CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
The screen blinked over and over again for a few seconds before stabilizing, bringing my father's face into focus.
I'd always hated his angry face which was like 90% of the version of him I got to know. It was in the way his eyes slanted as though he couldn't shut or open it fully, his blue color waning and the words… oh the words..
I was supposed to have gotten used to it, it should have been rolling over my back now with no effect but as I watched his face on my TV, I realized I was squirming inside, scared of what might come out his mouth.
“Father. You escaped again,” I responded, hoping to speed up this interaction.
I picked up my phone and sent a quick message to my security department. If they could track his location, all of this would be over in a day and I'll definitely hand him over to the council for judgment.
“Your security is lax. And once again, you disappoint me,”
“You were the King just a few weeks ago –”
“Excuses, excuses and more excuses. That's all you're good for. So I'm going to force your hand into action, hm?”
“Force my hand? What are you talking about?”
They replied me back. They couldn't pin his location to any one place, it was about five which definitely meant he was using a very strong VPN.
This was gonna be harder than I thought it would be.
“You are not yet fit to be King, and you cannot be with that human girl. Two mistakes you must correct,”
“I wasn't trying to be king before you were ready to hand over the crown, you forced my hand father,”
I was getting irritated instead of angry. Xy’thern had tuned in at the mention of Tessa so I didn't know which of us was feeling this way. Maybe it was the both of us.
“You're gonna undo everything,” the screen flickered again. “I want you to put that bitch in a jet and drop her at Times Square. Someone will pick her up, don't worry. And you will resign in exactly three days,”
“You are quite demanding for a man who can't even disclose his location. How are you supposed to force my hand to do all of that?”
Thankfully, my voice didn't shake and I think beating him up twice in a row put that confidence in me. I'd never have been able to talk back at him before and this was one of the many ways Tessa's presence in my life made it better.
It was why I didn't want to drag her into this mess we were into. I know she's still going to hate me all on her own at the end of all these but for now, I'll take what I can get, which is everything.
“It's quite easy, you know. Firstly, I'll show every Ky’rhan how to make their own Nexarion,” my father continued, his face shifting from anger to that self satisfied smirk he had on when he accomplished something.
“That's incredibly dumb, they'll all overdose and who knows what they'll do to this planet?” The ky’rhan was obviously losing his senses.
Nex wasn't the regular opium humans dealt in. It was a powerful drug that supplied temporary emotions to us and as a king, it was my job to regulate how much people had access to it. Too much of it would lead to lots of passion. No, extreme actions based on extreme emotions.
“You see, If I'm not their king, I don't feel an iota of concern for what happens to them. They can destroy the entire planet and even Zorvath for all I care. And I won't just stop there, I'll also tell the humans how we control them and how to undo it too! Let me see how your pretty damsel reacts to that, huh?”
“Father, you are sounding like a lunatic. You will destroy everything you've suffered to build just because you are not allowed to kill my Luminari?”
“She makes you weak!”
“No, she makes me complete. Look at you, burning off the edges because there's no one to catch you when you fall. Emotions should not be a weapon and your demands are unreasonable. Come of your own volition and I'll take you to the council myself. Whatever they decide, I'll help you break out of it but you must agree to disappear,” I said, my offer extremely generous.
He knew they'd kill him. All they cared about was themselves. My father wasn't King anymore and he'd offended quite a lot of them even though he saved them from annihilation.
“No,” he said, interrupting my train of thoughts. “You have four days after which I'll shatter everything we've built and it'll all be your fault,”
The screen flickered off but not before I saw a hand that helped him turn it off.
I know that ring, I just couldn't place where I'd seen it.
Immediately, I dialed Corbin's number, he needed to get under this immediately.
There's no way in hell I'm giving up Tessa, she's the only part of my existence that makes sense to me.
If all hell let loose, I guess I can take her to another planet and we'll begin life afresh, free from the demons that chase me with pitch forks.
“Hey brother,” he answered on the third ring, that name bringing up memories as usual. We'd found our friendship amidst thorns and hardship that our own fathers dipped us in.
“Where have you been? My Father escaped,”
“Again? Why is he making shit so difficult for himself?”
“He wants to be king again and he wants Tessa too. I can't do any of that. Do you know what he'll do if he takes back the reins? Every bit of progress we've made will crumble. He doesn't even know that we need to keep these humans happy for the experiment to work,” I was venting and I didn't care how I sounded because Corbin always understood.
“Calm down buddy, we're not gonna let him win. How did he contact you?”
“My television of all places. And before you ask, it was untraceable,”
I was frustrated.
“Still, you gotta calm down,” His voice went a step lower. “Take Tessa and put her and her family, in fact, anyone she knows away from sight. Then you need to call a high profile meeting of every top security member we have in the capital. He must be caught,”
“He gave me four days, Corbin; four days! I have all of these new powers and I can't even use it for anything!”
“Well, you could simply go and get Zorvath clean of those fuckers you know,”
He'd been on my neck about this but we weren't ready; I wasn't ready. I mean, I'd just moved a step higher with Tessa last night and I wanted to take in all that I could before I went poof on her. I know how selfish I was being but they've survived years on this planet and they can survive a few more months, I needed to make her trust me enough to come with me even when she sees what I've done and for that, I needed time.
“You know I can't,”
“But you can! I'll make sure no one takes what's yours and you can always get her to forgive you when she sees that it was all for the good of our species,”
“You seem to forget how much they hate us, she especially. Which I find really suspicious. Shouldn't she be more compliant than this?”
“Well, you wouldn't love her like that if she were so thank the gods for that,”
“No Corb, you're not getting it. I think Tessa is resistant to the nectar. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it and she seems to be sharing it among her friends or something,”
He was silent for a few seconds.
“You're sure?”
“I swear it.”
“Then we have a huge problem,”
Damn right we do.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
