Clair’s eyes sparkle in reply. “I get the same impression, Your Highness.”
I reach for my mug on the table and take a long drink of ale, letting my eyes fall back on Cal farther away. Him and Alanna are enjoying a conversation with Barnes and Claymore, my big friend making the three Discerni laugh while his hands act out something in the air. I wish now, more than ever, to be sitting with him. To be lost in the actual simplicity of easy conversation and friends.
“Forgive me for being forward,” Princess Clair leans towards me, her blue eyes watching Cal from her seat as well, “but is he your lover?”
Her comment takes me by surprise. I flush in embarrassment, not from her words, but because she’s obviously noticed me looking at Cal a few times since sitting down. I quickly glance over at Keane who is again in conversation with Prince McQuoid, but his eyes flick to mine when I do, this time letting me know he’s listening in.
I shake my head at the Princess. “Cal and I are good friends, Princess, nothing more.”
She nods, “but you do have a lover?”
I shake my head again, “my work for the King does not permit me to have time for a lover in the way that you are thinking, Your Highness. I travel too much to be desired as a suitor or a wife.”
“But you make the time,” she prompts softly, eyes darting to the shadow of the bruise on my neck.
I flush and take another drink of ale, feeling Keane’s eyes on me as he listens to our conversation. I shift under that heated gaze and drink again, a part of me knowing that he’s also waiting for my answer.
Ancients, I need my heart to stop beating so hard.
“What did you mean by your comment on the Kingdoms Council?” I try to change the subject.
Clair looks at me with a grimace and shakes her head.
“I spoke out of turn, Lady Alexis. I assumed you knew.”
“I am unfamiliar with the term or what it refers to,” I look at her with my own friendly curiosity now.
The Princess sighs and leans back in her chair, her hand darting up to touch Prince McQuoid’s arm as he stops his conversation with Keane.
“My love, I believe I spoke too soon when I mentioned the Kingdoms Council earlier, but I find no harm in telling our friends from the forest more now. Do you?”
McQuoid sighs just as his wife did and brings a hand up to his beard in thought. He looks back at Clair, then turns to Keane and his brother with a nod.
“If my wife hadn’t spoken on it earlier, I would have told you eventually during your time here.”
The brothers lean forward in their chairs with a quiet nod. Clair leans forward as well, her eyes landing on both Princes as she addresses us all.
“It was one of my first actions as Princess two years ago, a few months after we were married. Your father, King Zander, called a Kingdoms Council. Much to everyone’s surprise.”
Clair turns to me in explanation, “a Kingdoms Council can be called at any time. It requires each of the Four Kingdoms’ leaders to meet and discuss something of grave importance to the Old World. The last council that was called was over two hundred years ago, when the Leviathans were rumored to be doing atrocious things to the humans of their lands…”
“My father called that council,” Prince McQuoid adds, looking at Keane and Desmond, “the Leviathans sought to reject the summons at the time, but as you know, there’s a certain power that holds the Council to the request. The leaders were bound by the magic of the Old World and could not ignore the summons. So when King Zander called a council two years ago, we went with the expectation that more terrible news had been heard from Livyatan. We expected for him to address the previous Council’s terms...”
Desmond turns to Lord Daniel at his side and says something quietly in his ear. Daniel nods and grabs his ale, then angles his body to the Pyrenese woman sitting next to him as he begins a conversation and blocks off our own.
Clair sighs and continues where her husband left off, “but Zander’s call for a Kingdoms Council had nothing to do with the Leviathans. Instead, he told us that his request was simple- That he wished to amend the Old World rule that forbade humans from entering any mystical libraries. Heexplained of his need for a single book that could only be handled by human hands, fearing that it would turn to ash if touched by any other. He did not give any reason as to why he sought the book, but he did note that he kept having visions of it, enough to want to obtain and read it for his own knowledge. The full of the council was vaguely aware of his summoning abilities at the time and took him at his word. He promised the leaders that he would share whatever information came from the book once it was found and that he would provide full copies of the text so we could read it as well.”
“That does seem like an easy request,” I ask in confusion, “ I thought you said these Councils are called for matters ofgrave importance?”
“You are the first of your kind to be afforded an exception to a rule that has been in place for thousands of years, Lady Alexis,” Clair smiles, “you know what your punishment could be had he not called on the Council to obtain that exception.”
I dip my head in quiet acknowledgement.
“And as simple as the request may have seemed in the moment,” Prince McQuoid turns to Keane and Desmond, “the debate that ensued after was not. Naturally, the Leviathans rejected your father’s request on the spot.”
The brothers nod at the comment as if it makes sense, their faces hard and silent.
“As you know, Clair and I have always hated the separation of magic from humans. To us, the thousands year old rule is outdated and crude. So we voted in favor of the request and were happy to indulge your father…”
