She smacks her ruby-red lips. “He’s like that—caring. But I’m sure you already know.”
I don’t, actually!“He’s your king. Of course he had to help.”
She tsks. “You’d be surprised what some of our kings have been like. His father would’ve done the same thing, but many of the others—they would’ve abandoned the rest of us in a heartbeat.”
“That’s…”
“Very fae,” she finishes for me. “After all, witches and wizards haven’t been great friends of ours, either.” She watches me carefully. “But maybe you can change all of that.”
“Maybe,” I murmur. “But what’s Feylin’s court, if all those other courts are sectioned by region?”
She throws her head back and laughs. “Typical Feylin not to mention it. You’re in the Royal Court, the most powerful of them all.”
She runs a finger over the rim of her glass and studies me with chocolate-colored eyes. She must think I’m terribly plain compared to fae beauty.
“Tell me—what do you love about him? Is it that he brings you flowers every morning?”
I choke on a sip of champagne and have to tap my fist to my chest to stop coughing. “Sorry,” I croak. “He is very…attentive.”
Before I have to answer more questions about my relationship, I spot my mother brushing something off the lapel of myfather’s suit. “Oh, my family’s here. Would you like to meet them?”
She shakes her head. “You go. I want to find your fiancé and interrogate him about why he isn’t here, with you. I plan to give him a piece of my mind.”
A servant carrying an empty tray passes by, and I place my glass atop it, then I grin at Zandra. “It was nice meeting you.”
And I mean it. If I’m stuck in this castle for a long time, having a friend’ll help keep me sane.
She winks. “I’ll see you soon, Addie. Good luck with the earth ceremony, but you won’t need it. You’re a witch. He’s fae. The magic will flow,” she says, lifting her arms to the heavens and gliding off.
My mama wraps me in a huge hug when I reach her. “How are you?” she asks when I pull away, her eyes searching me for any sign of…I don’t know, injury?
I pull her hands from my face. Lines of worry deepen her forehead, so I squeeze her hands. “I’m fine. Really. It’s good.”
“And you got our gift?”
I drag my teeth over my bottom lip and grin. “The mirror’s tucked safely away in my room.”
She releases a breath. “Good.”
I want to know how she’s doing, if she’s ready for my grandmother to walk tomorrow, but the words are jammed up in my throat.
“I don’t see him anywhere,” my father remarks coldly. “Seems the distance that the two of y’all can have has grown.”
I frown, my gaze sweeping the lawn. “We’re not that far from the castle. He could be right inside.”
“And not here with you.”
“He can’t be everywhere at once,” Blair reminds him.
My father’s face turns crimson, so I place a hand gently on his arm. “Why don’t you go look in the castle? You’d love thearchitecture.” His eyes brighten, and all it’ll take is a tiny shove for him to start knocking people over to get inside. “Go. You and Mama.”
“But Addie—” she protests.
I shoo them off. “Honestly. Look around. I’ll be perfectly safe right here with Blair. Hey. Where are our sisters?”
Blair points to a row of hammocks that I hadn’t noticed before. “Over there looking classy.”
Chelsea pushes Finn out of a hammock so that she can sit, while Georgia climbs into one that’s already taken by Dallas, who tries to shove her out. Meanwhile Emory leans against a tree, watching the whole thing and shaking her head.
