How deeply it had affected all of us.
Rheaghan may have been an unabashed rake and frivolous with his choice of lovers, but he was also one of the most fair rulers Alfheimr had ever seen. He didn’t discriminate against any in his court, showing no preference for those who were closest to him simply due to their proximity.
In fact, he was far more likely to lay into me when I made a mistake than he was a stranger, offering kind redirection to those he didn’t know well.
He was Mab’s opposite in every way, and the world would be worse for his loss.
I swallowed down my own grief, focusing on the task at hand. It was what he would expect of me, what he would demand if he’d had the opportunity to instruct me before Mab sent him to an early grave. He would put his people first always, and I needed to do the same to ensure they were cared for in his absence.
“It’s time for me and mine to return home. Mab has already given her permission for us to leave,” I said, watching as his brows rose in surprise. He’d likely assumed, as I suspected so many did, that we would continue to be held captive in the Shadow Court until Mab tired of toying with us, until the courts could no longer continue to function without the people who led them.
“I’m surprised she did not ask you to stay and offer her comfort after Rheaghan’s death,” Eryx said, but he nodded as he processed the thought. “What does any of that have to do with me?”
“I’m to marry Mab’s daughter, Princess Fallon, so it is of the utmost urgency that she and I return home to claim the Summer Court throne,” I explained, answering the question he hadn’t actually asked. It was relevant to lead into the one he had voiced, information that would explain why I needed his assistance.
“Congratulations?” he said, but his voice rose at the end with a question. Arranged marriages were usually entered into between two parties who had an equal stake in property or titles, and I supposed Fallon and I did in a way.
She was the last remaining member of her bloodline, the last heir to her grandmother’s magic. The Primordial of Light had passed her abilities to both her children, but when Mab had become twisted by the cursed gem upon her crown, she’d lost any and all ability to channel the magic that would associate her with summer. The magic of her brother, the God of the Sun, was lost to her entirely, leaving her far more at home with the Shadow Court, which she would never abandon. Fallon was the only choice to honor the Primordial who had claimed the Summer Court for herself once upon a time, but her magic had yet to manifest.
My own magic was far more at home in the oceans surrounding our court, in the seawater potions my mother had so greatly favored. It was not the magic that any of us had ever seen as being enough to rule, and I could only hope that my court’s loyalty to me would be enough. That my years of service at Rheaghan’s side would allow them to entrust me with their future. The uncertainty of someone else was too great to bear.
“From what I’ve seen, Fallon is far more like her uncle than her mother,” I said, the statement the greatest compliment I could give. She was fiery and stubborn, but she held the same spark that I’d watched burn in Rheaghan’s spirit for years, for centuries even, as he waited for someone to save the sister he had once known from the curse that was hers to bear. “Including the more resistant instincts he possessed.”
“She doesn’t want to marry you,” Eryx said, crossing his arms over his chest as if the turn of events pleased him greatly. “The mighty Etan has finally found a partner who does not desire him, and it’s the one he is destined to spend his life beside!”
“I am glad you find it entertaining that I shall need to guardmyself even in sleep,” I said, unable to resist the urge to smile at the guffaw he released. “Butthatis precisely why I require your assistance. Fallon will not want to leave without the witch who raised her, and we need to make this journey on our own according to tradition. The odds of me sneaking her out of Tar Mesa while she screams are fairly limited, so I would prefer to do it while she sleeps, until we’ve put some distance between us and those she would choose to lean on when she should be learning to lean on me instead.”
“What difference does it make if she learns to rely on you?” Eryx asked, that knowing stare of his probing into mine. His eyes were the palest of blues, and in certain lights, one could even convince themselves they were an opaque white against the gold of his skin, which so thoroughly mimicked the sleep dust he reached into his pocket to grasp a handful of. “Your marriage would typically mean living entirely separate lives outside of court functions.”
“She’ll be alone in the Summer Court. She’s already endured so much change, I feel it is appropriate that she have someone she can trust to turn to—”
Eryx grinned, allowing his dust to slip through his fingers to the floor below. “Youlikeher,” he said, his laughter echoing the words.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I am merely doing what is necessary to make the best of the situation we have found ourselves in. I cannot leave her to wallow in pity when she is my responsibility now,” I said, keeping my face carefully blank. While I trusted Eryx under most circumstances, he would not have been able to lie if Mab asked him the right question. Something in Eryx’s magic already allowed him to see straight into a person’s desires, their wishes and dreams for the future. It had to be the tenuous line that existed between the dreams of sleep and waking, the way our real-world interests influenced the dreamscape we created when there was no one to judge.
No one but Eryx, should he turn his inner eye toward us anyway.
“How fortuitous that Mab selected a wife you will enjoy,” Eryx said, each word laced with suspicion. Most thought him to be a quiet God, far more interested in toying with the Sidhe as they slept, but I’d seen him plant the seeds of doubt into a person while they dreamt. I’d seen him guide a person’s waking actions by poking around in their dreamscape, the slow manipulation having been largely the inspiration for the way I handled Mab.
It was always the quiet ones who slid through life unnoticed who were capable of the greatest damage.
He was more like me than most of the others in this Godsforsaken court, who acted first with little thought to the long game.
“Are you accusing me of something, Eryx?” I asked, tipping my head to the side. My fingers itched to reach for my dagger, to rid him of the knowledge that gleamed in his too-pale eyes. I resisted, knowing that I needed his magic first and then I could decide if he needed to die for what he knew.
Fallon would look at me very differently if she knew I’d guided her mother to the decision to marry her off and not just been another victim in her schemes.
“Of course not, my King,” Eryx said, dipping his head forward in a mockery of a bow. “Only commenting on the incredible luck you’ve been gifted with. A wife you find tolerable outside of a mating bond is practically unheard of. If only all of us could be graced with the same fortune.”
“Good,” I said, nodding even though I knew his statement had only been a play of words. It was also as good as I would get as a declaration that he wouldn’t share the information he knew, because nothing was truly sacred in the Court of Shadows when Mab would torture her own allies for information. “Does that mean you will help me sneak her out of Tar Mesa?”
He worried his lip in thought. “I don’t suppose you would be open to hearing about how displeased that will make your future wife? If she is anything like Rheaghan, she’ll be furious that you forced her to abandon her loved one here,” he said, stating the obvious that I’d already considered. But I’d long since come to adopt the mindset that it was far better to ask forgiveness than permission, especially when it involved a person’s safety and well-being. In time, I had to trust that Fallon would come to know I had only done what was necessary to remove her from a dangerous situation while simultaneously solidifying our rule and doing what I could to keep my people safe from outside influences.
“I think you’d better give me a satchel of extra sleep dust for the journey, just in case,” I said, earning a frustrated smile.
“For all that you claim Fallon is like her uncle, I think you fail to see how like himyouare,” he said, making his way to the door of his bedroom. He gripped the handle and tugged the door open with one hand as he pulled a satchel from his pocket that he kept at the ready, holding it out for me to take with me in spite of his disapproval. “One of these days, it will land you in trouble, just like it did him.”
The warning sat heavy on my chest as I followed Eryx into thehall, knowing that he spoke of Rheaghan’s stubborn unwillingness to accept the fact that his sister was a lost cause. That the cursed gem had changed her so fully and completely that there was no chance of the sister he knew ever returning.
