“Thank you,Cahir,” she responded. She decided to continue using the name she knew. Fuck calling him King Ael. No way in hell was she about to do that.
“You’re excused.” Cahir looked at the wiry woman next to Seda, and Suza quickly bowed and left the room. “Seda, you’ve met Meir and Luelle, but I’d like you to meet Praxis.” He pointed to a muscular, Fae man standing next to him, and he smiled at her. Seda noticed that he had left Neoma out of the introduction. “Praxis is my captain and my third advisor on the council.”
“I apologize for last night,” Praxis said as he approached her and extended his hand for Seda to shake. He shook her hand firmly, and she noticed him staring down at her chest, which was unfortunately showing too much cleavage from the wretched dress.
She cleared her throat. “It’s fine. I assume I would’ve acted the same way if someone shattered my massive windows, too.”
He smiled brightly at her and glanced back at Cahir, who was watching her with an almost predatory gaze. He wasn’t staring at her breasts like he did the night before, or like Praxis just did, but instead focused solely on her eyes, which was slightly uncomfortable in its own way. She returned her gaze to Praxis and the others.
“It’s nice to meet you. And nice to see you again,” she politely said to everyone else in the room, even to Neoma.
Luelle huffed, “King Ael, may we please sit back down, and can we eat now? I’mstarving, and these look amazing.”
Cahir gave everyone a nod, and they all sat down except for Cahir. He gestured for Seda to come and sit next to him, pullingout her chair as if he were a gentleman. She hesitantly walked over, wishing instead to sit on the opposite side of the table, and begrudgingly sat down. She looked down at the table and the food on display.
Her eyes widened.
“Honey cakes and coffee?” she asked, her excitement slipping free.
“Honey cakes and coffee,” Cahir answered with a dimpled grin.
She picked up a fork, digging into the warm cake and feeling the buttery, sweet texture melt in her mouth.
“Mmmmmmmmm,” she softly moaned. It had been so long since she had one of these, and these were even better than the ones she remembered in Joro.
Cahir’s hand tightened on his fork for a moment, and he shifted in his seat. Seda took another bite and sipped some of the sweetened, hot coffee.
“So, Seda, tell us about yourself,” Praxis asked from across the table, drawing Seda away from her thoughts of Cahir.
She looked over at Praxis, and his rugged smile lit up his face.
“Well, I was raised in Joro by adoptive parents. I have a brother and worked in Gardvord with Cahir. I also recently escaped the Camp.”
“How’d you escape the Camp?” Luelle asked as she bit into her own honey cake.
“Well, I had a little help from Elco and a surprise,” she said, holding up her hands.
“How the hell did you befriend the Lionne?” Praxis asked. “I’ve never in my hundreds of years of life seen one, but I’ve heard ancient stories.”
Thoughts immediately raced through her mind.Hundreds of years? Hadn’t Kalon seen one at some point?
She swallowed another bite of honey cake and wiped her mouth. “We were locked in the same area at the Camp. We talked and became friends.” She glanced over at Cahir. How old was he?
Meir looked at her with what almost looked like mock confusion and asked, “You can understand him, Seda?”
She nodded. He pulled out a notepad from his knitted sweater pocket and jotted something down. “What else can you do?”
“Just the purple electricity that you saw,” she responded.
“She also has the loyalty of the Corvids,” Cahir added.
Meir gasped as he glanced between Cahir and Seda. She noticed his eyes shift toward Neoma before he said, “The Corvids have no loyalty to anyone except themselves.” He jotted more words down in his notebook.
Seda thought about Roya, Ferona, and Feich. Why had they wanted to protect her? She hoped Roya and Ferona were heading to Umbrea alongside her brother so she could see them again. She really missed Benny.
Cahir reached under the table and gently placed his hand on her knee, softly squeezing it. He whispered to her, “I’m sure they’re on their way here now. Roya wouldn’t stop at anything to stay close to you.”
She tried to shift away from him, but he kept his hand where it was. She glared his way as she took another sip of her coffee. The warmth of his palm on her knee caused her cheeks to flush in frustration.
