Chapter 13
Rylee
Baydel wants me to make a scene? Well, fuck him.
I make a beeline toward the first potential I see. She’s gowned in an elegant dress of dark-blue silk that molds to her curves in the most flattering way. Axl’s color. I spare a glance over my shoulder, meeting Axl’s gaze. It’s encouraging yet apologetic.
He has nothing to apologize for. When he selected this potential, I hated the Legends. I hated the kings. I hated all things royal.
So much has changed.
I focus ahead again, finally making my way to the potential, who stands next to a table laden with fruit and chocolates. She plucks a chocolate from a silver tray and pops it in her mouth. She looks bored or timid—I’m not sure which.
I stop before her, fastening what I desperately hope is a genuine-looking smile on my face. I’m learning mating bonds can be a feral bitch, but that doesn’t mean I have to be.
“Hello,” I finally manage.
The woman straightens when she looks at me, then immediately bows. “Your highness.”
I try not to cringe. “Rylee, please. And forgive me, I’m not sure of your name.”
She rises. “Charlotte Arden.” Her voice is soft, and her movements are as delicate as the silk she wears. She motions toward a fashionably dressed man and woman standing before the dais, speaking with Lucas. “My father is Earl Gregor Arden, and my mother is Countess Constance Arden.”
“I’m happy to meet you, Charlotte,” I say, the words feeling more truthful by the minute. I half expected her to sneer at me when I approached. So far, so good.
“You as well, princess—”
“Just Rylee,” I cut her off with a wave.
“But your title. You’re mated to the princes.”
“I’ve been Rylee far longer than I’ve been a princess.”
A small smile shapes her cupid lips. “All right, Rylee.” She says my name like it’s a struggle to drop the formalities. “Is there something I can do for you this evening?”
I tilt my head.
“Not that I’m not pleased to meet you,” she says. “But I’m not sought out by high royalty often.”
“I doubt that,” I counter. “Being an earl’s daughter and a previous potential.”
She visibly swallows, sparing a glance to where Axl is chatting with Kal across the room.
Fire slices my stomach at the simple, innocent look, and it’s all I can do to hush the powers inside me. I suck in a breath, doing my best to hold a casual smile as I settle the powers, relieved that Jax’s and Pierce’s are still with them.
“Are you all right, princess?” Charlotte asks, genuine concern in her features.
“Yes, of course.” I count the number of strawberries on the table beside me to ground myself. “I’m fine.”
“I admire you,” she says after I’ve taken a sip of sparkling wine to cool my nerves.
“You do?” I ask.
“Yes.” She glances toward my mates again, and I have to practically beat the rebellious mating bonds back down—not easy when I’m trying to focus on her words as she continues.
“I must admit, after my own Choosing experience, I wasn’t sure if they’d ever find a mate.
” She focuses back on me, her brown eyes sincere. “Though I certainly hoped.”
“Why did you think that?” I ask, ravenous for information. Speaking to the previous potentials won’t just be a common courtesy for me. I’m genuinely curious about their experiences.
Charlotte’s eyes widen, and she vehemently shakes her head.
“I promise, I mean no disrespect.” The girl looks downright terrified as she glances around the crowded room where people are dancing and drinking, as if I might call over an elite enforcer and send her to the dungeons for stating her true thoughts.
I remember a time when I felt the same way.
I need to change this fear.
“You have nothing to be afraid of,” I assure her. “You can speak freely with me. I’m from—” I almost say the Ashlands but quickly correct. “Cedar and Silk. I wasn’t raised with these formalities, so you don’t need to stand on them. I’m curious about you, that’s all. And I wanted to meet you.”
She blows out a breath but still looks cautious as she speaks. “Again, I mean no disrespect. The princes are fine men, but after spending one month with Axl, watching him rush off to attend to Legend issues, and the way he was with that ocean of his, it was . . .”
“Overwhelming?” I fill in for her when she goes quiet.
“Yes.” She breathes the word. “To say the least. I knew within a few days that I wasn’t the fit for any of them.
I’m not built for that sort of life. The constant movement, the threats, the brutality in what they do.
” A shiver racks her. “I hoped someone would be, though. Plus, it was too tempting to leave after the month was up when the king—” She abruptly cuts herself off, immediately taking a sip of her wine.
I step closer to her, a sense of urgency coiling in my chest. “When the king what?”
She blinks rapidly, glancing across the room at where her mother and father still speak with Lucas. “I can’t. I didn’t mean to say that.”
“It’s okay,” I say, gently smoothing my hand over her arm. “I mean what I say. You have nothing to fear from me.” I shrug. “Unless you’re still interested in vying for my mates’ hearts. That would make things complicated.”
She laughs, tension loosening from her shoulders. For half a second, I worry my touch has unleashed Jax’s power without my knowing—soothed her emotions so I can get her to open up—but I check, and it’s still with him.
“No, I have no interest in them beyond their happiness with you,” she says. “Happy princes will certainly make happy kings, and we definitely need that.”
“Tell me about the king,” I say. “What made it easier to leave after a month beyond you realizing you weren’t built for Legend life?”
She fiddles with her glass, contemplative.
An itch creeps up inside me at her hesitance. I could take Pierce’s power back. Somehow, I know I could. All I’d have to do is call it back to me, direct it toward her mind, and no thought of hers would be hidden from me—
No.
I won’t violate her like that. Or Pierce.
Charlotte steps closer, lowering her voice. “My mother,” she says. “Looks healthy and vibrant tonight, doesn’t she?”
“She certainly does,” I say, glancing at the countess dressed in a soft blue long-sleeved gown. “She’s practically glowing.”
“It wasn’t like that six years ago. She was very ill,” she says, her mouth dipping at the corners as if the memory is still fresh.
“Father and I were certain we’d lose her.
He’d spent half of his fortune trying to find a healer who could help her condition, but none of the Occuli we could afford were able to fully rid her of the disease. ”
I swallow hard, a lump suddenly in my throat.
“When the king came to me toward the end of my first month of the Choosing and offered me a way to save my mother . . .” Her voice cracks, and tears fill her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I had to take it. I knew I wouldn’t be good for them.
I knew I wouldn’t survive them, let alone the Athanry.
And I wanted to help my mother. When he offered, I took my chance and never looked back. ”
A similar offer to me from Brooks rings in my memory. “Which king was it?” I ask.
Charlotte wets her lips. “King Baydel,” she answers.
I nod, not surprised. “You did nothing wrong,” I assure her, and she breathes a little easier.
“I’m sure anyone would’ve done the same in your situation.
” Though I’d been offered my sister and a new life on a silver platter, and I didn’t take the deal.
My princes were worth more to me than that. Worth everything.
I look at my mates, who are lingering on the other side of the room. Kal and Axl chat with anyone who dares approach them. Pierce and Jax remain quiet, watchful.
My heart fills my chest so much it almost hurts. The bonds inside me are yanking and tugging on the other ends.
All four of them look at me at once, and it steals my breath. We’re connected in ways beyond the powers, beyond whatever magic the Athanry gave us.
I couldn’t leave them. Not for any offer in the world.
“And now you have your mother,” I say, managing to look back at her. “Healthy as ever, it seems.”
“She is,” she says, a wistful smile on her lips. “I would do it all again. Endure that fear, just to have her this way. My father . . . I don’t think he’d survive it if he lost her so suddenly. These extra years have definitely made the two of us not take a second for granted.”
“I understand,” I say. I wouldn’t survive without the Legends. I know that in the depths of my soul.
“May I have this dance?” Baydel’s question shocks me as much as his silent approach. My own power, air and wind, swirls inside me, and a buried instinct to fly or fight bursts beneath my skin.
Charlotte bows deeply. “Your highness,” she says before backing away a few steps to make room for him.
“Of course, King Baydel.” I grind out my answer. “It was lovely to meet you, Charlotte,” I say to her. “We’ll talk again soon.”
I turn to the king, hesitantly slipping my hand into his outstretched one, wondering if he’ll use his power, immediately ensnaring my physical motions to make me do his bidding. A flash of our first meeting, when he held me immobile and tried to touch me, makes my blood boil.
I force myself to breathe. To stay present. To bury my own power, and the two remaining with me from Axl and Kal.
Thankfully, my movements are my own as he guides me to the dance floor, the crowd parting for him as if they can sense his presence.
He sweeps us into the dance, one hand holding mine and the other lightly touching my hip. His power radiates from him, much like his son’s does, a low vibration I can’t ignore, but he’s not using it against me as we sway back and forth to the light, airy melody of strings and piano.
My heart races so hard against my chest, I struggle to breathe properly, though his touch is light, innocent, with no sign of the previous intention to control or threaten me in sight.
“You look absolutely regal tonight, little bug.” His voice is even, calm.