“I love you too, Riley. I will always save you; as you have saved me. Have faith in me; I have trained my entire life for this day,” Trenton said. “Now, go with Conall.”
The pound of horse hooves announced the arrival of our enemies, and the soldiers around us set their spears before them in a unified maneuver that was both magnificent and menacing. The foot soldiers drew their swords and stared at the oncoming army stoically. I felt a shiver go down my spine as I realized that some of these men might die today all because their prince loved me. It wasn't fair, but Trenton was right; I couldn't dishonor their sacrifice by putting myself in harm's way.
“Protect our woman, Sir Conall,” Trenton said as he pulled his sword from its sheath. “You hold my heart in your hands.”
“I'll guard her with my life, Your Highness,” Conall said and then spurred his horse off toward the Seelie castle.
I stared back over Conall's shoulder and watched as Trenton leapt off his horse to armor up. He had come for me unarmored, but now that he was entering battle, he needed more protection. His knights were preparing with him; all of them grim-faced as they strapped pieces of fairy steel to their bodies with waves of magic. Trenton held out his arms, and a breastplate settled over him. He looked like a god of war, and I knew he was just as skilled as he appeared. But I kept seeing the image of Drostan in his armor; fresh from battle and covered in blood that wasn't his.
“Will he be all right?” I asked Conall.
“Prince Trenton is our finest warrior,” Conall answered without really answering.
“Conall.” I glanced up at his stern face.
“I don't know, Riley,” he murmured. “I cannot see the future, but I hope that our prince will survive. He made all of this possible. Prince Trenton hounded his sister constantly, and then when that didn't work, he stopped eating.”
“What?”
“Prince Trenton refused to eat until Queen Tana gave him the soldiers he needed to retrieve you. He was already preparing to fight Drostan—to kill the Unseelie King and free you—when we received Hugo's message.”
“Trenton went on a hunger strike?” I gaped at Conall. “So that he could kill Drostan?”
“It was a brilliant move.” Conall smirked. “The Queen loves her brother more than her own life. She raised him after their parents were killed in the last war against Unseelie. Trenton's more like her son than her sibling.”
“And now he's fighting against the Unseelie as their parents did,” I whispered. “Because of me.”
“Queen Tana won't hold that against you, Riley,” Conall chided me. “You've met our queen; she's a good woman. She gave Trenton what he needed, and now she's fully supporting him. That means that she's fully supporting you. You're the Prince's betrothed now.”
“What? When did that happen?” I huffed.
“When you accepted our proposal,” Conall said in a way that made it sound as if I should have known it already. “That's a binding agreement. Several of our knights witnessed it, which makes it legitimate. Trenton, you, and I are now engaged.”
“How strange,” I whispered.
“Not for fairies.” He shrugged. “There have been fairy royals with multiple spouses before. Seelie had two queens once.”
“Really?” I lifted my brows. “Who rules in such a situation?”
“The one born to the crown,” he said. “For instance, if Queen Tana were to die, Trenton would rule. I would become King as well, and you would be Queen, but Trenton would be the High King of Seelie.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Okay.”
“But the odds of that happening are low,” Conall hurried on. “Queen Tana is too wise to jeopardize herself... on... the...” Conall trailed off as he realized what he was about to say.
“On the battlefield.” I finished for him. “Is that what you were going to say?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “But don't worry about Prince Trenton; he's far more prepared for war than his parents were. King Drostan would be a fool to attack our prince, especially when Unseelie is so outnumbered.”
“How do you know that Drostan is outnumbered?”
“To catch up with us so quickly, King Drostan could only have brought his knights with him,” Conall explained. “All on horseback. The foot soldiers wouldn't be able to keep up.”
“Oh, of course,” I murmured. “That's good, I suppose.”
“If the battle continues long enough, though, the foot soldiers will catch up.”
“You could have left it at Drostan being outnumbered,” I muttered.
