigate. His eyes flickered with annoyance the longer I continued to stare at him, as if he was daring me to challenge his statement. And I would.

“Our father is dead,” I stated flatly, “I can’t help but think that’s probably the beginning of the end father wrote about.”

“She is our mate,” Nik snapped, canines lengthening as he spoke, “Father knew this all along. Surely, the rest of what’s in this notebook can be altered just as easily as that truth was for a time.”

Phoenix sighed and shook his head, “We need to try and be united, brothers. We can’t let this prophecy divide us.”

“I don’t see how it won’t,” I countered haughtily, “Seeing as you both believe her life is more important than every one our people’s,” I huffed a laugh, “And I believe that father had the right mentality in treating her like a surrogate with this mentality. Only, I don’t think we let her *go* after she gives birth.”

Phoenix leapt to his feet, eyes wide as he took a step away from me and growled, “Darius I don’t even recognize you, right now.”

Good. He shouldn’t. I had been the one to kill our father and now had to live with the burden that what we had perceived as cold was actually him trying to protect us. If he’d only told me all of this, I probably would have spared him and dealt with the fallout from everyone. We could defeat the growing rebellion without Finn’s alliance. If my father had only trusted me enough to help him, we could have solved this if we’d put our heads together.

Perhaps Phoenix was right, though. I needed to ease into getting them onboard with what I was seeing as the only option: Ada has our pups as foreseen, and we kill her. Not the pups. Sure, it was extreme, and even I was a little surprised by how fast the idea had come to me while reading it. She couldn’t destroy us if she stopped existing, and we could certainly raise our pups well enough to not have a problem there.

But if they weren’t ready for it, I could suggest other things in the meantime. Give us all some time to sit with it. Maybe even find a better solution.

I motioned for Phoenix to go on, “Then do tell me your ideas, brother.”

He stared at me for a moment, “I’ll go to the Seers. I’ll see what their transcript says and then we move forward.”

Nik nodded before I could respond, “And in the meantime, we bring Ada and Elizabeth in on this. Speaking of which, we also have to decide what to do there,” Nik sighed and climbed to his feet, “Whose child is she carrying?”

“Most likely mine,” I furrowed my eyebrows, and spun on Nik, “Also, I am the one making the decisions here. We have much to discuss, but I want to be clear. I am the one that was selected by our father to rule, and I will—”

Shadows slammed into my chest, knocking me back. They pinned me against the back of the door, writhing against my body and pulsating with each step that Nik took toward me. I felt a chill creep up my spine as something— no shadows, no hands— pressed against my larynx and cut off my breathing. Nik stepped up to where he was mere inches from me, putting us nose to nose. I fought against the binds, feeling my face redden from lack of oxygen.

He lowered his voice, “No decisions have been made, and we *will* make them together, brother,” an eery feeling of an outside presence slid into my mind. My body went limp beneath the shadows holding me, even as I tried to buck my legs against them. Nik continued on, “If you think that we will sit back and let you call the shots because you *think* you deserve a title, think again.” He leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Threaten my mates life again, and you won’t have enough time left on this earth to take a breath.”

I glared at him, feeling the presence in my mind retreat. Feeling returned to my limbs, and I straightened my suit jacket out. With a quick glance at Nik, I turned to Phoenix, “Go to the Seers. In the meantime, we’ll meet with Ada and my wife to determine what we, as a group, want to do.”