The Lycan King's Puppet-Chapter 54: Council Meeting 2

The sickly grin made his fingers twitched around his untouched goblet.

The others at the table laughed, except Aldrich. He felt bad for the boy, knowing how close to his father he was.

It was clear the boy wasn’t convinced his father died a natural death.

Neither was he, he mused.

Claire stiffened beside him. If it were up to her, he was sure she’d love to dunk the wine over his head and give him a little wake-up spank.

"Serve us wine, lass." Falstaff said, fondling the sleeve of his robe.

He noticed Aldrich watching her from his perch on the table.

Then, she dropped the jug on the table.

"Serve yourselves. I serve the King only."

"So you say. Do you also serve his First man?" The way he said the word ’serve’ made Yeren stomach flip.

Andon chose that moment to take a long drink of his wine.

"Claire?" Aldrich called, his voice wavering with uncertainty.

She lowered her head.

Yeren spared her a sideward glance. She was wearing a beautiful green dress that hugged her curves without crossing the line of decency.

"She has a lot of audacity."

"Which can only be borne from close relation to the King."

Her fingers clenched and unclenched, mirroring his thoughts.

"Have we decided on Lord Bronan’s funeral?" He asked.

Redmare narrowed his eyes at him.

"No, Your Grace."

"I don’t see how a peasant whore would dare deny me a drink of wine." Falstaff whispered to Plumette. Plumette said nothing, sitting there with his hands on the polished table.

"I want him buried before the blood moon, Your Grace." Aldrich said.

He hadn’t been as close to his father as Aldrich had been to his, but he had felt something similar when he saw his father’s usually intimidating and bulky body lying helplessly on a bed, weak, frail... and small.

Death had reduced the man to nothing - like it did to all men regardless of fortune and societal status.

"And so will it be."

Rodick cleared his throat. "Speaking of the blood moon...em, a suitable bride has been selected for the mating ceremony."

From the side of his eyes, he saw Claire’s grip on the folds of her dress tighten.

Did she care? It was hard to tell when she was boiling over with rage.

"How interesting."

He downed the contents of his goblet in one go and raised it for a refill.

She filled it for him and stepped back.

"There are strong rumours, Your Grace - rumours that can affect the proceedings of the mating ceremony."

Yeren looked him in the eye.

The man glanced at the woman beside him.

They had been hinting on the same topic since they had arrived.

"Might I be excused, Your Grace." Claire said to the hearing of everyone.

So she was leaving. Of course!

Andon slid him a glance.

"Don’t go far. I might still be in need of wine."

Her gaze hardened as she clasped her hands together and forced herself to bow. As she bowed, their eyes were at the same level.

Her green eyes were flaming.

"Look at how much influence she wields over the King." Falstaff whispered to Plumette again.

Claire nodded at him and left in a swish of skirts.

The guards at the door opened it for her.

Shortly after she left, Aldrich muttered an excuse and left the room as well.

He looked at Andon then.

"What a lost soul the poor boy is." Redmare murmured.

The audacity they had...

He couldn’t help wondering if Claire and Aldrich were together. They probably were, the young man had been staring at her all through.

Plumette began speaking about something, but he was barely listening.

He was straining to hear whatever was going on outside the room.

"I’ve never seen a council filled with boys in shorts. Tell me why out of everything that’s on the agenda to be discussed has been ignored in preference to maids’ gossip? Slander can be considered as treason against the King - depending on the degree."

"And who are you to speak at this table?"

Andon leaned forward.

Just when Yeren thought he’d say something, he took a swig of his wine without taking his eyes off Redmare.

Redmare had become bold since Moonstone was dismissed, Yeren noticed.

Letters passed around the table. Wedding invitations, complaints of rogues...

His gaze slid over the carefully written lines.

They all said the same things to him - he was expected to do something.

He was sure an hour had passed when she returned to the room. Aldrich was at her heels, looking better than he’d been before.

Then he touched her shoulder in front of them. The familiarity of the touch made him shift in his seat.

Andon was grinning - the observant idiot.

"We’ll speak again." He told her.

Oh? Speak again? Not if she’s serving wine in his chambers for the rest of the day, he mused.

Colour creeped up her cheeks. Her shoulders were relaxed. She even leaned against his chair slightly.

If she was not careful, she could fall in his lap..., he was thinking when Andon tapped him.

"You’re being spoken to, Your Grace."

He looked up.

Plumette was speaking about the blood moon and the rogues. He agreed it would be a rough and dangerous night. And a very long one.

Why did he have to have his mating ceremony on the same day?

"They may attack our gathering. We have to call in our reinforcements for protection. I cannot lower myself by battling with filthy rogues. They can’t be reasoned with on a normal day, not to talk of when they’re under the blood moon."

Yeren nodded.

"You’re an Alpha, aren’t you? You are free to stay in your house and hide beneath your bed if you’re afraid."

Plumette’s lips thinned. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Your Grace, you are beginning to become wild and unthinking. Pardon me for saying that the Stenly girl is a terrible influence on you, just like her father was. You used to listen to our counsel once upon a time."

Once upon a time.

That was when he was still trying to find his footing after the death of his father. And it was their counsel that made him strip the Stenly family of everything except their name.

Not anymore, he took a swig

of his drink.

"She’s a much better influence than any of you could ever be."