Page 84 of The Forbidden Fae King

“Okay,” I say. “Let’s do this. Let’s return to the capitol and take on the high chancellor.” I tap the armrest of the golden throne with a finger. “We need more evidence than our words and memories. Even if we bring corrupted low fae it won’t be enough. I will collect an entire party of nymphs from the borderlands to speak of how their magic is disappearing along with that of the land and the great scars upon this realm. We will demand the council visit the border themselves.”

“Titania will argue that you have betrayed us to the Winter Court and that it is a trap,” Cyprien says.

“Then we will take them to the border of summer. It is just as devastating. There is no way she could spin the same lies about our oldest ally,” I quickly cut in.

“It could work.” A rare smile grows on his face. “It could work.”

The idea grows rapidly within my mind. “I have to take the risk. I am achieving precious little out here. Killing corrupted fae helps toredistribute their magic back into the ground, but there is always more.”

Cyprien takes a flatbread and tears pieces from it, placing them in his mouth. “We should structure your journey to collect low fae witnesses to coincide with the human women’s mission to spread Odiane’s seed-stones. It is a noble cause, and it will allow you more time to win back Keira as an ally.”

“I don’t even know where to start with that,” I admit, halting the piece of meat I was about to bring to my lips. My appetite suddenly disappears.

Cyprien continues as though I never spoke. “Perhaps she may be a queen one day, perhaps not. She already has the connections we need, as does her sister, with easy access to these priestesses and their lord protector.” He leans closer to me; an intensity in his voice as he drops it low enough for only me to hear. “You need to work out what capacity you want her to be in your life before it gets messy; friend, lover, wife.”

I recoil from him. “Hold up there, Cyprien. You see a man kiss a beautiful woman once, and assume we are going to marry.” I try to laugh it off.

“You forget, I know you, Aldrin.” Cyprien pulls himself up and walks away without a glance back, leaving me stunned.

I am not looking for a romance. How could I when my life is in tatters? I am facing the potential death of my realm and civil war of my court.

But if Keira asked me to her bed tonight, I could not stop myself.

Chapter 24

Keira

Water trickles down Odiane’s heart-shaped face, between her large eyes and over her small lips. Her skin is milk-white, dotted with transparent, glittering scales with cheeks flushed blue.

This morning gills slit the sides of her throat, and large fins fan from her ears and shoulders like ornamentations. Her white hair is as short and shaggy as a human man’s, with a lock hanging between her eyebrows. She is utterly beautiful.

“You are leaving me this morning,” She practically sings, as she runs a hand down Caitlin’s face. “But you will come back to me on swift legs. Humans always do things in such a hurry. Your life spans are so short but bursting with adventure.”

“We will.” Caitlin’s shoulders are tight. There is moisture at the corner of her eyes that could not be from the waterfalls. We stand too far away.

“Oh to walk this realm and see the many things the high fae speak of!” A look of pure longing fills the Lake Maiden. “You will be fortunate indeed.”

“Soon you will have new daughters to sing to and they will tell you of the same sights.” I offer to her.

Odiane stands tall, stretching out both her arms and reaching a hand for each of us. The sleeves of her dress are made of thousands of tiny shells woven together, and water mists down from them to the ground, so it appears like the fabric of her sleeve is wide and gaping.

“Shall we make a bargain?” The Lake Maiden asks and my stomach twists with nervousness.

I was told to never make a bargain with a fae, and I am about to make my second. The first didn’t go so well for me. I take her hand anyway and those long fingers are ice cold as they interlock between mine. Caitlin grips her other hand, then reaches for my grasp, so our three bodies make a circle.

“I set a task upon you, Caitlin and Keira Appleshield, to take my seed-stones, and set them into bodies of water that are unoccupied by a Lake Maiden. Once each of my daughters are placed in their new homes, you may return to me in your own time and I shall give you two seed-stones. One for Keira to place in your homeland of the Appleshield Protectorate, in water where the magic is strongest. One for Caitlin, to place in her womb and create a human child with the blood and magic of the fae.”

“I accept the terms of this bargain,” I say as one with Caitlin.

A chill runs through my fingers, up my arm and into my center. It builds across my collarbone and chest, until blue light illuminates through the fabric at my neckline.

I turn to Caitlin, lips parted.

The shining brilliance fades, and the flowing strokes of runes are visible along her skin above her neckline, like a tattooed necklace in faint blue ink. Odiane releases my hand, and I quickly unlace the neckline of my dress with shaky fingers to reveal the same mark.

“I hope you like my touch upon your skin.” The Lake Maiden laughs. “Is it not beautiful, this caressing of the heart?”

The waterfall suddenly rushes out to meet Odiane, and a bundle materializes in her hands. It is a circular bubble of water, with a thick, calcified netting of segmented coral encasing it. Swishing around in the water are three seed-stones. They are the same shape and size as a chicken’s egg, but that is where the similarities end. These arecompletely transparent, bound within a soft membrane and have a navy center of dense matter encased in thick jelly.

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