No big deal. Normal to-do-list, right?
‘So if you don’t kill your uncle, you’ll…’I purposefully left my statement open, waiting for Rage to clue me in on the consequence of his oath.
‘If I don’t fulfill the terms of our agreement in time, I’ll die.’
I shook my head. ‘Do not make me come to the Realm of the Dead for you, Rage.’
* * *
“Steele,once we’ve finished with the mage, tell the girls in the kitchen we’ll have guests for breakfast,” King Ozark said.
Breakfast?Oh, right. Being nocturnal, selkies were probably just having their first meal. I snickered nervously and then said to the king, “I hope you don’t mean have the guestsforbreakfast.”
Rage closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘You have no filter, love.’
Grimacing, I forced my gaze back up to the selkie king. “It’s a nervous habit. I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation, I called Rage an asshole in front of all the other alpha heirs on my first day.”
King Ozark raised his eyebrows, seemingly amused. “Indeed?”
I nodded.
‘The last time he asked that question of someone, they got their head cut off.’
“I’m going to shut up now,” I said with a wave. And yet, I couldn’t seem to stop: “I like my head where it is—attached to my neck and all that.”
Rage groaned, but King Ozark’s eyes were dancing with delight.
Yeah, I wasn’t going to win a diplomacy award anytime soon, but at least I seemed to amuse him.
“Is she always like this?” King Ozark asked Rage.
Rage took a deep breath and then shook his head. “Not typically.”
Aww—
‘Usually, you’re worse,’ he said with a wink.
Whaa—? ‘That was just rude,’ I said, digging my elbow into his side. ‘You’re not exactly Mr. Congeniality yourself.’
Rage cleared his throat, and I looked up to find King Ozark staring at us. This time, I bit my tongue.
“If we’re both going to be ruling our people on the same island eventually, it would be good to get off on the right foot,” the selkie king said.
‘Or flipper…’ I chirped to Rage, this time being careful to keep my thoughts inside my head.
“I want to be reasonable … give you every chance for success. I myself was only a year older than you when I became king.”
‘How does he know how old you are?’
‘Please, Nai, I’m trying to get a read on him.’
Ugh.
“What kind of timeline are you proposing?” he said to the king.
“A year. I’ll give you a year to dethrone Declan and bring me his head.” He held out his hands. “I think building trust between our two races would benefit us both.”
“Trust would be a good thing to start with,” Rage replied.
