Chapter Eight #2
It is with deep sorrow that we inform you of His Grace, King Callum’s death.
An intruder got past his palace guards and entered his sick room during the night to cruelly and viciously attack him as he lay sleeping.
The king’s council requests your presence and your wise counsel at your earliest convenience.
The king had been informed that you found his son and of your intention to marry, and he was most pleased, informing the council that he named you as his successor to the throne of Gorias, as soon as you arrived in the Gorian Kingdom and produced evidence of the marriage.
He wrote this down and all the council witnessed his signature on it.
We await your arrival, as things remain dangerously unsettled here since the king’s tragic assassination.
Please let us know when we might expect you.
The note was signed by the seven council members of the Gorian Kingdom and had probably been written by the late king’s closest advisor, Lord Oisín.
I was stunned by the news. Attacked in his bed.
His deathbed! It had been a little over a week since my visit to Gorias.
So much had happened since then. I’d traveled to the mortal realm and back, retrieved Braden and then taken him home with me to marry him.
We even had time for a quick detour to a mortal village along the way.
Yet Callum’s injuries had been so severe that he would surely have died in a few more days or a week at most anyway.
In truth, I hadn’t been surprised that this note was bringing news of his death—but I expected it to be from his injuries and not his murder by a subsequent attack.
To learn that he’d met his inglorious end in such a way was shocking.
His imminent demise had been the reason I’d married Braden in such haste to begin with, but I wished he’d had time to see his son before this had happened.
Speaking of Braden, the thought of telling him was not at all pleasant.
“Please tell the Gorian council that I’ll be there soon, and that I’ll be traveling with a full and heavily armed guard, so they can prepare for me and my men.
And should anyone be interested, tell them this—their new king is on his way.
And he is not a weak and mortally wounded man, but a monarch fully capable of defending himself, his consort and Gorias with his sword, should the need arise. Tell them to spread the word.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” the guard said and saluted me before hurrying to the door with his message.
I sighed, took one more sip of the excellent wine and headed next door to speak to Braden.
As I came into the bedroom, I could see only the very top of his bright, tousled head poking up out of the nest of pillows and covers he’d made for himself once I left the bed. He was lying squarely in the middle, which reminded me that he had also hogged the covers all night long.
I sat down beside him and took hold of the small, surprisingly pretty, bare foot that was sticking out of the covers. Even the nails on his toes were like little pearls.
What was he anyway? He wasn’t all human, and he certainly wasn’t all Faery either.
He was some mixture or amalgam of the two, with a dash of something else thrown in for good measure.
It wasn’t only that he was attractive. It was that he radiated a compelling personal charm like the sun radiated heat.
It wasn’t any kind of compulsion he was using though—it was simply him.
“Braden, wake up,” I said, squeezing his foot a little, wondering why his skin was so silky smooth. He was a man, damn it. “I need to talk to you.”
He groaned and sat up, his eyes such bright and brilliant blue that I blinked at him for a moment. He had bed hair and sleepy eyes, and no one who had just woken up should look that good.
“Oh, good morning,” he said, with a shy, sweet smile. “Are you getting up already?” He took a good look at me and sighed. “Oh no. You’re already dressed. Did I oversleep again?”
“No, I wanted you to sleep in, so I didn’t wake you. You had a big day yesterday.”
Another sweet smile that made me want to climb back in bed with him.
“I guess I did,” he said softly and dropped his gaze.
“Parts of it were very nice though,” he said and blushed.
Blushed. Like a maiden. I had to kiss him then, climbing on top of him so I could feel his body underneath mine. One thing led to another…
And this whole damn thing was turning out to be a big problem. I’d never get any work done at this rate.
When I finally pulled myself away from him, perhaps a half hour later, and I pulled myself back together again, I told him sternly that he needed to get up and get dressed. I had something important to talk to him about.
He scrambled out of bed then, treating me to a flash of his perfect, plump backside before he put on a robe, but I resolutely made myself stay in my chair. At this rate, I’d never get out of this bedroom.
“Sit down, Braden…no, over there, please. I’ll call for the servants to bring you something to eat.”
I rang for them and two eager courtiers came rushing in, almost getting stuck in the door as they both tried to cram their bodies through to be the first. They must have been standing right outside.
“Something we can do for you, Your Highness?” one of them asked, his tongue practically hanging out of his mouth.
“Oh, yes, please,” Braden said, giving him a brilliant smile that probably made a few of the man’s brain cells faint. “I’m starving. Some of the spiced eggs would be nice and some blueberries in sweet cream, if it’s not too much trouble. Those are so good.”
“Yes, Highness, right away.” They started to turn away and then caught themselves as they remembered I was in the room as well.
The one doing all the talking asked, “Oh. W-would Your Grace like something too?”
I stared at them until they fidgeted, and when I was sure they were uncomfortable, I said, “Yes. Bring me a glass of the nectar wine. I never finished mine this morning.”
“Yes, of course, sire.”
They bowed their way out of the room, and I made a mental note to get their names and have them switched off Braden’s service. Perhaps cleaning the privy would suit their skill set.
“In the meantime, Braden, I need to tell you something. And I’m afraid it might upset you.”
“Oh no,” he said, his face paling. “It’s not about Leofric, is it?”
“What? Who? Oh, you mean your uncle or cousin or whoever he is. I don’t know anything about him.”
“Well, I’ve been so worried about him. I’m sorry I interrupted.”
“It’s about your father, actually. King Callum of Gorias. I’m afraid he’s dead. Someone was able to sneak into his sickroom and murder him.”
He looked shocked at the news. “What? No… I-I never even got to meet him.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
He was quiet for a moment and then looked up at me with a steely resolve. “I should go there right away to avenge him, shouldn’t I?”
“No, you most certainly should not.”
“But I’m his son. It’s my place to do so. Someone should do it.”
“That someone won’t be you. It’s out of the question.”
“But why? I’m a grown man,” he reminded me for perhaps the hundredth time since I’d met him. “It’s my right.”
I looked at him thoughtfully as if I were actually considering it.
“Yes, you’re right, of course. You owe the same vengeance as any man would.
But you’re not a warrior, a chuisle. Whoever did this is treacherous and savage, not to mention bold, to sneak right inside the castle walls to kill your father.
They must have had help from within. You’re not ready to fight such men. ”
He was about to jump to his feet, his color high, so I forestalled him. “At least not yet. Not until you’ve been trained in weapons and warfare.”
“Oh,” he said, subsiding a little. “Then you might consider training me?”
“Certainly.”
“And then you’d let me fight beside you?”
“Certainly not.”
At the sight of his immediately crestfallen face, I tried to soften my response.
“Perhaps one day. But you must understand that learning to fight properly takes a very long time. You’d be up against men who have been trained as warriors their entire lives.
It will take a long while for you to be able to face them in a fight.
I can begin your training, though, and some day, when you’re ready—you can possibly join me in battle, if you still want to. “
“But that would take so long.”
“Maybe a few years… or perhaps a bit longer. A decade or so. But in the meantime, you can go with me and watch me make war against the ones who did this to King Callum,” he shrugged. “You can be a witness when I kill them. I’ll even hold them for you so you can be the one to cut off their heads.”
The surprised look of horror on his face told me all I needed to know about that.
“Or I can kill them for you,” I said. “Either way. You’ll have to go with me to show yourself to the Gorian people and let them know who you are, but afterward, you can return here if you like.
I’ll need to stay for a while to establish myself as the king and begin planning for how to deal with the kingdoms of Finias and Falias.
I suspect one or both of them are behind your father’s assassination, and they must be dealt with.
There will no doubt be a war. Your father certainly believed so. ”
I walked over to the window and stared outside, so he wouldn’t see the anger in my eyes, as I thought again of the slaughter of Callum in his bed.
He was a good king and deserved a far better fate.
The kingdom of Murias would be next if I did nothing about this.
I’d need to make a strong response to this new threat.
It would be the first step to consolidating the Sidhe people and forming one strong kingdom.