If that was what Pharis was thinking of, he didn’t say so. His somber expression returned. “If not there, somewhere else. Consider it at least.”
I nodded, taking him seriously. I knew he cared about my family.
“You really believe it’s necessary to put Papa and the girls through another move?”
“Maybe it’s not necessary,” he said. “Maybe it’s overkill. But I want you to be careful. In those last few moments with Stellon, he acted more like our father than I’ve ever seen him.”
Chapter 24
Justice
Stellon—the next day
This day had been one nightmare after another.
First, the troops I’d sent after Pharis and Raewyn had come back empty-handed. The two of them had disappeared again. The only sign of them was his horse Cimmerian, stabled in a small village on the border of Merisola.
I’d ordered my soldiers to continue the search and sent a contingent to Pharis’ castle up north.
Brainwashed by him as she was, Raewyn had probably returned to Stormcrest with him, in spite of what she’d said about being with neither of us. I’d be heading there myself today, as soon as I could get through the roster of subjects insisting on seeing me.
Most of them I would put off actually. A couple of them I simply couldn’t.
Lord Swayne Hyland of Nordica was first. The man was furious I’d replaced his daughter as my bride, notifying her the night before the wedding.
“This cannot stand, Your Majesty,” he said. His face was stiff with outrage, his skin mottled.
“My daughter hasn’t stopped crying since you sent your messenger to tell her. You have humiliated her and insulted my house. And word is the woman you threw her over for isn’t even full Elven. You broke your own law.”
“My father’s law,” I clarified. “Now the law is whatever I say it is, and as King I will marry whomever I choose to marry. But I understand it was bad form to cancel so abruptly, and I am sorry for your daughter’s distress.”
“I’m afraid an apology won’t cover it,” Lord Hyland said.
“What satisfaction can I offer you then?” I asked.
“Marry her, of course. Reschedule the wedding and make Helina Queen of Avrandar, as you promised.”
“That I cannot do. I’m sorry, but I’m in love with someone else, and I intend to marry her as soon as she is returned to Castle Seaspire.”
Lord Hyland was clearly incensed. His fists clenched at his sides, and his eyes narrowed as he spoke.
“You should be careful, my King,” he said. “I am not the first lord you’ve done this to. You’re not as ‘beloved’ in these lands as you think you are.”
He punctuated that bold statement by turning his back to me and storming out of the throne room. I could have had him arrested for it, if I’d wanted to. Even his bitter words of warning were technically a hanging offense.
But I wasn’t my father, who used the most extreme punishments available to deter dissent.
And I couldn’t really blame Lord Hyland for being angry.
He was right—I’d canceled two royal weddings, both times in favor of Raewyn. That probably hadn’t earned me any friends.
Thankfully, I didn’t need friends. All I needed was Raewyn.
Everything would be all right once I got her back and we were married.
My herald announced the next supplicant I couldn’t postpone.
Caitriona, the village mother of Hill Town, the largest human settlement in the Marinus region, had requested an immediate audience, insisting it was urgent.
