Dyfri instantly bristles. “You can’t help. No one can. Have you forgotten the rules?”
“Trust me,” pleads Selwyn with wide eyes.
Oh hells. What is my husband up to? He was adamant that any form of helping was not allowed, but now he is definitely hinting he has a plan. I’m a little hurt that he is not letting me help, but as long as someone helps Dyfri, I don’t care about anything else. I certainly don’t give a shit about the details.
“Trust you?” Dyfri draws himself up to his full height. “Why should I?”
Selwyn opens his mouth to say something, but Dyfri cuts in.
“I know who you meet with!” he seethes. He turns on his heels and flashes me a dark look. “You should leave him while you can.”
He storms out, slamming the door behind him. My body flinches at the loud sound. Plant pots rattle, but luckily nothing falls to the floor.
Loki pauses chewing her bone, but then resumes her gnawing. I’m glad someone is unaffected by all the unpleasantness.
I turn to Selwyn and find him staring at me with a frantic look. I’ve never seen his eyes so wide or his face so pale.
“Please don’t leave with your brother on the full moon.”
My heart slams against my ribcage. My stomach drops down to my boots. Selwyn knows? He knows? How long has he known for? Do I have no secrets at all, in this place that seems to be made of them?
“It is not what you think,” Selwyn blurts.
I shake my head to try to get my thoughts in order. What is happening now? What is not what I think? I’m getting the feeling that he is not talking about my secrets, he is talking about his.
“I… I…” Selwyn steps up to me and takes both of my hands in his.
He has gone deathly pale. Dyfri’s parting comment really, truly has him rattled. I should open my mouth and reassure him that I’m not going to run away with my brother because Dyfri is stressed and upset and lashing out and saying mean things. I’m not so easily swayed.
“I don’t want the throne. I am not seeking power. I am not trying to hurt anyone.”
Okay. I knew he was plotting and potentially planning treason, but I never assumed the motive was anything simple. I knew it would be complex and multifaceted.
Whatever his reasons, he doesn’t need to confess to me. I don’t understand why he is suddenly so on edge. But then again, I fail to understand most things.
Selwyn stares deep into my eyes. He stares right down into my soul. And he allows me to see him. His walls come down, and all of a sudden I’m looking at an earnest young man with far too much weight on his shoulders, and a miasma of desperate, dogged, determination around him. The air of someone who can see all the odds are stacked against them, but is still stubbornly trying to succeed.
“I would tell you that I think invading Earth was morally wrong and that humans deserve to govern themselves and their realm. But you would not believe me.”
I blink. The way he is looking at me now, is certainly making me believe it. He looks deeply principled and passionate about right and wrong. Exactly the type of person who cannot stand idle while injustice occurs.
“And there are other reasons,” he adds.
I wait for him to continue. He doesn’t need to explain anything to me, but I am so happy he wants to. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us.
He takes a deep breath. “It is a long, complex story woven of many strands, but at the root, there was a court vizier my parents trusted. They never knew, but he was the Unseelie King’s son.”
Unseelie like Dyfri’s mother? Oh, this can’t be good. Nobody ever has anything good to say about the unseelie.
Selwyn licks his lips. “I… I have reasons to believe that the plan to invade Earth was a seed planted and nurtured by the unseelie. They seek to weaken us, to cause us to spread thin. With so many here, they can invade our heartlands.”
He draws in a shuddering breath.
“Once they conquer our heartlands, it will be a small matter to step through the portals and take Earth too.”
My jaw drops open.
“We have spent ourselves in doing all the groundwork. Humans are now cowed. The systems are in place. The unseelie can simply stroll in and take it all.”
