Chapter 27 #2
“I agree,” Maera said, and her voice sent shivers through my body.
She was dressed in black clothes, her hair smoothed back, her eyes wide and alert.
She looked like she belonged here at this table more so than I ever would.
“The fae hold the most power in our realm, and unless that power is balanced between the courts, there will be no more realm for any of us to live in.”
“No more realm—that’s so dark,” Jasewine said.
Out of all of us, she looked a bit bored as she played with the rim of the wine glass in front of her.
Then she took a sip. “Not to mention deceiving. It sounds so easy, like the realm will just stop being here all of a sudden. I don’t believe that will be the case, will it? ” This she asked the Seer of Shadows.
“I can only imagine that the shift in power will be bloody. It is already very prominent in certain areas. I feel the fading of the magic. I feel the injustice the land experiences,” the seer said, her blue eyes on the tabletop but she wasn’t really seeing anything.
“But when the end does happen, Princess, it will happen all at once. The darkness devours in one bite.”
I squeezed Rune’s fingers without really thinking.
Jasewine closed her eyes and willed herself to take a deep breath, which made me think she was more affected than she wanted us to see.
She wore black like it was made for her, her hair shiny and smooth, the thick curls of it so bouncy and perfect I almost wanted to reach out and touch them.
The color of her lipstick was the same color as the wine she drank, and if it were any darker in the throne room, it would have looked black.
Every time my eyes fell on her face, I wondered how it was possible that she was real. That any of this was real.
“Well, then, the plan should be simple. We take a portion of the Midnight army to the Unseelie Court to find the heir and put them on the throne. Meanwhile, Nilah travels to the Frozen Court today,” Jasewine said. “By tomorrow, the threat of the curse will be no more.”
It was like she’d slapped me right across the face.
Then Rune said, “No.” His voice echoed in the throne room.
“Sending soldiers into the Unseelie Court would only end in bloodshed. The current rulers, regardless of how they came to power, are not to be taken lightly. Their army is small, weak, and killing more Unseelie fae now is not the answer. They are already weaker than the rest of Verenthia.”
“And what’s the alternative?” Raja asked.
“We find the heir discreetly,” Rune said, and I could have sworn Raja wanted to roll her eyes.
“You don’t need to go sneaking around courts—you have an army,” she told him.
“We will not be killing Unseelies, Raja.” Rune’s tone was a warning.
“Why ever not? Those who control the court are not worthy,” the woman continued. Fire in her voice, in her eyes.
“By Reme, I do so love your bloodlust, Aunt Raja,” Jasewine said with a wicked grin.
“We will not spill unnecessary blood if we can help it,” Rune said, his voice higher now, and I felt his discomfort by the way he held my hand.
“I believe His Highness is right,” the seer said when Raja opened her mouth to speak again. “The Unseelies are weak. Divided. They need help, not more bloodshed.”
“Did the stars tell you that?” Raja said, and she tried to keep the bite from her voice but failed.
“I don’t think the stars need to say it. We all know it,” Jasewine said as she sipped her wine.
“The Unseelie are on the brink of destruction as it is,” Maera said. “We feel it clearly in the gates.”
“True,” said the seer. “And no, Raja, the stars haven’t told me that.” She turned to Rune. “But I have seen something else, Your Highness.”
Your Highness. Was I ever going to get used to people saying that to Rune?
I looked at him—the way he sat there, when he gave her a curt nod to tell her to keep going—and I saw it.
The focus in his eyes, the attention he gave the seer.
Rune really did look like a king. He wasn’t wearing a crown on his head, but he looked exactly like I thought a king should, like a deadly storm brewing underneath a perfect calm—and he was in control of both of them.
I was so turned on so suddenly that heat rushed to my cheeks—but it didn’t last.
“The Seelie King,” said the seer, and there went my stomach again, twisting and turning like a fucking hurricane went off inside me. “He’s on his way.”
Rune moved, sat up straighter. “On his way, where?”
“To find the heir.” The seer blinked those wide blue eyes and turned to me. “He heard the reading, too. He’s on his way as we speak.”
“I think we need to go—now,” said Maera through gritted teeth, and she looked about ready to start running out the doors.
The seer smiled like she was sorry for her as she nodded. Sorry for all of us.
“What’s his intention?” Rune asked her, though we all knew what Lyall’s intention was by now.
“It isn’t good,” said the seer. “From what little of him I’ve seen, he thinks he alone will be enough to offer balance between the courts. His plan hasn’t changed.”
Goddamn it, Lyall! He was such a fucking fool I wanted to scream it at the top of my lungs.
At least he apparently had believed me when I told him the truth about the Curse of Rot.
“Then ours won’t either,” Rune said.
“You cannot go to the Unseelie Court unaccompanied,” said Raja. “This is ridiculous—you’re a new king!”
“So is Lyall.” With a squeeze of my hand, Rune stood up. Everyone followed, and so did I. “If he kills the heir, there’s no going back.”
“So, that’s why the Seelie Queen hasn’t done it yet,” Jasewine said, tapping her black fingernails against the edge of the table.
“Done what?” I asked, a chill running down my back at the thought of the Seelie Queen. That face, the raw hatred she so proudly displayed in her golden eyes—and for her own brother, too. She’d killed her own fucking brother.
The same person who’d started this whole mess by killing her husband.
Fucking hell, what was wrong with fae royals?
“Drank the Iyandra,” said Jasewine. “She announced she would as soon as the prince took the throne, but my sources tell me she’s postponed it.
It must be because the Seelie King needed someone he could trust on the throne while he went to the Unseelie Court.
Who better than Mother Dearest?” Her eyes glistened, and she suddenly looked so much like Rune that it made me do a double take.
“Tell me, Seer, has he announced his arrival, or has he gone undercover?”
“That I do not know,” the seer said, shaking her head, wrapping her arms around her torso. “But he is on his way—and whoever you choose to send, you must be, too,” she told Rune.
“Send me,” Jasewine said the next second, and my stomach about jumped right out of me.
“No,” I said, like she’d spoken to me, not Rune. But I would never put her in front of Lyall knowing who he was. Having the reminder of our recent meeting in Mysthaven so fresh in my mind still.
The woman raised a thick black brow at me, but she was smiling. And when she opened her mouth to speak, Rune beat her to it.
“No, Jasewine. You will stay here, and we will go after the heir.”
Yes. That sounded much better.
“I will join you,” Maera said with a deep nod.
“You don’t have to, Maera,” I said because it felt like this wasn’t her fight, even if it was. It was everyone’s fight, but even so, the thought of running into Lyall again scared me shitless. Rune and I would be enough. Rune knew him, and so did I.
Except the seer said, “She does, actually. It is best if the Alpha joins you.”
“I will,” Maera repeated, like it was done deal, and if I thought her pack mates were uncomfortable before, now they looked about to burst into tears—or fur and teeth.
“Then it is decided,” Rune said and stepped back, let go of my hand.
“Think about this, Your Highness. It is not safe for you to leave again, and so early. We haven’t had the coronation feast yet—you have responsibilities,” Raja insisted, and she sounded like she was scolding him.
“You have an army at your command. You have people—mercenaries. Others who are more than capable of retrieving the heir. You don’t have to put yourself in danger. ”
“I will be back within the day, Raja. Nothing has to change. Nobody has to know that I’m gone.”
“The throne will know. It’s a pain in the ass,” Jasewine said, waving her hand back like the throne was an actual person.
But then I remembered—the building is fucking sentient. At least part of it because why the hell not?! This was Verenthia, after all.
“But you can handle it,” said Rune, as if he was trying to reassure himself.
“Of course, I can. It submitted to me within minutes last time, didn’t it?
” She pretended to be offended by the very idea.
“You go ahead, be a hero. I’ll play queen.
It’s one of my favorite games, anyway.” She pushed back her hair and walked around the table, slamming her heels against the marble on purpose as she went toward the dais.
“Where’s my crown? I demand my crown. You heard the king. Give it to me—now.”
Yes, she was speaking to the palace.
“Rune,” Raja whispered, but Rune’s mind was already made up.
“We will be okay, Raja. We will be back before you know it. Everything is going to be fine,” he reassured her.
Raja was disappointed. I saw it in her eyes before she composed herself and bowed her head. “Of course. Please excuse me,” she spit bitterly, and she turned and stormed for the doors just as dramatically as Jasewine.
“I will see my pack mates outside,” Maera said, stepping away from the table. The man and woman behind her eagerly followed.
“They will be safe until they leave the Midnight Court,” Rune promised her and reached his hand for mine.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Maera said with a nod, then winked at me before she turned to leave. “I will meet you out front.”
Jasewine had found the crown somewhere, and she was standing in front of the dais with it in her hand, her lips moving like she was whispering something. Chanting—or maybe still talking to the room?
“Thank you, Seer,” Rune said, and the seer bowed her head, but her eyes never left our connected hands.
“A word of advice, if I may,” she said, and just the tone of her voice made me think I was not going to like what she said next. “You’re aware of the ways of fae royals and the rules written by the stars. I suggest you settle everything that can be settled before you see the finish line.”
What in the fuck?
She turned around and walked much faster and easier than I expected her to, and with a bow of her head at Jasewine, the Seer of Shadows walked out of the throne room.
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked Rune.
Rune was pale, paler than a moment ago. “Nothing important,” he said, making me pull at his hand until he met my eyes.
“That didn’t sound like nothing important. What did she mean, Rune?” Because he looked like he’d just seen a fucking ghost, and it was most definitely important.
“Silly rules, that’s all. Nothing to worry about, Wildcat.”
“Rune, I—”
He pulled me in, pressed his lips to my forehead, and the words died on my tongue. “I promise you, it’s nothing to worry about. I promise.”
Well, fuck.
I sighed, defeated. If he promised, I believed it.
“Chop, chop, lovelies. Clear my throne room, will you?”
Jasewine was smiling from the first stair of the dais, hands folded in front of her chest as she looked at us like she really thought we were the cutest thing she’d ever seen.
Until she added “fast,” widened her eyes, and waved us toward the door.
Pretty sure I liked that girl already. Maybe it was her energy. Maybe because she was so…lively.
Rune didn’t mind it, either.
“Come, Wildcat. Let’s get ready,” he said, and by the time we made it to the doors, some color had returned to his cheeks. “Be nice to her, will you?” He muttered under his breath when the doors closed behind us.
And yes—he was talking to the palace, too.