He nods, but his expression darkens. “Cobalt did this.”
“Yes, and he’s going to try to take your throne. It’s been his plan to trick you into breaking the treaty all along. All these attacks, these betrayals, these mysteries. Cobalt has been behind all of them.”
“Where is he now?”
“Probably taking your place on the council,” I say.
He rises to his feet, helping me up with him. “I have to stop him. We need to get back to the council by midnight and prove we’ve done the ritual.”
“Do you think we can make it?”
“It’s possible if we hurry. You’ll have to ride me.”
“Under other circumstances, that would sound like a highly enticing invitation.” I give him a weak smile, but my muscles protest at the thought of mounting another galloping creature.
Aspen must sense my resistance because he puts a hand on my cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.”
“Are we still talking in innuendo?”
“I’m serious.”
I let out a sigh. “All right.”
“Oh, and Evie?”
“Yes?”
He smiles, thumb brushing my cheekbone. “I know it isn’t candles and kisses like I told you it would be, but I give you my true name too.”
We bring our lips together. Despite my exhaustion, I bask in the feel of him against me and wrap my arms around his neck. It feels like the energy is humming between us, strong and dangerous. Perhaps it’s simply desire, but I can’t help wondering if it’s the result of being Bonded. Is this what it feels like to exchange names with another? To give another your power while making them vulnerable at the same time? Logic tells me it’s impossible. The act of giving one’s name is only significant to the fae. Yet, there’s this odd pull between us. Like a bridge. A bridge between two cliffs with nothing but jagged shards of rock below.
Before I can explore the strange sensation more, an ethereal voice calls out behind us, “The human is mine.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Aspen and I pull away, finding the black kelpie before us, head lowered as he stomps his front hoof in challenge. The king leaps in front of me, hiding my body behind his. “She is not yours,” he says.
“Twice she has escaped me without a taste,” the kelpie says. “First, she was saved by the pretty prince. Second time, she escaped through trickery. We had a bargain.”
“I only promised you could go wherever you wanted after you took me to Aspen.” My voice comes out with a tremor. “I never said you could take me with you.”
“Human trickery. That is why I hate your kind. You come to my home, invade my land, swim in my waters. The stupid ones have the gall to get lost, polluting everything with their stench, their recklessness. The menacing ones come with iron shackles, with traps and blades and tricks.”
“She is neither stupid nor menacing,” Aspen says, “but she is my mate. She is under my protection. If you try to harm her, you face my wrath.”
“Wrath,” the kelpie hisses, taking a step closer. “Such a human reaction.”
“It will be my reaction nonetheless.”
The kelpie’s eyes blaze brighter, the red growing deeper. “Why should I care about your wrath? We aren’t in Autumn but Spring. You don’t rule here.”
“I am still a king.”
“I am unseelie. I bow to no king.”
Aspen squares his shoulders. “The water in you is the water in me. If you won’t respect me as king, respect me as one of your kind.”
“Water,” the kelpie hisses. “You’re Autumn through and through.”
