After I dismissed her father, Princess Kiora went to her husband – my brother, Prince Theon – and demanded he give Jareth entry. Theon, always overly indulgent to his bitch of a wife, went over my head and ordered the processing of Jareth’s application. Even going so far as promoting him to Lieutenant despite my protests. From the moment I was forced to authorize Jareth’s enlistment, I knew he would be an issue. But I never thought it would get this far without my knowledge.
“Jareth, this isn’t a social visit,” I bite out. “I’ve recently received some serious allegations against you.”
“These allegations are…?” he asks, seeming unsurprised.
Leafing through Ajax's statement, I list off all his crimes. “Mistreatment of guards under your command. Falsifying reports. Whipping a fae without cause. Sexually assaulting females and women.” Losing my composure, I clench the parchment tightly, crinkling it as I growl, “Burning and branding a human child with your insignia ring. Disfiguring him for life.” I slap the parchment onto the desk and grit my teeth. “Basically, participating in all types of illegal activities when your sole purpose as a guard is to uphold these very same laws. A male within my command is supposed to be a protector for all the people, including fae and humans, but is instead terrorizing and striking fear into our most vulnerable citizens.”
“You’ve always been so righteous,” he mumbles. He crosses one leg over the other and adopts a bored expression. “These accusations are false, and I'm deeply offended.”
“I doubt that.”
“Who made these ridiculous allegations?”
I remain silent.
With an audible sigh as if this whole conversation is nothing but an inconvenience, he says, “I have a right to know who's slandering my name.”
“Only if I wish it,” I state coldly. “And I don't.”
Jareth narrows his eyes. “I'll find out one way or another.”
Disregarding his threat, I carry on. “These charges cannot go unpunished.”
His expression hardens to stone, searching my eyes for mercy or weakness. I can see the exact moment he realizes he won't receive any. He sits back in his chair and relaxes his posture. “You have no proof.”
I smirk. “I don't need any.”
The dumbass really must believe he's untouchable because he huffs a laugh, a taunting smile spreading across his face. “Oh, pray tell, your high and mighty bastard prince, what punishment will you give me?” He places a palm to his chest. “I am brother by marriage to the heir to the throne. His wife’s adored brother.”
“Theon is not yet King, and your sister not yet Queen. They have no power over my decisions.”
Jareth’s face reddens and I stifle a smile as I nod to Kace. He walks to the door and cracks it open, whispering to the guards stationed out in the hall. Once the whispers cut off, Kace resumes his position beside me and Jareth’s face drains of all color when he glances over his shoulder, seeing three guards along with Lennox file in behind him.
Tone cold and unyielding, I sentence, “Lieutenant Jareth, you will pay three months of your earnings to all your victims.” His mouth pinches and I hold in a laugh at his outraged expression. “In addition to any expenses for those with extensive health related issues, including lost wages as a result of your assaults.”
“I'm not paying shit!” he spits venomously. “This is absurd. I never touched an immortal. And no one gives a fuck about the fae or humans anyway.” His gaze purposefully swiveling to Kace, he sneers, “They’re filthy and pathetic. No better than animals.”
I slam my hands on the desk and Jareth blanches, cowering into his seat as I rise slowly to my feet, lowering my head towards his until we're almost nose to nose. “The only pathetic creature in this kingdom is you. You're weak, narrow minded, and cruel.” I express every ounce of loathing and disdain I have for the cowardly male with a sneer. “You're worth less than the shit I scrape off my boot. Nothing but a piss stain on this great kingdom.” I grip the desk with all my might, listening to the crack of wood as I crush the edges of the thousands of years-old oak. “I’m tempted to kill you myself.”
And I would without a second thought if he was anybody else.
Watching him as I slowly lower myself back down to my seat, I clasp my hands together with a smirk. “Lastly, you'll receive ten lashes before being imprisoned for a minimum of a fortnight.”
Regaining some of his courage, Jareth’s face turns to scarlet, the vein in his forehead thumping in tune with his rage.
I jerk a nod, a silent command to my guards, and Kace, Griffin, and I watch in silence as they close in on him.
Jareth’s head swivels toward the approaching guards, his glare quickly turning to panic. As Lennox reaches for him, his eyes flash and he suddenly shoots to his feet, raising blue, glittering palms and blasting a shot of air at us… only for his power to be swept up in the cyclone of air that I summoned a split second before he attacked.
Arms extended, chest heaving, and his face dripping with sweat, Jareth fights tooth and nail against the raging winds I conjure while my breathing remains even and steady, almost bored. His power battles pitifully against my own and his hands glow brighter, desperately searching for his last reserves, until he can take no more and the power slips from his grasp. His palms dim and his hands fall to his knees, then his head bows as he gasps for air. Remaining that way until his laboring breaths eventually slow, he then cautiously lifts only his head, eyeing me timidly.
Before he can utter a single word, I whip up a glittering orange palm and a braided rope made of fire streaks towards him, coiling around his neck all the way down to his feet.
Rising to my feet, I stroll towards Jareth until I'm only a finger’s breadth away, glowering down at the pitiful excuse as he wails and sobs. Watching him thrash against his binds that give him not an inch, seeing his skin char beneath the flames, my lips curl into a cruel smile, euphoria filling me as I relish in his suffering.
Unwilling to wait until he screams himself hoarse, I snap my palm shut into a fist and I suck the air from his lungs. His screams cut off mid-shriek and the room silences all but the shuffling of his clothes as he grapples with his binds. Eyes widening, his struggles become more fevered when he gulps for air that will not come. Instantly forgetting his pain, he focuses on the direst of issues: his body’s need for oxygen.
“You may have thought yourself to be untouchable, but you’re not. You mock how feared I am, but you seem to have forgotten why.” I bare my teeth on a growl. “Why to corrupt assholes like you, my name is nothing but a frightened whisper. Why they would rather die at their own hands than dare to suffer my rage. Why they call me the Gods Wrath.” I wrap one hand around his throat, the fire causing me no pain as I squeeze. “It's not because I can crush a skull with my bare hands, or that I could cut down even the strongest of warriors before they can even reach for their blade. That's not what terrifies them. It's my power, Jareth.”
I raise my other arm. “Water.” Water spreads beneath my hand on his throat, spiraling into a stream that crawls upward, encircling his head.
“Nature.” Wood cracks as gnarled branches sprout from the floor to skewer through his wrists. His lips round on a silent scream, blood flowing down his forearms to drip onto the floor.
“Air.” His shirt flaps, blonde hair whipping into the whistling winds as a tornado spirals around us.
“Fire.” Glittering orange flames bloom within the tornado, the orange paling as the flames grow hotter and hotter, morphing into a monstrous beast of white-blue blaze, devouring the winds as it evolves into a twisting, raging inferno that can incinerate with a touch.
“You immortals boast about the strength of your power, but all I see is how fragile you are. How weak. You're feeble in your most dominant Gift, and barely have a speck of power in the others.” I laugh, a cruel, bellowing sound. “Oh, how easy it would be for me to conquer you all.” I squeeze his throat tighter and increase the heat, watching him squirm as an imprint of my hand slowly brands his neck. Being an immortal, he'll heal eventually, but not before all will see the shamed mark of his subjugation. “You see, I'm not dominant in just one.” My lips draw back into a snarl. “I’m dominant in all.”
When I see his dirt brown eyes roll back into his head, I return his breaths to him before he loses consciousness. Before he can make a sound, thorned vines sprout from my palm, slithering onto his face to twine around the lower half of his head. Roses and thorns bloom into his mouth, muting anymore of those pathetic sounds.
Gagged by roses, he trembles and cries while blood dribbles from where the thorns puncture his mouth and cheeks. Hearing a trickling sound, I peer down and see moisture spreading across the groin of his trousers, darkening where he's pissed himself.
“I'm the most powerful immortal that's ever existed,” I growl. “My power is absolute. Nothing other than the gods can match me. That means I can do anything I want to whomever I want, and there's not a being alive who can do a damn thing about it.” His trembling becomes more pronounced and his knees give out, the fiery rope bearing his weight. “It’s taking everything in me to hold back my flames. To not burn you slowly until you’re nothing but charred bones in vengeance for the boy you tortured.” Reaching down, I yank off the ring he used to brand the child, passing it over my shoulder to Griffin, who plucks it from my grasp. “Now you're going to stop your whining and crying, your empty threats, and you're going to cooperate. If not, I'd love nothing more than to kill you this very moment. The world would be a better place without you in it.”
He nods frantically and I turn my back on him, the twister dissolving as I stride back towards my desk and lower myself into my chair. To the view of Jareth's slumped form and bowed head, I flick my hand and the flamed rope and vines disintegrate into a spray of sparks. He slumps to the floor and the guards rush toward him.
Watching them drag Jareth's motionless body all the way to the whipping post, a barbaric elation fills me and my lips curl into a savage grin.
