“The Land of Sun,” Amund said, telling a lie without lying. According to her mother, Fae would assume he was talking about some place called Sunland in Tirnan.
Cora narrowed her eyes, taking in Lex’s clothes. She wore the same items Garrin had given her when they arrived in the Land of Ice, but now her clothing felt too short and tight, like it no longer fit. “Welcome to His Highness’s court.”
Lex swallowed. “Thank you.”
Cora snapped her fingers, and four women peeled off from the others. “Provide Lex with”—her lip curled—“new attire. What she wears is not suitable for the palace.” She tapped her jaw with a long, graceful finger. “You come from the kingdom they call Sunland?”
The Land of Sun? Sunland? Lex was going with it. She tried to say, “Yes, I’m from Sunland,” but the words wouldn’t leave her mouth—were stuck as though trapped in her throat.
And then realization dawned. Lex couldn’t lie anymore—because she was Fae.
Crap!
Along with losing whatever magical spell that kept her real appearance “hidden,” as Garrin put it, she’d also lost her ability to lie like a human.
Lex smiled awkwardly, hoping it was a good enough answer.
“Very well,” Cora said. “We will find something more appropriate for you to wear in His Highness’s royal court.”
These women weren’t naked, per se, but what they wore wasn’t the look Lex typically went for. Garrin’s court,harem, whatever, wore nearly sheer gowns that clung to their curves and showed off the beautiful skin of their arms. The dresses came in all colors, and some sparkled with jewels, but most were simply super sheer and sexy. Like the women themselves.
Lex wasn’t sexy. And they wanted her to dress like them? “Are you sure I’ll be warm enough?”
Cora blinked. “Warm?”
“She isn’t used to our climate,” Amund said hastily.
“Ah.” Cora smiled. “Sunland is assuredly warmer than Dark Kingdom. The castle is plenty warm. You needn’t wear your”—she waved at Lex—“over-things.”
Meaning Lex’s long-sleeved shirt and pants designed to stave off the cold inside a stone castle surrounded by ice and snow. No, they wouldn’t want her wearingthat. They’d rather put her in gauze. Lex sighed.
“If that is settled, Zirel and I will leave,” Amund said.
“What?” Lex eyeballed both men. “I mean, are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather stay here with me and the ladies?” She shot them a death glare.
The corner of Zirel’s mouth quirked up, the jerk, and Amund said, “I am needed by His Highness elsewhere.” He turned to the room at large. “A pleasant day,” he said, and the women repeated it back like a trilling chorus of fairies.
And, Lex supposed, that was exactly what they were. Except not the small kind. These Fae were six foot at minimum, with incredible bodies and blinding beauty.
Amund and Zirel strode to the other side of the gallery that could host a two-hundred-person wedding and left.
They were leaving her.Alone. With all these strangers.
Lex’s palms began to sweat. How was she supposed to survive inside the den of she-wolves?
* * *
Garrin entered his parents’rooms, followed by guards who’d found him seconds after Zirel absconded with Lex.
His father stood before a ten-foot window that looked onto the courtyard several hundred feet below. He spun around at the sound of Garrin entering. “Son.” He grinned broadly, small lines framing his gray-blue eyes.
His father had always been a handsome man, but the years were beginning to catch up, his hair now white, with deeper lines shadowing his eyes and brow.
Casone Branimir’s face pulled into a slight frown. “I hear you were unsuccessful in findingthe onethe prophecy spoke of, yet you’ve returned with a different female?”
Garrin bowed, first to his father and then to his mother, who stood off to the side wearing a ruby gown, her light brown hair swept over one shoulder in soft waves. He could force a lie through his lips—but the amount of effort usually gave away the lie, and most Fae couldn’t manage it at all. “I have indeed returned with a female,” he said instead. “I plan to marry her.”
Had Garrin informed his father he had a “girlfriend,” the king would have laughed. But a future wife was something else entirely.
