Page 39 of Savagely Mated (Shared Mates #1)

S ome time, and a whole lot of silent transport later, the bag comes off my head, and I find myself face to face with a man whose visage is as widely known in Eclipse as the king’s was.

The cardinal is in his fifties, has graying hair and usually the sort of face that suggests a charismatic, yet kindly nature.

We appear to be in one of his chambers. A glance out the window tells me we’re in Eclipse City, but not in the palace.

The cardinal is popular. Far more popular than the king, really, because he leads the city in religious ceremonies, and also makes himself available for various public appearances on television and such. A couple of weeks ago he was helping rehome puppies.

He does not have the rehoming puppies energy now. He’s taller than I realized, well over six feet. The robes he wears are mostly red, edged with white. They’re impressive. They do the job they were meant to do, which is to intimidate a common person.

“Darcy No Last Name,” he says, his voice deep and warm, but I know that’s an illusion. “Darcy, Darcy, Darcy. You have been a source of quite a great deal of trouble for quite some time, haven’t you?”

“Yes.” I squeak the word. He doesn’t seem angry at me, but I’d bet with a man like this it doesn’t matter. You can’t read someone like him. He could be amused. He could be happy. He could be seething with rage.

“You’re going to be good for me, aren’t you,” he says.

I nod. There’s something in this man that emanates power. The king I met certainly didn’t have this level of personality. He was nothing more than a horny asshole, just a common dude who got to live in a castle and produce scores of kids who looked just like him.

The cardinal is celibate. I’ve heard that’s a way for him to generate power. I think it’s working.

“You’ve committed quite a number of crimes,” he says.

“I believe you actually killed one of my guards not long ago. It was reported that a young woman got into a duel, then resisted arrest, attacked the guards, killed one, and shifted into a wolf form and fled toward the academy. We have been watching you since that time, and you have been up to quite a great deal, haven’t you? ”

I want to lie, but I know he already knows. There’s no point denying my crimes. I even feel a little… I don’t know. It’s not quite relief, but it might be.

“Yes,” I say.

“Yes, you have,” he repeats.

I guess he’s used to this, taking confessions, luring people into admitting their worst mistakes and greatest evils.

“And now, it seems, you’ve killed the king.”

Hearing it out of his mouth makes me cringe with fear.

I am in so much trouble. I am in probably-going-to-be-executed trouble.

They will make an example of me. I will end up in a textbook and future generations studying at the academy will skim over my tale, their eyes glazing over until some teacher tells them exactly how I died in graphic detail.

“I did?”

“There are parts of the body it is possible to remove without killing someone, but it is rare that man can survive without his throat,” the cardinal says smoothly.

I feel a tremor deep inside me. “What happened to my mates?”

“You mean the three terrorists you’ve decided to shack up with?” He shakes his head and makes a tutting sound. “You really never did have a chance, did you, Darcy.”

“Are they alive?”

“The mistake all of you made was in running. Only the guilty head for the hills. We didn’t have to monitor the city.

All we had to do was monitor the road leading into the wilds.

But you and your mates are arrogant and you thought you could run,” he says, smiling broadly at me with that grin that is so wide and so toothy that even I, a predator, recognize the predator in him.

He’s completely human through and through, and that does not make him any less dangerous.

“There is no running from the cardinal. Let me be clear, Darcy. Kings come, and kings go—but one thing remains the same.”

He spreads his hands and his grin somehow becomes even wider.

“And that is me.”

I swallow and nod again. I really do not know what to say. I know there are no excuses he would accept, and I am very afraid of the consequences for all of us. Guilt and fright both assail me, making my brain move far too slowly.

“You see, whoever sits on the throne is little more than a puppet. Do you understand me, Darcy? You’re being very quiet. It’s not like you. From what I have gathered, you are rather mouthy.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“The previous king enjoyed collecting female shifters and breeding them. It was a strategy doomed to eventually fail for one reason or another. You were not the first woman to try to kill him. The guy could not go into his harem alone for fear of being set upon by a pack of furious female shifters. You were the first to succeed.”

“What are you going to do to me?” I ask the question hoarsely. I just want to know. I’ve given up in some way. I suppose I could try to run, but I know that the Cardinal’s Guard would have anticipated that. I’m not going to pull the same trick twice.

“The king is dead,” the cardinal smiles. “Long live the king.”

“So his heir is going to be crowned, and I’m…”

“I hope you’re sharper than this when you’re not afraid,” he says.

“The king is dead. Slain. There are two main means of succession…” He pauses and gives me a sharp look.

“You were not paying attention in your classes, if you attended them at all. That would not be tolerated in my school, but the King’s Guard has always been a den of rough idiots. ”

I let the insult go. What choice do I have. I don’t care anyway.

“There is lineage,” he says. “A king dies or abdicates, and a son or daughter takes his place. Or, there is the other kind of succession. The act of the usurper. A king is killed, and the killer takes the throne. You, in other words, Darcy.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You performed the perfect coup and then ran away. You’ve been brought back to finish what you started.”

“You’re not going to kill me?”

“My dear, I am going to crown you.”

I am shocked and confused. “But why?”

He laughs.

“This will entertain the citizenry for years to come. As I said, the king is a figurehead. You are likely to be less of a problem than he was in many ways. Besides, you’ve earned it. And I believe in people getting what they deserve.”

I try to imagine being king. It doesn’t feel real. If anything, it feels outright insane.

“People are going to freak out.”

“Yes. They will. You just appeared city-wide taking down criminals a day or so ago, and soon you will be riding that wave of popularity all the way to the throne. You’ve done very well for yourself, Darcy, very well indeed. It’s a true rags to riches story, and it will play well for the populace.”

He wants me to be a puppet. I find that I do not mind that terribly much, especially as it means I get to stay alive.

“I am sorry, about your guard,” I say. “I didn’t actually mean to kill him. I panicked when the fighting started and I…”

“Don’t apologize. A cardinal’s guard who falls to a barely trained king’s guard is not worth the fabric his cloak is made of.”

“To be fair, I am quite well trained.”

“You are quite good with a blade, yes, but I expect my guard to be better. After all, they need to protect the most important person in Eclipse.”

There is barely any room in this vast chamber for his ego, but somehow the cardinal manages to bring it full force. I’m just glad I’m not currently being murdered. I know very well that I am lucky to be alive.

“You’re going to have to pick one of your mates to marry,” he says. “It may very well be that the mate bond has selected three, but when we throw the royal wedding in a year or so, it should probably be with one man, in order to avoid a spate of hypergamous copycats.”

“You mean I can’t be with all of them?”

“My dear, you can be with whoever you want to be, but you still have to follow religious constructs. Marriage is fairly important.”

“I suppose.”

I have the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. This feels too good to be true. Everything I never wanted, no punishment for committing what should be the worst crime in the nation, only reward.

People dream of becoming king. The likelihood of any woman ever becoming the king is close to zero. There used to be a word for a female king, but that has become so anachronistic as a concept I’ve forgotten what it is.

“What are you thinking?”

“I think I’m going to be very late for work.”

The cardinal laughs indulgently. “Yes, your day job, as it were. Born to be a harem girl, fated to deliver parcels, and then forced to rule. Quite the character arc.”

“Your eminence,” I say, as a thought occurs.

“Yes?”

“Do you know where I came from? Who my parents are? People will want to know.”

“Unfortunately, I do not,” he says. “Your birth was never recorded, which makes you… well, a little lost in the world.”

“I don’t have a last name. Will they just call me King Darcy?”

“They’ll call you whatever you want to be called.” He smiles at me. “You have to understand, Darcy, the world is now at your feet.”

“And my mates are unharmed? I’d like to see them, please.”

“Yes, they are quite alright. They put up a fight, but they lost, naturally, being trained as King’s Guard.”

I think my first act might be to up the quality of training for the academy. This needling is already beginning to get to me, even though I know it is not serious.

“Do they know what happened, why you’ve taken me? Or are they in the dark?”

“You will have the privilege of informing them of your change in station.”

“Oh. Excellent. Can we do it now?”

The cardinal smiles indulgently. I know he thinks I am a useful idiot, and maybe I am, but it is better to be an idiot king than an idiot captive.

I desperately need to see my mates. I need them by my side. I need to know that they are unharmed. The assault that captured us all so roughly could have done very real damage.