7. Aldrin
Chapter 7
Aldrin
A man strides into the room, flanked on either side by priestesses in white, flowing robes. Keira takes one look at him and her eyes widen. She tenses like she is preparing to flee.
Something primal within me flares at her visceral reaction.
Naomi’s story shocked me senseless. Perhaps I better understand her actions, even if I will never forgive her and am still furious at them all. It quietened the vicious beast within me that now rears its ugly head at a single glimpse of this princeling.
He is a slight man with a lean, bony build, short even for a human. He wears a simple circlet in his neat, curling blue-black hair.
Prince Finan’s brother.
I hold myself very still as ripples of murderous rage crash through me at the thought of the man Keira almost married. It’s not blind jealousy.
The heir to the throne mistreated her and destroyed her confidence.
Because of him, she thought she deserved less from life, less from a relationship and nothing from sex. She counted herself second-rate to the people around her.Nothing of importance, when that is the furthest thing from the truth.
Keira is a queen in my eyes. A goddess.
Then this Prince Finan dared to lay his hands on her and leave bruises on her perfect neck.My feelings toward her might be complicated, but I would never, never , do a thing to harm her. Physically or emotionally.
If I ever get my hands on this prince, I will wrap them around his throat and choke him until the light disappears from his eyes. I will show him what it feels like to have someone bigger and stronger than you use physical force to get their way.
I want to do exactly that to Prince Niall for being a brother to such a man, but I hold myself in check.
Did he treat Keira with respect when she was in the palace? Would he have helped her escape his brother had she asked him to? Or did he turn a blind eye to her abuse?
Everyone in the room rises from their seats and bows before him. I am the last to stand. The look of simmering hatred I give him is a mercy compared to all the things I’d prefer to do. I only bow my head. Exiled or not, I outrank this man.
Prince Niall’s eyes pass across each person, quickly analyzing the mood of the room. They soften when they fall on Keira, and she gives him a small smile back.Some of the tension leaches from my muscles at the exchange. He is a friend of hers.
“I am relieved to see you have made it safely home, Lady Keira.” Prince Niall takes her hand in his and kisses it. The maddening urge to grab the back of his neck and pull him away from her fills me, and I have to clench every one of my muscles to stop myself.
“I am visiting with my High Priestess,” Keira says seamlessly. “My home is the priestesses’ sanctuary, as a Mother of Magic myself. I belong to the temple now.”
There is a significance I am missing in those words, but a ripple of relief travels through the room as the prince nods his acceptance of them.
“And you are well? You are here of your own free choosing?” Niall stares deeply into her eyes, still holding her hand in his. It takes a moment for me to realize that his thumb is discreetly on her pulse, checking for a spike in her heart rate at a lie. This bastard is too wily.
A frown crosses Keira’s face; she is completely oblivious. “Yes, of course.”
Then his eyes flick to me. A frown creases his eyebrows as he examines me like I am an academic study.
I fold my arms and glare down at him where he still stands just a foot away from Keira.
I will not explain myself to him. Especially after Naomi had me glamour my ears to rounded shells to pass as human.
The prince’s gaze returns to Keira, and he speaks so softly, I can only just hear him. “I would have gotten you out of the palace, if you had asked it of me. I would have helped you, Keira. I need you to know that.”
She nods, but doesn’t say anything.
“Prince Niall, please, can we get you a drink? Or a seat?” Edmund’s entire countenance has softened to a side of him I have never seen before. With a flick of his wrist, a leather armchair slides across the immense study, right behind the prince. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
Prince Niall sits, and everyone else follows suit. I don’t take my glare off him once. A strong desire for violence rolls through me. I cannot help it. I crack my neck, then slowly sit down. Maybe I have become the crazed fae they think I am.
The prince taps the arm of the couch with a single long finger while everyone holds their breaths as though they teeter on the tip of a blade.
“I have some unfortunate news that will greatly affect Keira.” He turns to the priestesses who escorted him here. “If we could have privacy?”
They leave the room, closing the doors behind them.
He turns back to Edmund. “Is this room warded for sound? Do you trust everyone in it?” The little shit looks straight at me.
“Yes,” Keira says quickly. “If it is about me, I want Aldrin to know as well.” The hard look she sends my way tells me everything. She is letting me in again, just a toe, but the anger of lies and betrayals is far from gone. That makes two of us.
Niall lets out a sharp breath. “For context, you must know one thing first. The news will travel to you fast enough. My father, the king, is dead.”
Edmund’s eyes flare wide, and Maeve gives a small start. Keira’s hand flies straight to her heart. Naomi opens her mouth, clearly about to give condolences, but Niall throws up a hand to stop her.
“I was never close with my father. His passing a few days ago is not why I am here. For years he has had episodes of poor health that kept him bedridden for weeks at a time, but always hid the fact. We must get one thing straight: no one is to know I gave you this warning personally. My absence from the palace has been hidden, and I was allowed passage through the priestesses’ portals to help one of their own.” Niall raises a hand to indicate Keira.
My blood runs cold and dread fills me as Keira’s face turns deathly pale. Her hands shake.
I want to bundle her up in my arms and press her tight against my chest. I want to kiss her until the fear drains from her, but she doesn’t want my touch.
“Finan is delirious in his grief,” Niall says cautiously. “He didn’t take it well when you left to become a priestess, Keira, though I agree you had every right to. Your wishes should be respected. Whatever passed between the two of you the night you left, I fear Finan has distorted it in his head. The story he tells keeps changing.”
The prince pauses as contemplates his next words. Keira’s eyes are huge and glazed as she stares at him, and I want to shake the man for making her wait.
The princeling finally continues. “Word of high fae trespassing in the Appleshield Protectorate has reached the capital. The main rumor is that they were taken prisoner and sentenced to death. Finan is convinced high fae used the portals to travel to the capital and kidnap Keira from the palace. That she needs to be saved from monsters. He claims they are keeping her hostage in this fortress, and that she needs his army to set her free. He plans to march on Appleshield Castle and set up a siege until he gets her back.”
Maeve sways dangerously on her feet and looks like she might faint. Naomi has the air of a wildcat that might claw the princeling’s throat out with its fingernails.Finally, something we can agree on.
It takes all of my willpower not to pick him up by the throat and watch him struggle for breath while his legs dangle in the air. Keira shakes violently beside me, and I can’t do a damned thing about it, because I ruined the trust between us.
“I am no captive, and I do not need anyone marching on my father’s lands.” She leaps out of her seat, backing away from Niall until she butts up against her father’s desk, instinctually seeking his protection. I want to be the one she goes to for protection.
“I have told him that a thousand times.” Niall’s tone is hard. “Reminded him he heard it from your lips that you were dedicating your life to the temple. The priestesses have confirmed it again and again. I begged him to call an audience with you and the High Priestess. He is mad in his grief, both for our father and for you. Finan has decided that you are his property and he will have you. That you don’t know what you want and need to be guided. I fear nothing I do can stop him.”
I become blind with rage at hearing another man claim Keira as his property, especially one who is so unworthy.
I am forced to control my breathing so as not to become a snarling mess of aggression. My fingernails puncture indentations in the leather armrests of the couch.
“Why are you here, Prince Niall?” Edmund stands and leans over his desk, ropy tendons sticking out in his forearms and neck. “Why betray your brother to us?”
The prince’s piercing blue gaze pins the Lord Proector. He doesn’t even blink. “Can’t you see? I’m trying to save him. To save you and our kingdom. Finan is mustering an army to march on the North of Strathia, and when he arrives here, it will be too late. You need to unite the North and meet him at the pass. If you hold Fort Blackrock, he will realize he can’t bully you into submission with a scare tactic. That he would need to commit to war.
“Finan has no resolve. No taste for anything that is hard-earned. He will give up and turn around. His generals will not support him if they realize this could turn into a long, bloody civil war. No one wants the sacrilege of fighting against the Mothers of Magic. It’s not like you are actually housing fae here.”
I narrow my eyes at the princeling as the others in the room turn deadly still. He must be a fool to look upon me and not know what I am. I have changed my ears, that is true, but the sharp angles of my face and my rare height among humans should be enough to tell him I am other.
“And what if there were fae here?” I arch a menacing eyebrow at him. “What if they were not holding anyone prisoner, did not have any ill intent, but were interested in trade alone? Then what would your brother and his generals do?”
The prince’s birdlike eyes home in on me, and I wonder how much they truly see. “They would have the fae executed for trespassing, as is the law. Many do not question the old ways.”
“And yourself?” I push. “If your brother were to be unlucky and you became king?”
“If these fae came here seeking peace and trade? I would at least hear them out and allow diplomats to pass. Especially if they had Edmund’s support.” Niall holds my gaze for a stretched moment, and I don’t back down.
Edmund slices through the tension. “How long until his forces will be upon us?”
Prince Niall starts that incessant tapping on his armchair again. “As long as it takes to ready the troops stationed at Sunbright City and march here. He will stop to enlist troops from each lord he passes along the way. Maybe a month until he arrives, but more will join forces with him during a long siege. This needs to be dealt with quickly.”
Edmund scratches his short beard. “We appreciate your honesty, and the fact you have put yourself at risk.”
“As always, my purpose is to minimize the damage done by my family.” Niall stands and steps toward the door.
“Wait, Prince Niall. Before you go, there is one more thing.” Edmund rounds the desk and places a hand on his shoulder. “I feel it is only right that we are as honest with you. There are high fae being held prisoner here, but they are being dealt with. None have harmed Keira or any of our people, nor will they get the opportunity to.”
“As always, I trust you with that role, Lord Protector.” The prince turns on his heel and opens the door, immediately flanked by priestesses. He pulls a hood over his head and disappears.
“Just a moment, my prince.” Naomi scurries after him. “I will personally escort you back to the portal.”
The old spider will whisper in his ear for the entire walk. At least this time, her venom will work in our favor.
As soon as the doors slam shut, Edmund collapses back into his chair, his face red and covered in a sheen of sweat as he lets out a string of curses under his breath.
Keira holds her face in her hands. “I am so selfish. Of course he was going to react like this! I never should have left him. I never should have thought I deserved more. There will be a civil war over my stupidity. People will die.” Her words come out faster and faster as she hyperventilates.
The sight breaks my heart. She came so far in finding her self-respect, and that bastard dragged her right back again.
I am out of my seat and standing before her, both my hands on her shoulders, absolutely hating the way they shake beneath my touch. “Keira, you know that’s not true.”
She shrugs me off, then slaps my arms away. “Don’t you dare speak!” she roars up at me. “You have done your part in this too!”
“What should I have done?” I say through gritted teeth. “Ignored you when you called for me?”
“YES! No. I don’t know, Aldrin!” She scrubs her tears away angrily. I stagger backward from the intensity of those words. “I didn’t know you could hear me through the moonstone!”
“Okay. Okay. This is not helpful. Take a seat, Aldrin.” Maeve steps between us, palms raised. The motherly reprimand in her voice is so strong, I do as she says. “The blame for this lies entirely on Finan. He is unhinged and unfit to rule. You are not responsible for his bad behavior.”
I grunt in agreement and receive dark looks from the other three in the room.
Soft words escape Keira. “Where do we go from here?”
Edmund is in shock. His hair stands up in disarray as he stares into space. Maeve’s eyes are wide, her eyebrows resting somewhere near her blond hairline, all the color gone from her cheeks. Her mouth works, but nothing comes out.
Neither parent is ready to speak the truth to their daughter, so I step in. “We go to war.”
Keira’s wild eyes dart to me.
“I will not sugarcoat it: you have dark days coming.” My gaze glides to Edmund. “You have two choices. Hand over your daughter to the mad king, live through his reign of chaos and keep the borders shut to us fae. Or—Keira keeps her freedom, and the sparks ignite a civil war, but you replace the mad king with his brother, with the support of a fae alliance. I will throw everything I have at protecting Keira. I am not without my own soldiers.”
They stare at me, and not one of them denies the truth behind my words.
I fall to my knees before Keira’s chair.
A deep desire floods me to tenderly brush away the strands of hair that fall across her face, or to take her hands in mine, but my heart will not survive her slapping me away again.
Instead, I stare into her eyes. “I will fight until my dying breath to guarantee your freedom, even if you never want to speak to me or see my face again. There are no caveats to this. I will summon Cyprien from my realm and all the warriors he can muster if it means you don’t end up in the clutches of that monster again. I would die happily, but I ask one thing of you: do not blame yourself for his actions, his choices and his cruelties.”
Keira reaches out a hand toward me, but her father steps between us, blocking her. “How do we know this isn’t some ploy to bring more fae into our realm? That you are not taking advantage of our weaknesses?”
“Are we not past this already?” I stand to my full height, satisfied that I am slightly taller and can look down at him. “Have you not seen how my magic has returned? Think on it. The same is true for the rest of my band of warriors. If I were here to kidnap Keira by force and drag her back to my world, what is stopping me? There is a monster who wants to steal your daughter, but you’re not looking at him.”
“I trust him, Father,” Keira calls behind me. “Despite everything, I don’t think he would hurt me willingly.”
I wince at those words. I did hurt her, even though I had the purest of intentions.
“Shall we make a bargain, Edmund Appleshield?” I ask. “If you set me and my people free from our captivity and treat us as honored guests, I will fight for Keira’s freedom until this threat posed by King Finan is neutralized. I will not steal any consorts or humans. The conditions of this bargain will hold any fae who enter this realm under my name.” I hold out my hand. “What do you say?”
Edmund glances at Keira and she gives him a curt nod. He places his hand around my forearm and we shake on it.
“It is done.” Edmund’s voice is rough, his eyes wild, as though he can’t quite believe he is making a bargain with a fae.It is the only option he has to force my hand.
Bright orange light curls up our forearms, almost blinding in its intensity. My skin burns and I grit my teeth as the magic runs across my flesh, etching a pattern of swirls in a band just below my elbow.
It looks like tongues of a dancing flame, and the mark shimmers gold under the orb light. Embers of magic fly out from our clasped arms and dissipate like ash floating up from a bonfire.
We let go of each other, and Edmund quickly pulls down the sleeve of his tunic, covering his mark.
“I want any of your soldiers with even a spark of magic to train with my warriors,” I demand. “Your humans have a habit of blocking their magic, from fear and a lack of learning. Especially you, Edmund.”
He barks out a short laugh. “You will be hard-pressed to get any of them to train alongside fae.”
“Then assign someone of influence to act as a liaison between us,” I say. “Encourage them yourself. You need to use every advantage you have.”
“Diarmuid could get the troops to cooperate,” Maeve volunteers. “As a druid, he has a position of authority when it comes to magic.”
“No. I will do it.” Keira stands suddenly. “No one knows both Aldrin’s fae and our guards like I do. Diarmuid has never hunted alongside them.” I flinch at the reminder of that little betrayal. Keira must sense it, because her voice becomes choked. “They need to remember who they fight for. Besides, we should send Diarmuid out immediately to prepare the druids for a potential war. We will need healers on hand.”
She doesn’t look at me, focusing only on her father. He nods curtly and some of the tension melts from her shoulders.
This will force us to spend time together. Not alone, but it increases our chances of talking to each other. Of working out the fact from the fiction in the huge wall of hurt that lies between us.
Hope unfurls within me. When Keira’s eyes dart up to mine, I see it there too.