Page 55 of The Crownless King

Levi eyed them all with barely concealed disdain and waited to see who would speak first. It didn’t take long, the Chawi representative sitting forward in his chair.

The male glared at Levi. “You’ve been accused of kidnapping a young chaos Chawi.”

Levi sucked his teeth at the male’s emphasis onyoung. Tried to make his shit sound sinister, but he wasn’t falling for the bait, thanks to Amaya. He gripped the heartstone in his pocket to ground himself. Before he could answer, the doors opened and a young female entered, bringing in drinks.

‘They acting like we at a fucking tea party,’Lucas complained.

‘Gotta play the game,’Levi told them, accepting the wine from her.

“I haven’t kidnapped anyone.” Levi answered the accusation after he’d taken a sip of the wine.

He frowned at the taste, pushing it aside. The warlock eyed him before shaking his head. He waved for the staff to open the door and Paul walked in, fear and defiance on his face. Bas scoffed behind him.

‘This finna go to shit quickly,’Lucas warned them.

‘Thanks to Amaya, it won’t,’Bas assured his friend.

Levi tuned out their conversation, focusing his attention on Amaya’s uncle. What did he think going to the Collective would accomplish? Every time he saw this motherfucker, he regretted his promise to Amaya not to kill him.

This time it was the witch who spoke. “This male has accused you of not only kidnapping his niece, but also her mother, his sister. He claims you are holding them hostage.”

Levi shrugged. “Amaya has taken refuge in my home, yes.”

“You forced her!” Paul interjected.

“You want to tell the class why?” Levi challenged.

Paul swallowed and lowered his gaze.

“Nah, don’t get quiet now. You been spreading my business all across this fucking city. Speak up. Have you told your elders that your sister and her daughter are at my house because you stole from me and tried to sell to the Buru, making it unsafe for them to go home?”

The whole of the Collective turned their attention to Paul then. He blanched under their scrutiny.

“What did you steal?”

“An Akachi piece.” Paul answered.

Levi speared him with a look that promised retribution. He would have one more thing to beg Amaya’s forgiveness for because as soon as he left here, he planned to put her uncle in the dirt.

“You have an Akachi piece?” Lucian snapped.

“What goes on in my compound is of no concern to this council,” was his answer.

Lucian growled, his eyes turning cagey. “It’s against the rules for a chaos witch and Bayi to fraternize.”

He said that shit like it meant something to Levi. Shaking his head, he leaned back in his chair and eyed Lucian.

“This council wanted to keep excluding the Bayi. Y’all gotta pick. You want us to abide by your rules or you don’t want us here? You can’t have it both ways.”

“We’ve invited you to a seat,” the water Mujaji elder said.

Levi nodded. “The negotiations were only finalized weeks ago. If I remember, there were still objections.”

The elders grumbled.

“You will release the girl,” the warlock demanded.

Levi laughed. He had to. It was either that or flip the fucking table over. They would take Amaya out of his house over his dead body.