Chapter 64: The Rogue King

Roiner

The bitter, sharp aroma of roasted coffee beans drifted from the porcelain cup Roiner held delicately between his pale, clawed fingers. He blew gently across the dark liquid, watching the steam curl up toward the high, gilded ceiling of the estate’s private tea room.

Roiner sat back in the plush velvet armchair, his long legs crossed, looking the picture of unbothered aristocratic grace. But beneath his cold, flawless facade, his vampire senses were tuned to absolute perfection. He could hear every single beat of the house guards’ hearts down the corridor, smell the faint iron underlying their shifter blood, and feel the subtle vibrations of footsteps approaching the heavy double doors.

The Lakan Pack was an ancient, notoriously proud faction of High Lycans residing in the eastern territory. For decades, they had been a formidable pillar of strength for the realm and a fierce, unyielding refuser of the Crown’s movement. While other packs had hesitantly fallen into line with the newly finalized Nobles-in-Waiting initiative, the Lakan Pack had openly spat upon it. For the past week, their propaganda had leaked onto the streets, spreading fascist, purest agendas against integrating rogues into society.

The three Kings back at the capital had grown thoroughly convinced that Alpha Kola of the Lakan Pack was no longer merely a stubborn politician. He was a spy, an insider spreading poison for an underground treasonous organization.

And so, the Crown had sent their most lethal weapon to silence him.

The heavy mahogany door swung open with a soft creak.

Alpha Kola strode into the sunlit room, his broad shoulders squared, his golden wolf eyes flashing with a terrible, forced warmth. "Oh, Roiner! What a wonderful thing to see you here!"

I know you’re lying, Roiner thought coldly, his crimson eyes locking onto the man’s throat, watching the fast, nervous pulse jumping beneath the wolf’s skin. I know you are lying. Come on now... spare me the agonizing theatricals.

On the outside, Roiner forced a smooth, impeccably polite smile onto his pale lips, setting his coffee cup down on the glass tabletop with a faint clink.

"Yes, Alpha Kola," Roiner purred, his voice dropping into that smooth, velvety tone that had terrified generations of shifters. "It is wonderful... wonderful to see you."

Alpha Kola let out a booming laugh, crossing the room and lowering his massive frame into the armchair opposite Roiner. He reached for a silver teapot sitting on the tray, pouring himself a hot cup of black tea.

"The last time I saw you was when I was still a young pup at the academy," Kola remarked, taking a small sip of the steaming tea. "You have not changed at all since I last saw you. Still have that exact same unreadable expression on your face, Headmaster."

Roiner tilted his head slightly, a faint, predatory gleam touching his red eyes. "Well... that is the lovely benefit of being a vampire, is it not? We simply do not age."

Kola set his teacup back down onto its saucer, leaning forward, his eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit, Headmaster? Is it anything from the Crown, perhaps? Or... is my daughter being a terrible person back at the academy? She was quite the handful before we shipped her off."

"No, no, no," Roiner replied smoothly, reaching into the inner breast pocket of his tailored dark jacket. "This is not a matter about your daughter. This is a matter about you... a direct message from the Crown."

Roiner produced a thick, parchment envelope sealed with the dark crimson wax of the Royal Imperial Crest. He casually slid it across the polished glass table, letting it come to a stop right beside Kola’s teacup.

"To save us both the agonizing time of you reading through all that official royal jargon," Roiner spoke, resting his chin gracefully on his laced fingers, "I will summarize it simply for you. The Crown wants you to stop spreading your blasphemous agendas to the temple and the common people against the Nobles-in-Waiting initiative."

Kola stared down at the royal seal, his jaw clenching tightly. He slowly shook his head. "I can’t do that, Roiner. The Nobles-in-Waiting initiative... yes, it sounds like a grand, peaceful regime on paper. But to mix dirty, wild commoners and rogues with noble bloodlines? It is a absolute recipe for disaster!"

"Oh, really?" Roiner asked, his voice dripping with mild, dangerous mock curiosity.

"Yes!" Kola insisted, leaning forward and slamming his hand onto the arm of his chair.

Roiner leaned back, crossing his arms. "Then tell me, Kola... what is your grand solution to the rogue problem? If we do not integrate them, what do you propose we do with thousands of desperate, bloodthirsty beasts roaming our borders?"

Kola took another long sip of his tea, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, easy! I believe that the rogues should simply be given their own official land to call their own! Separate them from us entirely!"

Roiner couldn’t help the dry, quiet laugh that escaped his throat. He shook his head slowly, staring at the Alpha as if he were a naive child. "Come on, Kola... you know as well as I do that rogues do not stay on land given to them. Hence why they are called rogues." ℯℯ𝑙.

"No, no, no!" Kola urged frantically, his golden eyes wide. "Things are completely different this time, Roiner! The rogues aren’t just senseless beasts anymore! They have a Rogue King now! A single, supreme leader who watches over all of them! If we just supply them with official territory, then all of this violence will be completely different!"

Rogue King.

The words rang in Roiner’s mind like a loud, deafening alarm bell. His red eyes flared with a sudden, lethal intensity.

Roiner slowly held up a pale, clawed hand, silencing the man instantly. "Hold up, Kola. Do you even realize what you are speaking of right now?"

Kola blinked, stiffening in his seat.

"Another ’King’ besides the three crowned sovereigns of this realm is an open uprising," Roiner stated, his voice dropping into a chilling, razor-sharp whisper that froze the air in the room. "It is high treason. Was this ’Rogue King’ appointed by the Moon Goddess herself? If not... then you giving them land is suggesting absolute treason against the Crown."

Kola stood up abruptly from his chair, his hands trembling as he stared down at the vampire. "I know, I know! But hear me out, Roiner! I know you have always been an open-minded man! You... this Rogue King... I have met him!"

Roiner froze. His crimson eyes narrowed into deadly slits.

"Wait," Roiner whispered, leaning forward as the realization slammed into his mind. "You are an actual traitor to the realm, aren’t you, Kola?"

"I am no traitor!" Kola shouted defensive, waving his hands. "I am just saying that I have personally met this Rogue King, and we do not want to fight a war with him! Just give him the land, Roiner! Just give him the land and let him rule his own people!"

"We cannot do that," Roiner answered flatly. "And we never will."

Kola sneered, his tone turning bitter and frantic. "Your stupid Nobles-in-Waiting initiative won’t even work anyway! The Rogue King will never allow it!"

Fascinating, Roiner thought internally, his ancient mind calculating every single detail with cold, lethal precision. As much as I desperately want to rip this traitor’s throat out right now and end his insufferable noise... it does not make sense for me to silence him when he is so willingly spilling every secret he possesses.

Roiner’s gaze flicked down to Kola’s half-empty teacup.

I just hope the nightshade poison I laced his tea with earlier doesn’t take effect before I have gotten every last drop of information out of his treacherous mouth, Roiner prayed silently. Lacing the teapot prior to Kola’s arrival had seemed far cleaner and simpler than violently slaughtering the man in his own home, but now, time was ticking.

Roiner stepped forward, taking a slow, deliberate step toward the agitated Alpha. "How do you know this Rogue King, Kola? Answer me."

Kola swallowed hard, rubbing the back of his neck as sweat began to bead on his forehead. "I... I went on an expedition. A hunting trip... a long time ago. About six years ago." He took a ragged breath, pacing back and forth. "During that hunt, I got hopelessly lost in the deep Western Woods. And in those woods... that was when I was saved by the Rogue King himself."

Roiner listened intently, his expression unreadable.

"At the time," Kola continued, his voice strain mounting, "because I was so profoundly grateful for having my life spared, the Rogue King made me his little spy inside the realm. He ordered me to spy on kingdom matters... to try and shift political agendas and relay everything back to him."

Kola paused, wheezing slightly as he clutched at his chest. "I relayed everything back to him regarding the Nobles-in-Waiting initiative... and things are not looking good on the Rogue King’s side. For some reason... he does not want this integration to happen at all! I personally thought giving rogues a chance to enter society again would be good for everyone, but the Rogue King refused. Instead... he was willing to go for a far more extreme idea."

Roiner raised a single dark eyebrow. "Oh? And what extreme idea would that be?"

"He wants one of the rogues to marry someone directly in the royal family," Kola wheezed out.

Roiner let out a dark, mocking laugh, shaking his head in absolute disdain. "Why on earth would the Kings ever agree to such a ludicrous demand?! Would that not legitimately legitimize the entire rule of this pathetic Rogue King?!"

"It would!" Kola choked out, his eyes turning bloodshot. "And that... that is precisely why he wants it!"

"Well, I don’t understand why you are so utterly gullible, Kola," Roiner sneered, stepping right into the man’s space. "It is never going to happen. This Rogue King will be thoroughly undone. We will bring him down, along with whatever pathetic little filth he calls a kingdom. And his rogues will never marry into the royal family. Never."

Kola gasped, stumbling backward against the edge of the glass table. "Do... do not be so confident, Roiner!" he wheezed, his fingers clawing frantically at his throat. "Even you... even you know the matters of this world are all but an odd one!"

"Oh, yes," Roiner whispered softly, watching the man’s face turn a sickening, dark purple. "I know they are but an odd one, indeed."

Kola clutched his neck desperately as his windpipe began to violently tighten. His chest heaved in ragged, useless hitches, his oxygen rapidly vanishing. "Wait... excuse me... I... I can’t... breathe..."

With a heavy, pathetic thud, Alpha Kola collapsed onto the hard hardwood floor, writhing in silent, agonizing convulsions at Roiner’s feet.

Roiner stood over the dying traitor, looking down into his wide, terrified eyes with cold, unfeeling red gaze.

"I poisoned your tea," Roiner stated plainly, his voice devoid of a single drop of mercy. "This is the absolute end for you, Kola. Of course... I didn’t want you dead quite this quickly. I wanted far more information out of your pathetic mouth, seeing as you were holding a mountain of secrets. But... thank you for telling me about this Rogue King."

Roiner crouched down, leaning close to the dying man’s ear.

"I will make it my absolute personal point," Roiner whispered lethally, "to wipe him and his entire bloodline from the face of this world."

Kola’s trembling hand reached up, weakly clawing at Roiner’s dark coat, blood trickling from the corner of his lips. "The... the Rogue King... will win..." Kola choked out with his final, dying breath. "He will marry... and his rule... will be legitimized... He is strong, Roiner... He is really... really strong..."

Alpha Kola’s eyes rolled back into his head, his hand dropping limp onto the floor as his heart gave its final, silent beat.

Roiner stood up smoothly, dusting off his tailored jacket without a second glance at the corpse at his feet. He turned toward the window, looking out over the distant horizon toward the direction of Moonside Academy.

"I am strong," Roiner murmured softly into the quiet, blood-stained room, his crimson eyes glowing with ancient, terrifying power. "I am really... really strong as well."