Bound between worlds

2

Adrian

Without further ado, I quickly made my way to the throne room. I already heard the murmur of many voices in the hallway, some angry, others unsettled. The two soldiers at the large oak door saluted stiffly. "When I said 'all the guards' I meant all the guards. Get in!", I shouted at them. My patience was at an end and I was barely containing my temper. The two idiots flinched and opened the door for me before they stepped in behind me. The room silenced at once. Everyone could feel what was bubbling inside me and was afraid of provoking it. Without acknowledging anyone, I took a seat on the huge throne, which sat at the end of the room on a raised ledge, so that I could have a good overview of everything. The crowd barely fit in the hall. "Are all the guards there? Even those on patrol or on guard duty?", I made sure. Obviously it wasn't mentioned to everyone when the two suckers were still outside when I arrived. The two soldiers from the dungeon stepped forward, pale but with their heads held high. At least they remembered that they were palace soldiers and not some strays who whined with their tails tucked when kicked. "All soldiers are present, Your Royal Majesty. The two guards at the entrance of the hall only wanted to fulfill the protocol before they joined us," one of the two explained in a firm voice. Well, I could live well with that answer. Apeased for a fraction of a second, I nodded to the named soldiers, who immediately gained some color to their faces.

With a deep breath, however, her smell rose into my nose again and a murderous growl promptly escaped me. Someone had allowed for my mate to be mistreated. "Almost two months ago, a lycan crossed the border and killed four of our soldiers," I began, which immediately resulted in angry rumblings and some exclamations. Angry at the impudence of interrupting myself like this, I let out a roar that made the plaster crumble from the antique walls. At the memory of who was sitting in front of them, those present fell silent again fearfully. "I was informed at that time that a male lycan would now be in our custody and they were trying to find out what his motives might be. After this was not successful for almost two months, I decided to talk a few words with this wolf myself today. Imagine my surprise when I had to realize that said wolf was a young woman and our esteemed general was about to rape her!", my voice finally swelled up again to a roar of anger. In the hall you could hear a collective gasp for air. Under my rule torturing women was only allowed in absolute exceptions.

"Those of you who were there on the day of the arrest, step forward," I ordered in a deadly calm voice. Ten soldiers in total came forward with wobbly knees and knelt before the throne. My fingernails lengthened to razor-sharp claws that almost dug furrows into the beautiful backrest wood. "Did you all know that a woman and no man was arrested?"

"Yes, Your Highness. We've all seen her transform."

I lost a growl at the idea that all these men had seen the naked body of my mate. They flinched at the sound.

"And none of you came up with the idea of informing me about it?" Some of them exchanged uncertain glances.

"We had assumed that the general had informed you, Your Majesty. He told us that."

I exhaled in frustration. Unfortunately, due to the hierarchy, they were by no means obliged and definitely not authorized to send me information directly. If we didn't have information channels, I would receive the same complaints, information and news from hundreds of different sources all day. They had to trust that their general would handle everything properly.

"Did you know she was being tortured?" That was the most important question here - their life would depend on the answer. This also seemed clear to them, for nine of them shook their heads in fear - I could smell the fear on them. Only one soldier did not move and instead looked at his comrades both angrily and infuriated. Without my request, he got up and announced to me in a loud voice: "Your Royal Majesty, we all knew that the woman was tortured. We all participated in it. Out of revenge for our killed colleagues." They, in turn, seemed to be on the verge of tearing him to pieces.