Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 130

Chapter 130: Give Me Your Pups

"Have mercy on me, Your Highness. I pledge my loyalty to you." The man’s voice cracked under the weight of his own desperation. "I just need to see my son. He is all I have left."

Kira looked at him for a long moment.

She recognised him, not as someone she knew well, but as someone she had seen before in the worst possible circumstances. Milo. The mate of the late Lara Vaughn, the woman who had poisoned her tea on the day of the queen’s blessing ceremony.

She remembered him from that day, too, kneeling and pleading in much the same way, swearing loyalty if only she would spare him for the sake of his young son.

She had been so consumed by shock and anger then that she had barely registered Lara’s death or Milo’s desperate pleas for mercy.

But that was then.

She understood now, in a way she hadn’t before, what it meant to be caught between loyalty to someone you loved and the consequences of choices that went wrong.

Getting to know their pain and grief gave her a certain kind of clarity. She could not bring herself to punish them with the same cruelty they had shown her.

She would never excuse what had been done to her. But Milo had been an accomplice who seemed ready to repent then, and even more so now. She didn’t want his son growing up with no parents because of her.

"What is his case?" she asked, turning her attention to the gamma standing to her left with the folder of files.

The gamma blinked at her, visibly caught off guard. "Your Highness, he has not been here very long—"

"I asked for his case," Kira said quietly. "Please answer the question."

The gamma conceded with a small bow and opened the folder. "His full name is Milo Vaughn. Formerly a trained gamma of Dravengard. Married to the late Mrs Lara Vaughn, the palace herb supplier. He has a three-year-old son with special needs, who is currently in hospital custody."

He paused. "Charge: treason by complicity."

Milo’s hands came together in front of him, fingers laced tight, knuckles pale. Tears ran freely down his face. "I promise on my son’s life, Your Highness. I will live quietly. I will never trouble you or His Grace again. You have my word."

Kira held his gaze for a moment, then made her decision.

"I’m going to hold you to that promise," she said. "Every person in this corridor is my witness. If you break it, there will be no second conversation." She looked at the gamma. "Release him."

The gamma’s mouth opened. "But Your Highness, he has only just—"

"You heard the Queen," Nana cut in sharply. "Her word is law here. If she says release him, then release him."

The gamma snapped his mouth shut, muttered a quick apology, and moved to unlock the cell.

Kira’s heart swelled with a quiet sense of peace and joy as she glanced at Nana and found her already smiling in the way she always looked when she was quietly proud of something. Kira smiled back.

For the first time in a long while, she felt truly powerful. The feeling coursed through her veins like something alive, warm and electric. That strange sensation, like something stirring just beneath the surface of her skin.

It had been happening more frequently, always arriving uninvited at moments of strong feeling, and she still had no name for it.

Milo stepped out of the cell, crossed to her immediately, dropped to both knees, and pressed his lips to her feet.

Kira went very still, unsure what to do with her hands.

"It is a gesture of deep loyalty," Nana said beside her, low and amused. "Accept it gracefully."

Kira accepted it, though gracefully was doing a lot of work in that sentence.

When Milo rose, his face was wet, and his shoulders had lost the rigid, desperate set they had carried since she walked in. He looked like a man who had just been handed back something he thought was gone for good.

"You did well," Nana said, as they moved on.

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