Chapter 29
Sage
Her Brilliance gestured to the servant by the door beside the dais.
It was the same door through which I’d exited the last time I was in the throne room, but this time I wasn’t going back to my suite no matter how much I wanted to.
At least I had Talon with me. He might be hiding in the shadows of the enormous room, but I was sure he wouldn’t let me face these strangers alone.
“A word, Captain Talon,” the High Priestess said, and my stomach bottomed out.
No. I needed him. I couldn’t face how ever many men by myself. Especially when they hoped I’d make them my mate, and I wanted nothing to do with any of them.
But even if Zinnia hadn’t explicitly told me, I knew enough about how things worked that the High Priestess’s word was the law and saying anything against her would draw unwanted attention from her and everyone else.
I swallowed hard and stood, my knees aching from having knelt for so long. I could do this. I could face these men alone.
I’d survived worse. I’d survived Wells and Crane, and I could survive meeting a few suitors even if I had no idea what to say or how to act around them. They wanted me to like them, which meant they’d be on their best behavior.
At least this was a semi-private audience. The ball the High Priestess had mentioned would be so much worse — hundreds of eyes watching, nowhere to hide, everyone scrutinizing the newcomer who’d already been attacked.
I forced myself to move, keeping my pace steady even though everything within me screamed to run, hide, pretend I didn’t keep showing up in the Garden every time I fell asleep.
Sir West’s heavy footsteps fell into step behind me, reminding me that I wasn’t alone, that I couldn’t ever be alone in the Garden now.
Except meeting these men was the High Priestess’s wish and Sir West was sworn into her service. If I asked— hell, even if I begged, I doubted he’d whisk me away.
The servant led us through opulent halls, and I fought to think of a plan, figure out what to do once we got to wherever we were going.
I had no idea what to say to these men, and everything Zinnia had told me about how I should act went against everything I’d been taught growing up.
And while I desperately wanted to break away from the meek, submissive woman I was supposed to be—
No. I would break away. I could do this.
The servant stopped at an archway where the stone walls gave way to climbing vines and the open air of a private garden and gestured me through. I stepped into the garden and clasped my hands in front of me, desperate to hide their shaking.
Nine beautiful fae men waited inside, some standing near a fountain in the center of the garden, others seated on the cushioned benches arranged around it. All of them turned to look at me the moment I entered and stood.
The space was small, intimate, enclosed by stone walls covered in climbing vines and those glowing white and pink flowers that grew everywhere in the Garden.
Fae lanterns cast warm golden light, and a statue of the goddess waited in an alcove near a second, outside entrance.
It felt like a beautiful trap with only two ways in or out and nowhere to hide.
My chest tightened and the splash and rush of the fountain sounded louder, ringing in my ears, reminding me of the last time I was surrounded by men, my hands tied, my body aching, Wells pressing me against jagged rocks. My breathing picked up and the edges of my vision darkened.
No. I wouldn’t think about it. Crane and the others were on the run. They had to be. They wouldn’t be foolish enough to come after me in the Divine Residence surrounded by Her Brilliance’s handpicked courtiers.
I shoved all thoughts of them as deep into my mind as I could. Wells was dead, the Order of the Sacred Grove were hunting the men who Rider, Talon, Quill, and Ash hadn’t outright killed. I was safe. I was fine. I could do this.
I forced myself to take a step into the private garden, focusing on the men and not the fountain.
They were all tall, all muscular, and all stunning like every fae man I’d seen so far — with the exception of Sir West — and they all looked at me with varying degrees of desire that made my stomach churn.
I wanted to yell at them, tell them I wasn’t a thing, a prize to be won, that I thought fae men were supposed to be different from humans, but I swallowed back the words.
In their culture, women were a prize to be fought over and won.
We were rare, only a quarter of the population, and from what I’d glimpsed of female behavior, they liked and expected this kind of attention.
We were supposed to be powerful, in charge, and able to demand what we wanted, but I certainly didn’t feel like that right now. I felt like prey. Just like the last few times I’d been surrounded by fae men.
West positioned himself near the archway back into the Divine Residence and the servant withdrew, leaving me with the nine men who all thought this was their chance to win a mate.
As a wave, all the men moved toward me, and I strained to stay where I was despite being desperate to run away, not sure what I should do or where I should go even if I didn’t.
Should I sit? That felt even more vulnerable than standing here with them towering over me.
A man with long black hair half braided up in traditional fae style that reminded me too much of Wells’ hair reached me first. He captured both my hands in his much larger ones and raised my knuckles to his lips, his breath hot against my skin.
His pale pink eyes were sharp and calculating as they met mine, and something about the way he looked at me made my stomach twist.
“Lady Sage.” His voice was warm and practiced and made the hair on the back of my neck rise in warning. “We’ve heard so much about you.”
I cringed at that. The only things he could have possibly heard were that I’d been attacked and that I’d been hiding in my room. Which meant anything else was pure rumor.
I forced a smile. Did I even want to know what the courtiers in the High Priestess’s court were saying about me?
Before I could think of a response, another man stepped close on my left, his bright turquoise eyes watching me with an intensity that made me want to make myself as small as possible.
“A pleasure,” he purred with a slight incline of his head. He seemed familiar. Where had I seen him before? When I’d been on the balcony and Ash was trying to get me to pick someone to join us or—?
My breath caught in my throat. Or did I recognize him from when I’d been trussed up in the sacred chamber and Wells had tried to force a mating bond on me?
I strained to remember, but I’d been in shock when I’d woken from what Crane had done to me with his magic and aside from a few of the men, the rest were all a blur.
A man with hair so short it made the delicate points of his ears stand out in sharp contrast crowded my right side.
“Is it true you were attacked? That must have been terrifying, are you all right, do you need anything, because we heard what happened and it’s awful, just awful, and Her Brilliance said we should make you comfortable—”
“I’m fine, thank you,” I said, cutting him off before he could keep going, but I wasn’t sure he heard me.
The man with black hair still held my hands, his thumb stroking across my knuckles in a way that was probably meant to be soothing but only made my skin crawl. “I’m Cobalt, my lady. And this—” He jerked his chin at the rambling man on my right, “—is Pine.”
“It’s nice to meet you both.” The words came out stiff and formal.
I winced at how awkward I sounded but I didn’t know what else to say. I wasn’t the confident woman Zinnia said I was supposed to be, and it was much harder to pretend I was than I wanted it to be.
“Come sit with us,” Pine said, already moving toward the benches near the fountain. “You must be tired after everything—”
“This way, Lady Sage.” Cobalt’s hand closed around my elbow before I could decide if I wanted to sit, and he guided me toward a group of cushioned benches with a grip that didn’t leave room for refusal.
I let him lead me because what else could I do? Yank my arm away and run? I didn’t even know where I’d go, and causing a scene would only draw more attention. Maybe sitting would make this easier. Maybe if I just got through the next few minutes, I could find an excuse to leave.
Cobalt sat me in the middle of the bench and gracefully sank down beside me. Pine dropped onto the bench on my other side with his thigh pressed against mine through the fabric of our clothes. I shifted away but he shifted with me, closing the gap, almost pinning me between him and Cobalt.
In front of me, the fountain burbled with that constant rush of water that made my chest tighten, while the rest of the men arranged themselves on the nearby benches, drew benches closer to sit on, or just stood around me.
Nine of them. Two exits. And not a single man I trusted among them.