unstable
Three of them entered and took in the changes, the fourth one never lifted his head.
The sight of these four men sadden him. He had trusted them. Believed in what they stood for.
"What is the meaning of this?" Birkett demanded of the changes. "Why are these three here?"
"By what authority did you have the right to keep us condemned to our rooms? I demand an explanation immediately." Klax nearly spit the words out.
"If you have mated then we should have been notified immediately. The human Hayden is not even of age yet. There is an order and a process in which we live by. Do you not care about any of our values?"
After a nod from Kellum, Jetidi stood. "When speaking to your king you will use the respect that is his by rights. Bow to your king."
"If he was king then we would have been informed through the proper channels."
"Even if there is proof, there are steps to take. A ceremony before he can take his rightful place."
"Normally, that would be true." Kellum agreed as calmly as he could. "Dezrick."
"Proof has been collected and filed. A new king has taken his place and there are none who can dispute his position. King Kellum the two hundredth and twenty-first king of Syrian and last king of Syrian has taken his place and will rein with his queen and new rulers at his side until his death. All personnel of government, royal, and guards should bow upon entering a room where the king or queen are present and will only rise when given permission."
"There cannot be a ceremony without the four of us present."
"Normally, that would be true." He replied once again.
Jetidi waited for another nod then rose again. "Bow to your king or you will be escorted from his presence."
Demetruisu bowed first, quickly followed by Savion. Birkett and Klax were slow to follow.
"You may rise." They all did but not one of them bother to look him in the eyes. Could they finally be feeling the shame they should be feeling?
He wasted no time in getting to the heart of the matter. "You have been charged with treason and found guilty. You will be given a chance to state your case, but I would advise you to tread lightly and choose your words wisely. Advisor Demetrious, did you not on several occasion wipe my memories?"
The older man's hands shook so badly that he hid them behind his back. "We did."
"Advisor Birkett, did you not on several occasions implant me false memories?"
"We did but you were not king yet. Treason was not committed."
"Advisor Klax, did you not send a young girl from her home and family to live outside gates of our protection? And did you not do this in secrecy of your future king and your committees?"
"We did. Some might see this as.... distasteful but I will say it again. It was not treason. We offer her a deal, and she took it."
Kellum frowned. "What deal was that?"
Klax was a hard ass but instead of answering he paled.
"Dezrick?"
"If the human Jessalynn left the protection of the cities then we would not abandon her people to the aliens that are on the way."
He fought to keep his bile down. Fought to keep his anger in check.
"Advisor Savion, did you not send the human Jessalynn away knowing she could be your queen?"
"No, my King." He kept his head down. "I did not believe her to be your mate. I thought that the way you were able to put her wants before her safety was proof of this."
"At any time did you believe her to be my mate?"
"Yes, my King. Within the first few days it was clear. Both of you showed the signs."
"Advisor Demetruisu, was this clear to all of you?"
"We were split down the middle, but it did not matter. We had made a promise and we had to keep our word. The barriers could not come down for thirty days unless someone's health was in danger."
"Advisor Birkett, did you believe this to be a sign that she was my mate?"
"I did not. You became sick, but the symptoms differed from what we have seen before."
"Did my mark burn?"
"It did but your health remained stabled. Your mind did not. At that point I found you too unstable for your position."
"Unstable, I think that is a fair assessment. Advisor Savion, were you stable at finding out that your mate was beyond your reach?"
"I was not." He finally raised his head and met Kellum's eyes. "There was not a day that went by that I did not grieve for her presence. Fear became alive in me and there was nothing that lessened it. I found that everything I thought I knew, everything I believed in, to be wrong. I never meant to commit treason but that does not lessen the crime. Whatever punishment you deem fit will still be less than I deserve. All that I ask, all that I beg of you, is that you do not hurt my mate any more than I already have."
"He does not speak for all of us. We all did what we thought was best for our people. What was best for you. Maybe some of our decisions could have been___."
"What was best for me? Advisor Birkett, was it before or after you realized you sent your future king's mate away that you decided that the next best step was to play with my memories?"
The other man's voice rose. "We were left with no choice. Our future king was half out of his mind. There was nothing left for us to do. I stand by our choices."
"As do I. Being in charge means sometimes having to make the hard choice. It means having to do what no one else is strong enough to do. You left us no choice. That human had an ill effect on you and you no longer could handle your duties. We could not sit back and watch you destroy all that we have work towards. We could not watch you spoil all that the kings and the advisors before us, had work for."
Kellum looked at his oldest advisor. "Anything you would like to add?"
"All a person can do is take all the information they are given and make what they think is the best decision. I stand by my decision to send the human Jessalynn away. We believed with her gone, we would get our future king back. Once we realized what we had done it was already done and there was nothing we could do to fix the situation without going back on our word. After the thirty days we committed treason. I disagreed with the decisions to alter your memories, but I understood why the other advisors felt like we had to. You were deteriorating, and we could not stand by and watch you suffer. The truth is we were unprepared for the way our people and our way of life would change once we coexisted with these humans."
"You can believe us to be guilty of wrongdoing, of bad choices, but not of treason." Klax demanded of Demetruisu.
"I was your future king. Not by choice, not by democracy, but by fate. I asked you to trust me. To believe in me. To believe in our ways and our beliefs. Each of you failed on all accounts and now I must stand in judgment on the four men I should never have to explain our laws and our beliefs to. The judgment I make today will stand for the same length of time you falsely judged my mate and sentenced her. Dezrick, how long has my mate been banned to the outside world?"
"One hundred and sixty-one days, my King."
That number rocked him to the core. How had she survived it?
"The sentence will be carried out for one hundred and sixty-one days. At which point my queen and I will then together, decide your fate. For your wrongs against me you are stripped of your place on this ship. From this day forward, you will live among the humans. I hope each of you will realize what I have realized. These humans and their ways are not a danger to us, having emotions can only befit us. Each of you will be strictly monitored and will have a new life advisor assigned to watch over you. I am not just a king; I am a man. For coming between me and my mate, for refusing me my right to protect her, you are stripped of your positions
"That is an unfair punishment. We______"
"I am sorry you feel that way, Klax, but I am not done. For your abuse of power and for condoning the act of confiscating my memories you are stripped of your colors. For now on, you will wear the color my mate wore the last time I saw her. Yellow."
"You_____."
He held up his hand to stop Birkett's words. "You sent my mate to unsafe territory. You knew my pain was her pain and you might have found a way to lessen mine to some degree, but you did not lessen hers. She has had no food; no shelter, and she has been beaten. None of us know the true extent of the harm done to her. My queen should be here at my side and instead she is being held captive. The thought of this fills me with a sadness that you cannot fathomed. It is in your best interest that I have decided to see to this matter now and not after I know of all the details of her abuse. Before I have all my memories and emotions back. For your wrongs against my mate, you will be denied your own mates for the same length of time she was."
Each of them paled.
"You cannot do that." Demetruisu said shakily.
"And yet, I just did."
"We will get sick. They will get sick."
"Just as my mate has been all of this time."
"You sentence them to death." Birkett sounded just as shaky.
"I offer them the same deal you made my mate. If at any time either of you are dying, then you might have time with each of your mates until you are strong enough to be separated again. Birkett, since you do not have a mate, all your matches will be sent to the stations to live. A year for every month that mine was sent away."
Kellum turned to Savion who was in tears. "Your mate has already suffered as mine has, you have already suffered as I have. You will be allowed a small visitation. You are to have no say in her life or her well-being. Her sister is to have complete guardianship over her until she is eighteen, at which point it will be up to her on what kind of relationship she wants with you."
"Thank you, my King."
"Do not thank him, Savion. He is stripping everything away from you. From us."
"No, we did this to ourselves. I deserve my punishment."
"I demand_____."
"You are in no position to demand anything, Klax. You think my punishment is too harsh then I will offer you the same you offered my mate. Leave your home, your family, and go outside the barrier. Choose your fate."
"That's a death sentence."
"You have your choice, make it."
"I will stay."
"Demetruisu?"
"I will stay."
"Birkett?"
"I will stay."
"Remove your robes. Gather your belongings and you will be shown to your new living arrangements. I also have a warning for each of you. When my queen takes her rightful place at my side it will be well within her rights to demand you be cast out. She could ask me to leave you on an alien planet and I would have no choice but to honor her wishes. If the four of you so much as look at her without every bit of the respect, she deserves then that is exactly what I will do. That might also be your fate if Pensley is unable to pull out of this predicament you have put him in. Pray for his health and pray for my mate's good will."