Control.
This meeting was my chance to demonstrate to her that I could control myself and be a supportive partner rather than a total ass.
Veyka breezed into the room, going straight to the sideboard in the corner and its waiting bottle of wine. She was lifting the rim to her lush lips for her first sip when the exterior door opened to admit Osheen, Lyrena at his heels.
“Where is Maisri?” Veyka asked by way of greeting—and holding out the bottle of wine. Lyrena grinned and took a swig directly from the narrow neck.
“Running wild with the other children, telling tales about the faeries. She’s very popular at the moment.” Osheen shook his head at Lyrena’s antics before fixing me with a long look.
He would not let me avoid the words traded between us. I’d have expected nothing less. I inclined my head. When Lyrena stopped chugging wine, I took the bottle, poured a glass, and handed it to my friend.
Lyrena’s eyes danced with mischief, jumping between me and Osheen. Veyka elbowed her before she could say something indecorous.
A second later, and the door opened again. Cyara, with the two human prisoners in tow. I had not taken a good look at either of them before this moment. Matching deep ochre skin and black hair, the sibling bond between them was apparent. The woman kept her eyes downcast, hurrying past. The man—Percival, I recalled—fixed me with a look halfway between disgust and disbelief.
My beast snarled back.
I jerked at the impulse—only to find Veyka grinning at me from the other side of the room, where she’d arranged herself in a chair at a small rectangular table. She crossed her legs, exposing a long, fully-healed, and deliciously muscled calf.You may growl at Percival any time you like.
My beast made a sound I’d never heard before. A growl so low, it was almost like a purr. And it was all for Veyka.
This female did things to me on levels I could not even begin to comprehend.
Veyka’s smile was absolutely feline. She knew it, too.
A final, timid knock sounded at the door and drew my queen’s glowing blue eyes away from me. Thank the Ancestors. Iused the moments as we all turned to gather myself. Veyka knew I wanted her. What she did not know is if I could be the king she needed to stand at her side.
In truth, I did not know either.
Cyara opened the door to the tiny white faerie. She gave me a small smile as she moved to stand beside Lyrena. “You tended to the Queen’s leg quiet well, Your Majesty.”
Your Majesty.She meant me. I cleared my throat awkwardly. “Thank you.”
I turned back just in time to see Veyka rolling her eyes. Minx.
She waved a hand at the chairs—a mix of styles that had clearly been drawn from wherever Cyara or Lyrena could muster.
“Cyara and Lyrena are Knights of the Round Table,” she began. “As are Parys and Gwen.” Parys—an elemental courtier and Veyka’s closest friend, Osheen had told me. Guinevere I did not need explained.
Veyka continued around the room. “Osheen and Isolde have earned my trust.”
She was doing this for me. We could not regain the months of memory that had been lost between us, but if we were to move into the future, I needed to know the shape of things. Cyara had known without a word of explanation from Veyka who she wanted in this room.
Still, I had questions. How had she, or we, decided the Knights of the Round Table? How had she ended up with the Round Table at all? It was an heirloom of Gwen’s family. A thousand more sprang to mind. I said none of them.
“So they will have mine, as well,” I said, nodding to Osheen and then Isolde, who vibrated with something like embarrassment.Could a white faerie blush?Which left the humans clinging to the stone wall. “What about these two?”
“Diana is not so bad,” Veyka said slowly.
Percival was the one who had betrayed her—us. Shoved a knife into Lyrena’s back. Yet, Veyka kept them with her. A thousand more questions rose to compete with the first thousand.
Veyka stood with slow, methodical grace. A warrior in command of every muscle, even in the guise of rest and respite. A flick of her hand, and a blade graced her palm. Where she’d hidden it in those flowing layers…
Swift as an adder, she pressed the blade to Percival’s throat. Diana flinched, but did not back away, holding her ground directly beside her brother. The man’s throat bobbed, but he gave nothing else.
“You are at my mercy,” Veyka purred.
Percival’s eyes were thick with hate. That would be a problem soon, if it was not already. And this male was sleeping a door away from my mate. That was a question I would not wait to have answered.
