Eliora blinked, "No. Why… why here? I was fine in the other room."
Zarek's eyes flash red for a heartbeat.
"You belong with me. Not away from me. I can't ignore the bond anymore."
He leaned closer, voice low, almost ragged. "I need you close. Or I won't survive this."
She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off.
"Eliora. You stay."
He looked at her like she was the only thing keeping him sane. Then, as quickly as it came, that softness vanished. His expression locked into the cold, unreadable mask of the beast king.
Without another word, without a glance back, he rose, turned and walked out, like he hadn't been gentle with her minutes ago. Like she hadn't felt him trembling from the bond.
The door closed behind him with a click.
Zarek stepped into the corridor and nearly collided with Maelina and Aldric. The commander was still bleeding through hastily wrapped bandages.
"Your Majesty." They bowed.
Aldric straightened. "Is she okay?"
Zarek's eyes snapped to him, glowing faintly red. The growl that tore from his chest was dark and territorial.
Maelina shot Aldric a look immediately. "Aldric, stop. He doesn't like your concern for her. The beast is still very close."
Aldric shut his mouth.
She continued, "The council is requesting an audience with you. Immediately."
Aldric exhaled and added, "And… they all know now. Everyone saw what happened on the training grounds. They know she is human."
Zarek hissed, irritated to his bones. But he didn't speak. He turned and stalked down the hall with Maelina and Aldric falling into step behind him in silence.
.
.
The council chamber roared with angry voices.
One elder snapped, "Who was the fool that suggested summoning the king right after he lost control? Do you want all of us dead?!"
Councilman Eirik lifted his chin stubbornly.
"We needed answers," he argued. "The kingdom needs..."
"Needs?" another barked. "People died today!"
Councilwoman Haleen slammed her palm on the table. "Many are wounded, soldiers, seers. Some won't recover for weeks!"
"And the destruction," someone else added. "Half the palace is gone!"
Murmurs of fear rippled through the group.
Another councilman muttered, "The people are already whispering about the king's uncontrollable rage. If this spreads..."
Eirik cut in sharply, tensed. "But we still need to confirm what everyone witnessed."
He swallowed. "That… that the king's soulmate is human."
The room fell into uneasy silence.
The doors opened.
Zarek entered with Maelina and Aldric at his sides.
Every council member jolted to their feet, bowing deeply, fear immediately swallowing any remaining argument. No one dared make a sound.
Zarek's steps echoed as he approached the pavement, quiet but heavy with authority.
He sat on his throne.
Silent, unblinking, watching them. Waiting for the first fool brave enough to speak.
Eirik swallowed hard, realizing every eye had suddenly turned to him. He hadn't expected to be the first sacrificed.
Still, he stepped forward, voice trembling despite his effort to steady it.
"Y...Your Majesty… we merely wished to confirm if the rumors spreading through the palace hold truth."
Zarek's gaze didn't flicker.
Aldric shifted as if ready to intervene if needed while Maelina closed her eyes briefly, silently praying for Eirik's survival.
Another council member cleared his throat shakily. "W...We mean no disrespect, My King. But… what was witnessed on the training grounds..."
"Was beyond anything we have ever seen," another added quickly. "Your Majesty tore through enchanted defenses. The seers...many collapsed. The soldiers..."
Zarek's jaw tightened.
The councilman immediately shut up.
Eirik stepped forward again, exhaling shakily. "Your Majesty, the matter of your soulmate…"
He hesitated.
"The girl, she is… human?"
The room held its breath.
Zarek leaned back slowly on the throne, his fingers curling over the armrest.
His eyes, now gold, swept across their terrified faces.
A long silence stretched.
Then, he answered, "Yes."
Several council members flinched.
Eirik tried again.
"But My King, humans and beasts have never..."
Zarek cut him a warning glare, and he went silent instantly.
A braver or more foolish elder stepped forward. "Your Majesty, her being human raises… complications. Conflicts. Fears. The nobles..."
"Will fall in line," Maelina responded.
The elder shut his mouth.
The council chamber buzzed with whispers until Eirik slammed his palm onto the table.
"This is unacceptable!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "A human cannot possibly be our queen!"
The room went dead silent. All eyes flicked to Zarek.
The king didn't stand, didn't move, didn't speak.
He simply watched Eirik with a deadpan expression which somehow made the councilman even bolder.
Another councilman, old and bitter, nodded quickly.
"I agree. It's madness. We would be the laughingstock of every beast."
"And what happens when she dies?" someone else added nervously. "Humans are mortal. Fragile. Weak."
Eirik straightened, confidence growing.
"Exactly. How can such a creature rule us?"
Zarek's jaw flexed once. Still silent.
Eirik took it again as encouragement.
"Perhaps," he continued, lifting his chin, "this bond is a mistake. Fate has faltered."
A sharp gasp echoed from the room.
Questioning fate was dangerous.
Maelina stepped forward, eyes blazing.
"There has never been a mistake in a fated bond," she snapped. "And I warned you all, the seventh bond would be different. Unprecedented. Sacred."
Eirik scoffed. "Different? Sacred? It is nonsense. How could a human," he practically spat the word, "rule us? Cure him? She would break under the pressure of a single season."
Councilwoman Haleen rose gracefully from her seat. "Yet the human girl," she said coolly, "was able to calm the king's beast today."
She turned, meeting each pair of eyes.
"No one has ever done that. Not High Seer Maelina. Not Commander Aldric. Not the generals. Not even pooled efforts of the royal seers."
A few council members murmured in reluctant agreement.
"It is true," someone said. "She soothed him instantly."
But not everyone was convinced.
A stout, round-bodied councilman shook his head. "Perhaps the seventh bond was not meant for ruling," he suggested cautiously. "Perhaps it exists only to cure the king's curse… and satisfy his emotional and... physical needs."
Another councilman leaned forward, eager to add fuel. "A wise arrangement could be made, perharps His Majesty takes a proper beast woman as queen, while keeping the human girl by his..."
He didn't finish.
Zarek didn't rise. He simply lifted his hand slightly off the throne's armrest.
The councilman's body jerked violently into the air, lifted by an invisible force, clutching at his throat as invisible claws closed around it.
His feet kicked helplessly. His eyes bulged. He choked, gasping and wheezing.
Not a single person moved to help him. Not one dared.
Zarek watched him struggle for several long, suffocating seconds. Then the king's fingers curled.
The man dropped. Unconscious. Unmoving.
Silence fell like a graveyard. Zarek lowered his hand lazily.
His cold eyes surveyed the trembling council. "Who else still has something to say?" he asked softly.
Chairs scraped back as every council member bowed deeply. No one dared breathe too loudly.
Zarek rose from the throne at last. "You will remember this, I will make only my soulmate queen. No other."
He let that sink in, "And do not forget," he added, his gaze cutting to Eirik,
"the seer already declared the truth."
A pause.
"I can only sire children through her."
Eirik's face went ashen. Several council members swallowed hard, realizing what that meant.
Zarek stepped down from the throne, his presence crushing the air.
"That will be your last complaint," he warned, "or your last breath, and you will not summon me again," he finished coldly, "unless the kingdom is burning."
Then he turned and walked out, leaving the council shaking, silent, and very aware that the Beast King's human soulmate was not just a possibility, she was their reality.