The blood leaves my face. “They’re going to execute my mother? What does she have to do with any of this?”
Foxglove’s brows knit together. “She’s being imprisoned, charged with treason for hiding your supposed fae heritage. It’s illegal for any fae to live on the Eisleigh side of the wall, much less pose as a human. She’s being held responsible for jeopardizing the treaty. While Aspen’s decision to accept the new Chosen should have no impact on your mother’s life, I’m guessing they wanted to make it harder for him—or you—to refuse.”
Rage heats my core, and it takes all my effort not to strike the nearest piece of furniture. “When are you leaving to meet with the mayor?” I say through my teeth.
“Mid-afternoon.”
I’m about to say more when a shadow darkens my doorway. I don’t need to face it to know it belongs to Aspen.
Lorelei comes up beside Foxglove, shoulders tense. “We should give you some privacy,” she says, then pulls him toward the door. Their heads bow low as they approach the king, but his eyes burn into Foxglove.
“You told her,” he says with a snarl.
Foxglove, to his credit, meets his gaze without so much as a tremble. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. She deserved to know.”
Aspen steps aside, allowing the two fae to pass, then slowly meets my furious gaze.
“Were you just going to let my mother die without telling me her life was at risk?”
He closes the distance between us. “I came to tell you everything.”
“Everything?Everything, everything? Or just the parts you wanted me to know?”
“I wasn’t going to let them execute your mother.”
The fact that he didn’t fully answer my question tells me plenty. I put my hands on my hips. “Oh, and what were you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know yet.” He throws his hands in the air. “I would have come up with something. Break her from imprisonment. Steal her to Faerwyvae. Slaughter everyone in my path until I had her safely away.”
I’m surprised that he’d be willing to go so far for my mother, yet terrified at how easily he can consider taking lives to save her. Even so, it would only solve one problem, not all of them. “That still wouldn’t save the treaty, Aspen. They gave you another option, and you told Foxglove to refuse.”
“Yes,” he admits without shame.
“Why?”
“Because I’m not going to lose you.” The hurt in his eyes takes my breath away. My heart threatens to crumble at the vulnerability on his face, the fear in his eyes. But then I remember what it means, what his dedication to me would cost.
“Don’t make this about us.” My words come out with a tremor. “We are nothing compared to the importance of saving the isle from war.”
His vulnerability fades, retreating beneath the steely mask he wears so well. When he speaks, his voice is barely above a whisper. “Nothing? Is that really what you think we amount to?”
No, we’re so much more than nothing.Youare so much more.“Yes.”
He shakes his head, narrowing his eyes at me as his lips pull into a bitter smirk. “I don’t believe you.”
I take a step toward him, meeting his smirk with a glare. I know my next words will sting, but they’re the only weapon I have. My only defense against his fierce dedication, even though I know it will kill me to use. “Why? You think you know me so well just because you took me to bed once?”
His expression hardly falters. “I do know you.”
“If you did, you’d know I’d want to do anything to keep the treaty from being broken.”
“Even if it means giving me to another woman?”
My stomach churns at his words, at the images they conjure. I swallow the word I really want to say and replace it with a lie. “Yes.”
He turns away from me and storms over to the decanter of wine on the bedside table. “I’m not going to do it,” he says, then knocks back a glass of the deep red liquid.
“Yes, you are. If that’s what it takes to save the treaty—”
