Blood of the Wolf: The Crown (Mackenzie Grey Book 11) by Karina Espinosa (best ebook reader under 100 .txt) 📕

at me, and I heard gasps follow me across the room. I ignored them as I confidently made my way to the throne and took my seat. They followed suit with stunned faces, but no one said a word.

“What have you learned about Abaddon?” I asked the Summit members. That was what I’d tasked them to do at our last meeting—find out as much as they could about the demon. Unfortunately, only a couple days had passed since our last meeting, but I was desperate.

“Your Majesty?” Stefan, the German alpha interrupted. “What happened to your nose?”

I locked my jaw and gritted my teeth. Of course, he would ask me directly. He was the one who’d pointed out I was replaceable.

Before I could answer, Lucas added, “We were briefed that the demon had taken King Alexander. Is he okay? Is that why you’re hurt?”

I took in a deep breath before answering. “Yes, Abaddon took Alexander, and during my rescue attempt, he broke my nose. But everything is okay, so let’s not worry about it—”

“Why haven’t you shifted?” Grayson asked, raising a brow as he asked the most obvious question, a speculative glint in his eye.

“I … I haven’t had time,” I managed. “As you can probably imagine, I’m extremely busy and getting five minutes of free time is a luxury. Anyway, it’s just a broken nose; I think I’ll survive. If we shift over every cut and bruise, then it’ll just get ridiculous.” I shrugged.

“Right …” Grayson murmured, but I could tell my story wasn’t believable.

“Now that we’re done talking about my beauty, can you tell me what you’ve learned about Abaddon?” I urged.

“Right!” Lucas straightened, forgetting completely about my nose. He was easy to distract. Grayson, on the other hand … I could see the wheels still spinning in his head. “We haven’t found much about him, Your Majesty. We learned he is a Prince of the Underworld—”

“What does that mean?” I interrupted.

“He’s in charge of a certain sector of the Underworld. He’s its ruler,” Charles answered. “From what we gathered, he’s trying to amass power. For what, we don’t know.”

I rested my elbow on the throne’s arm rest and rubbed my chin as I thought about the implications. What power could the baby give him in the Underworld? Hmm … Fae and lycan blood. None of it was making sense just yet, and I knew I was still missing a crucial element to tie things together. And now he was asking for just a sliver of the baby’s soul, which might mean he was in a rush and didn’t want to wait until the baby was born. What the hell was that demon trying to do?

“There’s a connection between Abaddon and the fae,” I threw them a bone. “Find it.”

“Really?” Lucas exclaimed as he leaned forward.

“I’m almost positive,” I said.

“That would make the fae our enemy again,” Grayson said. “It just goes to show we should never have trusted them.”

I held up a finger. “Hold it. Don’t get ahead of yourself. I said there’s a connection with the fae, not that the fae were in cahoots with Abaddon. Don’t condemn a whole species for the actions of a few.” I had to be careful how I worded things. Especially with this crowd.

“You’re taking their side because you’re friends with them. You can’t even see them for what they are!” Charles scoffed.

I rolled my eyes. “Just because you have no friends doesn’t mean you have to be bitter, Charles.” I smiled brightly and turned to the others. “I think Abaddon wants something from the fae. That’s what I mean by a connection.”

“Information on the demon is scarce, Your Majesty,” Stefan explained. “To get the information you seek, we would have to approach the fae.”

If a few of the bolder Summit members decided to ask the fae for help, I ran the risk of one of the fae telling them about the baby. I didn’t think Angus would do that, but I wasn’t sure. In any event, we needed information and I had to take the risk. Maybe the Summit would be able to achieve what I couldn’t.

I nodded. “Approach the fae, but be careful not to make deals with them,” I warned. “Now, if there are no more issues we need to discuss, we can adjourn this meeting—”

“Let’s end the meeting early so you can go shift, Your Majesty,” Grayson insisted.

“I—”

“Ye have another meeting in two minutes, Yer Majesty,” Liam interrupted. I looked over at the guard in surprise and he bowed slightly, a small smile playing on his lips.

I turned my attention back to Grayson and shrugged. “Guess I don’t have the time. Sorry.”

I stood and my guards escorted me from the throne room, leaving the Summits behind. When we were far away from the throne room, I turned to Liam and mouthed Thank you. I wasn’t sure what made him rescue me from that situation, but I appreciated it.

“Hey, Liam?” I motioned to the guard. “I can’t really step out of the castle looking like this, so can you send a messenger into the village and ask Cosima to pay me a visit, please?”

“Aye, Yer Majesty.” He bowed and left to carry out his duty.

My other guards escorted me to my office, where I found Ranulf waiting for me. I walked to my desk, ready to sit down again after only a short walk, and found a jug of water waiting for me. Geez, I could take the hint already.

“How are ye feeling today, Yer Majesty?” Ranulf asked as he took the chair across from me.

“Like I got a botched nose job.” I pointed to my face. “What do you think?”

Ranulf coughed to hide his laugh. “It’s nae so bad, Yer Majesty. It’ll heal soon.”

“Right … Anyway, how’s Alexander?” I asked. I hadn’t seen him since last night’s dinner.

“He’s doing well. Resting today, as ye should be,” he reprimanded me.

“Ain’t no rest for the wicked!” I winked. “Besides, I have Cosima working on something that might prevent Abaddon