Chapter 16
AVELINE
The interior of Longleaf Brews delivers on everything the Wild Oak Woods has promised.
A myriad of species—magical and human—mix and mingle under the wooden beams that stretch from one wall to another.
The air is warm and spiced with the scent of herbs and tea, and the entire place feels as though I've stepped into a late summer day.
A huge wooden counter lines the back wall of the shop, and several rooms pinwheel off the main room.
"I'm Lila," a sweet voice says. "I'm so happy to finally meet you, Aveline. Or should I call you 'my Lady'?"
"You're Fae. Seelie," Malakai says at once, a slight growl to the words that immediately has me on edge and annoyed all over again.
"Enough of that," I snap at him. "Leave Lila alone.
" I turn back to Lila, who wears an apprehensive expression, and I can't blame her.
"Please call me Aveline. This is Malakai.
" I throw a hand up towards Malakai's face, nearly brushing his cheek with the careless gesture, and I couldn't care less.
"Your husband told us that there was a table here for us. We'd love to sit and eat."
No sooner have I uttered the words than my stomach makes another horrible noise. I grimace at Lila. "I'm so sorry."
Lila looks completely taken aback, either by Malakai's rudeness or the fact that my stomach is loudly protesting the lack of food. "Is there somewhere in particular you'd want to sit? We're actually not full up, so you can have your pick of tables. Somewhere pretty?"
I cast a glance back at Malakai. "Private," I say in a lower voice, irritation rising all over again.
She beams at me. "I think I have the perfect place for you. Come on, come on," she says. "Follow me." As if I would do anything else.
"It smells incredible in here. Your restaurant is stunning," I compliment her, and she beams at me from over one shoulder as she leads us into one of the many rooms.
Live flowers hang from great wooden beams along with green vines that trail across every wall and surface. Little fireflies bounce around the ceiling, providing soft ambient light.
"There's a table just past here," she says, and my eyes widen at the sight of a real tree trunk hiding a small booth.
Magical orbs float lazily in the space above the table and a few candles flicker.
It's slightly more romantic than I would have liked, considering how irritated I am with Malakai, but I can't deny that it's adorable.
"This will be perfect. Thank you so much, Lila.
I can't tell you how much it means to me to be able to sit down and rest."
"It's my pleasure, Lady Aveline," Lila says, blushing furiously.
"Just Aveline.” I don’t want to be a duchess ever again, I decide. I don’t want anything to do with Stormspire, not when they so readily sent me away.
My heart aches with sudden pain, and a shadow crawls over my hand, a cool touch.
"All right then," Lila says, smiling wide. "What can I start you off with to drink?"
A vine unfurls onto the table, unrolling a bone-colored parchment with perfect, neat writing.
Lila looks fondly at the vine, which rolls itself back off the tabletop, but not before gently touching a strand of my hair.
I don't quite know what to say to that, so I don't say anything at all.
I just blink at the menu in front of me, trying to steady myself.
"You're not used to magic, are you?" she asks me, not unkindly.
I can see why she and Druze make such a nice match. They both seem to be as kind a couple as I've ever met.
Or maybe, I think sadly, I'm just unused to kindness.
My throat tightens a little, and I try to banish the thought of my stepfather and my mother from my mind. Malakai is watching me carefully, though, so I make myself sit up straight and smile through watery eyes at her.
"I'm not. I'm not used to magic at all," I finally answer, though it’s a few seconds too long since she asked. "Though I have to say, I very much like the kind of magic you're using here."
Lila's sweet smile grows larger. "I'm happy to hear that, Aveline.” She leans in. “And if I can give you some advice..."
Annoyance starts to creep through me.
I'm tired of being given advice about magic.
"...if I were you, I'd start with the honey chamomile lychee tea. It's light, and it will go really nicely with some of the lunch offerings that we have today. And then, if you would like something to warm you up before you leave again, I think perhaps a spicier brew would suit."
She smiles at me, and I feel like an ass for assuming she'd be giving me advice on magic and not on what I'd asked about to eat.
"We'll have one of everything," Malakai announces.
"What?" I ask, confused. "What do you mean? We just ordered tea."
Lila smiles at him. "Do you mean food? Because she's hungry?" she clarifies.
"Exactly." He nods. "My bride-to-be needs as much food as you can give her."
I sigh, annoyed, expecting Lila to push back, to say that one of everything is too much food. But she just smiles at me broadly.
"I like a man who takes care of his woman," she tells me slyly before floating away, leaving us alone behind the curtain of vines and lilac flowers.
"Why are you angry with me, Aveline, so suddenly?"
I sigh, most of my anger almost immediately deflating. "I'm not.”
"Then why do you punish me with silence and frowns?" He sounds so forlorn that it irritates me again, because how does he not know why I'm upset?
I turn to him, trying to keep my cool as I was trained to do in volatile situations in court. "One simply does not banish people and make them disappear with our shadows," I tell him, using the kind of voice I would use with a small child when they disobeyed.
"I didn't make him disappear," Malakai says, looking confused and slightly amused, which annoys me even more.
"It certainly looked banished to me," I say. "You stole that man's horse."
"He wanted to take you from me."
I swallow, because he's not wrong about that.
"Would you have preferred if I let him beat that horse and take you as well?"
"Of course not," I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Then what would you have me do, Aveline?"
"Well, where did you send him if you didn't banish him?" I ask.
"Back to his home. About four cities away, judging by the sign on his cart."
"You sent him back home?" I repeat. "You didn't..." I pause, trying to figure out a more delicate way to ask if he had killed him or not. “You didn’t kill him?”
Well, that wasn’t delicate at all.
"I can, if you would like me to," he says, steepling his hands on the table. They’re large, and calloused, as though this Shadow King has held a sword more than once.
“Would you like me to?” he prompts, and I flick my gaze back to his face. "It would more than be deserved—quick death. You're not the first that he's tried to hurt," he says. "Does that change your opinion of him?"
He's not really asking about my opinion of the man from whom we took the horse; I'm not so na?ve as not to know that. He's asking if it changes my opinion of him. Of Malakai, of his actions. If what he did was right.
"One simply should not banish another," I repeat, nodding to myself.
He sighs, leaning back against the bench, which creaks under his weight. He's so tall that the vines overhead brush the tops of his head and shoulders as he moves, before they dip out of reach and curl back into themselves.
"What would you have me do, Aveline? The man was hurting that animal. He had done it before. He wanted to hurt you. You, the soon-to-be Queen of Shadow Keep. It was an egregious error on his part and I put it right."
"I would prefer," I say in a choked voice. I clear my throat and start again. "I would prefer if next time you conferred with me before you meted out justice on your own."
He crosses his arms over his chest, and I'm struck again by how human he looks in these clothes, especially with the confused expression that he now wears, as though he simply never considered pausing to ask what I wanted.
"If you're right," I say, struck by a sudden thought, "and once I lived before and we were, as you say, fated mates..."
"Yes," he says, leaning forward. His gaze tracks over my face like he's memorizing every single small gesture that flicks across it. "Are you ready to give in?"
"No," I say, annoyance and outrage yet again winding through me.
He raises an eyebrow.
"No!" The word barks out of me much louder than I meant, and some of the fireflies overhead pause in their flight.
Malaki leans back in the chair, spreading his palms out wide on the table. I cast a gaze around, grateful more than ever that we're in a secluded spot for this conversation.
"When we were together in the past, if that is true," I say, holding up a finger before he can interrupt me, "did you never ask what I wanted?
Were my wishes not considered?" He opens his mouth to answer, and I cut him off.
"Uh-huh," I say loudly. "Truly think about it.
I want to know if some past version of me was simply fine with you banishing people if they so much as dared to insult me. "
I raise one eyebrow at him in as much of a sneer as I can manage, and I wait. I let the silence grow between us.
"Here you are," Lila says.
The vines brush aside as she sets down a steaming pot of tea, a delicate porcelain kettle, and a tray that holds beautifully iced petit fours, small sandwiches with every possible combination—cucumber, ham and cheese, what appears to be turkey fresh off the bone—along with sandwiches with fillings I'm not sure I've ever seen before. My mouth waters at the sight.
"They look delectable. Thank you so much," I tell her.
Her eyes are wide like a scared rabbit's as her gaze darts between Malakai and I.
I swat at his forearm gently. "You're scaring her."
The stormy expression immediately leaves his face, replaced by one of indignance and then sheepishness, which makes me feel a lot better. Progress is progress, after all.