King Jero was, at the moment, trying to figure out how to sneak out of his own kingdom with a small retinue of close attendants and guards.
He stood by the window of the throne room in his resplendent kingly robes of deep purple, his clear blue eyes looking out at a dozen guards standing in formation.
Their job was to keep people from wandering too close to the legislative area where he and his attendants and advisors came and went.
It also effectively kept him from leaving since they would take note of his passage and send people after him—the damned bastards.
With a sigh, he ruffled his long dark brown hair with frustrated fingers and gave a low growl of displeasure.
Blasted guards and attendants. Cursed advisors. They were everywhere!
He could, of course, simply morph into his werelion self and hulk off into the night. Nobody would be any wiser and he could stealth move across the wilderness without too much effort.
For a moment, King Jero gave it serious consideration as he pursed his lips and tried to figure out how he could carry it off. But then he shook his head and sighed with resignation.
Unfortunately, he would be completely naked and without attendants or guards when he got to his final destination. How kingly would that be?
In the case of Faria, there was no way he could arrive without his battalion of warriors and a huge showing of strength.
He didn't want his newfound daughter to be embarrassed to be seen with a father who was looking all raggedy and smelling of funk and beastly sweat from having run through rough terrain for the better part of a day and night.
Worse yet. How would Sibyl feel to see him in such a state after so many years? If she hadn't already been turned off by him after all these years, that would surely clinch the deal.
Unfortunately, it was looking more and more as if he would really have to sneak away. It was too difficult for him to get away from the palace without well-intentioned advisors throttling his attempts left and right.
King Jero sighed again. He didn't want to be like his father, a hard cruel dictator.
He had tried all these years to be a benevolent monarch, and for the most part, it worked quite well. The kingdom was prosperous and there was very little that did not run well.
However, he really wanted to see his children and his mate. No matter how much work there was to be done, it was all done so that his family would have a decent place to live.
He could not allow work to prevent him from seeing his family. What was the point in having a family then?
Old longings surfaced as he thought about the one woman that he had loved and lost.
The years never did erase any of his feelings for her. It merely blunted them a bit, but that was only if he didn't think about her and focused on work.
"What are you doing?"
One of his oldest advisors, Jasper Collins called out as he caught sight of King Jero peeking out the window.
King Jero shot the man with the signature wavy greying mane a menacing look.
"What do you think I'm doing?"
The dang blasted man was coming around yet again with another stack of documents for him to look at.
"I hear one of your daughter has finally returned to this realm." Jasper placed the stack of documents onto the king's work table.
"Yes." Jero returned to the work table and stared at his stack of work with weary eyes.
"What will you do?" Jasper glanced at the King with shifting eyes.
"I have contacted King Cedric of Faria that I will be journeying there to visit my family." Jero looked up with conviction. "I am waiting for their response."
Jasper grimaced. "They are your children. They should visit you, not the other way around."
King Jero shot back a baleful look.
"I am their father. I should reach out to them first so they know that I do care about them."
"Then reach out to them by sending them a carriage so they can come visit you. We need you here to take care of running the kingdom."
King Jero said nothing for a moment.
Suddenly, in one smooth motion, he swept all of the documents onto the floor.
CRASH!!!
"Jero!" Old Jasper hissed with shock. "What are you doing?"
"Something I should have done twenty three years ago. I'm going to go see Sibyl."
King Jero slammed his fist to the table.
THUMP!!!
"I am not going to make the same mistake that I made when I first heard the news I was going to be Talia's father."
Jasper stood facing the king of Betaluse, his grey eyes meeting Jero's blue eyes with matching force.
"Send an envoy to take care of the details. You are needed here to handle the critical details of running this kingdom!"
"Seeing my son and daughter and Sibyl ARE critical things!" Jero insisted.
"This is most certainly not the best of times, Jero. You know that."
"Nevertheless, I am going." He threw back without hesitation. "My mind is made up."
Jasper sighed. "Why are you acting like a spoiled kid? Be reasonable."
"You want to see me act like an adult? Here goes."
He called out to the attendants nearby.
"You. Hold all my appointments. Freeze all my work. I am going to leave today for Faria."
"Yes Your Majesty."
Jero pointed at one of his personal attendants.
"Gunter, pack my things and get me a royal guard retinue. We are leaving in two hours."
"Yes Sir." The attendant named Gunter bowed and left to take care of the details.
"Wait! Hold on!" Jasper exclaimed. "You cannot leave right now. There are too many things to do!"
"Watch me."
King Jero unclasped the gold frogs on his robe, revealing his usual black warrior bodysuit and leather boots. Shrugging off the offending robe, he cast it onto his chair.
"Take a break Jasper. Go home and play with your grandchildren. I'm going on a state visit to see the King of Faria. It's part of my job."
"Fine, you can go, but not right now!"
"If not now, when?"
"Well—"
"And don't you dare say never. Everyone gets breaks now and then. I haven't had one in years."
"You and the Queen just went to—"
"Yes. That was me and the Queen. I want to spend some quality time with Talia, and Tarot." And Sibyl, he added silently to himself.
"But Jero, they are just illegitimate children at best. If you want to spend time with family, spend time with the Crown Prince and his children."
"Who told you they were illegitimate!!!" King Jero hollered and pointed a finger in Jasper's face.
"I'll have you know, I have recorded them into my family registry. They are in the permanent records as Daughter and Son of the Fifth Consort Sibyl."
"Jero, calm down. You cannot claim the woman as your Fifth Consort. She is not married to you—"
"She is my mate!"
"Jero. Be reasonable. Your Queen is your mate! This Sibyl woman is just a fling you had—"
"A twenty-four year relationship with two children is hardly a fling." King Jero scowled. "And besides, the Queen is not my mate. Sibyl is."
Jasper gasped. "But Nora told me that the two of you have been mentally connected since your wedding night!"
King Jero pursed his lips.
"She told you that?" He chuckled. "Well she lied."
"But—but—" Jasper sputtered, not knowing what to say.
He had operated on the long-standing assumption that his niece, Queen Nora had been telling him the truth all this time—that she was the king's true mate and not his other consorts.
For his old friend, King Jasper to tell him that she had lied to him all these years was a catastrophic tragedy that he did not know how to recover from.
"Furthermore!" King Jero continued, slamming another bolt of lightning into the ground with his next words.
"THE ONLY WOMAN I HAVE EVER MARKED HAS BEEN SIBYL BELLADONNA!"