The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 160: Started From The Closet, Now We’re Here

Onyx, blissfully unaware of the political fallout happening around him, was latched onto Fin’s chest with his tail wrapped around Fin’s waist and his wings gripping him for dear life.

He stared at Tiberon, tilting his head in pure curiosity instead of fear.

Tiberon pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine. He can stay." He shot a look at Onyx. "No interruptions."

As soon as Serena sat, Tiberon cut to the chase.

"You both went against my direct orders."

She forgot about that, and she was definitely about to do it again. If he was mad now, he was about to be extremely mad.

"Whose idea was it?" Tiberon asked.

Serena didn’t flinch and answered right away so Elara didn’t have to decide if she would lie for her. "Mine, Your Highness."

"Of course it was," Tiberon remarked. "It’s always your idea."

His eyes moved between them, "Which one of you killed the second in command?"

Serena and Elara glanced at each other.

Elara answered this time. "We were hiding in his closet and he found us, and chased us around his quarters, and a decorative axe fell and decapitated him."

"What kind of person keeps a weapons rack in their bedroom?" she added, which was ironic given that Hale had two.

Gavriel’s hand went up like he was in a classroom. "I have follow-up questions."

Tiberon ignored him.

"Explain," Tiberon said, voice flat. His eyebrows rose an inch and he almost looked curious. But Serena could never tell with him.

Elara straightened like she was giving a deposition. "He chased us around his room. Next thing I know, we were hitting him with pillows from both sides. It was war."

Hale opened his mouth, thought better of it, and closed it again. Then looked at the ceiling.

Gavriel was vibrating. "You pillow-fought to death?"

"The pillows didn’t kill him," Serena said. "The axe killed him."

"Right, the decorative axe that fell off the weapons rack that shouldn’t have been in a bedroom."

"Exactly."

Fin, who had been silent this entire time, was looking at Serena with the expression of a man who knew exactly how close they had come to dying in that room.

"You then decided it was a grand idea to bring it to the throne room," Tiberon stated.

"Yes. It was weird," Elara answered. "Serena made me do it."

Serena shot her a look. "I did not. That was mutual. And you want to talk about weird. I wasn’t the one going through his makeup."

Elara shrugged. "He had a lot of makeup. Something I wasn’t expecting. And I was only in there because you screamed for two minutes straight when it happened. Sorry if I needed a break from that."

"I screamed because it landed in my lap. And you were screaming too," Serena shot back.

"I didn’t say I wasn’t. A head landed in your lap and you let it stay there," Elara said. "Says a lot about you."

"Excuse me. You are the one who lifted it by its hair and threw it," Serena said flatly.

"Exactly. And who pulled you out of the way before the body landed on you too?"

Serena rolled her eyes. "You did, Elara."

"And who got the head from under the bed after you kicked it under there?"

"You did."

"And who helped you put it in the box?"

"After you disappeared in his bathing chambers for twenty minutes and put on his makeup."

"And who cleaned off the blood that splattered all over you?"

Tiberon cut off this exchange unamused. "I’ve heard enough."

"You infiltrated enemy territory without authorization, killed their second in command with a wall decoration, and delivered his head to their high general like a gift." His eyes moved between them. "And your primary concern is who screamed louder."

Neither of them had a response to that.

Tiberon’s eyes shot to Serena. "And then you kicked the head into the arms of the high general."

"That part was an accident."

"You expect me to believe, somehow, a head was decapitated by a decorative axe. And you accidentally kicked it. Perfect aim, into the arms of the High General."

"Yes," Serena and Elara answered at the same time.

Gavriel leaned back in his chair. "I’m sorry, go back. The axe fell off the wall and decapitated him. That’s the version we’re going with?"

"It’s true," Elara confirmed.

Gavriel looked at Hale. Hale shrugged.

"For future reference, killing the second in command in an enemy territory is a declaration of war. Even if they hold hostages. Just so you’re aware." Tiberon’s voice was bone dry. "You are fortunate that their high general interpreted a severed head as a threat rather than an insult. Because it could have gone either way."

"To be fair, they were already at war with us," Serena commented.

Tiberon looked at her the way you look at a problem you can’t decide whether to punish or promote.

He spoke again, voice dangerous and low. "You also broke into the restricted section again. This is a repeat offense. You both are sentenced to re-cataloguing the Lower Archives. Every scroll, tome, and water-damaged manuscript that hasn’t been touched since my grandfather’s reign."

"I understand," Serena answered. She sighed. She did, and she felt bad about it. She wasn’t a habitual rule breaker. She was a situational one and did what she had to do.

She also had the distinct feeling no one else wanted to do that task, and Tiberon had capitalized on the opportunity.

"Don’t get me started on the second throne room situation I walked into."

Fin’s expression darkened. This was clearly new information.

"Why didn’t you portal back here? And why did you wander around a Fae kingdom by yourself? Did they catch you?" Hyran rattled off questions, appearing to know the answers to all of them before she opened her mouth.

"I didn’t have enough magic left to make a portal again, or I would have." Serena swallowed. "I requested an audience with him directly."

"And a Fae King gave it to you? Just like that," Hyran asked, exasperated.

"Not exactly," Serena answered. "They cuffed me first and would only grant it if I fought his queen. I refused to harm her, but she kept coming for me, so I had to melt the cuffs. And that’s when I felt King Tiberon—"

She cut herself off mid-sentence and shut her eyes, wincing at her own stupidity. Her blood oath activated with startling aggression. Fin and Aeron were not Hidden Flame members, and even though she had channeled to Fin, she couldn’t speak of it.

Elara shifted slightly uncomfortably next to her.

"With the Fae magic, I felt King Tiberon, that is," Serena corrected. Her adrenaline was still high, but her blood oath was no longer warning, so that seemed to have worked to calm it.

"You realize how incredibly lucky you are to have been successful twice in Fae throne rooms. They are known for their tricks," Aeron interjected, ignoring the tension in the room.

The irony wasn’t lost on Serena, that Aeron had made the portal for her to get to the last one.

"Luck doesn’t happen twice. Serena isn’t impulsive, and her approach worked," Elara defended, knowing full well they were winging it when they entered the first one.

Hyran’s expression went from disbelief, to irritation, and ended on something perplexed. He took a breath of patience, keeping his voice calm. "What was your thought process? "

"Give trust to get it," Serena answered. It was a little impulsive, but she wasn’t sorry for it. She’d make that call again if she were in the same spot.

"They didn’t want to harm me. The High King ordered me to battle his Queen, so I would reveal my hand to him, which I was forced to do. But that wasn’t to harm, that was to understand my threat level. And my tactic worked."

"And you know their intent how," Hyran asked after a moment.

"Their magic," Serena said, and her face went red, realizing how it would sound to a mage.

"’Give trust to get it’ is not a strategy. It’s a philosophy. Strategies have contingencies. Yours had hope," Hyran said flatly.

"That might be true, but it outperformed every strategy employed so far," she countered. "I went with my gut instinct in that situation. Sometimes the simplest, most direct path is the optimal one. Even in a game of Orosian throne room chess."

Hyran stared at her for a moment. To the entire room’s surprise she met his gaze right back, not backing down.

"I see your point," he said after a moment. "But you aren’t invincible and you were lucky twice. That doesn’t change the fact."

"Understood," Serena responded.

"Very well. You two are dismissed," Tiberon said.

Serena and Elara didn’t argue and stood. They were the Beta Luna and the future Luna Queen, and they were being treated like misbehaving children.

Elara mindlinked as they were getting up, unaware it wasn’t private. Gav, Hale, and Tiberon could absolutely hear.

Elara: You weren’t quiet today. I warned them you have a mouth on you, finally they see what I’m forced to put up with.

Serena: Mirror, meet Elara.

Elara: Oh I am aware I am just as bad. But now they see you are too. Great day for Elara.

Serena didn’t dignify that with a response.

Elara: It’s funny because you’re about to do it again without apology and I’m not letting you go alone. We’ll be doing tax audits for the entire kingdom as punishment.

Hale stiffened in his chair. Neither girl noticed.

Serena’s voice came back dry.

Serena: Understood and agreeing are two different things. He didn’t say don’t do it again.

Elara: They are not going to tell us who they have in custody, or any relevant information. But I am going to get it for us.

Serena: I need to recharge before I can portal.

Gav: You should really make these private.

Neither of them reacted. They walked out of the war room at a pace that could generously be described as "not running."