Page 12 of Shifter’s Promise (Devourer of Magic)

“We must?” Taka snorted. “Why must we?”

Father’s brows descended over his eyes, shadowing their green depths. “We have a duty to the people of the Beast Kingdom. We can’t let anyone else be taken.”

“As if he doesn’t already know,” Raxa said bluntly.

It was his turn to have all the attention on him. Seeming to realize his mistake, red flushed his cheeks. He cleared his throat and avoided our attentive gazes.

“What I mean to say is, he must already know,” Raxa continued, a bit shakier than before.

Taka’s fisted hands shook while Aya’s grimace deepened. Was this something they already knew about somehow?

“How do you know?” Father asked brusquely .

“We reported the kidnapping ourselves,” Aya deadpanned.

My eyes widened. A soft gasp brushed hot air along the nape of my neck. I shivered.

“The day our mother was taken,” Taka continued, picking up for his brother, “Raxa was with her. Me and Aya were at home with dad, but he witnessed the whole thing.” Both he and Aya sent concerned glances at their brother, but Raxa didn’t so much as look up from whatever interesting spot he’d found on the barren coffee table.

“We were at this small shop at the edge of town,” Raxa said, a slight tremble to his voice.

“She was looking for some specialty herb for Jeremiah’s dinner.

I don’t even remember what the bastard wanted now.

” He cut himself off on a growl, rage curling his lips.

“We were barely out the shop’s door when we were attacked. ”

Taka, who sat in the middle, placed a hand on his brother’s knee to comfort him. When Raxa didn’t continue after a long minute, he took up the story.

“Mom shifted to protect Raxa. She managed to kill one of them before she was knocked out. If mom hadn’t first thrown Raxa through one of the neighboring windows, he’d have been taken too.”

“At first, we thought it was just a random attack or mugging,” Aya said. He stared, desolate, at the coffee table between us.

“But she was taken,” Raxa said, shaking. “She was taken and I couldn’t?—”

“You were just a child,” Father cut in. He rose, crossing the living room to palm Raxa’s shoulder, squeezing it firmly like he did for me when I was upset.

It was always his first move, followed by a hug if you were open to it.

I didn’t think he’d go that far with Raxa. “There’s nothing you could have done.”

“You brought this before the king?” Leona asked. She had stiffened beneath me, her hold gradually tightening with each bit of information revealed. I had a feeling she was trying to shield me from it all. But there was no shielding me from what I’d already endured.

The triplets nodded vehemently.

“We were only seven or eight at the time,” Taka said.

“They didn’t even want to let us in at first,” Raxa recalled.

“But they did,” Aya continued. “We had our audience with the king.”

“And?” I asked, on the edge of my seat.

“He laughed.”

My growing hope shattered.

“He said there was no way slavery could exist in his kingdom,” Taka said.

“He said he’d never allow it,” Raxa continued.

I ground my teeth. A hot lick of anger flared inside me, boiling up my throat until a growl burst from between my teeth.

“So he knew.” Or he’s an idiot.

The trio met my gaze, each of their eyes more solemn than the last. Not one of them nodded or agreed—they didn’t need to. It was clear from the Beast King’s reaction all those years ago .

He knew .

He let this happen, or worse, didn’t care.

“This is madness,” Leona whispered, disbelieving.

Father grunted his agreement and squeezed Raxa’s shoulder again before returning to sit beside me. “If what you say is true, the Beast King has let slavery run rampant in his own kingdom for twenty years.”

My fingers squeezed into fists, nails biting my palms. I couldn’t believe it. After all this time, the one man who was supposed to protect all of beast kind, was allowing us to be caught, trapped and sold. He might not even care that his people were dying, stripped of their dignity and rights.

“He’s a monster.”

The triplets nodded grimly.

“I’m sorry, Twinlin,” Taka shocked me by saying. “If we had known… we’d never have…” He sighed. “I’m sorry. There is no excuse for our behavior.”

Raxa narrowed his eyes at his brother. He was the only one who hadn’t been outright malicious.

“I apologize for everything,” Aya added. “I shouldn’t have pushed you, or made you dance or… any of that shit. Sorry, Twinlin.”

My father looked between them, eyes like chips of ice. “What did you do to my daughter?”

All three stiffened as one. Fear widened their eyes. I couldn’t help but smile. My father was the most protective man I knew. They would have done better to pull me aside and apologize later.

But given all we’d been through today, I patted my dad’s arm to reassure him. “It’s in the past now. ”

Three identical sighs of relief sent a burst of laughter ringing through my ears. Leona slapped her hand over her lips to stop the sound.

“Sorry,” she said, still shaking with laughter despite her thinned lips. She was trying to trap the sound and failing miserably.

“Their expressions were pretty funny huh?” I mused, winking at the lioness.

“Indeed,” she agreed with a toothy grin that had my heart melting.

“That brings me to another question,” Father continued. “What is going on here?”

All eyes turned on Leona and I. Heat flooded my cheeks.

“None of your business,” I squawked.

Leona smirked and shook her head. I was glad she didn’t reveal the truth without my saying so. In fact, it reminded me—we still hadn’t had the chance to speak alone.

Maybe it was time we changed that.