48. A Duel and a Death #3
Selene freezes. It’s an incredibly generous offer. No woman has ever formally sat on the King’s Council, though she knows as well as any that the queens often hold a seat in the shadows. She’s very young too, to be granted such an honour.
But it’s an honour she doesn’t want. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, I have other plans in mind—plans that will keep me away from court for some time.”
“Bigger plans than being on the King’s Council?”
“Simplier ones,” she says. “No less important. Considerably less troublesome.”
All Selene wants is to go back to Ebonrose, renovate the place again, fix up the town, visit her grandmother again, and have splendid children with rust-coloured hair. All the riches in the world could not buy her the peace she’ll find at Dorian’s side.
“That’s all you require?” the King asks again. “Rights for women?”
“It is.”
He seems to consider it. “I shall have to talk to my advisors,” he says, “but it seems a small price to pay for stability.”
Selene breathes a sigh of relief. She offers him a warm smile.
“What will happen to King Eirik now?” she asks.
“Well, I daresay your marriage is off the table,” Alden says, smiling to himself. “I cannot execute a king of another country without causing a diplomatic incident just as bad as the one you have tried at some length to avoid.”
Selene almost wants to laugh. If only he knew.
“He will be returning to Ashvold immediately with an escort, and our alliance will not hold. I think we can avoid a war—it is in both of our best interests to.”
“There’s a mine near Nocturne Hall he plans to use—”
“We shall see it collapsed, lest he gets any ideas.”
Selene is inclined to think that Eirik will not. His entire invasion hindered on him being able to invade secretly and suddenly. He will never be able to do so, now.
And even if he tries anything, Selene suspects it is no longer her problem.
She is free of him. She is free of everyone.
“Is there anything else, Your Majesty?” she asks. “Only I’m keen to return to my family.”
Alden smiles. “You are free to go, Lady Selene, with my eternal gratitude.”
Most of the guests have left by the time Selene is dismissed. The servants are busy clearing everything away. The wedding feast has been laid out in the ballroom, being picked at by the few guests that have nowhere else to go.
It’s a group of people that include Soren, Ariella, Rookwood… an d Dorian.
Selene flies into his arms, clinging to him like he’s a ghost she expects to vanish. She still doesn’t quite believe he’s here.
“It’s really you,” she whispers.
Dorian seems beyond words. He clings to her like she’s a raft.
“What happened?” she asks, pulling back from him. “Tell me everything. ”
“There isn’t all that much to tell,” Dorian explains.
“I didn’t go home last night after I spoke to you.
I just… wandered around the grounds, hoping to find something that would stop you going through with the wedding.
Eventually, I stopped outside the bower house, sat down at the back, and drifted off.
When I woke up, I remembered everything.
But I couldn’t get to you, not with everyone around.
Soren found me, then Ariella and Rookwood with your suggestion, and we tore the bower house apart.
I just needed to stall the wedding while they got the evidence to the guards. ”
Selene clutches his fingers. “We did it,” she says. “We finally did it.”
There’s a cough from behind her. “Selene,” comes her father’s voice. “Come with me.”
Selene isn’t in a mood to argue, and she doesn’t need to. She gives Dorian a bright smile and follows her father as he walks towards his study. He doesn’t even bother to close the door, instead sliding down into his chair.
“King Alden has cleared me of having any part of your mother’s plans,” he says, sinking his head into his hands. His voice is light, bone weary. It takes an age for him to speak again. “Why didn’t you come to me?”
“You wouldn’t have believed me,” Selene says.
“I might have—”
“No,” she says, more forcefully. “You would not. You wouldn’t even let me play chess as a child. You didn’t think I had a head for strategy, so you’ll forgive me if I didn’t trust you with mine.”
She expects him to argue, to fight her, but he does not. Another day, he might have. But he looks like he’s just waged a war and has no interest in starting another battle .
“Are you truly married to Dorian Nightbloom?” he asks finally.
“I am not,” Selene replies. Not in this timeline.
“Good.”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“Yet? You mean to marry this man who—”
“That man just saved Haverland. He’s a national hero.”
“You can’t marry him. Certainly not right now. The family has enough scandal surrounding it right now. No. No, I won’t allow it. In a few months, perhaps, when things are calmer, we may consider it—”
“Of course, father,” she says, not meaning it for a moment. “I’ll go and tell him to leave.”
Selene has absolutely no intention of waiting a few months to return to her husband. She doesn’t care about adding to the scandal. Indeed, she finds herself quite excited by the prospect.
She returns to the dining hall and grabs Dorian’s hand.
“Prepare a carriage,” she tells him. “And come for me at midnight.”