Dawn of Cobalt Shadows (Burning Empire Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best e ink reader for manga .txt) 📕

his advisors that he didn’t want to do this anymore? A hundred? A thousand? This was one thing they refused to budge on, saying it was the most important part of building trust around him.

The people were still timid around their new dragon king. The man in front of him was gritting his teeth so hard Nadir was certain he’d hear a crack soon. His wife was quaking as she stood next to him.

“What is your complaint?” Nadir asked.

“My wife, sir. The child she birthed is clearly not mine.” He nudged his wife hard, shoving at her shoulder until she opened her arms and revealed a small, dark child in her grip. It clearly wasn’t the man’s child. He was fairer than most of the Bymerians, but what did that matter?

Abdul leaned down and whispered in his ear, “A punishment for such transgressions is normal, Sultan. The woman clearly strayed from her marriage bonds.”

“Is it really all that important?” Nadir looked up at his advisor, fire burning in his gaze. “How much does that matter to a sultan running his lands?”

Without waiting for his advisor’s thoughts, he looked back at the couple. “I cannot help you with your personal lives. This is something you and your wife need to discuss.” He almost stopped speaking there, but something burned in his chest still. “That child was born into your arms. Father falls from its lips in reference to you and you alone. That is not something you should take so lightly. As your Sultan, I urge you to take the baby as your own and ignore the transgression. The child is innocent, your wife…” He looked at the woman. “Why did you stray?”

She shivered again, holding the baby to her chest with a gentle hold Nadir admired. “Not willingly, Sultan.”

Rage burned so hot that he knew his eyes would change. The man stared at him, jaw agape. A dragon looked back at him, his anger heating the air. “Tell my personal guards who attacked you, dear one. Every detail you can remember. No one should touch a woman without her consent.”

The woman nodded, seemingly dazed as one of his own guards stepped down from the podium and reached out for her elbow. She drifted from the hall, leaving her husband alone and defiantly staring at his sultan.

“It doesn’t change anything,” the man grunted. “She still strayed. That child isn’t mine, and I have enough mouths to feed.”

“Then you shall not have one more.” It took everything Nadir had not to eat the man. The desire to feel his bones crunching beneath his teeth was so strong that he had to grip the arms of the throne not to launch forward. He glared toward his concubines and nodded at one. “See that the woman and child have a place to rest.”

He didn’t have to say it again. The beautiful flowers of his concubines immediately stood, and raced in the direction the woman had fled.

Again, he felt the ghost of Sigrid. She would have smiled at his actions here. Perhaps even squeezed his fingers to let him know she had approved. No one else would have known she had liked his choice, of course. She wouldn’t have let anyone realize that.

Yet, he would have known. He had always felt her happiness like a touch upon his body.

The man before him spluttered, shouting curses at the sultan and immediately removed from the hall by guards who had stepped forward. The man would never see his wife again. In Nadir’s opinion, it wasn’t a great loss for the woman who had suffered so much. She’d be happy here. He’d make her a concubine, in name only, and ensure that her life was comfortable and her child well taken care of.

Such things meant more than a husband.

Abdul leaned down and hissed, “She likely has more children with the man, you fool. What will those children suffer now?”

He couldn’t stand to listen to the poison in Abdul’s voice. Instead, Nadir flagged down one of his guards to lean down. As soon as the man was close enough, he said, “Find the rest of the children. Ask around and see if this man is as violent with his offspring as he is with his wife. If the neighbors are suspicious, take the children back here with you.”

The guard straightened and immediately left with two other men.

A scoff echoed beside him. “Do you think this will win you the love of your people? You said it yourself, interfering with their personal lives is not your priority.”

“No, I don’t think it’s going to win me that man’s support. I think those children will be safer and happier here. It is worth the sacrifice of one person’s opinion.”

He needed to get out of this room. He could hardly breathe while Abdul stared him down, the rest of the advisors murmured among themselves, even the other peasants were talking. His actions were just, he knew that. Their approval was unnecessary when his gut told him it was the right thing to do.

Then why couldn’t he breathe anymore?

They were staring at him with judgement in their eyes, he knew it. How could they not? Their sultan had been a selfish, vain man with nothing more than a few years of experience and a lot of people pulling his strings like a puppet. Having him change so much was bound to confuse them.

Everything made him uncomfortable these days. His palms grew sweaty just meeting the eyes of his people, even one person. His heart beat faster at the thought of their opinions. A mere hint of someone else’s opinions gave him cold chills over his body.

Was there something wrong with him? He’d always wondered it, but hadn’t realized how bad the state of his mind was until he had taken the reins of his own life. Nadir didn’t know how to live. How to love. How to do anything other than look to another person to make decisions for him.

He stilled his bouncing leg,