Dragon King's Harem Chapter 594. Empty Thrones II

Dragon King's Harem Chapter 594. Empty Thrones II

Unlike Durharn, they had bodies.

But legally?

The Dwarven Kingdom had every right to refuse their return.

Both women had died while committing regicide, mass poisoning, attempted takeover, and armed assault inside dwarven territory.

Under Igixar’s law, their remains were technically evidence of treason and hostile invasion.

The dwarven council wanted them kept. While I bet the nymph delegation wanted them returned. And there it was. The next war trying to crawl out before the corpses were even cold.

I stood there for about five minutes before developing a headache.

Seraphel stood beside me with her arms crossed, expression increasingly murderous in the specific way rulers looked when diplomats had talked for too long.

Finally, I spoke. “They’re going home.”

Every dwarf in the chamber looked at me.

One councilor immediately protested. “Your Majesty—”

“I killed Seranaya.”

That shut him up.

I nodded toward Seraphel.

“And we defeated Elowen together.”

Seraphel’s brow lifted slightly, but she didn’t argue.

“So if anyone gets to decide where the bodies go, technically…” I smiled. “…they’re mine.”

The dwarven nobles looked deeply uncomfortable.

Good. Use weird logic against stubborn people.

Works beautifully.

Seraphel sighed.

“Return them to the Nymph Tribe,” she said. “Their people should bury them. Their crimes are already recorded.”

The broadcast crystal had captured everything.

Keeping the corpses accomplished nothing except feeding resentment.

Eventually, reluctantly, the dwarven council agreed.

Crisis delayed.

I would call that success.

Temporary success.

The best kind available these days.

By late afternoon, I finally remembered something extremely important.

Food.

Because somehow I had fought a royal coup, nearly gotten impaled several times, destroyed a throne, killed a princess, helped defeat a gigantic plant queen, handled two grieving wives, negotiated corpse transportation…

And I had still not eaten a proper breakfast.

The poisoned pastries did not count.

I refused.

“A hungry dragon becomes dangerous,” I muttered as we finally found a relatively intact private room.

Evelina, exhausted but still somehow beautiful, gave me a tired smile. “You were dangerous before you got hungry.”

Marissa actually laughed.

Tiny.

Weak.

But real.

That alone made the entire shitty day slightly better.

We found bread, roasted meat, fruit, cheese, and thankfully uncontaminated tea. Nothing fancy.

Best meal I had ever seen.

Sela sat pressed against one side of me.

Marissa took the other.

Evelina sat across from us at first, then apparently decided distance was overrated and moved closer too.

I didn’t complain.

The palace outside remained wrecked.

The city remained wounded.

Tomorrow would bring arguments about crowns, succession, reparations, resentment, and probably ten other problems I hadn’t invented names for yet.

But for that small moment?

I had my women beside me.

Sela’s head eventually rested against my shoulder.

Marissa leaned into my side.

Evelina reached across and squeezed my hand.

For a few precious minutes, nobody talked about kingdoms.

Nobody talked about poison, corpses, succession laws, political reparations, or which royal bloodline was about to start screaming first.

We just ate.

Which, honestly, felt almost illegal after everything that happened.

I had one arm around Sela while using the other to eat roasted meat like a man who had personally fought hunger and decided hunger was going to lose. Marissa sat close enough that her thigh pressed against mine beneath the table, warmth seeping through fabric. Evelina kept watching all three of us with that exhausted healer expression that clearly said she wanted everyone fed, hydrated, emotionally stable, and preferably unconscious for eight hours.

Cute.

Impossible.

I swallowed another bite, reached for my tea, then remembered the other problem I had been trying not to think about.

“I got an emergency message from the Nymph Tribe this afternoon.”

Marissa stopped chewing.

Sela stirred slightly against my shoulder but didn’t lift her head.

Evelina’s fingers paused around her cup.

“They already have someone ready to replace Elowen,” I continued.

Marissa’s expression shifted immediately.

Not surprised.

More like something old had just climbed out of storage.

“Crown Princess Nia,” she said quietly.

I looked at her.

“She might take the throne.”

“Might?”

Marissa nodded. Her fingers traced the rim of her cup slowly. “Elowen didn’t only have Nia and Seranaya.”

“Nia is the strongest among them,” Marissa continued. “Not only in mana. Politically too. She was raised as Crown Princess for a reason. Even before Seranaya became involved with Durharn, Nia was expected to inherit the throne.”

That was something, at least.

A throne without an heir was basically an invitation for nobles to start measuring each other’s necks for crowns.

I leaned back slightly, careful not to disturb Sela. “So is she like Elowen?”

Marissa’s brows pulled together. “Like her?”

“Too ambitious. Manipulative. Poison-first, questions-later.”

Evelina gave me a tired look. “That description became very specific.”

“It’s been a very specific day.”

Marissa was silent. She genuinely had to think. Her gaze lowered toward the table, and for a few seconds, I saw something softer move behind her eyes. Memory.

“I don’t know,” she admitted finally.

That answer bothered me more than a simple yes or no would have.

“I played with Nia when we were children.”

I turned slightly toward her.

Marissa’s mouth curved faintly, but it wasn’t quite a smile.

“She was…” She paused. “Competitive. Stubborn. She hated losing.”

“So royalty.”

Marissa gave me a tiny elbow in the ribs.

I deserved that. “But she wasn’t cruel,” she continued. “Not back then.”

Back then.

Dangerous words.

“She shared things with me. Covered for me when I broke rules. Once she lied to Elowen because I damaged one of the sacred garden trees.”

I raised a brow. “What did you do?”

Marissa looked away. “…Alchemy.”

I grimanced since it reminded me of Al’s messy room.

“We were separated years ago,” she said. “After everything changed.”

Her fingers tightened around the cup.

“I haven’t met her since. I don’t know what Elowen taught her after that. I don’t know what happened inside the royal family after I left.”

I rested my hand on her thigh beneath the table and squeezed gently.

She looked at me.

I didn’t say anything dramatic.

Just kept my hand there.

Enough.