Chapter 11: Auria
Isat straight like Brielle and tried to imitate her grace as I filled my plate with fruit and little round sandwiches that were too adorable to eat. When I’d agreed to marry Bylur, I had not expected to dress up like nobility and pretend to fit in with the fanciest fae in his winter kingdom.
But here we were. At Afternoon Tea with Brielle and her two best friends, where she’d insisted I accompany her after we finished at the dress shop.
Orla, a gorgeous fae with dark skin, darker eyes, and black hair that fell in perfect waves across her back, finished pouring tea for all five of us and set the tea pot down. “Auria, you must tell us more about your courtship and wedding. Bylur has been considered the most eligible fae in all of Kalshana for three decades, but nobody expected him to marry before he was two hundred.”
“Or two thousand.” Sadina giggled, and a light pink popped up on her pale cheeks.
Orla rolled her eyes and bit into a cookie. I tasted one of the sandwiches and nearly melted from joy. The bread was even better than the baguette I’d snuck this morning, and the ham and cheese were softer than any I could remember tasting.
Brielle grinned at me. “I leaned closer to Sadina’s guess. Orla was hoping she could convince him to set aside his usual obsession with planning to fall madly in love with her. But it never would have worked—he’s too practical to marry for love.”
Half a second later she realized what she’d said, and her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean that he doesn’t love you,” she added. “Just that I never thought Orla’s plan would work.”
I must have looked like I was about to choke because Orla smiled gently. “Don’t worry. It’s probably for the best. He’s so serious and focused—we would have driven each other crazy.”
I decided to go with a friendly nonchalance with this group, and I adjusted my expression to a mischievous smile. “You’ll have to forgive me. I didn’t think we’d be talking about my love life here. Though, with a group of ladies, I probably should have expected it.”
“Yes. It’s far more exciting than our love lives.” Orla passed me a cookie platter and I picked out a small pink cookie shaped like a little mountain. “So how did you meet? I didn’t even know we had humans in the castle.”
Sadina pointed a finger at Orla. “Bylur walks shadows. She didn’t have to be here in the castle.”
“Oh, of course!” Orla returned the cookie plate to her side of the table and clasped a hand over her heart. “Did he travel all the way to a human realm for you?”
“I—” I actually had no idea where the waterfall was where we’d first met. Or what “shadow walking” meant. Another thing to ask Bylur about. I grinned at them. “I’d rather tell the story with Bylur—”
“Oh, but he won’t come to tea!” Orla’s face turned down in an exaggerated pout.
“Are you sure?” I lifted up a little sandwich. “These are divine.”
Sadina giggled again. “It’s not that. If it were for food, Orla would have every lord lining up at her door every afternoon. It’s just that… Tea is for ladies.”
I lifted a tiny sandwich. “Wait. Orla. Do you make these?”
Orla shot an exasperated look at Sadina. “Yes. But don’t tell anyone. Fae ladies aren’t supposed to work over food.”
Sadina winked at me and hissed a whisper. “But she’s really good at it!”
I grinned back. “Then why don’t you show off for the lords?”
Brielle lifted a glass cup. “Tea is for ladies. Lords don’t like the mild drink, so coming to Tea would be considered a display of weakness. They like things that burn on the way down. Or threaten to carve out a piece of them.”
“Carve out—” I was not following this conversation.
Orla shook her head. “They think duels and fire drinks are the best way to socialize. They don’t like to sit and talk because they can’t lie, and they don’t wantto risk saying anything that will expose any of their weaknesses.”
“It’s the biggest reason Bylur is having a hard time getting everyone to agree to his council idea,” Sadina added.
“What do you mean?” I leaned toward Sadina. “He’s only had time to tell me a few things about the council.”
Sadina sipped her tea, glanced at Brielle, who nodded at her, and then turned to me. “Kalshana’s last queen disappeared forty years ago. She was awful, so people were slow to react, but when it became obvious that she was gone, chaos broke out. Lots of people wanted to rule, lots of lords went to battle with each other, and eventually everyone kind of retreated to their own lands and ignored everyone else. The twelve strongest houses claimed different parts of Kalshana—the kingdom nearly fractured into twelve little pieces last year, but Bylur stepped out and announced Kalshana needed a ruler to keep the other kingdoms from absorbing us. But instead of a monarch, he proposed a council made up of representatives from the twelve strongest nobles and their lands.”
Orla leaned forward with a conspiratorial smile. “He could have just announced he was king.” Her eyes turned dreamy. “He’s strong enough that he can beat anyone one on one, and he has enough soldiers to beat anyone else’s army.”
“Especially,” Brielle added, “since our house will always stand with him.”
I tapped the table. “So why not just be king?”
