“I need a moment to converse with my bride. As private as possible.” Soren’s voice softened.
“Certainly, Your Highness. I will stand at the door.” Eva took the glass back from me before she fell into position beside the guard. They both attempted to look around the room as if the finery it held was more amusing than the irrational princess who sat before them.
Soren held my hand in his, but I didn’t fight it. The haze that held me made it impossible to focus on more than one thing. And right then, all I could think of was how much I despised him.
“This is not what you wish,” he said.
“If you’re going to lecture me?—”
“Can you please just remain quiet long enough for me to share a single thought?” He dropped my hand. “Is it too much to ask of you?” When I said nothing, he spoke again. “You can’t fight me every day.”
He must not have gotten to know me very well, because I most certainly could. “My respect must be earned." My final word slurred.
“As does mine.”
“You don’t want to marry me. Why didn’t you stop it?” Nothing could rob me of that certainty. I waited for him to tell me I was wrong—for the starlight to strike me.
“Kings will always choose for us.” He didn’t look at me. “When I sent the invitation there was truth in my request. It since shifted.”
Another lie—I needed the burning to cease.
“You should have told me.”
He folded his arms. “We are not good together, but suddenly we must be. I am not blind to what is asked of you.” There was a softness that washed over him as he spoke.
I didn’t want to be good together. “Then you know why I feel the way I do.”
His scoff echoed and the softness in his gaze hardened again. “I have work to attend to. When I see you again, I expect that you will comply.”
“How do you expect me to comply?” I looked up at him as he abruptly stood.
“There is very little expected of you—of any woman in this role.” He said it as if I was incapable of being anything that he needed. “Show up, look as you must, say your vows, and do what a royal bride must.”
It felt like someone was scraping away at the edges of me—like soon nothing would remain.
I closed my eyes to keep from crying and when I opened them again, he had vanished through the closing door.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
FYN
They had taken half the ore—taken Ashlyn back under their claim.
If only someone hadn’t taken my sword from me.
We sat in an argument for an hour between Estlen, Bailoc, and Nythrel. With Ashlyn spoken for, the King of Bailoc had everything he needed to quietly take what should have been ours—what we had already agreed to.
I wrote to Lioran, but by the time a reply reached me, it might be too late.
“Lord Fyn.” Remus followed me back down the hall after the session ended. “Something we haven’t seen before came in on a shipment. I hope you can advise me as to what it is—and what we should do with it.”
“I don’t oversee the packing.” I had no patience for any of it.
“But perhaps you can assist us in identifying it. My men are most perplexed, and if it is an error, your people maywant it back.” He gestured back to the council room we had just left.
As I stepped inside the empty chamber, he pulled a slender vial from his pocket. Violet liquid swirled inside the glass as he turned it in front of me.
A fae potion—that was only used for one purpose. It made no sense that it would be here.
