Wixim let out another loud roar behind Tam, and the man at their side that had been holding Luca reached for something at his side—presumably a weapon.

  But they weren’t fast enough as Tam, still holding Aradia’s shoulders, launched them both into the void without a moment of hesitation.

  Tam kept his gaze locked on hers, and once they were encumbered in total darkness, he released her.

  The all encompassing void did exactly what Tam had hoped it would when he caught her by surprise…

  It shocked her into motionlessness.

  “Wh-wh… How… Where are we? You aren’t my brother! How are… You can’t be…” She stammered as she spun around in place, looking at the endless span of nothing.

  “Of course I’m your brother, Aradia. What better place to put myself than with the Ashowans?” Tam called, casting his most sinister smile over his shoulder.

  She started to fumble with something.

  Tam ignored her.

  He saw Luca off to the side, waiting for him, his eyes wide as he looked at his father uncertainly.

  Tam didn’t waste another breath.

  He launched himself out of the void, then back in, immediately, grabbed Luca’s shoulders, and drew them along, passing through the various materials of the palace that made up the everything part of Tam’s ability. He wasn’t going to give the first witch another chance to do anything to stop them.

  Tam felt the stone, could feel the wood…

  And that was when he noticed the red thread coming from his chest.

  It had appeared again ,and was leading him… back into nothing.

  Tam frowned as he felt Luca’s grasp around his neck tighten.

  The grip helped bring him back to reality, which was when he reappeared in front of Eli.

  She had her back to him as she faced Wixim, who was starting to open his mouth as heat gathered in the back of his throat.

  The dragon had told them he would attack if it ever came to this.

  Wrapping his arm around Eli, Tam ignored the desperate shout behind them that must have come from Aradia’s servant. He then proceeded to rush back into the void, but he didn’t take them out into the street where Wixim sat waiting. Rather, he sent them all careening down the very hall that Tam had glimpsed through the open doors on the second floor when he had grabbed Aradia.

  He could hear the fire blast from Wixim echoing down from where they all reappeared.

  “Come on,” he murmured urgently as he pressed his free hand against Eli’s back. “We’ll have to take the back exit and meet up with Kat.”

  “How are you?” Eli asked, once she shook her head in a supposed attempt to reorient herself.

  “Going in and out with all of you is a quick drain on my power, but I still have a great deal left. Come on.”

  As they moved through the palace, Eli eventually took over helping them make their progress as she was the only one of them to know the layout. Though she still needed to pause now and then as she struggled to remember, but at last they found themselves faced with another pair of grand doors. These ones were also painted a dull rust color like the front doors had been.

  It was there that Eli looked up at Tam and let out a short breath.

  He met her gaze knowingly. “We’re about to enter the party, aren’t we?”

  “Most likely,” she confirmed grimly.

  “Ah… Do you want my help for this?”

  “I’ll let you know if I do… But… Tam?”

  He raised an expectant eyebrow as Luca slowly lifted his head from his father’s shoulder.

  Eli spared him a heartbreaking smile before she reached up to the boy’s face and gently touched his cheek.

  “Tam the promise I made to Lord Kim…? The reason he agreed to help us?”

  Tam stiffened at being reminded. “Yes?”

  “I promised him that if I needed to take the throne for a time I would. At least in an emergency until I found a more suitable ruler.”

  Swinging round to face her with alarm and fury on her behalf surging through him, Eli held up a resigned hand. “We’ll figure something out. I just thought you should know.”

  Tam took a steadying breath. “You won’t keep the throne if you don’t want it.”

  “I don’t. And I won’t. You and I are going to build a brand new home. But for now, we really should go and finish this.”

  It took Tam a little longer to overcome this new bit of information… But Eli reached under Luca’s arms and tickled him, making him giggle, and Tam couldn’t help but smile out of the pure enjoyment of hearing his son laugh again.

  “Come on, my heart,” she said to Luca as she then moved her palm to his cheek. “It’s past your bedtime, and we still have to go get your sister.”

  Luca beamed, joy seeping out every pore of his face.

  Then, both Tam and Eli put a hand on the doors and pushed them open.

  Rather than an extravagant celebration taking place, what they found was an execution site.

  Soo Hebin stood at the edge of the terrace landing overlooking a sea of frightened party guests. Several of the attendees were crowding around bodies of nobility that littered the ground of the courtyard…

  And in the middle of the courtyard amongst the chaos, was Jiho and Bong Ryu… Their heads lowered as two soldiers with swords raised their blades in the air.

  Without needing any words, Tam seized Eli’s hand and swept them into the void.

  Tam rushed them through pure air that he sensed in the void. When he had them steadied to reappear, he turned and saw Eli already starting to shift into a beast—but he was instantly distracted when the red thread appeared as her familiar form did.

  Only he didn’t have time to process what this meant as panic still gripped his senses as the threat of their friends’ death was still imminent.

  When they fell free of the void, they landed in the middle of the two Ryu men.

  Eli let out a sky shattering roar, her form larger than ever—Tam marveled that she was nearly the size of Wixim… It was as though she had had yet another growth spurt in a matter of two days.

  The two soldiers that had been about to decapitate the two Ryu men with their swords fell back in fright.

  And the courtyard went silent as Eli’s roar rang out in the night.

  Tam stared up at Soo Hebin icily.

  Luca stuck his tongue out at her.

  Neither Bong nor Jiho had been able to look up from their places on the ground, as they had cringed away from the terrifying appearance of Eli—now Kasha.

  So when Tam’s palm lowered in front of Jiho, and he slowly looked up, his eyes went wide in shock.

  “Good to see you again, Jiho. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know your sons.” Tam gave a half smile to his father’s oldest friend.

  Jiho, with his long black and white streaked hair coming out of its half tied bun, slowly accepted Tam’s hand, and managed to find his feet.

  Tam proceeded to turn and look over at Bong, who was gaping with his jaw dropped up at Kasha.

  “Hi, Bong!” Luca hollered excitedly.

  The Zinferan nobleman barely managed to tear his eyes away from Tam’s familiar.

  “T-Tam? Luca?”

  Tam offered to help Bong up next, and he accepted it. Though Bong’s eyes couldn’t help but swivel back to Kasha. “W-what is…. That?”

  “Oh, you’ll see.”

  Turning to stare up at the concubine who was pressing her son behind her, and inching back to the doors, Tam stalked forward.

  “Concubine Soo Hebin!” he shouted. “You had me, Tamlin Ashowan, a future duke of Daxaria, hunted after an assassination attempt. You kidnapped my son, you attacked Her Majesty Queen Katarina Reyes, Duchess Annika Ashowan, Princess Kezia Devark of Troivack, and her escort!”

  No one moved as Tam proceeded toward the stairs, and started to climb toward the concubine who was backing toward the doors as though about to flee.

  The smell of smoke was heavy in the air, and distant screams echoed out.

  Kasha leapt toward the sky, the sound of her wings cracking in the wind high above.

  “Worst of all, you have been trafficking and selling your very own people! The people of Zinfera you are supposed to serve! The people who put food on your table, who lay down their lives for you, and you have ground them under your heel! Stolen children from their parents, stolen the goodness out of Zinfera…” Tam paused, a cold smile tugging at his mouth. “I would say you should pay for your crimes, but I don’t think there will be anything left of you once you’ve paid for one particular crime.” By this point Tam’s arms were shaking after holding Luca for so long, so he put his son down on the stairs, but kept a firm hold of his hand.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  The concubine turned to the doors as soon as Tam touched down on the landing with Luca.

  However, her path was blocked when Kasha landed between her and the doors, Prince Jum’s hand clasped in her own.

  The beast let out another roar that sent the concubine scrambling backward.

  That is until Kasha shifted back into her human form, and Eli stood in front of her.

  Soo Hebin froze and her eyes went wide. “You!”

  Eli strode forward, the red dress she donned dragging behind her as she stared up into the concubine’s eyes calmly.

  “That’s right. Me.”

  Eli continued moving closer, but the concubine didn’t budge as she stared down her nose at the estranged princess.

  Tam made sure to sidle up right behind Soo Hebin and her son to make sure they were properly cornered.

  “I’d say your life is mine, Soo Hebin, for what you’ve cost me. But I don’t need something as worthless as that,” Eli informed the woman calmly.

  Soo Hebin reached into her sleeves, as though preparing to draw something out but Tam casually seized her forearm.

  “No, no. None of that.”

  “FAMILY JEWELS!”

  Both Tam and Eli jumped at the shout that came from Luca. Both then turned to discover that Luca, their sweet boy, had effectively punched Prince Jum in the testicles.

  “That’s new,” Eli observed suspiciously. “I’m beginning to think your sister was the one to teach her sons all of their bad habits.”

  “It might not have been Kat,” Tam argued as though they weren’t in the middle of overthrowing a concubine whom they had interrupted having a killing spree.

  Eli arched an eyebrow. “I certainly didn’t teach him that, and I know you didn’t—”

  A loud wailing of hinges and splintering wood called everyone’s attention to the doors on the opposite end of the courtyard to reveal none other than Katarina Ashowan pushing the heavy barricade open with one hand.

  Splattered in blood, both her eyes and aura glowing, Kat glared around the scene before her with her sword in hand. She looked ready to continue her utter decimation of what remained of the imperial soldiers…

  Until she spotted Tam, Luca, and Eli at the top of the stairs.

  They all stared at each other for a beat of silence.

  “WHAT THE HELL?” Kat roared, throwing her arms out to her sides. “HOW’D YOU LOT GET IN?”

  “We danced in!” Tam shouted back. “The front door was unlocked!”

  Kat dropped her head back and let out an annoyed shout just as Harris ambled in behind her, a dreamy smile on his face.

  “Alright Harris?” Tam called while adjusting his grip on Soo Hebin’s arm as the woman tried to yank herself free.

  Eli seized the other arm irritably, before looking up to await the Daxarian duke’s response.

  “This was my greatest work yet! I dedicate this burning… To my wife… Mackenzie!” He cried, pumping his fist in the air.

  Kat sighed, then proceeded into the courtyard.

  Tam watched her eye the bodies darkly, then as she passed their family friends she spared a pat on the shoulder of the patriarch.

  “Jiho, nice to see you.”

  “Kat, good to see you in fine health.”

  The Daxarian queen grunted in response as she, too, climbed the stairs.

  Eli moved her gaze back to Soo Hebin. “Kneel.”

  The concubine’s scarlet lip curled. “You are not Chin. Even if you wear her dress–”

  Eli backhanded the woman across the face with enough force that blood pooled on the woman’s lips.

  “Of course I’m not Chin. I’m your judge. And the Daxarian queen? She might be your executioner.”

  “I’m the what now?” Katarina Ashowan approached the confrontation with her one free hand on her hip.

  “Executioner. If I say so,” Eli repeated evenly.

  Kat scoffed, though there was a glint of amusement in her eyes. “Bossy little thing, aren’t you?”

  Tam gave a rueful half smile at this.

  Eli didn’t respond to the queen’s comment.

  She did, however, catch everyone off guard by backhanding Soo Hebin again. This time hard enough that the woman did drop to a knee.

  “Mother!” Jum cried out.

  Luca raised his fist again with a menacing scowl.

  Tam gave his son’s arm a slight shake, barely suppressing a laugh as he gave Luca a look to ward him off taking any more violence into his own hands.

  “Harris!” Tam suddenly called out, as though having come to a sudden realization.

  “Still working on the stairs!”

  “No–No, sorry. I meant it was Harris who taught Luca about the term ‘family jewels’. From his story.” Tam reminded Eli.

  “Ah, my apologies, Your Majesty,” Eli nodded solemnly to Kat who looked all the more bewildered.

  There was another breath of silence before Eli backhanded Soo Hebin again.

  No one said anything as they took stock of Eli’s tranquil face as the concubine gasped on the ground in pain.

  Which was around the time Harris’s gasping breaths could be heard perfectly clearly as he approached them all. “What’d I miss?”

  Eli paused thoughtfully. “Nothing. I was just about to inform Soo Hebin she is going to be stripped of her titles and forced into indentured servitude for the rest of her life. Prince Jum will be removed as a possible successor for the throne.”

  Even though neither Soo Hebin or Jum said anything, Eli abruptly added a slap for good measure across Soo Hebin’s cheek that was already showing signs of bruising.

  “Feeling better?” Tam asked while starting to inwardly debate whether or not he should cover Luca’s eyes.

  Nodding, Eli furrowed her brows then looked at Tam. “How many was that?”

  “Four.”

  She tilted her head. “Let’s see… Kidnapping, enslaving, slandering me to the kingdom… Ah yes. And being a part of kidnapping Luca.” The next slap that Eli dealt to the concubine knocked the woman out.

  Eli shook out her hand and then turned to Tam with the same casual air she would have had had she only just swatted a mosquito. “Shall we go pick up Penelope?”

  Tam bowed his head and offered his arm. “Lets.”

  “Hang on here!” Kat held up her hands, her sword hilt still clutched in her thumb. “Just what in the hell—”

  “Kat, we really do need to go, but there are a lot of people here that look like they’ve been poisoned, you might be able to help them,” Tam reminded softly.

  At this, Kat whirled around.

  “Oh. And there is a dragon, but try not to kill him. Harris likes him.”

  “Wixim is here? Oh lovely!” Harris smiled jovially.

  “I beg your finest pardon—”

  And that was all Kat was able to get out before that very dragon came down with a loud bang onto the ground of the courtyard, and let out a screeching roar of his own.

  Kat flipped her sword in hand, but when Eli shifted back into beast form, the queen stumbled back in shock. “WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?”

  “Kat! Language!” Tam chided. “That’s Eli. But she’s in her beast form right now, so you can call her Kasha.”

  The redhead’s jaw dropped as Eli’s ginormous cat form leapt nimbly over them, and landed firmly in front of Wixim.

  Thankfully Jiho and Bong had already moved to the side of the courtyard to start tending to some of the poisoned nobility.

  “Tam… You have a lot to tell me about,” Kat called as she started to move toward the stairs again. “But first, please tell me that that dragon is a friend of yours.”

  Tam gave a grimace and tilted his head. “I could… but I don’t know that that’s true.”

  Kat shot him a look of incredulousness, but was already jogging to the stairs when she shouted over her shoulder. “I think you have me officially beat on getting yourself into nonsense!”

  Tam shrugged. “You’re not dead yet!”

  Kat scoffed and continued down the rest of the stairs.

  Things were not quite finished.

  But with any luck, this particular fight would be over with quickly. At least with both Kat and Eli working together, Tam thought the odds were rather high that they would be.