Grim didn't rise to the taunt thrown at him, but instead dived into the matter at hand. "I heard a PeaceKeeper found the remains?"
"Yes," Samuel, an older member said with a rustle of his black cloak. Silver, thread vines lined the edges of the garment drawing attention to the red roses the silver threaded through. "Ashes were found outside of Diyu. It looked like three sets."
Grim felt irritation rise and his power begin to seep out. Diyu was only a day away from the castle, barely any time for a reaper. The fact that the culprits of these acts were getting closer to his home did not make him feel well. From what Uriel and their father had told him, almost every province in the Bloodspurn Kingdom had suffered some kind of attack. Yet no one knew who the attackers were or who their victims were. The fact that no one had reported the reapers missing infuriated Grim, and left a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"How many does that make?"
Someone coughed and another council member answered in a soft feminine voice. "Thirty-three, Your Highness."
Grim felt his carefully constructed barriers break and his power saturate the room, until the tapestries swayed gently and the flames within the sconces flickered. Usually he could temper himself, command his power as an extra appendage, but finding out that a huge majority of his citizens had burned alive past the bone and right into ash angered him beyond his control. Someone was sending him a message, testing him as no one had done since the first few Bloodspurn Kings went on a killing rage to ensure their power.
Grim had wanted to be different, set a new example for his people. He didn't want his kingdom to be revered as the fiercest or the bloodiest. War was not his aim, but Grim feared it would be an inevitability. One reaper was bad enough, but thirty-three was a slaughter. Thirty-three was a war.
"We think it is the Castoffs," Sani, the only female reaper on the council said again. She was the only one in the room not wearing the cloak and bones ensemble and dressed in modern clothes. She was also the only member Grim had appointed himself.
He turned to her, staring her straight in the eyes. "But do we know it as a fact?"
She looked down and then cast her eyes around the room at the other council members. "No."
Which brought them all back to square one. Grim also suspected it was the Castoffs, but there were two things wrong with that assumption: one) if it was them, then they would have to go to war and Grim wasn't sure the Bloodspurn Kingdom would win, and two) he was already engaged to the only daughter of the Castoff King. To attack now would be pointless and end in mass casualties and bloodshed. The only reason for their marriage was to avoid that outcome at all costs.
Grim sighed, long and loud as he leaned further back in his chair. "What are our options than?"
The man who had first spoken, lashed out again with vicious, condescending words, "Is that not while you are here, Highness? To provide us with options and to command your loyal servants?"
For years now, Grayson Raeborn had been challenging Grim. From the moment the Bloodspurn King had begun to lose his mind and Grim had taken over, the man had decided he wanted power and control. But everything came with a price.
Raeborn was willing to sacrifice his position, his family, and his own self in his pursuit of power. The man had lived centuries, manipulating which ever king came into power because the former was assassinated or some other thing. Grim knew that the most dangerous job in the Underworld was not of a Collector, Messenger, PeaceKeeper, Council Member, or Guard, it was that of a king. Paws, that's all kings were; discarded as soon as they became inept and replaced with another pawn, by another Council. He had known this since birth, that the monarchy was simply a figure for the people to love and support. Grim knew that the real power lie with the Council of Guardians and the Watchers. His father had accepted it in exchange for having the one thing his heart desired. His father had forsaken his power, so that he could break a rule without consequences.
Grim was not his father and would not make his mistakes. The man would continue to challenge him, continue to needle him until he seceded power and became another figure head. But that was not the person Grim wanted to be. He was going to be king, that had been his birthright always, but he would choose the kind of king he wanted to be.
"You challenge me, Grayson," Grim's words were soft, not a question but neither an accusation. He rose fluidly from his perch. "We are in a time of crisis, and you sit there and play power games.
"Have I not been lient in my response to your attitudes? Have I not been fair?" Grim placed his hands on the back of the other reapers chair and felt Raeborn's power lash out at him like a cornered animal. The temperature in the room dropped, so cold that the council members noticed the frost collecting on their cloaks and the icicles twinkling in the air. "You have tested me for the last time."
Grim's voice boomed with power as he stepped aside then hauled Raeborn's chair back until it slammed against the wall. He was in front of the reaper in a second, hands gripped around the arm rest, body blocking the other reaper in. "
I hereby sentence you to three centuries in the Puluto Desert.
"
The command was absolute, laced with power even a reaper could not escape. It was the power passed down from each Bloodspurn King, absorbed from the ashes of their victims. He didn't use it often, had never used it with a Council member, but than there had never been a point before.
Angry and outraged power flashed out, trying to coil around Grim, but with a single word he suppressed it. "
Stop
."
Fear permeated the council room, thicker than any soup. It was a great motivator, fear. It was what built his kingdom, what had sustained it for years. Grim knew that, understood its place in the grand scheme of it all, but he did not like it. Fear was temporary, a thing that could be overcome by something even more powerful. Devotion, love, loyalty, those were the things of substances and eternity. Grim understood this, accepted that he would need them, and do anything to get them.
He turned away from Raeborn and to the council at large. "This inner bickering and power struggle will come to an end now. I am your king, the one you have sworn allegiance to. If you would like to challenge me, to try and manipulate me as your tool, then you can join Raeborn on his journey."
Silence reigned in the room, and Grim knew he had just cemented his role. Too many of his people had died, too many things had been left unchecked for him to continue to pussy-foot around the issue at hand. He had to step up, accept that he would be king, that he would marry a girl many considered the enemy, and accept that he could not just think of himself in first person anymore, because he wasn't just him, he was every single reaper in the Bloodspurn kingdom. They were the only ones who governed him.
"We are all in accordance then?" Grim spoke the words softly, his gaze lingering on every member of the council. No one turned away, no one spoke out of turn. This was a new beginning, a new term in their history.
Grim gave a quick nod and then summoned a fog to conceal his form as he shifted into his human skin. Half a blink later he stood before the Council of Guardians in form-fitting black slacks and a blue fisherman's sweater that matched his eyes. He would not conform to their dictates, not suffer their nonsense. He was who he had always been, a Bloodspurn King. It was time he started to act like it.
Striding purposely back to his chair, Grim spared Raeborn a glance. "You may start your journey. Leave immediately."
With mechanical movement Raeborn rose and than left the room. The minute the door closed, it was as if Grim could breath again, like a huge weight had been lifted.
"We can take PeaceKeeper trainees and post them in different locations, ones that have not been targeted yet, but ones we suspect might be." With that one line, thoughts and ideas began to flow easily in the room. Every council member voiced their opinion or ideas on the best course of action to ensure no other reapers in the kingdom died.
Grim relaxed back in his chair, letting his tight muscles unwind. This was the kind of council he wanted, one that was bent on the protection of the Bloodspurn people. Still, he could feel the dissension in the room, old ways clashing with the new. It would take time, Grim knew, to reach a state where each member thought of themselves as an extension of their province, but they had made headway.
And as all eyes turned to him for his thoughts, Grim knew that he had made the right call; that despite his lack of choice, being a leader was who he was. "It is decided than," his voice boomed around the room as he stood abruptly. "We proceed with the wedding, but we keep close watch over the Castoffs. Take a few Royal Guards and place them in vulnerable regions. Try to find out who is killing our people, and what makes them a target. And if you have any other concerns or would like to speak to me privately, do so." With that said, he left the room.
