“I’m afraid not, Lord Vasil. The Duke is expecting a winter wedding while the bees are in hibernation.”
“What about what Cedrych wants?” I asked again.
“What about it?”
“I’m confident that if you asked him, he’d prefer to stay here with me.”
“Then I won’t ask him,” she said and her utter lack of consideration for his will or consent landed precisely wrong. Seeing my reaction, she said, “This is a royal match, Lord Vasil, not some peasant love affair.”
“I am a royal match, Your Majesty,” I practically shouted.
“Atemporaryone,” she retorted.
“Cedrych will not be going anywhere. I forbid it.” I said it with the force of my whole being. My fingertips tingled with magic, an instinctual response to feeling threatened. My words lacked both caution and restraint, but I did not regret it.
“Excuse me?”
There was nothing to do but double-down, since the queen didn’t respond to subtlety. “He is my betrothed. He belongs here with me in elvish lands,” I asserted. “I will not let him go.”
The queen sat up a bit straighter, pushed aside the plate of delicacies, and eyed me with cunning. For all the things said about her, Queen Gwyneth was not foolish. “You do realize that holding a fae prince captive is considered an act of war,” she said.
“He’s not a captive if it’s his choosing,” I argued.
“I am your sovereign, Lord Vasil.”
“No, Your Majesty, you are not.” I’d never challenged her authority so blatantly before, but I wasn’t going to let her take advantage of my relative youth to push an agenda that I would not tolerate, not for myself and not for my people. “The elvish territories are independent of any foreign realm, entrusted tothe charge of the Vasil Clan,” I succinctly reminded her. “As stated in the Treaty of the Realms.”
She stared at me coldly. I would have never guessed that this would be the incendiary event to reignite the fae and elvish feud. I didn’t wish to go to war with the fae queen, but I would not capitulate to her demands either. I would fight for Cedrych as I would for any of my subjects, for he was mine.
“These were not the terms of our agreement, Lord Vasil,” she said.
I nodded, conceding to that point at least. “You’re right, Your Majesty. I’d like to invite you to my fortress so that we might renegotiate the terms. I’m confident that some compromise can be met.”
At that her affronted expression turned sly. She had me right where she wanted me. Had she planned this from the beginning, tempting me with her second-born son to see what concessions she might be able to squeeze out of me? If that was her aim, then she was far more clever than I’d ever imagined.
“Very well, Lord Vasil. I shall prepare my retinue and plan to arrive before the next full moon. I look forward to this renegotiation.”
I nodded and gave the usual sign off of pleasantries before ending the summons to find my hands shaking and my own haggard face staring back at me. I was too young to feel this old. Surely bearing the weight of a kingdom on my solitary shoulders had aged me. I sat there in a sort of gloomy despair until I felt the weight of Cedrych’s large hands on my shoulders.
“Everything all right, my lord?” he asked with concern. I sighed and laid my hand atop of his.
“I spoke with your mother,” I said.
“Ah,” he said as if no further explanation was needed. He circled where I was sitting and gingerly knelt in the space between my thighs. “And what did she say?” he asked,smoothing out the line that appeared in the center of my forehead whenever I was upset.
“She’s skeptical of my ability to protect you.”
His large hand curled into a fist. “That’s hogwash, my lord. You’ve done everything in your power to protect me. It’s my fault I put myself in danger.”
I dragged one hand through his gilded curls, lest his ire detract from the larger problem. “She has found you a suitor, Cedrych. Duke Holcomb of the Honey Guild.”
Cedrych made a face, an adorably indignant face. “Duke Holcomb? He’sancient.Older than the hives themselves.”
I nodded, emboldened by his reaction. “It is not a suitable match.”
“Not suitable at all,” he agreed.
“And inconvenient,” I added.
