Chapter 19:
RPOV
I ran towards the medic. I knew Lissa must be behind me, but I didn't know for sure. She might be too far away. And right now, I didn't care, I only had one thought. Dimitri.
What had that bastard done to him?
I rounded the corner of the medic and there he was. Lying in a bed that seemed much too small for him. He barely fit. The surgeon was busy stitching up the last of his wounds. I could barely see any skin, so many bandages covered him.
I moved towards where his head was. When I was near, he opened his eyes. He couldn't have seen me, or heard me, but he knew I was there nonetheless. I smiled as I ran my hands through his hair, trying hard not to cry. I had never seen him like this, this hurt, this vulnerable.
"Hey." I didn't know what else to say.
"You're safe." He mumbled. I didn't understand why he was worried about me. He had been the one that was tortured. But now was not the time to argue with him. I don't think he was all there anyway.
"I am safe." I said, making sure he knew I wasn't harmed. He closed his eyes again and was lost to unconsciousness. I think he had needed to know I was okay before he allowed himself any rest.
I just kept stroking his hair, trying very hard not to see the gigantic bruise on his face.
Only one person would be able to do this to him. But I knew Dimitri could take him on. So why hadn't he?
"What happened?" I asked nobody in particular. I hadn't even noticed who was here. I only had eyes for Dimitri.
Lissa came and stood next to me, she put her hands around my shoulders. "Lady Ivashkov brought him in. We don't really know what happened."
I looked over towards Tatiana, who I noticed now for the first time. She had been quietly sitting in the corner. Surveying her domain as it were.
"He let this happen. Randall had something on him. He must have. He couldn't stand for the humiliation you brought him, and he took it out on Dimitri. But why Dimitri just let him, I don't know."
I did. Because there was one thing in this world Dimitri cared more about than keeping himself safe and that is keeping the people he loved safe.
"Me. The King must have used me as leverage."
I was fighting the tears. Not only was he hurt because I slashed the King's throat and he was mad about that, but he also punished Dimitri for that. It was my fault.
I felt a rage deep inside of me and I knew my eyes were starting to glow. Tatiana was beside me in an instance. "I'll kill him." I told her. "I'll make sure he suffers for this."
She shook her head. "If that was the answer Dimitri would have done that before Randall tortured him. We need to wait until Dimitri is healed enough to talk." She dipped my head back a bit by my chin so I looked her straight in the eyes. "He will pay, and he will suffer, but you need to calm down now."
I looked away from her, breathed deeply and tucked some of that rage back in. It wasn't easy.
"I have called in reinforcements. They should be here shortly."
She eyed me curiously when she said that. I had no idea what she was looking for.
I think it took another ten minutes for the 'reinforcements' to arrive. My parents and Pavel. Tatiana was looking from them to me and back. Still looking for something.
My father walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder as he seemed to assess Dimitri's wounds.
Tatiana crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Abe looked towards her with a brilliant smile on his face. "Guess I didn't need your help after all."
She just waved him off. I had no idea what was going on and I couldn't care less. I focused back on Dimitri.
"He did this. He did this to his own son. Because of me."
I took a couple of deep breaths again trying to fight my wolf from coming to the surface. Not just my eyes glowing but her actually coming out, because I knew if she did she would run towards the king and kill him. Or at least try to kill him.
"Dad? I need you to help me take him down."
Abe seemed practically shocked to hear me call him Dad, I was too, a little, but we needed to stand united and if me calling him Dad would persuade him to take action now, so be it.
My mother stood on the other side of me and placed a hand on my other shoulder.
"We will. We have a plan in place. But it relied heavily on Dimitri being able to control the military. I don't know if he can do that now."
I gripped the sheets he was draped in hard. He shouldn't be lying here like this. The King should have done this to me and be done with it.
"I can do it."
My father looked at me a little weird. "Rose, Dimitri has spent years cultivating a reputation-"
"- I said I can do it."
He looked at me for a few seconds and then just nodded.
"So what is the plan exactly?" I asked. I should have heard this this morning. Then maybe we could have avoided all this. But it wasn't just the fact Dimitri had wanted to keep me safe that was my fault. But I had also delayed our plans of a coup. If we had known the plan, maybe we all would have acted accordingly.
My father sat down in one of the chairs, his one leg draped over the other with his ankle on his knee.
"I had planned on just overpowering him together with Pavel and your mother, clapping him in chains and parading him down the hall. I have had spies in this Palace for a while and they have a cue to cause interference for his guards. With Dimitri's control over the military we could hold our position."
Then he looked at Tatiana. "I would have ascended the throne and it would have been a tough few weeks to see if I could maintain my power. Although the throne doesn't belong to a certain family per se, it has been in the Ivashkov family for a few generations. Not having an Ivashkov on the throne, certainly if the last one was removed forcefully would cause some… resistance."
It was silent for a few moments. Tatiana and Abe seemed locked in a silent conversation none of us were privy to.
"Of course, if an Ivashkov would take the throne the power transition would be much smoother."
Tatiana sighed.
"I could merely play the role of advisor." Abe offered and we all knew what he meant by advisor, actually run the damn Kingdom, all but in title.
Tatiana rolled her eyes. "You want to put Dimitri on the throne and control him from the shadows. That is never going to happen."
I was getting angry, That was my father's plan. To drag Dimitri on the throne? How would that even work? And I doubted Dimitri wanted the throne.
But my father's eyes met mine and in them was a silent message that that was not what he wanted. He turned his gaze back to Tatiana.
"I wasn't talking about Dimitri. Although maybe one day when he is free we can revisit the idea of him on the throne, he certainly deserves it, but I think having a slave on the throne would cause more of an uproar than me on the throne."
His eyes landed on Tatiana again and she seemed to realize what he implied.
"Me? You want me on the throne.?"
He shrugged. "That has always been my first idea, I just never thought you would betray Randall, but now I know you will, you are the most likely candidate." He growled a little "It should have been yours to begin with instead of that sorry excuse for a wolf."
Tatiana looked around the room again, waiting for someone to tell her Abe was joking. "But I am too old."
Abe merely waved her off. "You are only a couple of years older than Randall. You could have another decade on the throne before you retire."
The couple of years was a bit of a stretch, more like a couple of decades, but sure she wasn't a senior citizen yet, she could rule for a few more years. I think Abe didn't plan to have her on the throne long, just long enough for the transition to power to be peaceful...and probably to him.
"With you standing besides us Tatiana, there will be no need for violence. We simply wait for Dimitri to heal a bit so he doesn't look… this bad. Then we confront Randall together, have him step down. Probably throw in an insanity plea somewhere and have him removed."
It wasn't a bad plan, it relied on us keeping all supporting domains in check. All the ministers, military, guards, nobody could protest. I had seen enough to know that nobody had real love for the King, whereas slaves respected Tatiana, the military respected Dimitri and I think the ministers might enjoy someone sane on the throne. Tatiana being a woman would raise some heads, but if she announces that she has the support and advice of a powerful alpha or two, that will help.
Tatiana was thinking the whole plan over. "Me on the throne?" First it was a question. "Me on the throne." A little less a question. "Me on the throne." It ended on an absolute statement.
Abe had given her what she wanted, what should have been hers to begin with. And she wanted it so bad, that she didn't even mind that Abe would be running the show behind the scenes. Although Tatiana was good behind the scenes too. Maybe she could actually give him a run for his money.
As if my mother realized this too, she moved a little closer to Abe, marking her territory. But I noticed no heat coming from the two of them, mearily mutual respect. Good, just the thought of my father with Tatiana was disturbing. But I suppose she wasn't one to indulge herself much, as she had iterated more than once 'She liked to watch'.
Oh God, now I had a picture in my head of Tatiana watching my parents.
I shook my head and tried to get rid of the sheer look of terror and disgust on my face, but I think my father had noticed and raised an eyebrow in question. I just waved him off. Now was not the time to talk about my overly active imagination.
"Well, now that that is settled, I would like to take Dimitri back to his room. I think he would be most comfortable there." I looked towards the surgeon to see if he had any objection but he nodded. And he or Lissa could always come by to check the wounds or change the dressings.
He had grunted a few times while he had been transported, but he had never regained consciousness. Besides carrying the dead weight of a very large alpha male, it had also been a bit of struggle to get him to his room undetected. A few cuts and bruises wouldn't raise any questions, but Dimitri this beat up and unconscious could sway a few people to believe he wasn't strong enough to take on the King.
Which had probably been the bastard's plan.
But we had made it to his room and he was comfortable in his bed. I fluffed his pillow and put a blanket over him. Then I laid down next to him making sure I wasn't hurting him. Everyone left and all I did for hours was just look at the up and down motion of his breathing.
DPOV
I groaned loudly, even to my ears, trying to open my eyes. Well, eye. One of them was shut with a gigantic swelling, so I gave up trying to open that one.
When my one still functioning eye opened I saw the best sight in the whole world. I smiled even though it hurt. Rose was looking down on me, her hair gently brushing against my face and her dark eyes bright with concern.
"Hey" I croaked out.
She returned my 'hey'. She was on her side beside me, her body close to mine but not touching. I think she was afraid of hurting me. But I would take the pain any day if it meant being closer to her.
Besides I was alpha. I could already feel myself healing. I wasn't in as much pain as I was yesterday. My body was prioritizing my blood loss and broken bones over the more minor injuries. So I should be feeling a little bit stronger.
"What happened?" She asked me. The tone was harsh, but I knew it wasn't directed at me, but at the King.
I looked away from her eyes, instead focusing on the ceiling. "He would leave you alone, if I…"
"If you submit to him. If you take the torture so he can tell everyone he is still stronger than you, hoping you will lose some of the backing he must also seen you have been getting."
I just nodded. She was absolutely right.
"I can take care of myself Dimitri. I don't need you protecting me from him."
I doubted that. His power wasn't just physical. The position as King meant something.
"Why didn't you kill him?" She had her arms crossed in front of her chest. I know her anger wasn't directed at me, but still, I cringed a little under her scrutiny. She wasn't happy I let myself get beat up for her.
And here I thought I was being romantic.
I sat up even if it took a lot of effort and pain. Realizing what I was doing, Rose helped me and positioned the pillow so I was comfortably resting against it.
"And unleash a civil war? We weren't ready, Rose. If I killed him then, Abe would have no chance of holding the throne, it would be chaos and it wouldn't just kill the King. It would kill a lot of innocent people. What is a little beating when I can prevent that?"
"A little beating, You have fifteen broken bones!"
Yeah, he really hadn't held back.
"We are ready now. Dad hopes to give you a few days to recover, at least enough so you can walk. But with Tatiana on our side, the transition should be more peaceful and quick."
I looked at her with wide eyes. "Tatiana?" I would never have thought she would help Abe. I know she didn't like the way her nephew handled a few things, but she mostly stayed out of everyone's way. She doesn't even attend sessions with the ministers.
Rose nodded. "Dad is giving her the throne. She has been behind the scenes for years, the offer of actually doing it in public was too good for her to pass up. And I think the King took it a little too far when he nearly killed you. It was a wake-up call for her too, just how much the King had deteriorated."
That was one word for it.
Also, 'dad'? How long was I out that she is now calling Abe dad?
"Dad? Huh?"
She just waved me off. "Oh shut up. He kinda grows on you. Besides, if he is willing to uproot his plan and take action, because your boyfriend got hurt, you kind of need to cut him some slack."
I laughed and gritted my teeth as one or maybe all of the fifteen broken bones were hurting. I doubted Abe had to change much about his plan. I also don't think he only had one plan. He would have had contingency after contingency. So maybe it hadn't been plan A, but I doubt we were down to plan Z yet.
"We have it handled Dimitri, rest and in a few days, the King will be no more."
If only it was so easy.
