Page 83 of The Forbidden Fae King

“Very considerate of you, Aldrin.” Keira takes the platter of food and the jug of wine from my hands, and uses her foot to shut the door in my face.

I stand there, on the threshold, for a long moment, in complete disbelief. She just dismissed me.

I knock on the door again. “I came here to talk to you.”

“I’m busy, Aldrin,” she calls back.

Dread fills me. She is definitely angry. “Hear me out. I want to apologize.”

The door cracks open a notch, only enough to reveal half her face. “Not tonight, Aldrin,” Keira says simply, as though the fatigue of a hundred years rests upon her soul. “Not tonight.” She closes the door again, gently this time.

At least she hasn’t disappeared into the night. I don’t think I could handle never seeing her again.

I return to the feast hall, blinking as the light burns my eyes in contrast with the blackness outside.

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well?” Drake laughs and chucks a strip of meat in his mouth.

Klara nudges him in the ribs and he almost falls out of his seat at one of the banquet tables. “Don’t be a nosy bastard.” She turns her violet gaze on me. “Are you okay?”

The question jolts me out of my reprieve. How has Keira gotten so far under my skin? The armor of a king, of a leader, snaps back into place over my emotions and expression alike.

“Fine. It’s bloody cold and dark out there.”

“Yeah,” Drake says. “I told Kai he was insane swimming in theFrozen River. The damn kelpies have spent this entire time fawning over the Lake Maiden. Something to do with giving her the worship that is her due.”

I nod. I had wondered where they had gotten to.

There’s no use trying to keep track of kelpies or relying on them to stay where you want them.

I walk away as Klara explains to Drake that the whole reason kelpies are nomads and travel the courts is to pay their respects to the different waters and their guardians, in a near religious pilgrimage. She says it as though he is stupid for not knowing. There is such a huge grin on his face, I wonder if he is baiting her again.

I return to that throne on the dais, not feeling like mingling with the dozen of soldiers who now drink and eat and talk in the hall, both mine and Cyprien’s. While I was gone, long tables and benches were brought in, including a set at the throne, already laden with food. Cyprien joins me, perching on the edge of the smaller throne.

“She’s definitely still angry,” I admit.

“Losing your touch with women, Aldrin?” A cruel smile curls Cyprien’s lips. “Maybe you should spend less time in the wildlands and return to the Senate.”

I whip my head to him. “You know I can’t do that. I have been exiled. The council will refuse to hear me.”

“But they will hear me,” Cyprien urges, tapping his foot in rapid succession. “If I invite you to the Senate, to give evidence on what we have all seen at the border here, then they have to allow you into the city and the Senate.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “We will have to be clever about it. I will struggle to step foot into the city, but the Senate house? The high chancellor would never allow it.”

“Then we won’t announce your presence until I raise my concerns before the council and call on you into the house to give evidence.” He is deadly serious. There is that half-mad glint in his eyes, the one when he forms a daring plan. The very look that has won me many battles.

I drink from a chalice of wine. “Will it be enough? If they didn’tbelieve me all those years ago when I was their king, why would they believe us now? How can adding your testament help so much?”

Cyprien presses his lips into a thin line. “Things have changed a lot since then. The high councilor has shown her true colors, her ruthlessness and disregard for fact. The people are far worse off under her. Titania has fixed none of the problems you faced under your reign, and they have only grown worse. I believe our court is ready to accept the real threat that faces us, especially without a new and shiny politician making promises and discrediting you.”

“Oh, she will still discredit me,” I retort.

“She will,” he allows. “But this time, she too has lost the confidence of the Senate and people.”

I ponder that thought for a long time. Returning to my city and my home.

“Your people need you back in power, Aldrin,” Cyprien says, and the gravity of it radiates through me.

I have known him for most of my life, inside and out, and he is not a man to play political games. I can trust him in this, because if he wanted to destroy me, he would have arrested me for treason by now.

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