Trentas assesses me in cold silence. Then, hands clasped behind his back, he takes a step closer. “You know damn well Morgana would rather sleep for one hundred years than wake to find her son has allied with the enemy.”
I take a forbidding step forward of my own, holding my ground. “I don’t care.”
“Well, I do. You may have lost your principles, Vin, but I haven’t. You say you want time? You have until the melee is over. If Horus awakens by then, I’ll call the factions off, and we’ll wait for this wedding to take place before we challenge him according to protocol.”
“Horus won’t wakeuntilthe wedding takes place.”
“Then that is only good news for me.”
“Morgana won’t either,” I say.
“I’ve said my piece on that subject.”
My blood races with rage, surging through my arms, my hands—
“Do you want to fight me, Vin?” His lips curl in an amused smirk. “I have loved you like a son my entire life, but I will fight you if that is your wish. But first I request that you step back and remember your place. Remember the name you were given, the purpose imbued upon your birth.”
A flicker of guilt sparks inside me, but I recall what Briony said to me. “I wasn’t born to be a tool for revenge.”
“You weren’t born to be withhereither,” Trentas counters.
Alarm ripples through me. Are my emotions truly so transparent?
“You’re in love with her,” he says, voice flat.
“That’s none of your concern.”
“It is when your misplaced priorities threaten decades of effort. I’ve been fighting for this throne ever since Horus took it and made a mockery of the seelie fae. You know I’m the best candidate as king. You know I’ll serve the court a thousand times better than Horus ever did.”
I do know. I always have. But…
Briony fills my mind. My heart.
Trentas may be the king I support most, but not at the cost of taking away Briony’s family. Of destroying her relationship with them. Of losing that pride and respect that means so much to her.
Trentas continues. “You’re doing all of this to wake your families, but what happens after that? Your feelings for the princess will matter none. Neither family will approve of a friendship between you, much less a courtship.”
Again, he’s right. But I’m not doing all of this for a future with her. I’m doing this forherfuture.
It’s all for her.
Yes, my family stands to benefit from our bargain, but that has become second to Briony. My mother and sisters could awaken but there’s still a chance they’re already dead. That the iron grenade that destroyed their lungs before I enacted the curse continues to plague them. That waking will only end in their tormented final breaths. Even if they wake hale and whole, I’ve already made my decision.
To choose Briony.
She has a chance at the happiness she’s always wanted. I made a promise to her that I would do whatever it took to get her family back. While my human blood allows me to lie, making a promise to a pureblood fae is as good as a binding vow. Even if I hadn’t said those unbreakable wordsI promise, I’d still be determined to see this through.
For her. Always for her.
“We’re done talking about this,” Trentas says, striding to the ring of fighters without giving me a second look.
My shoulders drop, muscles uncoiling. I know what needs to be done.
Briony and I have a bargain to fulfill.
She must marry Monty.
43
