“He will be honored by our folk.”
Skadi kissed the flame on my skin and tucked her head under my chin.
“What do you plan to do now?” I asked. “You are queen here. Do you wish to put a wall down the center of your bedchamber and move me into the other side?”
“I plan for all of us to settle in our home, Nightmare.”
In truth, I wasn’t entirely certain what she meant, but when her eyes fluttered closed, heavy with sleep, I held her close until I followed.
Before dawn filtered through the trees of Natthaven, Skadi was placed in front of a snobbish looking council of advisors for the Dokkalfar clan.
Beneath the table, she tangled her fingers with mine, eyes heavy with a need for sleep. I was damn close to demanding she receive it, or stabbing another one of these sods if they droned on any more about the succession of her bloodline.
Sander and Von tried to remain steady and watchful, but both had long ago drifted off from sheer boredom. Von’s head drooped, butSander had toppled to one side on a fur lined bench, softly snoring in the corner.
“What will you have us do with Grynstad?” A wizened man with long, white hair to his waist leaned forward. “Their king and heir have been lost to the battle.”
“But Gerard had a queen,” Skadi said. “The way I see it, Grynstad and the light elven fall to Valdis’s word now.”
The man arched a brow. “Yes, the queen, but King Gerard did not often give her a voice?—”
“Much like the shadow elven.” Skadi’s mouth pinched.
Gods, there was something to be said when she locked a man in her stare. It was terrifying and intoxicating in the same breath, and I planned to make my sentiments known the moment these bastards released us from this cramped, stuffy room.
The advisor cleared his throat. “Would you care to arrange a neutral meet with the light elves?”
“I would. We are all elven, and I have grown wretchedly tired of behaving as though we are not.”
I squeezed her fingers.
“We have one more matter to discuss.” Skadi took the time to meet the gaze of each advisor. “I do not want Natthaven to float aimlessly in the far seas. I do not wish it to fade ever again. I want our land to be known, to be truly aligned with the fae realms.” She smiled at me. “That was the purpose of the alliance, was it not?”
“You want Natthaven to become part of Klockglas?” I asked.
“There is a responsibility to the Dokkalfar.” Skadi glanced to her council. “But the alver clans are my home. I wish our folk to be united there.”
I want us all to settle in our home. She wanted to bring her people . . . home.
This meet needed to end. Too long had my mouth been away from my wife’s skin.
When the council tentatively agreed, clearly uncertain how it would be to live permanently beside a fae realm, we opened the doors, and I made quick work of dragging Skadi into the corridor.
“My Lord, a moment.” A mousy palace steward dipped his chin when I looked his way. “I wish to inform you, the second throne will be fashioned by the next full moon, I assure you.”
“For what?”
The elven blinked his bright cerulean eyes until I considered he might be trying to signal me wordlessly. “Well, for you, sire. You are now. . . the king. By the decree of the alliance, since our queen was not the blood of the royal house, these lands belong to you.”
Well, shit. “Fine, as my first act as king, I declare my wife as the blood heir, and the voice of this isle. I will sit beside her, but for gawking purposes and to pique curiosity only.”
Skadi pinched my side when he scurried away, more unsettled than before. “You are my king, Nightmare. I want to do thiswithyou.”
I chuckled and pressed a kiss on the curve of her neck. “I will be honored to be your king, and should you need my voice, or my thoughts, or a shoulder to lean upon, I will be that for you. But you have never had a voice here, and I think it is long overdue for it to be heard.”
Skadi pressed a palm to my cheek. “I would vow with you again and again, Jonas Eriksson. I’m afraid I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“I told you hearts were not part of the alliance, but mine will always be yours.”
