Chapter 21
“A marriage proposal,” said Abraxas. “Bold. But as I suspected. Did Maeve hear?”
Mal shook his head. “Mordred was giving her a tour. And I think we’d know if she had.”
“Normally, I would agree. But lately my cousin hasn’t been exactly forthcoming with her thoughts.”
Mal did not need reminding of her distance. Every breath she took felt farther and farther from him. Each day that she avoided his gaze, every dinner and every training, her walls were completely up.
“Is she pretty?”
“Who?” Asked Mal as Abraxas’ words pulled his thoughts from Maeve.
“The ice Princess,” Abraxas replied with a laugh.
“Irrelevant,” said Mal. “It’s out of the question.”
Abraxas pulled a box of cigars from his desk. “You don’t have to tell me. She’d kill us both.” He lit the tip of it with his fingers and relaxed.
Mal stared off into the study, not concerned with Kier’s daughter or his proposal of marriage to her.
Maeve consumed his thoughts. As she always did. “I should have told her about the wolves.”
Abraxas exhaled a ring of smoke. “She would have taken it hard seeing them with or without prior knowledge.”
“I know she was looking at them and thinking about her brother. What could have been and the life she should have had as a family. With both of them taken from her. . .”
“She’s been visiting Arianna and the twins more.”
Mal looked over at him. “Has she?”
Abraxas nodded as he continued to smoke. “Strange to see the pair of them taking walks through the castle together. Zimsy says they frequent my Great Aunt Agatha often as well. I can’t remember the last time they were happy to be in one another’s presence. Of course, it is Zimsy’s presence she chooses to be in the most.”
“Who else’s presence does she enjoy that I am unaware of?” Asked Mal, a slight bit of contempt slipping into his tone.
Abraxas smiled softly and turned his head to the side. “No one’s in the way you are insinuating, Mal.”
Mal looked away from his Hand. “Tell me truly Abraxas,” he began, “if she was never to come around, would it be wise to accept Keir’s offer?”
Abraxas’ face saddened. “No.”
“And why is that?”
Abraxas set aside his cigar and sighed. “If I was to set aside my cousin’s happiness, and your own, I would not advocate for your marriage to the bloodline of Heims. I would pursue the Elven Queen’s daughter. They have the largest cities, army, and the greatest wealth. That said, she will come around, Mal. You just need to find her again.”
“You’ve put a great deal of thought into that idea, it seems.”
Abraxas shrugged. “That’s my job.”
Mal looked away from him. “‘By the time I was your age, I already had two sons.’ That is what Kier told me.”
“You have plenty of time for that, down the road,” said Abraxas. “When the pair of you have lived your youth and restored balance.”
“She doesn’t want that,” said Mal softly.
“She doesn’t want to be forced,” Abraxas argued. “There is a difference.” He leaned forward in his seat. “Mal,” he said sincerely, drawing the Prince’s attention towards him. “Just because the King of some frozen realm pressures you to move quickly on something, doesn’t mean you must. Kier’s motives are his own. He’s not concerned with ensuring you have an heir in order to protect your bloodline. He is concerned with his bloodline being incorporated with yours.”
Mal sat silently for a moment. “Your uncle warned me they would do this.”
“Do what?”
Mal stared at the photograph of Maeve that had once occupied Ambrose’s study.
He could feel her all the way on the other side of Castle Morana. She wasn’t asleep. She rarely slept without his assistance. Assistance she didn’t even know he provided.
“Use me.”