I huff, scraping my hair back. “What do you expect me to do about it?”
His brows pull tight together, “well, you’re her husband. Which makes you king – aren’t kings supposed to make things happen?” Bennett coughs out a laugh at Caz’s poor assumption, and I crack my neck to the side, my lips thinning.
Yes.I think,but at the moment, that’s more of an honorary title.Not that he needs to know that.
I stalk over to him until our shoulders brush, and lean in. “You’re right. But as you can see, we’re fairly busy here with a war on our hands. So if you’d like to go home, then go. I’m certainly not stopping you.” My hand reaches over to pat his chest patronizingly and slide past him, leaving him and his demand behind.
Everyone was already in attendance and waiting for me when I walked into the council room, their heads all turning to me save for Eveera’s. She keeps her eyes down and trained on her tattoos; the magicked ink moving sluggishly along her skin.
I stride over to my seat, waiting for her to notice me. She finally does when I’m about halfway to her. Her spinestraightens, and she turns her chin up at me. I brush a hand down Eveera’s head and press a soft kiss to the top of it. The act stuns her, and from the corner of my eye I can see the muscle in her jaw, feather.
“There’s my girl,” I whisper into her mind. Once the manacles were broken, both her magic and the seal between us were restored. When she finally awoke and learned of our nuptials, she closed herself off again. But, she can’t keep that guard up all the time… and so I wait, wait for her to let me in. Even if it’s unintentional.
Eveera throws me a disapproving side glance, and I return it with a wink. “Give me all your anger. I can take it.” I coo, her nails thudding on the tabletop.
“Well, now thathe’sfinally decided to join us–”
“Oh, how sweetly you speak of me.” I chirp, and she audibly groans in frustration, slamming the seal shut tightly against me.
“As I was saying– now that Rorin’s finally decided to join us, we can get on with the meeting.”
SNAP! SNAP!She crooks her fingers over at Felix, summoning him to begin the meeting. “In your absence, some concerning things have come to light.” She sucks on her teeth, tapping her fingers against each other as Felix goes on. “Hadar and Vellar have officially combined their efforts, and while they’ve made no official moves on us yet–”
“We can assume they will.” I finish for him, the hair on my arms raising.
Eveera snorts, her curls bouncing as she shakes her head. “He’d be stupid to do that.”
“Well, you and I have seen firsthand how intelligent those two men are, both separate and together,” I grumble.
“Even still–” Felix interrupts, “Baelor has his eyes set on every kingdom in Allora, and last I checked, we are a part of this realm.”
She sighs, sinking back into her chair. “Felix, dear, please don’t keep me in suspense. What exactly have you worked up for me to do?”
His eyes shift around the room, and Lady Alina clears her throat, “Your Highness, if I may…”
“You may not.”Eveera snarks, down the seal, and I smother my laugh behind my hand.
“We know that you’ve gone through a… difficult time these past few months.”
Oh no…I think, while Eveera’s brows hit her hairline as she processes Alina’s words. “Oh, you do? YouknowI’ve gone through a ‘difficult time’?” She throws air quotes around the end, “well, as long as you know.”
“Eveera,” Felix warns her, and I reach over, squeezing the top of her thigh.
She tenses beneath the touch and cracks her neck side to side. Lady Alina sucks in a sharp breath and adjusts her poised position to face us more fully. “The war is building. Our numbers… are not. We’ve reached out to the Serpentes, Orik, and Shifter clans. They're willing to send more of their soldiers to contribute when the need arises.”
“I presume they want to continue our initial agreement.” She replies, and the two of them nod.
I raise my hand, “what is our initial agreement with them?” I ask. It was a question I’d had originally, but didn’t feel it was my place to ask. Apparently, Eveera still feels that way because she throws me a glare edged with black.
The meeting continued as boring as all council meetings do.
Civil disputes, trade agreements, who will represent at the next Realm-wide trade meeting,ifwe have one that is. A fewcomplaints were made amongst the council members, mostly by Alina, and Eveera looks about ready to doze off as ramble on.
She’s staring blankly at the table, her cheek resting on her hand. Surprisingly, my own hand is still resting on her thigh, my finger drawing aimless circles against the fabric of her dress.
I didn’t know what to expect when she came home, but selfishly, I’d hoped we wouldn’t go backexactlythe way it was before. I thought after a few of our admissions in Vellar that we’d be beyond the hot and cold stage. I was clearly wrong.
The two of us don’t regain interest in the conversation until I hear, “outerland creatures” fall from Alina’s lips, and Eveera goes still.
