Chapter 45 #2
But I was as ready as I could be. I’d put on the dress, had put on makeup, too, from the small bag of it they’d brought me.
Pots full of shimmery colors for my lids, balms and highlighters for my cheeks, the thornlash ink, which was basically mascara, and lip glosses in all colors made of fae nectar, too.
There was a chance Rune had taken it off with his kisses, but I’d rather go with a bare face than to have him not kiss me, so it wasn’t really an issue.
“Any news from the guards?” I asked, and my stomach did a flip inside me at the thought, just like always.
“Yes. They’re reporting once an hour. Everybody’s safe. Everybody’s on their way. They will be in Nerith the day after tomorrow,” Rune said.
The day after tomorrow.
Shit, that seemed like too much, and too little at the same time.
We’d sent soldiers—both Ice fae and Midnights—to the Neutral Lands, to the Aetherway, to my family to deliver them a letter I’d written myself.
I had told them about my new position, had explained that I couldn’t go see them just yet, but that they could come visit me instead, if they wanted.
I thought they’d say yes, and I was anxious as all hell.
“Good, good,” I whispered, trying to push down the panic, but Rune knew me too well.
“They will be escorted by thirty guards, ten of which Raja picked personally. And I will meet them halfway the moment they come through the Aetherway. You don’t need to worry—they will be okay.
I give you my word,” he said, and it helped.
In him I trusted with all my being. I’d still try to join him when my family crossed over, and hopefully by then Arez would be here, too, but even if it was just Rune, I wasn’t afraid.
He could handle himself, and there wasn’t a soul in Verenthia left who didn’t know who he was by now.
The bastard who became king and gave up his throne for the Ice Queen.
Fairytale stuff, really.
“Fuck, Rune, I don’t think I’m ready for this,” I said a moment later because I really wasn’t. And not just because I was terrified for my family’s safety.
Was anybody ever ready to be a queen, I wondered? And there were people here that I was supposed to sit with during a feast to celebrate my arrival home, and I had to show up and smile and shake hands and make friends—how was I going to pull off any of it?
“That’s okay. I’ll carry whatever you can’t,” he said. “Look at me. I’ll be there every second. You don’t have to worry. It will be all right.”
I believed him when he said it, and it did take most of the stress away to be reassured that he would be there by my side for whatever happened.
“Is Hil coming?” I wondered.
“No—the Fire Palace still refuses to let him go, but he will send his assembly to swear his loyalty to you,” Rune said, and I flinched.
“Yeah, I’m never gonna get used to that.” Swearing loyalty to me—didn’t these people know who I was?
Laughter, so warm it made my toes curl in my pretty silver shoes—with just the right amount of heel, I might add. “I’m looking forward to that.”
That did bring a smile to my lips. “So, we’re really going to be living together now. Sleep here. Every single night.”
“Yep.”
“You won’t have to leave or anything.”
“Not unless you order it.”
Easy, then. I would never.
“And you’ll tell me about…queenly stuff, right?
Because I have no clue what a queen even does.
” Which he knew as I’d been telling him that last night before we slept—after he made sure my legs were numb and my body was covered in sweat and I’d said his name possibly over two thousand times within two hours.
“You will. I’ll be here, and your seer, and your council.” He leaned back, looked at me. “A queen takes care of her people—and you already know how to do that better than most people I’ve met. Remember what you went through, all the battles you won to get here.”
All the fucking battles. I sighed again. “I love you.” And those three words together could have been a magic spell that I put on my own self to calm down immediately.
“And I love you, wilding.” Yes, that was definitely the second, most potent part of this spell.
“Forever?” I muttered lazily as he brought his lips to mine again.
“Then and now and at all times,” Rune said, moving us slightly, spinning us around in a slow dance to a melody that our hearts heard. “In all the seconds and all the minutes and all the days—I love you.”
There, I thought. That was why there wasn’t—and there never would be any cloud of doom hanging over my head until the end of time.
As much as I’d have liked to stay the night inside and just lay on the bed, do what we did, be each other’s the way we knew how so perfectly, there was a feast I had to attend to, people to meet, to speak to. So, with my arm laced around Rune’s, I made my way out of the bedroom doors.
The soldiers stationed near the walls bowed their heads. A few of them followed, and though I didn’t want people breathing down my neck, Rune said it was the royal escort. They would be escorting me everywhere from now on—and there was nothing to be done about it.
I was sure I’d find a way, though. I was stubborn like that.
And then there was the feast.
The hall that they’d opened, had cleaned, had restored for this very feast, was so much bigger than I first thought.
I wasn't allowed to see it. Rune said it would be a surprise, and it was indeed.
It was huge, with clear and colorful crystals hanging from the walls and the ceiling, on the edges of tables and chairs, candles, flowers—so many winter roses.
Everything looked so damn beautiful, even more so because of the people.
They were not one kind. They were all kinds, as I’d wanted.
Unseelie Fae and Midnights. Fomorians and werewolves, three full tables of them, that I’d asked Maera to invite for me.
Golems from Bloomsridge, vampires from Blackwater, and even succubi from the Enclave.
I’d wanted all of them here tonight—especially the sorcerers from Mysthaven.
I’d made them a promise, and I planned to honor it.
I would sit down with them soon and figure out a way for them to use ley lines as sources of magic, not living beings.
That had to stop, and I wouldn’t rest until it did.
The only kind of Verenthian that wasn’t in the large hall were Seelie Fae. We’d sent a formal invitation. Had sent it right to the border. Ice soldiers had delivered it to Seelie ones, but we hadn’t heard anything back, and I doubted Lyall would make an appearance.
I wasn’t so naive as to think that the threat of him had disappeared completely—it hadn’t. It wouldn’t. Lyall had said it with his own mouth—he would be plotting. He would be planning. He would be coming after all of us.
But for now, I believed we were safe. Because while he planned and he plotted, Rune and I would be focused on creating a kingdom. An even stronger army. Something that even he, with his twisted games and evil mind, could not ruin.
When he came for us, we would be ready. I had no doubt about that.
Not just because we would be prepared, but we were not alone.
The Unseelie King was a friend. The Midnight Queen, according to Rune, was already an ally.
And I had a whole army full of trained soldiers the Midnight Court had kept ready and on their feet to push back any kind of threat from any part of Verenthia.
Maybe Rune was right after all. Maybe I really was going to be okay.
“Breathe, Wildcat,” he whispered in my ear as we walked in, and the music from the band stopped, and the people—all of them, stood up.
Maera and Hessa and the Silver Seer, every single person who’d been sitting at the round tables, eating and drinking and chatting, looking their best with glitter and gold and silver draped all over their bodies—and colors. So many colors.
“I-I-I need to talk to people. I told you—I need to meet them and-and I need to…I need to…”
Fuck, I couldn’t even finish speaking.
The doors had opened and there was silence. There were eyes on me and I couldn’t fucking breathe.
Rune squeezed my hand over his forearm. “You need to speak to the clan leaders of Bloomsridge to revoke the banishment on Arez by tomorrow, so she can cross through the Aetherway together with your family,” he said.
“You need to formally declare that the werewolves of Thornevale have your protection. You need to create new alliances with Blackwater, and you need to publicly announce that you will be sending troops to select and train the new Unseelie army.”
Oh, God…
“Yes. Yes, all of that,” I whispered, and when he put it all in such plain words like that, it wasn’t all that bad, was it?
“Then keep walking, My Queen,” Rune said, squeezing my hand in his, giving me a boost of energy. “Your kingdom awaits.”
So, I did.
—THE END
Thank you for reading The Royal Sins series!
I hope you enjoyed Boundless, and that all your questions from the previous books were answered.