“I am that, too.”
“Then I will speak plainly. You must understand the threat you present to both my kingdom and my people,” she explained, her tone harsh in the empty chamber. “We are only just recovering from a long war. I cannot risk another. My first duty is keeping my people safe.”
“My family legacy,” Kaden explained gently, “is not a danger to anyone, despite what some legends claim. The Triune was created by one of my ancestors to store our family magic to be used later, in times of great need. This is not a weapon, my queen—more of a…depository.”
“A depository that, in the wrong hands, could be used to decimate the entire realm, correct?”
“In the wrong hands…” he dipped his head lower. “Yes.”
“Then what are we to do, Lord Rooke, if this weapon—because even by your admission, the Triune is a weapon—falls into the wrong hands, as it nearly did with Lord Gravelock? Do you intend to rally your armies and ride to our defense?”
“I have no army, my queen,” Rooke said softly. “No soldiers, no guards. Only me.”
My heart twisted and broke and shattered for him, kneeling beside me, so vulnerable, so honest, so very…un-Rooke-like. Where was the arrogant asshole, telling her she could go pound salt?
Where was the male who had crushed Gravelock and his guards like they were made of paper?
Yes, I’d wanted him to try to be humble, but this?
It was like he’d given up.
A little sound escaped my lips and he risked a look at me, his mouth tightening, hand flexing like he wanted to reach out and take mine.
“Then what shall we do, Lord Rooke?” Anaria leaned forward. “Zephryn tells me you believe you deserve to keep the Triune for yourself. Keep control of this weapon—this threat to everything we have built. I cannot allow that to happen. Protecting this city is my job, and one I take very seriously.”
A shiver of her power thrummed through the room, and every part of me went taut when Rooke’s magic rose to meet the queen’s, that shadow of darkness pulsing around us stronger, glittering brighter as veins of gold threaded through the barrier.
No, no, no—this was about to become a disaster.
“My first duty is to my people. Protecting them from danger.” Her pale green eyes hardened to chips of glass. “Any danger, no matter where it comes from.”
I was on my feet before he could answer, because I would not allow this. I would not allow this honorable male to be treated like he was some petty tyrant, grasping at power, and damn what this did to my own chances of absolution.
“The Triune is his birthright,” I said, voice clear enough to echo off the empty gallery. “Kaden Rooke has suffered and lost and bled for that birthright. If we take that away from him, we are no better than Gravelock. We are thieves, Anaria, and everything we have built here is a lie if we aren’t strong enough to respect—to welcome—allies who are every bit as strong as we are.”
Anaria’s cool, unconvinced gaze flicked to Rooke. “Those relics are dangerous, Lyrae.”
“Yes they are,” I agreed. “But theychoseRooke. The Triune deemed himworthyof their power—picked him as the bearer of their ancient magic.” I paused, and then, before I could doubt myself, plunged on ahead.
“Just like the Fae magic chose you, five years ago.”
60
ROOKE
Lyrae stared down at me, emotions spearing straight through my heart, then turned back to her queen, nothing but cold resolve on her face—the same expression she probably wore before every battle she’d ever fought.
Every battle she’d ever won.
“Don’t claim there is a difference between the two of you. That purpose drives each of you differently, because it does not. Rooke was deemed worthy by the magic—who are we to judge that choice? This is his legacy, the inheritance of his ancestors, which does not belong to us.”
“Perhaps not,” a big, white-haired Fae male prowled up from behind the throne, “but we do not know this male. We do not know anything about his realm, because they chose to live in secret. You’re asking us to risk an entire kingdom on what? Trusting a complete stranger?”
“Yes,” Lyrae said, steady as stone. “Because I trust him. Because I believe in him. Because if we steal the Triune from him and tell ourselves that taking it away is our right, then we become the very thing we’re fighting against.”
Tension rippled through the dais, all those big, powerful males shifting on their feet, faces filled with doubt, yes, butalso grudging respect. The kind of respect Lyrae commanded.
“Kaden Rooke has earned my trust a hundred times over,” she continued, her voice carrying clear. “He has proven he can be trusted. He has protected us, brought down Gravelock—not just for his own reasons, but because of the danger Gravelock presented to this realm.”
