Page 139 of A Legacy of the Light

“To the lake.”

“The bonfire?”

I nod.

“You were seen kissing him. Is that correct?”

My brows shoot up in surprise. I had not expected that he would know that. Or that he would ask me about it so directly. A slither of fear starts to unfurl in my stomach.

“Did you, or did you not, kiss the Prince of Elfayne?” he asks again when I don’t answer, pouring all the authority he has into the question.

“We did.” Not I did. Because Tavish kissed me as much as I kissed him. He wanted it as much as I did.

Displeasure sours the king’s expression. “In case my warning when you first arrived wasn’t clear enough, you will stay away from my son.”

Back the fuck up.

His son pursued me, not the other way around, and he doesn’t get to tell me who I can and cannot be with.

I sit taller in my chair.

“With due respect, Your Majesty,” by which I really mean I’m about to put you in your place, king or not. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business. We are both adults who can do as we choose.”

Raghnall’s jaw ticks in anger. The scar running down the right side of his face pulls taut and the black outer ring of his eyes pulses violently. The Craobh warms against my chest and I feel the surge of . . . something . . . through my veins. Wanting to challenge him.

“He sits on your throne. He has no right to command anything from you,” a small voice whispers in the back of my mind.

Since I discovered what, and who, I am, I have no desire to claim the throne. I know next to nothing about the Seelie, and even less about ruling a kingdom. So this murmur from my inner self surprises me. Being stared down by the king stops me from overanalyzing that thought.

And the fact it sounds suspiciously like Granny.

“Adults you may be. But he is a Seelie, and the Crown Prince. His match has been chosen for him. And you are . . .”

“A human?” I interject, crossing my arms.

“Yes . . . human.” He hesitates on the last word. For the tiniest second, I wonder if Hume overheard it all, and now Raghnall knows the truth.

“You will stay away from him,” he demands again.

“And if I don’t?” I initially feared Raghnall, and the power he wields as king. But right now, I only see a Seelie playing at being ruler, and threatened by the prospect of his son kissing a human.

“You would do well, girl, to remember who, and what, I am,” he growls, impatience flaring alongside his anger.

“Of course, Your Majesty. But your son pursued me, not the other way around. Perhaps this conversation would be better had with him,” I retort.

“I have already made my displeasure clear to him. Why do you think I sent him to Lassodie? To remind him of his duty. His place.”

I narrow my eyes as my temper rises. He sent his son to face the Dorche and Brollachan to keep him away from me? Is he that threatened? What an ass.

“Patience,” that voice whispers again, interrupting my mental tirade. “His time will come.”

“You are a guest. A temporary one. You may train, spend time in the library with Finneus and those books. But you will not continue whatever it is you have begun with Prince Tavish.”

I open my mouth to reply, but he continues. “I will know. Nothing goes on inside this palace that I am not aware of. Disobey me and there will be consequences.”

Indignation flares in my chest. Followed by smug satisfaction.

He doesn’t know everything.