He clicked his tongue. “Your emotional volatility is another reason why a match between us would never work.”
A woman stepped into the hall, eyes blazing with power. She pointed at Caelan. “I’ve heard enough. Step away from my daughter.”
“Mom.” I pinched the space between my brows. “I’ve got it.”
“No one speaks down to the fae heir.” Her eyes snapped to me. “You are a princess of a powerful kingdom, and the heir to the entire fae realm. Caelan should be bowing and scraping at your feet, not insulting you.”
“I bow to no one.”
Mom’s lips pulled back from her teeth. “KNEEL.”
The command in her voice made my bones hurt. Caelan slammed to the floor, his knees cracking like gunshots. “You might be a Lord, boy, but you are no king. There are few more powerful than my daughter, and you would be gods blessed to have her hand.”
Caelan’s jaw clenched with rage, his eyes glowing burnished gold as he struggled against the command. “This,” he growled. “This is the reason. You think you’re better than us?—”
“I don’t,” I whispered.
He scoffed. “Your father doesn’t think I’m good enough for you, so why should I stay here, knowing he thinks I could never rise to his standards of power?”
This never mattered before. Or had he stayed silent about everything? “I don’t care what he thinks.”
“It doesn’t matter. I never said I’d take the crown. I—all I wanted was you.” The words were a whisper, overridden by my breaking heart.
I looked at my mother, still incandescent with rage. “Let him up, please.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed. Power rose in the air, and I wondered for a brief, horrifying moment whether she would kill him. I touched her arm. “Let’s go.”
Rachel made the mistake of coming around the corner just then. “Caelan?”
Mom turned, magic glittering from her skin. “You,” she hissed. “You’re responsible for this.”
Rachel, who had far more beauty than brains, made the mistake of smiling. “Caelan needed to see what else was out there. It’s not my fault he made the better choice.”
Mom’s laugh was a jagged, violent thing. She swept her hand out at an angle. Rachel was there one moment and gone the next,the sound of shattering glass and screams careening through the restaurant.
I bent down and touched Caelan’s cheek. “I’m sorry it has come to this. I loved you very, very much, and nothing would have stood in the way of marrying you. I know we’ve had our differences, and I know that a lot of our issues were due to some things beyond our control and some due to our own experiences. But I never doubted you. Not until this moment.”
Caelan’s brow furrowed once more as if he was confused by what I was saying, but then his expression cleared. “I do not regret my decision.”
“Then I’ll learn not to regret mine,” I said and turned to walk away.
I touched Mom’s arm once more. She shook with rage but finally released the hold she had on Caelan.
“If I scent you around Evie’s property again, your life is forfeit.”
Her words rang in the air with the magic of prophecy, a shimmering veil settling over us all. A death vow signed and sealed by a powerful, ancient goddess.
Caelan smiled. “You’ve no need to worry. I have no need of your daughter any longer.”
My fingers clenched around my mother’s arm, and I released a shuddering breath.
“It’s not too late,” Mom hissed.
“You can’t murder someone in public,” I said, amused despite everything.
Mom snorted. “Of course I can. This place holds no laws over a fae.”
“Yes, but it’s morally wrong.” I pulled my mother away while Caelan struggled to rise.
