Page 97 of This Is Not True Love’s Kiss

The royal guard emerged from the castle doors, rows and rows of them marching toward us, their armor glinting under the sun. Townspeople followed them, holding an assortment of weapons. One woman held a frying pan. And behind them came the Fair Folk. This was it.

I turned to Aoife. “I love you,” I said.

Her eyes shone bright. “I love you too.”

We stood there as our small army approached, everyone forming neat lines as they came to a stop right in front of us.

“Your Majesties,” Harriet said.

I nodded at my captain of the guard.

“We wait to see if they can breach our border,” I said, but I already knew they would.

The brotherhood wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t figured out a way to get in. The maroon cloaked figures came closer, at least fifty of them if I had to guess, and I wondered what their strategy was. If more brotherhood members were hiding in the forest, waiting to attack. Or if they had such powerful magic at their disposal that the brotherhood sent a small number to overtake us. I’d seen them use many different strategies over my years with them, and I’d prepared the royal guard with every scenario possible.

My heart hammered in my chest, and I looked at Aoife. “Are you ready for this?”

“This is not my first battle, my king,” she said, voice steady, eyes hard. “I’m ready.”

The cloaked figures were right outside our border now, creeping up closer to the barrier behind the businesses that lined our road.

“Weapons at the ready,” Harriet commanded, and all at once, everyone moved into formation, weapons pointed forward.

One of the brotherhood members held out some kind of sword that glowed bright with golden magic dancing and shimmering around it. They pushed the sword forward, right into our barrier, and just like that, we were exposed.

All the brotherhood members stilled, eyes widening in surprise. “It’s really here,” one of them said.

“I told you,” another voice said, a familiar voice.

“Your Majesty?” Harriet asked.

She was waiting for my call to attack, but that voice. I held up a hand. “Wait.”

Aoife’s head snapped in my direction. “What’s going on?”

Leena shook the hood off her head and stepped forward, her eyes widening when they met mine and she saw the entire army behind me.

I didn’t understand what was happening, why Leena had that sword. Another brotherhood member stepped up behind her, removing his hood, and my blood turned to fire.

Ronan.

All of this was his fault, his doing. We’d given him a second chance, shared our home with him, and he’d betrayed us all.

I raised my arm to signal it was time.

Leena shook her head frantically. “Wait, no, Lor, don’t! You don’t understand.”

Aoife put a hand on my arm before I could bring it down and signal for our people to attack. “Let’s hear what she has to say,” Aoife whispered.

“If she’s with Ronan, I don’t think there’s much to hear. We’ve been betrayed, Aoife. By everyone.”

“Maybe not,” she murmured as Leena approached with her hands up, Ronan by her side, also with his hands up.

The other brotherhood members stayed behind.

“We’re not here to fight,” Leena called. “We come in peace.”

I kept my arm raised, still not bringing it down but ready to chop it through the air at any minute that things went sideways. Despite what Leena was telling me, I didn’t trust this situation.