Chapter 22 Lily
TWENTY-TWO
LILY
Istood before the table again, and it was like a terrible trick, as if I was reliving the previous twenty-four hours with the same merry fire crackling its pleasure over the logs and a small candle flame to provide the romance. Except tonight Lasloe stood in front of me.
“Princess Lily,” he said in greeting, and bowed formally over my hand. I tensed a little as his lips grazed my skin. He straightened before waiting for me to sit so he could present my cloth napkin to me.
“Are you my suitor or my butler?” I meant it as a joke, but I nearly choked over the word suitor.
He laughed anyway as he sat in his seat and shook his napkin, the small breeze he created putting out the small candle between us. I breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps I could relax now that the romantic candlelit dinner was no longer candlelit.
“Are you well this evening?” Lasloe seemed genuinely interested in my reply, and his ready smile made his eyes sparkle as he watched me.
I waited a moment before replying. He had to know the very fact he was here meant he had a good chance of being the next king. This whole process still felt so mercenary and also sterile, like I was simply shopping for a husband who wouldn’t have the power to refuse me if he even wanted to.
“That’s a very long pause.” Lasloe twisted his wine glass in place. “Is there much to consider?”
I laughed, the sound tense and fake. “I have a lot on my mind these days.”
He tilted his head as he watched me, then lifted his glass slowly to his lips like he was considering his own response now.
He was a man I could undoubtedly be friends with—I didn’t feel uneasy around him—but as I watched his fingers and hands, I didn’t know if I could imagine them on my skin, or his lips on mine.
There was only one man whose touch I craved, and he wasn’t here.
“You don’t really want to be here, do you?” Lasloe asked.
I froze at his perceptive question, both caught out and surprised by that fact.
So far, none of my suitors had questioned what I wanted.
In fact, none of them had even asked my preferences.
Perhaps they each believed I wanted them, their egos too big to consider any alternative.
Only I didn’t want any of them. I wanted the one man I couldn’t have, naturally.
A breeze blew strands of my hair across my face, and I smoothed them away with my fingers as I thought about Keane.
He was the only man I wanted by my side…
but could I marry the Captain of the Guard?
I didn’t know how that would be received by my family, never mind my kingdom.
As a queen, I had to consider what was best for my people over what was best for me.
More importantly, what would Keane want?
He was a proud man, and he took his responsibilities to the kingdom and crown very seriously.
Perhaps he’d only been acting out of duty all this time, even though I thought I detected love when I looked into his eyes.
Lasloe leaned forward. “What’s making you unhappy?”
I sighed, trying to think up the perfect lie I could use to conceal the real reason. I couldn’t confess to one of my suitors that I didn’t want to marry them, that I’d wasted all of their time by even summoning them to meet me.
“Come now,” he said. “It really can’t be that bad.”
I glanced at the crackling fire before deciding I couldn’t handle another evening like this one. “I’m…I’m not sure I want to marry any of the suitors who have been brought here to meet me.”
Lasloe sat back in his chair. “Thank the Sun and Moon for that,” he exclaimed. “I was getting worried I’d need to turn down the future Queen of Talador and have her banish me from my homeland.” He wiped his brow theatrically.
My confusion emerged, as did startled laughter. “What do you mean, turn me down?”
He spread his arms and looked around. “I made it to the final two, didn’t I? And as a nobleman from Talador, I figured if you were looking for a safe choice that wouldn’t cause any undue insult to one of the kingdoms outside of our own, I might top your list. Am I wrong?”
My fingers kneaded my napkin. “No. Apparently, you’re very perceptive.”
“And wounded.” He winced and placed a hand over his heart. “To only be wanted because I’m already from Talador.”
I pulled my cloak closer around me as the wind picked up and the fire flickered. “It wasn’t only because of that. You’re easy to talk to and always rather joyful.”
He held up a hand. “Stop. I don’t want to hear you talking yourself into proposing to me after all.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you want that? Why else would you be here?”
He shook his head and lowered his voice. “While we’re exchanging confidences, I should probably mention I actually have no interest in women and much prefer men. My parents pushed me to come because they’ve stumbled on some hard times financially.”
My shock made my mouth fall open, but I quickly regained my composure. “You would marry me for money, even knowing it would never be a love match?”
“I would marry you to help my family, and hope you’d understand enough to allow me some…
dalliances. We would hardly be the only nobles with such an arrangement.
” He waved a hand dismissively. “But I’ve already said I would have turned you down.
I’ve had my eye on another, and I could tell you’d be miserable with such a marriage. ”
He truly was perceptive, but then again, so was I. I remembered all the times I’d watched Lasloe take pleasure in watching Gusten blush. “You know, you should speak to Lord Gusten and see if he shares your preferences.”
“You think so?” He smiled and leaned forward, but his eyes had a nervous look in them.
“Yes. Your future queen gives you her blessing.”
A radiant smile lit up his handsome face. He opened his mouth to say something else, but then a sound caught our attention, a rustling in the brush, and whatever he’d been about to say was lost in the sudden chaos.
Shadowed figures suddenly closed in around us, from all directions.
The same ones who came after me in the forest. They looked like men but were made of magic, and I sprang up from my chair, while Lasloe did the same with a yelp.
My guard was beside me in an instant, his left hand gripping my upper arm as he held his sword in front of us. But the magical bandits didn’t attack.
Lord Malren stepped out from the middle of the shadows and performed the same elaborate bow he had given me in my bedroom. “Princess Lily, we meet again.”
“Imagine that.” Irritation quashed my fear.
“I believe you’ve met my loyal soldiers before?” He indicated the shadows around him, and some of them solidified into real men.
I backed up a little, my breath coming in spurts. “What are you doing here?”
Malren stepped closer, his boot crunching on a patch of frost. “I’ll give you a clue.
I’m auditioning for the role of future King of Talador.
Although I’m rather disappointed I wasn’t invited to be one of your suitors.
” He picked up a pink rose that sat on the table and took a sniff, then threw it on the ground.
“No matter. You turned down my offer before, but I’ll be King soon enough on the arm of the true Queen. ”
“What are you talking about?” Lasloe asked.
Malren ignored Lasloe and snapped his fingers. “Disarm the guard and bring Lily to me.”
I raised my hand to conjure a frost rune, but the soldiers swarmed me too quickly, grabbing my wrists and yanking them down.
At the same time, other soldiers took down my guard and Lasloe, and I noticed these men were real, wearing Malren’s colors.
I tried to conjure the runes in my mind, desperate to get away, but then Malren slapped me across the face with the back of his hand, and all I could see was stars.
As my vision came back, my head spinning, I found I was being dragged away through the brush by strong hands. “Keane!” I yelled, though I had no clue where he was. Why hadn’t he been by my side, where he always belonged?
We entered a clearing, and there were more of Malren’s soldiers here. He paused to speak to some of them, sending them back the way we’d come, before turning to the shadow attackers to give them orders too.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked him.
He beheld me with a sneer. “Do you like my new soldiers?”
“You’re not capable of illusions like that,” I spat as I continued to struggle against the two men holding me, making it as difficult as possible for them to tie my hands behind my back with a piece of rope.
“You wound me.” He clutched his hands over his heart. “But alas, you are also correct. No, I cannot conjure illusions like these. But my friend Queen Riala can.”
I gasped as he spoke the name. Could it be true? Had Riala really returned? “What is she offering you?”
“Once she regains the throne that rightfully belongs to her, she’ll make me King.”
I closed my eyes as my stomach sank with dread and horror. “I should have known it was that. But surely you’re no one’s little lapdog?”
“Oh, Lily. As cold as ice but full of fire.” He stepped forward and ran a lock of my hair through his fingers, then touched one of the pointed tips of my ears. “If you wish to skip the courtship game and take me as your husband, I could be persuaded to end all this now.”
“Never.” I attempted to draw myself up to my full height as I spoke, but one of the men holding me yanked on my arm, and I groaned instead.
Malren laughed, the sound both refined and ugly, and it grated across my skin. “As I suspected. No matter. The throne will be mine soon enough.”