“Maryam.” It just slipped out of my mouth. Aegir stiffened at my side.
CHAPTER 80
Semuel’s eyes bored into mine. “And you’re fine with that? The Queen of Ilma is truly fine with that?”
“I may be from Ilma, but I was raised in Ramel. It’s common practice there, is it not? And besides, what he had to do was for my people. So yes, I am perfectly fine with that.”
“Did you know it was for your people when he struck the bargain? Queen Elara might have agreed to it, but Cordelia Wildheart would have never.”
“What did you do?” Amani whispered. Her look was so intense, it was as if she and Aegir were the only two people in the room.
“My father asked him to sire a child with my sister Maryam.” Everyone’s wide-eyed gaze shifted from Semuel to Aegir to me.
“And you secured the deal?” Amani’s tone sounded judgmental.
“I can confirm that Princess Maryam is with child. Can we move on now?”
“Bullshit.” Amani shifted in her seat. “You wouldn’t have found your soulbound, then gone ahead with sticking your dick into some other woman.”
For some reason Aegir looked at his brother, but Ryvar just shrugged and told him, “I’m with my sister on this one.”
“It’s Sendor’s, isn’t it?” Semuel murmured.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Aegir exhaled in frustration, pinching between his brows. “Fine. I made a deal with your pregnantsister to pretend it was mine so that your father wouldn’t cast her and the child out, and in turn, we get our eighty thousand. Win-win, I’d say, would you not?”
“If word comes out, then no, it would be lose-lose,” Semuel snapped. He gave me a piercing look-over. “Fine with it, my ass.”
“Well, we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, won’t we?” Aegir snapped back. “King Belzari must never know, and Princess Maryam wished for it to remain between us.” He gestured to himself, then me. “I’ve failed the princess gravely in that matter.”
“The child will have none of your Fae features,” Faern added. Valid point.
“I’m Demi-Fae. The child isn’t expected to come out with sharp ears and pointy canines. Look at Amani’s teeth, you can barely tell. Now, shall we move on to the next topic?”
“This is fucked-up,” Amani grumbled, moving around in her chair.
“Thisisfucked-up, brother. When I told you to ally at all cost, I surely did not have this in mind. But, a done deal’s a done deal. None of us will say a word, so I say the situation is well under control. We all know securing those eighty is a desperate-times-call-for-desperate-measures kind of situation.”
Everyone agreed in silence.
“Can we talk about the Ilmans trapped on Mistgeil Island now?” Eldric muttered as he leaned back into his seat.
“Yes, I am curious. How is it possible that you searched everywhere for ten years, yet missed that one giant piece of land, surrounded by angry seas, I hear?” Yanik’s comment was directed towards Ryvar.
Ten years.
Marshen had said that the search party commenced six years ago, when Ryvar was appointed as king…Wait, did Ryvar go all fuck-the-peace-treaty and rebel against his parents’ wishes? Iwas certain his parents wouldn’t have allowed him to intervene…Emika did tell me that Aegir and Ryvar argued with their parents about it.
“I sent my avian shifters to look for potential survivors, and they all told me that they saw nothing but sand and dust. We all thought nothing lived there.”
“I can assure you nothing is visible until the moment you set foot on that land,” Eldric commented. “The island is well cloaked.”
“Let me guess,” Amani said, lifting her wine glass. “Witches.”
I nodded. The same one that put me to sleep. She secured passage for more than six hundred Nerithians. She promised them she would come here to inform your parents about them.”
“Well, I would surely have remembered it if a witch came through our doors. My guess is she never made it here,” Ryvar said.
I wondered what had happened to her. Was she dead? But the spell held, and the veil held.Thatsomehow gave me a potential assurance that she wasn’t.
