Darion continued: "These people will soon learn to obey me or there will be consequences. The execution of that guard shall be an example of what happens to those who dare to oppose my will.” 

“Ahh yes”, Dion said airily, “Fear is another great motivator. Nothing builds loyalty like a leader who will turn on you at any second and on any whim.” 

Owen was observing this exchange from the windowsill. ‘Now what on Earth is he up to’, he wondered. ‘Why is he pushing Darion’s buttons like this? Surely he knows that he’s only making him angry.’ 

Then he noticed the expressions on the faces of the remaining guards. Every one of them was looking at Darion with absolute disgust, and occasionally giving Dion a look of reverence. Own understood: Dion was using Darion’s own anger and rashness to expose him for the cruel leader that he is. These guards may follow orders when magically compelled, but they would never follow Darion willingly, and when they returned to their friends and family they would share their tales of his cruelty. Darion’s rule had only lasted minutes so far, and Dion was already planting the seeds of dissent. 

“Oh, come now, Dionysius, love, you did not always think so lowly of me”, Darion said with an almost sickeningly sweet voice. “I seem to remember that there was a time when you were very much in love with me.”

“Yes, I remember such a time as well. You were lonely, afraid, and vulnerable. Above all else, though, you were charming. What man could resist?”

Darion smiled at this flattery. “Do you not feel such things anymore?”, he asked.

“Before I answer that, I would ask that you grant me the favour of answering this: I told you what first drew me to you. What was it, Darion, that you first found attractive about me?”

“I would have to say that it was your good nature”, Darion replied silkily. “You always cared about even the lowliest of creatures. You are very nurturing, and had a great desire to be just, even if you were a bit naïve…”

“Just and naïve. That is how you perceived me?”

“My love, I did not mean this as an insult. It’s just that…”

“No, Darion, fear not, I did not take it as an insult. There is nothing shameful about having a sense of fairness. As for my naivety, well, I can’t say I am particularly proud of this trait, but I will not deny that I possess it. It was that naivety that prevented me from seeing you for so long. The real you.”

Darion’s nostrils flared. “And just what do you mean by that?”

“What I mean by that, my dearest Darion, is that my naivety prevented me from seeing the most important traits that you have. I was blinded by charm and infatuation, otherwise I should have seen that instead of the scared, lonely, vulnerable person that I thought that you were, in reality you were cold, conniving, and cruel.”

“How dare you come into my palace and say such things about me? I loved you, Dion! I have never stopped loving you.”

“I do not doubt that you needed me, Darion, and I have no doubt that you need me now more than you ever have, but I do doubt that you have ever loved me. You used me. You would have starved had it not been for me. You needed the safety and stability that I provided, and you used me. You are a user and a manipulator. This is made all the more tragic by the fact that I did love you. I really did, Darion. You can never know the pain that I experienced when I told you to leave.”

Darion’s anger was rising. “Bull shit! That is pure bull shit! If you really were in pain, if you really did love me, you never would have forced me out!”

“Oh, but I did love you”, Dion replied. Owen was sure that he could see a tear forming in the corner of Dion’s eye. “I loved you more than life itself. That is, until I discovered your secrets. When I fell in love with you I did not know that you were a murderer, Darion. I did not know that you had used dark magic to kill your own father simply because you were impatient to take his position. And, most importantly, I did not know that in order to access the magic required to do so, you made a deal with a witch to give her your son. Our son, Darion. You had no right to promise Daecon to that Hecate. He was mine as much as he was yours. For that alone I could never forgive you.”

“But… You fool!”, Darion cried. “I did not even know you when I made that pact! Daecon hadn’t been conceived yet, much less born, and I had no attachment to him. I had not even imagined a name for him yet. To me he was just an unknown, unnamed future child that meant absolutely nothing to me. The Hecate could have had him, for all I cared. We could have always made another. You knew the magic, and we both certainly enjoyed the act of conception, but no! You had to go and fight with that fucking Hecate! You went and ruined it all…”

“STOP!”, Dion cried. “Don’t you see? That is exactly why I stopped loving you and could never love you again! You would have given up a child – your own child – to a witch, to have God knows what done to it, and you did not care! That child could have been raised a slave, or been used for experiments, subjected to every refinement of torture imaginable, and you did not care! That selfishness, Darion, was the reason that I stopped loving you! Even still, I did not drive you away because of your selfishness alone. I drove you away because I feared for the health and safety of my child. That’s right, Darion. MY child. When you made that pact with that witch you relinquished any rights you had as far as being his father was concerned. I did not want that child to be influenced by you in any way. It was not easy, giving up the life of a shape-shifter and living among humans. I suffered for it, and you had better believe that Daecon suffered for it, but that suffering pales in comparison to what he would have endured had you been in his life.”

Darion was seething with rage now. He was pacing back and forth in front of Dion, and Owen could almost see the steam coming out of his ears. Finally he came to a stop in front of Dion again and faced him.

“Very well, that’s how you want things to be, is it? We could have ruled this kingdom together, a true Royal couple the likes of which has not been seen in these parts for centuries. It now seems that isn’t going to happen. Fine.”

He then left Dion and returned to his throne. He sat down and faced Dion.

“Dionysius Chrysanthis, Royalty of the clan Erotes, I hereby declare us unmarried. You are stripped of any rights and title that may have been afforded you in your position as King Consort. I also find you guilty of conspiracy against the King, and thereby sentence you to death. You shall be executed tonight at midnight, along with the others.”

Owen couldn’t help himself. “NO!”, he shouted.

Darion spun around and saw Owen in the window.

“Who the hell are you? And how dare you spy on the royal proceedings like that? Fly down here at once!”

“Owen, go!”, Dion shouted. “Flee at once!”

“Owen… Why, you’re that traitorous leader of the resistance, the one who once professed loyalty towards me but at the first sign of trouble, turned your tailfeathers and abandoned me in my time of greatest need! Come down here! That’s an order!”

“Owen, I mean it! GO NOW! Your safety is fading! Do not worry bout mine!”

“Shut up!”, Darion shouted. “If you will not come down I will send my guards up after you! Guards! Seize him!”

The guards all stood around, looking at each other with confused looks on their faces.

Darion was becoming frantic with anger. “Do you want to join that other fellow on the gallows tonight? I said SEIZE HIM!”

“But, sire, we see nobody to seize!” one of the guards said.

“How can you not see him? He’s right there in that…”

A look of realization came across Darion’s face and he glared at Dion. “You’re cloaking him, aren’t you? You are using your royal cloaking on that commoner! Very well, these guards can’t see him, but I can.”

With those words he shifted into his eagle form. It was nearly identical to Daecon’s, except not nearly as large and instead of Daecon’s caramel coloured legs, Darion’s were pink, like his skin. He turned back toward the window, but it was too late. Owen was gone. Darion flapped madly and flew up to the windowsill. He scanned the skies with his eagle vision but could see no sign of Owen anywhere.

“FUUUUUCK!!!” he shouted, before coming back down and switching back to his human form.

“Oh well. It makes no difference. Nothing was said here that won’t be public knowledge by midnight anyway. Still, I want that man caught. I want no stone left unturned. Capture him and bring him to me. I also want his husband and son caught as well, since they are working together against me. I want them all, dead or alive. I will make examples of them.”

The guards just stood there, blinking at him.

“Did I fucking stutter? I said go and find him! What are you waiting for?”

“Perhaps they’re waiting for a little motivation?”, Dion offered.

Darion faced Dion. “Feeling awfully clever for somebody who is experiencing his last day on Earth, aren’t you? Very well, then, if they will insist…”

He turned and faced the guards. “I AM YOUR KING DARION! I ORDER YOU TO FIND OWEN BRIARWOOD AND HIS FAMILY AND BRING THEM TO ME!”

The guards started shuffling around, but still did not seem particularly inclined to follow the order.

“I SAID GO!”, Darion screamed. “BRING THEM TO ME OR IT WILL BE YOUR LIVES! MOVE IT!”

Finally the guards reluctantly shuffled out of the throne room.

“Ahh, there’s that motivation!”, Dion said, with a big smile on his face. “I hate to say I told you so, but I did tell you that magic would lose effectiveness. I’m surprised at how fast it’s doing so, though. It’s almost as though these people really don’t want to follow you.”

Darion shot Dion a dirty look. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you? Well, you know what? It doesn’t matter. Magic or no magic, they will soon learn that it is far better to follow my orders than to face the consequences of not doing so.”

“Oh, I don’t think they’ve got too much to worry about.”

“Oh, really? And what is that supposed to mean?”

Dion still had his wide smile. “Oh, I just don’t believe that your rule will last long enough to do any real damage.”

“And who will stop me? I thought you knew our laws, Dion. I am the rightful king. There is nobody who can stop me from ruling.”

“Oh, there is one.”

“Who, you? Don’t make me laugh. You’ve been stripped of your titles; you can’t take my place.”

“Oh, no, not me. Although we both know that I am much smarter and stronger than you, we also both know that were I to defeat you in battle, the only legal way that I could supplant you would be to kill you, and we also both know that I would not do that. I have no desire to rule anyway. I did not flee my commitments in Greece only to take them up again here.”

“Then who… Oh, you must mean Daecon? He would be the only one with the right to ascension after my death. Unfortunately, although I suppose it is fortunate for me, the only way he could supplant me would be to kill me. He has already tried that once and failed.”

“Ahh yes, your first interaction with your son in 25 years. He had you in a pretty bad way, so I’ve heard. It seems as though the only reason that you are alive at this moment is because the Hecate saved your skin and prevented him from killing you, though that surprises me. I thought nobody on this planet wanted you dead more than she does. Still, I suppose she had her reasons.”

“So you’ve heard about that, have you? Well, my good man, I can tell you this: Daecon got the better of me only because he surprised me!”

“Well, using your logic, it stands to reason that is also the only reason that you bested young Evander and his father Leander”.

“Don’t be foolish. I beat them because I am royalty and they are common shifters. The older one actually surprise-attacked me, he could not use surprise as an excuse for his defeat. Daecon and I are different. We are both royalty and therefore evenly matched, though I have the advantage of skill and experience over him. He will not defeat me again so easily.”

“Yes, you are indeed different, though I don’t think you grasp exactly how different that you are. You are not as evenly matched as you think you are. Daecon will have a surprise or two in store for you yet.”

“Pah! Enough of this silliness. If and when Daecon comes I shall face him, and I shall either bring him around to my side or he shall join his grandfather in death. Now, off to the dungeons with you. I’m finished with this discussion.”

Darion looked around the throne room for some guards, but there were none to be found. The only people present were himself, Dion, and Jake, who was cowering off to the side and looking terrified.

“Well!”, Dion said, still wearing his grin. “Your inexperience, or rather, your rashness is showing. It seems as though you’ve dismissed your entire guard. Not a very wise thing for such an unloved ruler to do. I’m afraid that thanks to your miscalculation you are now left with three options: You can either personally escort me to the dungeons, you can assign the unpleasant and potentially dangerous task to Jake here, or you could leave me to find my own way there at my leisure. The choice is yours.”

Darion looked at Dion, then Jake. “Fine. Jake, I order you to escort Dion to the dungeons.”

“Oh, you won’t escort me yourself?”, Dion taunted. “I had not pegged you as such a coward.”

“I am no coward!”, Darion said testily. “It's just that escorting prisoners is no job for a king. I have more important issues to worry about. Jake, you heard me. Take this man to the dungeons.”

“But, your highness, he is still a royal. He could…”

“By all the Gods, Jake, do not force me to compel you. You have proven invaluable up to this point; this is no time to show yourself a coward, or worse, disloyal.”

Jake just stood there, a fearful look on his face, eyes twitching back and forth between Dion and Darion.

“Fine!”, Darion said. “JAKE!  I AM…”

Dion interrupted. “That will not be necessary, Darion. Jake may escort me. I will go peacefully.”

Darion looked doubtfully at both of them. “Fine. Go. But don’t you try anything. I have…”

“Darion, I know exactly what you have at your disposal, and you and I both know that should I choose to leave there would be absolutely nothing you or Jake here could do to stop me. Why, all it would take is me doing this”, Dion said, as he cloaked himself and disappeared from Jake’s view. “And he would have no idea where I went. However”, he said as he uncloaked himself, “Escape is the farthest thing from my mind. I would not miss tonight’s entertainment for the world. Now come along, Jake, please, escort me to those dungeons.  I could use a nap, and your king Darion has much to think about.”