Chapter 17 – Duty
PRIM KING’S PERSPECTIVE
The scroll trembled in my hands.
Not from weather.
But because of what was written.
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It was confirmed: the alliance between Rum and the West Kingdom was real.
It was the very thing Marcia Xendale had warned me about.
I stared at the ink, heart pounding. My mind replayed her voice—bold, insistent—telling me something was wrong. That the Rum Kingdom was planning something far worse.
And I had silenced her.
I rose from my chair, my cloak brushing the floor behind me. The fire beside me cracked but didn’t warm the chill spreading through my chest.
I had dismissed her as bitter. Accused her of forging a letter to sabotage her former mate. I had called her disloyal to her family’s name—and now, that same name echoed louder than any war drum.
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“Summon the alphas,” I said.
My steward turned from the doorway, “Tonight, Your Majesty?”
“Immediately,” I snapped. “All of them. I want every alpha in Prim here before sunrise. No excuses.”
KAEL’S PERSPECTIVE
The hallway leading to the throne room felt uncharacteristically cold. Maybe it was the weight of everything that had happened lately. The last time we saw the King was at our infamous wedding, an event he had walked out of without even offering us his blessing.
Eunice didn’t seem to care though.
She walked a few paces ahead, back straight, expression unreadable. She looked like a war goddess carved from
obsidian—flawless, untouchable, terrifying. The kind of woman no one dared interrupt.
Even I, her mate, couldn’t.
The other alphas were already gathered by the heavy doors, voices low, cloaks rich with the colours of their tribes. Their gazes slid over us like we weren’t even there. No nods of greeting. No polite conversation. Just silence, and a few
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exchanged glances that said everything.
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Eunice didn’t flinch. She just took her place at the edge of the group, like she belonged in the centre of it, and waited.
I stood beside her, but I felt smaller than I ever had in my life.
Not because of them. Because of everything else.
Once, we were heroes of war. Glittering in medals and honours.
Now, all everyone remembered was the wedding—my mistreatment of Marcia, Eunice’s outburst, my mother’s illness.
She hadn’t spoken in weeks. The healers said it was her mind, not her body. That something had snapped after the public disgrace.
We still hadn’t paid the servants. I wasn’t sure we ever would.
The guards opened the throne room doors.
We entered in silence.
The King sat tall on the dais, robed in crimson and black. His eyes swept around the room slowly, taking in every alpha, every alliance, every threat.
“We are out of time,” he said. “Rum has broken our peace treaty and joined hands with the West kingdom against us. Every day,
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the alliance grows stronger. You are all to lead your forces to reinforce the western front immediately.”
No one dared question him. Even the arrogant ones stayed quiet.
But Eunice took a step forward.
“My king,” she said, voice clear like honey, “Kael and I request to take command of your personal troops.”
A few heads turned sharply. Someone scoffed.
Eunice didn’t blink. “We will lead them to join with Dravic’s forces. Together, we’ll strike before the enemy alliance fully gathers.”
I stared at her.
She didn’t even say ‘prince‘.
What?
The head elder stepped forward. “Out of the question,” he said sharply. “The king’s guard is not handed over on a whim.”
“The prince is capable,” another alpha said, a little too loud. “But he doesn’t have her ego.”
A few snickers broke the tension. I felt my jaw tighten.
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Eunice ignored them all. “This war will be won by speed and boldness. You need soldiers who understand both. Kael and I
do.”
“Yes, everyone has heard about your boldness,” the alpha who Eunice’s warrior friend had pushed over said.
The others laughed.
Eunice remained unfazed.
She turned toward the king, lowering her head slightly. “We will take the responsibility. And the risk.”
The King leaned forward, considering her.
Then, to my complete disbelief, he nodded.
“Granted.”
I couldn’t breathe.
The other alphas muttered, some clearly furious, others amused. I felt a hundred eyes pierce through me, and I had no answers for any of them.
Eunice curtsied deeply, grinning at the king, before turning to me. She winked, striding out, and I scrambled after her.
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“What was that?” I asked, catching up to her on the stairs. “Are you insane?”
She didn’t even look at me. “Don’t start.”
“Think about it, Eunice. Why would Rum break the peace treaty? Why did they join hands with the West? We thought it was over.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she dismissed. “In fact, I am happy they did. This way, we can fight and achieve more recognition.”
“We cannot lead the king’s troops. We’re barely standing, Eunice. We don’t even have enough money to buy proper rations–”
“We don’t need money,” she snapped. “We need victory.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “You think Dravic’s just going to step aside? That the rest of the court won’t tear us apart if we fail?”
She finally turned, her eyes fierce. “Then we don’t fail.”
I stared at her. “That’s not a strategy.”
“It is when it has to be.”
We stood there in silence, the wind snapping at our cloaks.
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“Why do you care so much about this?” I asked quietly. “Why risk everything again?”
She turned away from me, but her voice was sharp when she answered.
“You made a joke out of us, Kael, in the way you rejected Marcia. In the way Dravic sided with her, and the King granted her a sad little title.”
The name struck me like a brick. I said nothing.
Eunice kept speaking, her tone bitter. “She thinks she’s so noble now. Like she’s above us. We need to regain our popularity in the kingdom.”
“Forget about Marcia, Eunice,” I said before I could stop myself.
Eunice turned on me. “Why? Does it bother you?”
“It’s not–”
“You still think about her.”
I didn’t answer.
She scoffed. “I want her to watch from her pompous estate. Let her choke on the sight of our victory. Let her see me stand where she couldn’t. Beside you. As a mate and a warrior.”
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I swallowed hard, my chest tight. “This isn’t about her. It’s not supposed to be. I thought this war would be about restoring honour. Protecting our people. But you just want to prove something.”
“And you don’t?” she challenged.
I didn’t know what to say to that. Maybe I did. Maybe I just didn’t know how anymore.
We walked down the steps in silence.
I had once believed in glory. In tradition. In strength.
Now all I had was duty.
And even that didn’t feel clean anymore.
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