Chapter 24
The nerves Fawn tried to hide showed in the slight tremble of her arm as she threaded it through Dean’s. “Breathe, darling. Everyone will love you.”
She nervously touched the hair covering her ears and blew out a shaky breath. Coming here had been a terrible idea. “Half of your staff thinks I’m your mistress.”
“Not quite half,” he corrected her. “They won’t be saying your name with poison again.”
She gave him a dubious look. “You cannot control what people think.”
“No,” he agreed, “but I can control what they say.”
She huffed. Men . His word might be final, but he was not a god. “Did you implement a law? If not, I’m sorry to inform you that you can’t control what people whisper behind closed doors.”
A guard opened the door behind the dais and announced the king, effectively ending their conversation. Dean nodded to the guard and led Fawn past two thrones until they stood at the edge, looking down at the crowd.
“Is this the entire village?” Fawn muttered under her breath.
“These are the nobles, the upper echelons of our kingdom,” he explained. “My mother insists on an exclusive guest list. When you throw events, you can invite whomever you wish, noble or not.”
Fawn’s heart seized. She’d be queen and expected to throw parties for people. Shit. She had one real friend and a small handful of people who she really liked. Never had there been a more ill-suited person to plan events.
Dean held his hand up, silencing the room, and everyone stared at them with rapt attention. “Good evening, friends. Thank you for coming.”
Friends. The Dean she knew would sooner chew off his own arm than call these people friends.
What a perfect politician he was. “Tonight we gather to honor the two new kings of Eden.” Polite applause filled the air, but Dean held up his hand again.
“However, we have bigger things to celebrate.” He looked down at Fawn and smiled fondly.
“I would like to introduce my mate and your future queen, Fawn Whitman.”
A quiet fell over the crowd, followed by a loud buzzing of conversation.
“Quiet,” Dean snapped like a whip. “I know many of you have questions. It was well known my mate died when we were teenagers, but that turned out to be a lie.” The whispers grew louder and the king held up his hand once more.
“I will find out who betrayed me, and they will die for what they’ve done, but those close to me know that I always thought she was alive, but others told me I was imagining things. ”
Fawn looked up at him, blocking out the crowd, touched that he would reveal the secrets he kept hidden from his people. His people would have called him mad or too unstable to lead had they thought he admitted to feeling his mate’s ghost.
He motioned to Fawn with his free hand. “My beautiful mate was safely tucked away in the Mountain Kingdom. I found her at King Rennick’s coronation, and I am honored to present her to you today.” He stepped away and swept a hand toward her. “Your queen.”
Cheers and applause rang out, though some clapped reluctantly, eyes filled with suspicion. She couldn’t blame them because even to her it sounded impossible the king would think his mate to be dead. Had she not been the mate in question, she would have been skeptical, too.
Dean’s legs started to bend, but he stopped, looking around the room. Fawn felt his irritation grow, and she scanned the room for the source of his ire.
A lethal voice she barely recognized echoed off the walls of the beautiful ballroom, casting fear over the crowd. “Kneel before your queen or die where you stand.”
Every person in the room hit their knees, including Dean, and Fawn gawked at him. “I’m not even queen yet,” she whisper-yelled. “You cannot force them to kneel.”
He lifted his head to look at her, genuinely bewildered. “I did not force them. I gave them a choice.”
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at his sincerity. He rose and kissed her gently. “Whether we are married or not, you are their queen, and they will treat you as such.”
“You’re insane,” she breathed.
His wolfish grin did things to her she needn’t think about in public. “We’ve already established that, darling.”
He guided her to the two thrones on the dais and gestured for her to sit down in the throne to the left while he took the right. Reaching over, he took her hand in his and beckoned over a guard. “We will start receiving now.”
Alarm bells rang in Fawn’s head. “Receiving? As in, people come up to speak to us?”
Dean chuckled. “What did you think we would be doing?”
She flung her arm toward the dancing crowd. The music had started back up and couples twirled around the floor. “Dancing.”
“We will, but people will want to meet you.” He squeezed her hand. “I need to see if anyone carries a hostility toward you. It may lead us to whoever wants you dead.”
The blood drained out of her face and pooled at her feet. “That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
He frowned. “I would never let anyone hurt you.”
“That’s not the point,” she argued. “No one wants to meet people who hate them.”
“Darling, they wouldn’t dare be rude to you, but I am good at reading people. If I sense something is off, I will have Braddock investigate them.”
The confidence with which he spoke would have been inspiring if Fawn didn’t feel like puking. You need to get used to this , she scolded herself. You will be queen. Until now, she hadn’t really thought through what that meant. She should have.
The dancers looked beautiful twirling around the floor and staff moved silently along the perimeter of the room, offering people refreshments. “What about the staff?” she asked. “When will I meet them?”
His mouth tipped into a crooked smile. “Whenever you’d like. My mother never bothered, and I didn’t think to set anything up.”
She scowled at him. “Have you met them?”
He nodded. “Most. I cannot remember everyone’s names, but I have done my best to introduce myself.”
She felt like an ass for assuming he hadn’t; she knew him better than that. “I’d like to meet them soon.”
A woman appeared at Fawn’s side and held out a glass of champagne. A sliver of cloth protruded from her mouth, and she carried a small chalkboard on a string. On it, she’d scrawled: “ Would you like a drink, Your Highness?”
Fawn smiled kindly and accepted a glass. “Thank you. What is your name?”
The woman looked startled and glanced at Dean, who aimed a dark stare back. She scrambled to erase her board and retrieved a piece of chalk from her pocket to write, “ Beatrice .”
“It’s nice to meet you, Beatrice. I’m Fawn.”
Beatrice blinked, then added: “ It’s an honor, Your Highness” to her board. She dipped a quick curtsey and scurried off the dais.
Fawn tapped her fingers on the arm of her throne. “I wonder what happened to her mouth.”
Dean sipped the champagne another server handed him and hummed in response. Fawn fidgeted with her skirt when people lined up at the steps of the dais, waiting for the guard to let them through.
The first couple approached, introduced as Samuel and Catrina Galla.
Wasn’t Galla Cali’s last name? Oh, fuck.
This might be worse than meeting Dean’s parents.
The woman’s eyes brightened when they landed on Dean.
“Hello, Your Highness.” The older woman looked delighted to see the king, and Fawn feared her eyes would dim when she turned them on her.
She braced herself for disdain, but instead Catrina made her way over to Fawn while Samuel greeted Dean.
The woman curtsied and raised her head with a warm smile.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.” This couldn’t be Cali’s mother.
In no world would that wretched girl come from this woman.
She leaned closer to Fawn and lowered her voice.
“I should be upset on my daughter’s behalf, but I never wanted her to marry the king.
He didn’t love her, and I was afraid he never would.
” She patted Fawn’s hand with a motherly air.
“I finally understand why. He never looked at Cali the way he looks at you.”
Fawn’s throat tightened and she tried to swallow the lump in her throat before replying. “I appreciate that very much.”
Catrina straightened and stepped to the side for her husband to take her place. The man smiled politely and bowed low. “We are glad our king has found his true mate,” he said, smooth and articulate. “It is a relief that the Garden Kingdom heir will remain strong.”
Odd thing to say but better than the hate she’d feared. “Thank you, sir.” He bowed again, took his wife’s arm, and allowed a guard to escort them down the stairs.
“Of all people to go first, it had to be Cali’s parents?” she whispered. “Who’s next? Yours?”
Dean laughed loud enough to draw attention. “Cali’s parents are kind people. If I thought they’d disrespect you, they wouldn’t have gotten within one hundred feet of this palace.”
She sighed and sat back, ready to be thrown to the wolves again.
Dean watched Fawn mingle with Naomi and Monroe far enough away to give her “space,” but close enough to keep her in sight. He’d tried to convince Cassandra to come and stay by Fawn’s side, but the serpent refused. She hated crowds and had said, “Stop treating her like fragile glass.”
He knew his behavior was over the top—he was a rational man—but going through the loss of her wasn’t something he’d survive again. It wasn’t as if he were leashed to her. Again.
“Stop staring at her,” Braddock remarked. “She’s close enough that either of us could get to her before someone hurt her.”
“They could if I’m not watching. What if someone pulls a dagger on her?” The thought alone lit violence in Dean’s soul. “You won’t let me watch her, and I can’t move to stop them if I’m not watching.”
Braddock pointed two fingers at his eyes then pointed them toward Fawn. “I have her in my line of sight and I’m faster than you.”