XXIV
The Kardos Bunch

"What the hell did you just say to me? Did you just say that you are the reason my mother is free?" I ask him, and like the way my anger is linked to my fire, I feel the faintest of sparks at my fingertips. I had learned how to control it better, but that doesn't mean the pent up anger in me has been at all dealt with. I was the first to stand up from the plain and then Jaejin.

"Pluto, listen, I didn't know. I just knew it wasn't fair that she was still in that cage. My father didn't know that Astraea was your mom and this feud-"

"Has continued because of your father." I snap at him and his eyes narrow at me.

"Maybe your bitch-" My hand flies to his throat, I don't choke him but I make sure he feels the warmth of my hand around his throat. That if I wanted, I could light him on fire.

"My mother was an innocent woman. Your grandfather came to her Kingdom and burnt it to pools of Acid, your grandfather tried to kill her mother! I will not let you talk about my mother like that, Jaejin Cha. Both parties are to blame but this feud? It ends with me. I am not the same boy that left Black Soul, four months ago. I am Pluto fucking Kardos." I breathe heavily, my blue eyes looking into his brown. I let go of his neck and he looks at me as if I am somebody new but he should because I am not the shy spoken boy I was before.

"And I promise you, Pluto, this feud will end with us. You have to trust me, Mate." He snaps at me and my lip lifts up in annoyance.

"Let's go inside. We have to meet the family before they drag us in." I mumble and he grabs my wrist, pulling me up against his body before I can walk away from him. He cups my chin in his hand and he nervously licks his bottom lip.

"Don't doubt how far I would go to protect you, Pluto. I am yours." He says and I have to hold myself back from jumping his bones. I only nod and grab his hand, taking him to the castle. We walk through the back door and that's when I see my family. They had dressed down from the meeting outfits. My father was in a white tunic, black slacks, and a small crown to still have some power in a room. My sister wore her fighting leathers, knives and dual swords crossing in a 'x' on her back. Her hair was pulled into a tight donut bun. My brother wears a red tunic with white trousers, a crown atop of his head as well. My mother wears a dress, just not as regal as the dress she will be wearing in a week. It's a cream colored dress with red swirls of embroidery in it. Her hair is now pulled in a low bun though, strands framing her face. She still wears the ruby earrings though.

"Prince Jaejin Cha, this is High General and Princess Nova Kardos." I introduced my Mate to my older sister. She reached her hand out to shake his hand and they both gave a firm shake. I speak in Draconic because that's the only language that connects us all.

"Prince Jaejin in the flesh. It is finally nice to put a face to the obsession of my brother." She smirks and I don't think twice before I'm smacking her in the shoulder which just makes her grin broaden.

"Prince Jaejin Cha, meet Prince Orion Kardos." I introduced my Jaejin to my older brother. Orion shakes his hand and even burns Jaejin a bit because Jaejin jumps back with a hiss under his breath. I curse at Orion and look at Jaejin's hand, it's as if he touched something extremely hot so it won't scar or even bubble but it was a warning.

"You are the Crown Prince. I have only heard talk, Ixen Sventar." Jaejin says with a smirk, dusting off the fake dust off his shoulder. I almost roll my eyes at my Mate but a scoff just leaves my mouth instead at the pettiness of the two Heirs.

"And you must be the Prince who frightened his Mate off. Only talk from what I have heard." Orion smiles back but I know better. Orion is protecting me and so is Nova. They are sizing up my Mate right about now. I'm going to kill them later.

"Okay anyway," I snapped at my two siblings, cursing them out. "Prince Jaejin Cha, this is my father, King Lucijan Kardos." I introduced them both to each other.

"Jaejin Cha in the flesh. You look like your mother." My father muses and Jaejin is the first one to reach out his hand. My father seems wary of it but then looks to me then to him again. He grabs his hand and they both give a firm shake.

"King Lucijan Kardos, I can not say what I have heard of you was so nice." He says and I nearly want to kick the legs out from my Mate for being so truthful. He was right though. Growing up, his father and my father would talk down on the Kardos and Kallis family. It usually was, she's selfish and doesn't care about anybody but her crown. Or it went, Lucijan Kardos is horrible and I hope he rots in hell. Now, I can see the jealousy that was running off their tongues or the blind hatred that Minjun would spout.

"I think you know the reason why, you are a Cha," My father says, sizing him up, "At least I know my son is taken care of, I would not accept anything less if he gets hurt and you do not burn a Kingdom to ashes. You, Cha men, are good at that." My father added and I nearly wanted to hit him as well.

"Aita-" I snap but get interrupted just as I can get the word out. Jae places a hand on my shoulder and he only smiles, another smile that I could stare at all day if he'd let me.

"Maitalea," Jaejin starts and I nearly pale because maitalea is draconei for lover but is what Mates will call each other nowadays,"Your father can tell how he feels about my family. I have heard it my whole life. I have heard about the Ember King, but who has not? Just a friendly reminder, King Kardos, you can not put blame on a child for the mistakes of his father or surely, my grandfather was in the right then?" Some of the words don't translate fully so I repeat it again but in Embery for my father. In Black Soul they speak Zraeg which gladly I am fluent in due to growing up there. I guess I should be glad that I could speak some Embery when I got here in the first place or I would've been screwed. As I repeat those words, they feel like hot ash on my tongue. What kills me is that Jaejin is right, he hasn't done anything wrong, it was his father and his grandfather. My father can't just blame him for who his relatives are. I know he speaks of his grandfather, King Hyunki, trying to kill my grandmother, Queen Elena must've been in the right if we are going to start blaming people for their father's wrongs. King Alexander killed his Mate in front of him, Elena technically had done nothing wrong. She was tied up as well, if anything, she took justice in her own hands that were stained of my great-grandfather's spine.

"But you are associated-"

"Aita," I snapped at him again, "You cannot put blame on Jaejin. You simply cannot. He also has news to share that maybe will get you to take back your words." I tell him in Embery and Jaejin is looking at me as if he doesn't like what I just said but he can't understand me. My mother flanks my father's side, smiling at the both of us. My father seems to relax a tiny bit with my mother at his side.

"Tell me what?" My father asks, still glaring at my beautiful boy who is right beside me.

"Astraea Kardos? Minjun Cha didn't let her go because he had a change of heart, I did, King Kardos." Jaejin says, softly. He knows it's a sensitive topic and so do I. I am holding JJ's hand so tightly I am afraid something is going to happen. He sends a soothing song down the bond that helps me ease up. My father is marching towards us and I stand in front of Jaejin, I wasn't going to let him hurt my Jae.

"Pluto, move. He shouldn't be speaking of things that he doesn't know about, especially of your mother and my Mate." My father's chest is heaving up and down, his eyes wide, and he looks as if he wants to kill the Prince behind me.

"Dad, look at me," I say softly, "It's true. Jaejin would never lie."

"And I will never take a word from him or turn my back on a Cha. I learned my lesson already to not turn your back on a Cha." He snaps and his voice is venomous, a tone of voice that I have never heard leave my father's lips since I got here. I can't blame him. He lost my mother to this Kingdom and I couldn't take that out on him for not trusting Jaejin so easily just yet.

"I can prove it." Jaejin tells my father and this piques my father's interest. I only look at Jaejin and wait for him to prove himself to my whole family, including me. I watch Jaejin pull out a handkerchief that's made of green silk. Inside of it is a wedding ring. It's an emerald cut ruby ring, the band made of gold, and small diamonds to the side of it. My Mate hands out the silk out to Lucijan and my father's eyes tear up, he looks back at my mother who just gives him a silent nod.

"T-This was-"

"Her ceremony ring, I know," Jaejin says quietly, "She told me. My father would always send me down there once a month to speak with her, don't know why, I didn't question him. I first met her when I was 14. She lived in a cellar, but she was never neglected. She was fed twice a day, had her own bed, bathroom, everything that she needed and wanted, she got. She got to leave her cellar twice a day, at dawn, and at midnight. My father just told me that she was here to teach a King a lesson. That his ill feelings of her were very much there, he didn't tell me her name till I was 17. When I finally called her by her name, that's when she opened up to me. She told me of her Mate, her 3 children, and her dragon. It was my once a month with her right before I came, knowing that my father never cared what we talked about and there were no audio cameras in that room, I told her that I was going to let her go as my first duty as the Heir becoming a man. She told me to give this to you, that you wouldn't believe a word from me but you would from her. So when I turned 18, I sent her here. That was me." My father picks up the ring and it's like he can finally breathe again.

"That's why she showed up so late in the year. Your birthday is right before Yule. " Nova says softly and I can't believe it either. I knew Jaejin had Heir duties to attend but that was just cruel.

"How come your still alive? Your father didn't have an ulterior motive to letting you have that decision?" Orion pipes up and my mother seems to frown. She knew. She knew along that he was going to be mine.

"It was my non-veto decision as my first order as becoming an adult and coming closer to my Crown. Trust me, nobody was happy. Once I knew who she was, I didn't want her here any longer than she already was. I knew who Pluto was the moment he left." Jaejin tells me and we are all shell-shocked. We all don't know what to say. My father doesn't say anything for the longest time till Jae speaks up again, "At the Eclia meeting, in two weeks, I am going to ask my father for his blessing and a treaty with the Red Blaze. King, as a Mating Ceremony gift from him. It's about time that this bad blood ends." I translate for Jaejin again and my father is crying at this point, he doesn't try to hide the fact that tears are rolling down his cheeks. All he does instead is hug my Jaejin, his shoulders shaking as he cries. Jaejin hugs him back, and I sniffle. The tears in my eyes are also in my matching brother's blue eyes and my sister's hazel ones. My father pulls away and he grabs the back of Jaejin's neck. My mother just knowingly smiles at Jaejin, she's known my Jaejin the longest other than me. She knows his intentions. She knows his heart nearly as much as I do.

"You have my blessing, Jaejin Cha, you are more than worthy of my son. You are willing to see past the history and see what lies in the present. You are a fine young man." He says softly and Jaejin gives him a soft smile, nodding. My father then leaves the room, still holding onto that ring and I notice that he goes to my old toddler room.

"I never got to thank you for taking care of him, thank you." My mother tells him and he nods. They have an understanding.

"Jae, you never told me about her." I tell him and he nods softly.

"My father threatened to throw you in there if I ever told you or if I refused to see her. Like I said, Pluto, don't question how far I would go to protect you." He tells me and it takes the wind out of my lungs. He always leaves me breathless. I only nod and hold his hand, he gently squeezes my small hand.

"I want to apologize for the both of us then, we are a bit protective over Pluto. I can see why he doesn't shut up about you now." Orion says with a smile and Jaejin only smirks. He's enjoying this, that bastard.

"As long as we are talking about Mates," Jaejin starts with a smirk still on his face, "How is Kiara Naidu doing, Nova?" Nova's eyebrows shoot up and her eyes go wide.

"How the hell do you know that?" She snaps at him and his smirk only broadens into a wide smile. I knew that smile.

"Kiara can't seem to shut up about you it seems."

"Tell me everything about her-" Nova starts but my father is the one to interrupt my very bossy sister.

"Jaejin Cha."

"Yes, King Kardos?"

"We need to send a letter to your father that you made it safely to Bely Glacier, and that you will see him in a week." He explains to Jaejin and he gives him a curt nod in understanding. Jaejin follows my father into the office and I follow JJ. He's quick to write a letter and place it in an envelope. I only hope that Minjun Cha is willing to give his blessing between us and that we can peacefully live but knowing exactly what my life is like, my family's life is like, I am not very hopeful for that outcome. I'm not sure Minjun will sign a treaty as easily as the men in my life think he will. I watch the flick of Jaejin's wrist and the way he bites his lip before he continues to write once again. It's kind of cute how hard he concentrates and I feel someone staring at me, it's my father and he has a knowing smile on his face.

"What?" I ask him.

"Nothing. Nothing. I'm just glad you're getting your happy ending, my Ember." He says with a smile and I smile back. I don't have the heart to tell my father that this isn't a fairy tale and my story is far from over.