Chapter 102

I watch Orion’s face as it shifts from shock to anger. “How dare you, Juniper,” he snarls.

“Oh, come on, this isn’t even most daring thing I’ve said today,” I mutter, lifting my soup to my lips and taking another long sip.

“That is my lineage you’re talking about!”

“Oh, what the fuck even is a lineage, anyway?” I snap, wiping at my mouth with the side of my hand. “I come from a lineage of wolves that take thrones when they see them recklessly mismanaged –“

“Mismanaged!?” Orion spits out, leaning forward to stare at me. “You don’t know the first thing about this world – or how it’s governed – or how its laws and politics –“

“I know that any king who orders the death of nineteen women just so the land can get itself a queen is, at its core, corrupt,” I snap back, not giving an inch. “And corruption needs to be cut out.”

“You’re being arrogant, Juniper,” Orion snarls.

“Sorry,” I say, leaning forward towards him, narrowing my eyes and lifting my chin. “I think you meant confident. Conquering forces usually are.”

Silence reigns in the room for a moment and I flick my eyes over to Laila, who looks primly awkward, and Anton, who fights very hard not to look pleased and proud. I feel my own lips twitch at the corner, fighting a smile at the realization that he’s enjoying this all very, very much.

But still, even though Orion did sort of prod me to lose my temper, my conscience – which usually sounds a great deal like my mother – forces me to turn my eyes back to him.

“I’m sorry,” I say, forcing myself to mean it, which is not something that always comes naturally to me. “I…didn’t think about the effect that this would have on you, Orion. And I should have. But even if this does strip you of the things you were promised as a child, I stand by what I said. I want this world – I want to help it – I think that big changes need to be made. But I have never, not really, seen you truly engaged in wanting to be King, wanting to rule.”

“Of course I do,” Orion says, spreading his hands wide, calmer now in the face of my apology. “Of course I want to be King!”

“Okay, so what do you want to do as King?” I ask, tilting my head to the side and picking up my spoon for the first time, digging into some of the noodles in my soup.

Orion pauses and just stares at me for a long moment. “I want to…rule.”

I flick my eyes up to him, looking at him like he’s a bit stupid. Because that answer doesn’t tell me anything at all.

“I think,” Anton says, leaning forward and glancing between us. “That there may be a fundamental difference in what you guys mean when you say ‘rule.’ Juniper comes from a world where the monarchs have a great deal of power in guiding their people, in making changes, in instating policy reform that is designed to improve lives. Orion, is it true that…well, that as a ruler, your job would mostly be to continue doing things as they’ve always been done?”

“Yes,” Orion says quietly, leaning back on his own chair. “Things run the way they do here for a reason. It’s more than just a living kingdom – there’s great work necessary in shepherding the dead, in guiding them through the Underworld and the Deadlands. To envision making changes without knowing how any of that works is…well, again, it’s arrogant.”

“Oh, I can think of a few arrogant little changes I would like to see made,” I murmur, casually eating another spoonful of my soup.

“You speak boldly and without authority, June,” Orion snaps.

“Are changes to this world conceptually impossible to you because you lack the imagination, Orion?” I ask, lifting my eyes to meet his again. “Or power?”

Again, he glares at me, rankling.

“That wasn’t very nice, Juniper,” Anton scolds softly.

I dart my eyes to my ghost, frowning. “I’m not sure that being nice is precisely a priority for me at this point in time, Anton,” I snap, getting mad again. “Someone tried to kill me today – twice! Tried to kill you! Very likely would try to kill Laila quite soon, if we hadn’t survived! And now you’re scolding me because I’m not being nice to Orion when he pouts at me for seizing the power and the throne his daddy promised him as a little boy!?” I whip my head back to Orion, my temper again slipping loose, my wolf howling with joy for it – because she hates to be caged. “If you want this throne, Orion, then take it! But I’m telling you right now, that if you continue your father’s rotten policies then I’ll take you out too! This world deserves better!”

“God damn it, Juniper,” Orion growls, slumping back in his chair and lifting is hands to his eyes, pressing the heels of his palms against them in frustration. “What are you even talking about? And you’re – you’re forgetting! About the prophecy, the pact! That if I don’t find my mate and ascend the throne, then Darkness is going to take this world back, and whatever you think is shit about this world is just going to get worse!”

“Well, we won’t let that happen either,” I grumble stubbornly, stabbing my spoon into my soup, not really hungry anymore.

“And your plan!?” Orion spits out, dropping his hands from his face. “How are you going to do that!?

“I don’t know, Orion, I’ve been doing this for about four hours!” I snap, leaning forward to glare at him. “Whereas you have had twenty-five years – what’s your damn plan!?”

“Oookay,” Laila says, standing and spreading out her arms between us. “I’m going to… call a little truce for the moment, say that maybe we need a breather…” She looks anxiously between us. Orion and I just scowl, looking away from each other.

“No way, sit down, Lai, this was just getting good,” Anton murmurs.

I shoot my handmaid a little glare for good measure but he just responds with a wide grin.

“I’m siding with Laila,” Orion says on a sigh, standing up and heading for the door. “I need…some air.”

I exhale slowly as the big Alpha prince steps outside, Laila following him for moral support, looking up at him with big worried eyes.

“You know you have another option here,” Anton says, stretching himself out on the couch in Laila’s absence.

I raise an eyebrow at him, inviting this new perspective, though by the glint in his eye I’m not sure that I’m going to like it.

“You could just marry the guy,” Anton says, flicking his thumb over his shoulder towards the door. “And then you’d both rule the place. Together.”

My mouth tightens as I stare at Anton, unblinking.

“No?” Anton asks, grinning a little, baiting me. “Not…not an idea that appeals?”

My wolf snarls at the idea, at him, because I know he’s pushing my buttons right now. And enjoying the hell out of it.

But two can play at that game.

“Maybe I will,” I say, forcing myself to be casual, setting my soup aside and conjuring up a very decadent mug of hot chocolate. “He’s handsome enough to be my consort, after all.”

Anton hums consideringly, still smirking at me as he lounges on the couch. “Yes, we wouldn’t want you paired up with someone who was ugly, June. Or dull. Or whose force of personality didn’t match your own.”

“Yes,” I say, setting my shoulders primly back.

Tony hums, considering. “I don’t know, it’s a tall order, June. I’m not sure there’s a single man alive who fits that bill.”

I snarl a bit at him, unable to help it, making him laugh.

“Whoever he is, he certainly wouldn’t be blue,” I grumble, glaring.

Anton grins, and I blush, and then I blink once, narrowing my eyes and making him flash transparent. Anton bursts into laughter, looking down at his again-ghostly self.

“Don’t test me, boy,” I murmur, conjuring up a book and setting it on my knee, pretending to read it even though my wolf is far too worked up to concentrate on anything at all. “When you annoy me I’ll just take your body away.”

“Yes ma’am,” Anton sighs, slipping his hands behind his head and leaning back against them, relaxing.

“Yes, your highness,” I correct, smirking a little myself.

“Yes, infernal dark queen,” he says on a happy little sigh. “May you ever reign.”

“That’s more like it,” I say, content.