Page 39 of Undertow
“There’s also a message from me that I will not agree to be mated and am asking for King Taryn to rescue me from the hostile environment that I’m—”
“You’ve made your point, Princess,” Hardin bit out.
I held up my finger to the guards who moved to take him out. “Oh, I’m not done, and I want you here for this before I kick you out of my castle. I want you to understand how far I’m willing to go so the next time you come at me, you better not underestimate me again. Because I don’t play games. I win them. Always.”
I outlined the rest of what King Taryn had, including proof and sound bites. Video and paper trails.
“How could you allow the leader of another country to have all of that dirt on our nation, Your Highness?” one of the Alphas whispered. “He will use that no matter what and—”
I snorted but felt bad when Treena growled. I met the Alpha’s gaze head-on. “Because I currently trust King Taryn more than I do any of the elders and Alphas besides Alpha Vex. And how could I do it? Easily. After all of what you have done and want from me—easily.”
“You should have just listened to her veryreasonablefucking conditions that I absolutely believed no one would object to in their right mind when you all have female family,” Darren seethed. “And you—how can you all—”
I flinched when he flipped the table and stormed out of the room. I couldn’t hide my shock, glancing at Fraser.
“He wasn’t raised a royal or even in an Alpha family, Sagan. You are his niece first, always. And Darren lost his baby sister—he cannot lose you,” he explained.
“None of us can, Cousin,” one of my female cousins whispered. “We’re with you. Don’t let them do this to you. None of us would take your place if this is why you left.”
Wow. My family wasreallythrowing down behind me to help.
And I wouldn’t forget it even if some of them were spoiled twits.
“What are the conditions, Your Highness?” Alpha Vex asked as he stood. “I expected—of course there would be conditions. There would be if—I’m ashamed of all of us that this is what this meeting was. Please tell us so we can…” He shook his head and sat down looking defeated.
That said alot. He wasn’t one to show much emotion and kept pretty neutral. If he was disgusted with others… It said a lot.
I let out a slow breath. “Pretty standard. Everyone agrees that this will takeyearsand not to try and pressure for faster. It’s not a reality show of Ninety Day…” I glanced at Treena. “Survivor?”
She snorted. “That might be more accurate for any idiot who wants to try and mate you for power. But no, you’re mixing them.”
“I don’t like reality TV,” I grumbled before facing the Alphas. “My point is the same. This isn’t—timeis the best way to handle this. Yes, there will be more stability withanyleader who is mated. But we rush this and I could be dead. A coup attempt already happened, and honestly I think the goal was to get me knocked up and then an accident so an elder regent took—”
“You go too far in your accusations of me and—”
“Do I?” I chuckled darkly. “Because you weren’t even part of the original coup. You’ve been adamant that you only heard about it in passing and thought it nonsense. Are you adjusting your statement, Hardin?”
I clearly won another point there. I gestured for the guards to remove him and unfortunately he wasn’t stupid enough to fight it.
I gave the Alphas the conditions.
Time was the big one. Five years probably but more if needed. It took time to unmask deception. Many in that room would never have guessed the elders would have attempted a coup and they’d known them for decades. They were asking worse of me.
No elder interference. The candidate and elder would both be removed from their positions. Punished severely.
Same with Alphas. If anyone felt they were holding up decisions or not doing as they should to try and pressure me to pick their family member then there would be consequences.
There was more, but the only real contention was the background checks.
“Enough!” Darren roared from the door he was walking back through. “You all know this is standard! You are bold because you see Sagan as unprotected, but many of you in this room were the ones who fought for my sister and my family to be raked over the coals to mate Rhys.”
He’d told me it was normal, completely assumed, but as he stood there and listedeverythingmy mother’s family had gone through to be mated to my father… I was honestly disgusted.
“They couldn’t control her family and just kept digging thinking she would finally give up,” I whispered, not able to hide how hearing this affected me.
“It wasn’t us or your grandfather,” Fraser defended, his eyes going wide when Darren snorted. “IadoredAmelia and thought—”
“Not you,” Darren agreed, calming some. “Your mother didn’t think Amelia was remotely worthy and listened to the elders way too much.” He shook his head when Fraser argued. “I’m older than you, Fraser. I was right there when she tore Amelia—it almost worked. Amelia called off the engagement once.”
