[NOUR]
"The enforcer, Grant, still sits on your father's throne, my beautiful," Delbert said to Nour as they made their way to the Acrod palace. They walked hand in hand, like they belonged together, like they had endured the worst together.
They seemed happier, even though Delbert had cast a spell on Nour to make anyone who looked at him think that Delbert was just taking a walk with his wife, the lady Sophia Cornell.
But deep down, they knew that the worst hadn't even started yet.
They knew because they were the masters of this phase of their lives. Of the lives of the people of Acrod.
For seven months Grant had been serving the people of Acrod in the 'best' of ways. He was a good leader, a kind man in the face of so many things. He was powerful and knew how to use his power to serve the king and the realm.
He had been a good man, or maybe he had just learned to keep up the best of appearances. After all, he was a politician determined to get onto the good graces of a werewolf prince he wasn't sure was alive yet.
It was crazy what he had done to maintain that picture, and yet none of that would ever change the way that the king and the Lycans in Acrod saw him — a monster who deserved a punishment worse than death.
A bastard who didn't deserve to breathe for the next second and they knew how dangerous this could get. Life had been shitty for the longest of times and yet even then, no one had been brave enough to talk about the shit that lingered in the air.
It was like a forbidden race and yet at the same time, it was a race that excited the bloodthirsty prince of Acrod. The man who had woken up with a determination so intense that the king would eventually bow from pressure and not because he was the prince.
"I'm going to take a seat at the table," Nour said and Delbert stilled. He wasn't against his Erasthai's choice because he would always, always support whatever the fuck Nour wanted to happen.
But right now, he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the prince would sit on the council. That was one of the most dangerous seats in the realm and it wouldn't be easy.
No matter how prepared they were, there were just some things that would need Nour to cross lines. Lines that he would never come back from. Lines that he would never be able to take back and lines that would mean the worst of consequences.
It was not the kind of thing that Delbert had ever been prepared for, not with the way his Erasthai had suffered in the hands of Grant.
"Cassius, that has got to be the most dangerous thing you could ever do other than be my Erasthai," Delbert spoke, looking into the eyes of the young prince.
He knew that this was not going to be easy. He knew that no matter what they did there would be war and sometimes blood would flow — their blood. And Delbert didn't want that for his Erasthai.
Perhaps that was why he called the prince with his name, hoping that the beautiful man would understand the gravity of the situation. It just didn't make sense right now.
The prince needed time to heal; time to sort through the remnants of the breakage that Grant had engineered. This was going to be a civil war, the dirtiest of the all and if Nour wasn't prepared for it mentally, he would be swallowed right in.
"The past months I gave Grant a second chance. I gave him time to fix his shit, to make sure that the people of Acrod didn't get hurt aimlessly. I gave him the chance to make things right, and you know what I found out?
"What I realized, beneath the enforcer title that he hides behind? Beyond the power that father dearest gave him? He is still a bastard, Kalkan. He hurts the people of Acrod who don't like him.
"He ruins them and hides their bodies in the caves," Nour began sadly as he stared at the Acrod wolves who were walking around like them.
He could see how worn out they were, how they were wasted and forced into hard labor. He could see the pregnant women who were working so hard to make a living in a kingdom that had long forbidden any kind of labor for expectant women.
He could see children running around, but they were not as happy as they had always been. They were hurrying around, running errands for their parents who were hopeful and constantly scared that their children wouldn't come home.
Any closer look at Acrod and anyone would see that the people were crumbling beneath the weight of the shameless dictator the king had named heir to a throne whose heir was still mingling among them freely.
It was a weight that many couldn't shoulder, and Nour had walked around enough to understand that even the brothels were out of business, because many preferred to work hard and live laborious lives than lay down and let themselves be fucked for a few pennies.
It was a cruel kingdom and Nour hated it.
He hated what had become of the place his father had made a sanctuary for the wolves. Hell, even the rogue wolves always found their way back home, but Nour had long realized that any sold that went rogue never came back.
"We have to be cautious," Delbert said.
Nour chuckled sadly.
"Ever wondered why the omega population went down in the past three years? How much has been lost? He murdered them all without so much as a second thought and that is what pisses me off even more.
"Beyond the palace, there are whispers, Kalkan. Whispers of the enforcer's cruelty. Whispers of the worst mistake the King had ever made. But they can never voice it out loud, they can never get to the king to complain;
"...Because the bastard kills those who even think of coming forward like it is the norm for him. He hurts the very people he is meant to protect. He hurts the same populace that is dependent on him.
"That is not the kind of duty that father hoped for, and that is why I want a seat there. It is either that, Kalkan, or I will burn him. To the ground with my bare hands," Nour said as he looked at his mate.
He knew that this was probably the riskiest thing he could ever do, but then he had long left the omega charade. He was no longer the prince who was determined to have some fun mingling with the wolves of Acrod casually.
Right now, he was who he had been born as. The prince who would save his people. The man who would punish the irredeemable enforcer who had run out of second chances.
"Fine. If you do this, then I will come with you. I will leave my post as the junior warrior and take a new skin for you. You won't go into this war alone, and that is final," Delbert said and Nour let out a sigh of relief.
"I was hoping you'd say that," Nour smiled.
Delbert just kissed his Erasthai's forehead.
"I love you, my beautiful."