“Are you going to start looking for a bride?”
I tripped over my own feet and Yaya smacked my ass with the flat of the blade. Never once had she asked me this. I seethed.
“Going to suggest Maggie?”
She laughed as she swiped down and I blocked, recovering my equilibrium.
“Oh no, you fucked that to smithereens and not in the fun way. The crown waits for no heart. You have a territory to rule and eyes are already upon you.”
She was right but she usually didn't lecture.
“I felt all of them today. They don’t seem to have learned anything in my absence.” I slashed in a three-stroke combination that Yaya easily deflected. It was one of the first she taught me. “If anything, they’re more determined to go back to their old ways after seeing Brad bring them to the brink of a senseless war. I should look like a guiding beacon of calm after that and Nemian is still up my ass.”
Point, jab, she was just humoring me with something to occupy my hands while my brain tried to untangle this mess. “What does your Nightmare want to do?”
“Execute him. Maybe all of those that still look at me sideways.”
“Then you should try that.”
I started, shocked. Yaya’s wisdom didn’t usually run bloody. I couldn’t do that.
“You’re not just an Elf, my little Chubby Cheeks,but you’re still ruling like one. You have a proud legacy of terror to uphold from your mother's side. Let go a bit and show them what you’re made of. You have been a kind and judicious King for many years and they take you for granted.”
They had. They did.
Yaya telegraphed her next slash. “Change is not easy. And they will not progress if you’re not willing to do something about it. They don’t know how.”
The insinuation that I had work to do on my kingdom chafed, but only because that was the truth I knew all along.
“I don’t think I can without her. I’ve never been a leader who uses fear.”
Yaya considered this with due gravity. “A little fear can spur transformation and unblock obstacles.”
“What’s the point when she’s not here? None of it matters.”
Yaya raised an eyebrow and dug the point of her practice blade into the floor.
“Fine, you were right. She’s my mate and I destroyed it by holding her too close.”
Yaya laughed. “Noth. I love you, but everything literally isn’t about you. Maggie needed to find herself and you do too. What will she discover here when you win her back? A kingdom ready to assassinate both of you on the throne?”
“Most likely.”
“And whose fault will that be?”
Mine. She meant mine. I gritted my teeth in frustration.
“They should be grateful you returned at all. With the true Calix. Don’t let anyone know but Arel and Myrill are already pregnant. You did that. Only you. The True King.”
I nodded. I could do this. “Who needs a True Queen.”
“Make sure they are ready. That you are ready.”
I set down my blade, my Nightmare surfacing. He bubbled up into my skin, cracking bone, bending shadow to rest in my form. My many eyes blinked as I watched Yaya smile.
I gave her a grin that split my face open. “I will be.”
Chapter 23
