Page 70 of Calling of the Crown

I’d just made it into the empty hallway, but I stopped at the sound of my name. I turned to find Aidan shutting the sitting room door behind her. She hugged her arms around herself and fidgeted from foot to foot. Never had I seen her, the terrifyingly strong and beautiful Fox Fae, look so meek or unsure.

She glanced at all the people around me and mumbled, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

She left the question suspended with a silent, implied word. Alone.

I wasn’t sure what she wanted, but I found myself unafraid of her or any potential threat she may hold—both in the physical and mental sense. I had grown stronger in my time here, and she was in my domain. Water flowed through the very walls of the palace, and if she tried to attack, I was confident in my ability to defend myself. Likewise, if this was some sort of weak attempt to convince me that Rune was hers, I was also sure enough of my relationship with him to know that nothing she said could change that.

Finally, I nodded. “Sure.” I looked at Dallas and Khalani. “Can you guys go ahead? I’ll be there in a second.”

Dallas seemed hesitant to leave. She knew the history I had with Aidan and probably wanted to be here as a supportive best friend and a protective personal guard. When she saw the confidence in my gaze, though, she seemed to relax just a hair and finally shuffled after Khalani.

I looked at Rune, who still gripped my hand and stared down at me. I didn’t miss the worry in his eyes. This would be the first moment he’d left my side since I’d returned to him, and he seemed terrified of the idea. It was like he thought if he took his eyes off me for even a second, I’d disappear again.

Giving him a soft smile, I whispered, “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

His brow furrowed, and he seemed to battle with himself about walking away. I guessed his trust in me won, because he nodded, leaned down to place a tender kiss on my lips, and followed after the rest of our group.

I watched them until they disappeared around the bend at the end of the hall. When they were out of sight, I faced Aidan, who’d been watching the party leave, too.

She finally looked at me, and her brown eyes turned down just a fraction at the corners. “I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”

My mind short-circuited. I nearly laughed out of pure shock, because I just couldn’t help but find it ironic. Now that I was Princess of Water Fae and she needed me, in a way, she was ready to be civil and apologize. But when we’d been at Myra’s and I’d just been a girl who stood in her way, she’d wanted to actually kill me.

I could think of a plethora of things that she could be apologizing for, so I asked, “For what?”

She shrugged a slender shoulder and gave a humorless laugh. “Everything. The pettiness, the attitude, the fight.” She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. “I admit it. I was a bitch.”

Laughing at her bluntness, I crossed my arms. “Yes. You were.”

She smirked, exposing her sharp canines. “Foxes are territorial, as I’m sure you know. I viewed Rune as mine, and you were a threat to that.”

I mirrored her stance and leaned against the wall across from her. “Viewed? You don’t see him that way now?”

She watched me for a few silent moments like she was still trying to figure out the answer herself. Finally, she stated, “I never liked Rune. Not the way you think, anyway.”

Furrowing my brow, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“You think I liked him, maybe even loved him, right?”

I mulled over the question, nodding my head side to side. “Well, yes. You two, you know, have a history. I figured you still liked him, which was part of the reason you were so aggressive in your attempts to get his attention back at Myra’s.”

She chuckled, though the sound was empty. “Seems to be what most thought. But, no, I never liked Rune. I was brought up to be a powerful Fox, and I was pushed to find a powerful partner so we could create powerful offspring. It was ingrained in me, so when I was given the opportunity to be Rune Beckett’s partner, it was a no-brainer. He was exactly what I’d been taught to look for, and since Myra chose me, I felt like it was a done deal. Then you showed up, and my whole world turned upside down. Rune and I were supposed to be this elite couple, yet he’d brought you. I was hurt. I was angry. I was confused.” She stopped and swallowed hard. “But, most of all, I was jealous.”

The admission nearly knocked me over. “Jealous? Of me?”

She nodded. “You had what I wanted. You had someone looking at you like the world started and stopped with you. Someone who spoke about you with pure admiration. Someone who would burn the world down if it meant loving you. I wanted that, and for a moment, I thought Rune could give me that. He treated you that way, so surely he could do the same for me. We could be the powerful couple as planned, and I’d finally have someone who loved me fiercely.”

She paused, and her black-and-white fox ears fell flat. “Only I realized he couldn’t give me those things. They were reserved for you and you alone.” Her brown eyes locked onto mine as she finished, “I was in love with the idea of love. The idea of Rune’s love. That was all.”

The honesty in her confession was hard. It was difficult to listen to her explanation, because despite our past, it made me sympathize with her. It reminded me of my relationship with Dax—I’d loved the idea of him and what I’d built him up to be in my head. It hit me that Aidan and I were probably a lot more similar than either of us expected, which was hard. No one wanted to feel for their lover’s ex, but I did. I’d really misunderstood Aidan, and hearing that what she’d really wanted all along was a partner who loved her, made my heart squeeze.

Then I remembered that there was someone who seemed to feel that way about Aidan. Someone who’d been willing to sacrifice her own happiness if it meant Aidan got the life she wanted.

“I don’t think you should give up on that love,” I said. “I think it exists for you. You just have to look in the right places. Maybe they’re closer than you realize.”

She looked sideways at the closed doors. “Maybe.”

Silence filled the space between us again, and this time, the tension seemed to be fading. There wasn’t any weird strain choking the air around us anymore, and I suddenly felt like this could be real. There were possibilities between us. Possibilities for trust. Possibilities for friendship. And possibilities for other Land and Water Fae to do the same as we were.

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