Cernunnos stayed silent, only studying me with his wise and terrible visage. He jerked his head and walked toward theback of my property. “You’ve asked her to stay,” he said after a moment.
“I did.”
“Caelan grows bitter and angrier than before. You will not escape him for much longer. If you are to convince her, it has to be soon. Do not let him wrap her in the false cocoon of safety he offers.”
“He knows she can protect herself.”
The god tilted his head. “He merely buys time. If he had his way, Evie would stay at the Keep and become his Lady, there to lead his people, and stay silent in all other matters.”
Caelan was my friend, but I saw his flaws when others might not. The god was not wrong, though I hoped Caelan would realize he could never trap Evie in such a way that she would not fight her way to escape. He was not an evil man, only flawed, and used to getting his way.
All the Lords, me included, were used to being obeyed. Our commands were law, but Evie had never been our subject, not even when she was supposed to be. Even before she was the fae queen, she was resistant to our authority and chose to keep her head down rather than get tangled up in a world that might expose her.
Look what happened when she did. She’d almost died multiple times. A relentless wolf pursued her, won her, then betrayed her causing her to flee from her lands, and then she made out with a grizzly bear with a wild crush on her only to get soundly rejected, and now that grizzly was outside fighting with her father.
Gods. This sounded like a terrible sitcom.
“You do not approve of Caelan as a son-in-law?”
Cernunnos let out a derisive snort. “Evie should marry a king, but those are in short supply.” He stopped at the edge ofa small pond and sat down in a cross-legged position. I did the same, keeping a safe distance between us.
He smirked. “I can find you anywhere, you know.”
“Yes,” I said dryly. “You’ve more than proven so today.”
Cernunnos’ smile held an edge. “My daughter will not marry a king, so the person she chooses must emulate the qualities of one.”
There was so much I wanted to say, but Cernunnos was still eons more powerful than me. “You know what we are to each other.”
“No. I know what you are to her. Evie is not familiar enough with our ways or the ways of the shifter to realize what almost happened today.”
“You would take her from me?”
The god picked up a rock and skimmed the stone over the surface of the glittering water. “Unlike humans or Lords, I do not take anything from Evie. Too many people have already taken too many things from her. She will do as she pleases. I may guide, even manipulate her if I deem it necessary, but if my daughter chooses to leave you, it will be of her own volition.”
A cold comfort, that. Reality was already forcing its way back into our lives. Corruption grew on my lands, and we lived on borrowed time until Caelan arrived. I bowed my head.
“I want her to stay.”
“I’m well aware of how you feel about her, Rowan.”
“Do you have any advice for me?”
I thought he might mock me, but instead, Cernunnos uncrossed his legs and spread them out, then leaned back on his palms. He tipped his face up, watching with glowing eyes as brilliant oranges and purples streaked the sky, and laughed. “I loved Cliona once, back when I was a stupid boy. If someone like me could ever be considered a boy. Even worse, she loved me back. We were fools for each other.”
He never spoke about Evie’s mother. She’d be green with jealousy if she overheard our conversation. “What happened?”
“I was the king of our people—a target for every sniveling wretch who sought power. Loving someone makes them a target as well, and Cliona, she is a different kind of fae. Her banshees are not well understood, and many fae fear them.” He paused. “As they should.”
His eyes met mine. “Loving someone means sacrifice every single day. Loving Cliona was easy, but I was selfish. She was the one who made me realize our relationship could harm the most important thing in our lives and our world.”
“Evie.”
He nodded. “Evie. Because we loved each other so much, but loved our daughter more, we agreed to become enemies. Cliona spent too many years shunning her daughter for her own safety. It changed her.” Sadness flickered in his ancient gaze before he looked away. “And it changed us.”
“Do you still love her?”
A ghost of a smile. “I will love her until the wind fades away and the oceans turn to salt pillars. But Cliona no longer looks at me the same. She believes I was the king and I should have fought harder for them, fought to stay with them, and protected Evie more than I did.”
