“With all due respect, sire, who will protect you from the beast?” Snapdragon’s fingers tense and release on the hilt of his sword as if itching for action.
“If Franklin meant us harm, he could have gored us in our sleep and reduced the castle to a pile of rubble by bashing in the walls. He has been nothing but polite and cooperative?—”
“He defiled your daughter!”
“I’d invite you to look closer, but Lilyfair has put too much of herself on display as it is. I know you’re staring at her breasts because you’re checking for injuries, right? So you also see the white fluid that has dried on her skin. Franklin has shared my secret with Lilyfair…and I suspect refused to give my errant, mischievous daughter her calf.”
Franklin grunts, and I turn to watch him nod.
“I only asked him for what he would consent to share with me,” I say, unsure whose side my father is on. “I love him, Father. I know we would be a mixed couple, and it will take a proclamation from you for the Fae to accept him…but I can’t help how I feel. He not only keeps me safe…he makes me feel safe. My ideas are safe in his care, for he’s interested in me. He loves me too. I want to ask for your blessing to marry Franklin?—”
“You little whore!”
“Snaps, shut up!” Rosemary wags her fingers at Snapdragon. To my surprise, he steps back to her side instead of continuing to inch toward Franklin and me.
“Your Highness, you aren’t considering giving the kingdom to a dumb animal over me!”
“I’m going to ignore your vile insults, Snapdragon, for I feel you are nursing a wounded…heart in all this. A marriage between Franklin and Lilyfair would be the safest choice for her, and if they love each other—” His words are cut off by the sudden advancement of the guards.
Franklin steps out from behind me to kneel at my father’s feet. He bats Poplar into the wall with a crunch of bones on the way.
“I love her,” he whispers. My father’s eyes fill with tears when he kisses the royal ring.
“Twenty-five years ago, I made a mistake. I took something from Lilyfair, but I did it to keep her safe. She was denied the love of her mother because of my actions. I won’t do it to her twice. Franklin, young man, I give you my conditional blessing. Let’s move you into the royal wing and see how you are at handling matters of state. I can’t hand over the kingdom to just anyone?—”
“But the line of succession can’t lead to a hubull-Fae hybrid, sire. No matter how cute the little guy would be,” Rosemary says, with a smile too wide to be genuine pulling her cheeks.
“No, but a hubull-Fae-human hybrid can and will be my successor. Lilyfair, I’m so sorry I banished your mother, but she agreed it was the best course of action for you.”
“What?!” My heart skips a beat as his words crash my world to bits.
“Your mother loved you more than words can say,” Father says before pausing to clear his throat. “She loved both of us so much that she agreed to return to the human world forever…to keep your hybrid status a secret. I never stopped loving her…and if Franklin can step into my shoes, I’d like a chance to go find her before I die. Maybe she will agree to visit…after all, the dangers won’t exist if she can’t be queen…”
“Oh Father! It’s too much to process,” I reply, holding my cheeks. My mother didn’t abandon us. She wasn’t a violent lawbreaker who was ousted to keep the people safe. She left to keep me safe. I want to run to Father and kiss him, but I’m not supposed to show such displays of affection with an audience.
“Poplar, Clove, arrest him,” Snapdragon says, whirling on his heels to face Franklin. I don’t see how either soldier will be of much use to Snapdragon. Poplar picks himself up from the floor with his left arm dangling uselessly, while Clove shakes with terror at the prospect of facing Franklin’s horns. They exchange looks as if questioning Snapdragon’s orders for the first time.
“I forbid it! The hubull has done nothing wrong,” replies my father.
“I meant you, Former King Marigold. I’m arresting you on the charges of treason, muddying the royal family line, defiling a human, abuse of your office, and conduct unbecoming of a king,” Snapdragon declares with his sword at my father’s throat.
“Ridiculous.” No sooner is the word out of my father’s mouth than Franklin is on his hooves. He lunges for Snapdragon’s shoulders to push him away, but the other two guards are behind their captain. They shift their weight to send Franklin stumblingtoward me. His hands slap the armoire over my head as he breaks his fall.
“You stupid boy,” Rosemary screams. “What have you done?”
Father lies on the floor with Snapdragon’s sword protruding from his throat. Blood fills his mouth and bubbles as he tries to breathe. I push through the male bodies to fall to my knees at his side. He gives me one last wink before his life force leaves his body.
“You will pay for this,” I snarl as I close my father’s eyes for the last time.
“Actually, everyone but me will pay for this,” Snapdragon replies. “We will have to confirm with the scholars, but I believe, as Captain of the Fae Army, I may be first in line if there are no heirs. He confessed that you’re a hybrid abomination and therefore, unfit to rule. So no, Lilyfair, you lost your chance to rule at my side…”
“I would have never married you anyway!” I scream.
“As you’ve told the entire kingdom,” he replies with a cruel smile. “It’s time I give you a taste of your own medicine. You humiliated me every chance you got, and now I’m in the position to humiliate you. Poplar, Clove, throw these beasts onto the street. Let the villagers see for themselves why she’s unfit to rule, to live independently, to do anything really…”
“She’s the princess,” Clove says tentatively. He eyes Franklin warily. If one of them touches me, I can’t say that Franklin won’t kill them…and Clove knows it. “What about her bull?”
“Throw them out together,” Snapdragon says. “But leave her covered in his seed for all to see…and smell. Let the Seelie know what she let him do to her. We’ll see who has their loyalty at sundown.”
