The Delta's Daughter Chapter 246

HUNJI/KIAN

ERIRIAT (STILL 3 WEEKS LATER)

With a heavy heart and an empty soul, I sit on the throne. In less than two hours this place will be packed with wolves from all over the Kingdom, from Lord Alphas to members of the court and some high-standing citizens. Not to exclude the surrounding country’s Alphas and leaders from other shifter Clans. Even Tristan ScarClaw had received an invitation and had made his way here, arriving only a short few days ago with the werebear Gregorio as his companion.

I stood from the throne, a sigh of ease blowing past my lips as I vacated the seat. No matter how many times I had sat in it these past weeks it still didn’t feel right.

These past three weeks my thoughts had been filled with Morgan and also Tawny. Of course, there was much more I mulled through my brain, like my family back in the western continent who I had not heard from. Even Lamia hadn’t linked me, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was she upset or just giving me the time, I needed?

Each night I went to sleep dreaming of my little witch and each morning I woke thinking of the little were-kitty I had spent so much time lusting over until I met Morgan. I was deeply unsettled my mind confused as well as my feelings; I didn’t know how to move forward. I knew though, that moving forward was the only way.

Another thing that grated on me was that I hadn’t had a conversation with my father yet. I turned direction from wherever it was I was wondering to, and I made my way to my father’s chambers; he had woken a week ago once the drug had been washed from his system. He was still weak but at least he was awake and as well as could be expected. I had visited him a handful of times, but I only came to see him when he was sleeping to avoid conversation. I still didn’t know what to say to him and wasn’t ready to hear his side of the story. Any side of any story to be honest. In truth I wasn’t sure if I really gave a shit or not, I couldn’t care less what he had to say. Or so I had kept telling myself.

The two guards outside his door stepped to the side bowing to me as they did. I gave a curt knock on the door but didn’t wait for my father to call me in and pushed the door open.

He was sitting up in bed reading our weekly paper that was distributed around the kingdom’s capital. “Kian! Son!” He gave me a wide welcoming smile, the lines on his face creasing even more and his eyes crinkling into half-moons. He looked so much older. “Please come take a seat!” He gestured to the high back comfy chair that sat to the side of his canopy bed.

“Father,” I gritted out, trying not to be an ass suddenly thinking this was a bad idea.

“I hear today is your crowning ceremony,” He nods like the information is foreign to me. “Rostam has been telling me a lot and Sonia has brought their son to see me quite a few times. He is a handsome young fellow.”

“You want to know why I haven’t come to see you?” I ask thinking that’s what he is hinting at.

“No,” He half scoffs half chuckles “I understand why you haven’t come to see me, and I don’t blame you son. I can’t even begin to explain how sorry I am.”

“Save your sorries, I’m not interested.” I bark at him and then sigh, realizing I was the one that came here, and I had no reason to be ornery towards him. I had said I was going to let go of the past but at this moment I was holding onto it and doing the complete opposite of letting it go.

“No, I don’t think I will. You need to hear it.” He says shifting into a more comfortable position and laying down his paper. “Maybe it’s a little too late and short, but I am sorry Kian. I was blinded by the courts and my duty to uphold the law. When Farid and Divya stated their case against you, I had no option but to follow through especially as the courts had already been informed.” He sighs and casts his gaze out the window that overlooks the center courtyard of the palace. “When you died… It broke me because I let it happen. You were always meant to be King, and I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I was to find out you were alive.”

He pauses, pulling his thin lips together tightly. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath blowing it out slowly. I know he is about to say something detrimental and I’m not sure I am prepared to hear it.

“Eight years ago, I was traveling the country and ventured to Trizar, on behalf of King Orion before he was to go there. That’s where I met an Alpha bear Shifter named Mondua. He told me about a wolf shifter who had saved his two children and spoke so highly of this wolf that I asked if he was still around. He told me that wolf had left his Clan two years prior but showed me a picture of this infamous man who he claimed trained his men and saved his children. Imagine my surprise when it was your face, he showed me.”

I jerked my head up. He had fully gained my attention. I didn’t even know Mondua had a picture of me. “You knew I was alive all this time?” I gasped.

He nodded his head yes. “My first instinct was to find you and bring you home, so I sent men to put out feelers for you, to watch you but never engage. They lost you somewhere between Andora and Kar.” He rubs the back of his neck before he carries on. “Some years later, Orion visited me, offering me his daughter’s hand to Rostam. With him was a vile bear shifter named Jack, who complained about an Asiarian named Hunji who had defeated his band of rogues and fought alongside the Dire Wolf. The way he described you, I knew it was you without a shadow of a doubt.”

“All this time you knew that I had survived?” I was shocked, disgusted, angry, and disappointed. The overwhelming overload of emotions crashed into me, and I could feel Ruda coming forward. The need to shift and run – so great.

“I did.” He gulps and gives me a sorrowful look. “You had purpose, and I was proud of you,” A tear slips from his eye. “I could never find it in myself to reach out to you personally, I was so ashamed. I never told anyone that I knew you had lived, but I thanked the gods every damn day that you had. I always expected you to come back for your revenge on your brother - or for me. It was at that point Rostam and Sonia confessed that they were fated mates and I didn’t want to make the same mistake again. It’s true she was fathered by my late Beta, but that didn’t matter to me, I took her as my own because I loved your mother so much. Then Farid started playing his games, speaking with Orion and his mistress more. I had already told Rostam he would be named king. Farid and Abbas were never fit to hold that title and sit on that throne. I had always hoped it would be you.”

“I never wanted it.”

“I know.”

“I still don’t want it.”

“You do what you think is right, Kian. Do what you want to do, you have earned that right a hundred times over.” He pats the side of his bed, motioning me to come and sit by him. I did as he asked, and no sooner had I sat down than he embraced me in his arms.

“I am so proud of you,” he tells me, his words muffled into my shoulder. Hugging me as tight as his old and frail arms allow him to. “No matter what you choose, you will always excel.” He pulls back from me patting my shoulders and looking at me with endearment and pride. “Now I believe you have a crowning ceremony to attend? Remember, Kian is who you are and always will be, but Hunji is whom you became.”

I cock my head at his use of the name Asena gave me. Making me question myself. Who am I? What do I truly want? I pondered this question all the way back to the throne room where guests had just started filling the hall.

So lost in my thoughts that I was taken off guard when hands nabbed me and abruptly pulled me into a side room that sat off from the throne room. Startled, I growled until I realized it was Rostam, Tristan, and Gregorio.

“Where is your robe?” Tristan asked me his eyes frantically searching around.

“In the dressing room,” I curtly replied. “With the crown” I added.

“I will go fetch it. The ceremony starts in 30min, you can dress here.” He says shaking his head and marching off to where the dressing room is situated. 

“Am I doing the right thing, Tristan?” I ask of my old friend.

He gives his head a brief shake “I don’t know Hunji, I mean I had always suspected who you were because of your resemblance to your father, but…” He trailed off in thought “If you don’t want this, then don’t do it. You owe nothing to nobody, but who will be King if not you?”

That’s the million-coin question and I already had the answer. I looked at my old friend and gave him a coy smile.

“That’s the spirit,” He smiled back at me reading my expression wrongly. Gregorio gave me a knowing look, unsure of which way this event was going to go.

Rostam come hurrying back in, the royal red ceremony robe in hand accompanied by a member of the court who held the golden crown with all its sparkly jewels on a cushion of red velvet. It was all too fancy for someone who had lived their life as a minimalist for the past 13-plus years.

“Brother, will you stand by my side?” I asked Rostam as they placed the heavy and long robe over my shoulders.

“I would be honored to, Kian.” He said giving me a short bow.

“Please, do not ever bow to me, in public or private. No matter the title you are my equal, a ruler. Not a subject.” I told him with a stern voice. He went to reply but his words were cut short when the sound of trumpets rang out. That was my cue.

I walked into the throne room that was jammed packed with mostly unfamiliar faces and only a few I knew like Alpha Zayd and Alpha Jasper. A lead warrior made my announcement “All rise for His highness Prince Kian Tikaani, rightful heir to the throne, and by challenge rightful claim to the crown.”

The people rose and began to clap, I raised my hands to silence them, and they soon quieted down and took their seats again. The man holding the crown stepped forward as did the member of the court who was officiating the ceremony. Rostam came and stood beside me as I had requested, his head held high and proud, I saw him cast a smile at my sister who was sitting in the front row. I again held my hand up ensuring the officiant of his silence before he even opened his mouth to speak.

“I thank you all for being here today to witness this exchange of power and the passing of the crown. King Parviz Tikaani had wished to be here, but he is still recovering from his bout of bad health. Many of you have heard of me and some of you may remember me. Just over 13 years ago it was ruled that I would be stripped of my title and exiled from the kingdom right before I was sentenced to death. For unfounded crimes!” The crowd began to murmur, but none dared speak out.

“I go by a new name now… Hunji I am an Alpha by nature and birth, second in command to the Queen of shifters, rightful heir, to the throne of Eririat by birth. Three years ago, before King Panja fell ill, he was to announce your next King. That King was not me. It was my brother Prince Rostam. Firstborn son to King Panja and therefore also rightful heir to the throne.” I gesture to my brother who is looking lost and slightly uncomfortable at this moment, I offer him a warm smile. I think he is starting to see where this is going. I carry on with my declaration “At eighteen, It was never my goal to fill my father’s shoes and at 32, it still isn’t. I have been gone for far too long, removed from this kingdom for an extended period of time. It is for this reason that I reject my position and claim. The crown should sit upon the head of someone who has been here and knows what the Kingdom and its people of Asiarian need and want. The throne should be filled by the rightful and most qualified heir. That heir is not me!”

The room falls silent. I remove the robe from my shoulders and step to Rostam placing it on his shoulders, his face a picture of awe. I then walk to the crown, plucking from the cushion, and stand before my brother again. “I Prince Kian Tikaani, crown you Prince Rostam, the firstborn son and also first heir to the throne as King.” I place the crown on his head and step back. “All hail King Rostam!” I shout and bend, taking a knee and lowering my head to my brother. The feeling of freedom was so great, that any tension and worry I had melted away as soon as I had placed that crown on my brother’s head. Where it had always belonged.

“All Hail King Rostam Tikaani!” The officiant bellowed out.

“All hail King Rostam Tikaani!” A chorus of voices sounded from the hall. The people rose from their seats then each one of them took a knee for their newly crowned king. Not one grumble or complaint was heard, the people looked happy to be given a ruler whom they knew and respected.

And me? I was grateful I had done this and made up my mind before it was too late. It was never what I wanted and if I had gone through with it, I would have never been happy. Maybe once upon a time ago I would have accepted my fate and worn that crown with pride, but the last 13 years had taught me, my heart didn’t belong here. This was no longer my home. I was more than happy that I had reconnected with my family, happy for my brother and sister, and that it worked out for them. But this was no longer a place I called home or ever could again. I knew this I just believed it would be easier to stay.

I was never good at doing easy and I always hated the attention, or the spotlight being focused on me. My sister came up on the platform to stand beside her King, little Kian in her arms. ‘Thank you’ she mouthed to me. Sonia would be an excellent Queen and one day, another young Kian would rise to take his place on the throne.

I stepped off the platform, backing away from the celebration, back towards the side room. When I snickered at the voice in my ear, “Making a quick exit are we?” Tristan asked with a chuckle.

“Something like that,” I replied to him. As he followed me into the side room. Once the door was closed and we were alone he clapped his hands together. “I kind of figured you wouldn’t wear that crown, you may have hidden a lot from me Hunji, or Kian, I don’t even know what to call you these days…”

“Hunji” I laughed at him.

“Ok. Hunji. As I was saying, you have hidden a lot from me, like who you really were but I knew you were never… this” I held his arms out gesturing around him “It’s not you.”

I nod my head at the older werecat, “You’re not wrong Tristan my old friend.” And he wasn't, I never wanted to be king. At one point I would have been happy to be Rostam's Delta, but I wasn't even sure if I wanted that position anymore either. I had seen and experienced too much to settle here.