Page 35 of Pawns of Salistya

Eliasson cleared his throat. ‘May I kindly remind you that we have the traditional Forum opening breakfast first thing tomorrow morning?’

‘What time is it?’ I asked.

‘Eight in the morning,’ Eliasson advised.

‘Push it back an hour,’ Xylan stated.

My hand flew to my mouth, smothering a giggle at Xylan’s blatant order. He was definitelyan upgrade from the previous King.

‘We can’t do that. It’s always held at eight in the morning as per the tradition established by our ancestors,’ Slaviya interjected. ‘I think we ought to remember our responsibilities as royals and ensure that this is at the forefront of our decision making.’

As expected, Slaviya jumped in to be the typical party pooper. I rolled my eyes.

‘Does six thirty work for you?’ I directed my gaze at Xylan, and he nodded in return.

‘Six thirty?’ Eliasson scoffed in disbelief. ‘You hate mornings. I was planning on bringing coffee and scones just to entice you out of bed in time for the damn breakfast.’

‘Although I do appreciate the sweet gesture, I’ll have you know that matters of theWoodsverseis no joke. As a ride or die Runaile fan I must do what needs to be done. Even if that does mean sacrificing my precious sleep.’

‘You’re not joking,’ he sputtered.

‘There’s no joking when it comes to the great debate of Runaile vs. Nalu,’ I said seriously. ‘Am I right, Xylan?’

‘It wouldn’t be right to knowingly sleep under the same roof as a Nalu sympathiser,’ he agreed. His voice held no room for argument as Orlandia snorted at our exchange.

Eliasson glanced between us as if we had lost our minds. ‘You do realise you two may as well be speaking a completely different language. No one else here has any idea what you’re talking about.’

We shrugged, before saying at the same time, ‘If you know, then you know.’

Chapter 15

Ipranced around my room, light as a feather and just a little bit smug from this morning’s outcome. It had taken Xylan and I all of twenty minutes to convert Mer to the correct team in theWoodsverse. I’ve got to give it to him, he can be very persuasive when he needs to be, and he unashamedly used every tool in his arsenal (including his devastatingly good looks) to achieve the desired result. Watching Mer crumble under his stare was brilliant, and it was very comforting to know I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get a grip in his presence. Who knew a stunning man and a riveting debate would cure my hatred of mornings?

True to his word, Eliasson had had coffee and a ridiculous amount of scones delivered to my rooms while I was getting ready for breakfast. Could this day get any better?

‘You don’t play fair!’ Mer whined as she fixed my hair into a ponytail, her grip a little tighter than usual. ‘You brought a gorgeousking in front of my eyes – first thing in the morning while my defences were down, might I add – to do your dirty work? You just couldn’t deal with the fact my stance on the matter wasn’t wavering.’ She shook her head with a mixture of disgust and awe as she pulled my hair impossibly tight.

‘Ow! Cheap shot, Mer!’ I complained, whacking her hands away from me as I whipped a scone full of cream straight into her face. Her stunned expression set off my laughter, tears streaming down my face. ‘You should,’ heavy breath, ‘see you – your,’ heavy breath, ‘face,’ I got out before succumbing to another round of hysterics.

‘You’re such a bitch.’ She scooped the cream off her face, licking her fingers and laughing, finding the humour in the situation.

‘And you’re just jealous that when it comes to Runaile, you hadn’t seen the light. It’s okay. You can’t always be right,’ I smirked, shrugging condescendingly.

‘I’m not going to entertain that with further comment. But what I dowant to talk about is the babe that was with you this morning. Oof,’ she said, fanning her face as if we were in the middle of the Hudrielle Desert at midday.

‘Not too shabby, right?’ I threw her a grin, turning back to the mirror so she could finish off my hair.

‘Oh, my Goddess, not too shabby?’ she sputtered. ‘Did youseehis jawline? His ass? His everything? I think he has the hots for you. How you’re going to say no to that … all I can say is good luck to you, dear friend. It should be illegal to be that hot. I love Fyrel, but a girl would be hard pressed to turn down an offer of that calibre –’

‘Wait. Back it up. You loveFyrel?’ I said in disbelief.

‘Oh. I – uh –’ She scrambled for words as her cheeks flushed pink. Suddenly, all she could focus on were the walls around us,determinedly avoiding eye contact. I should’ve seen this coming. I’d lost count the number of times I’d found them giggling in all sorts of compromising positions throughout the palace, and Fyrel giggling was up there with the weirdest, most unnatural sounds I’d ever heard. As much as I enjoyed acquiring new ammunition against him, I decided I wouldn’t use this one.

I waited for Mer to gather her thoughts, knowing from her past relationships – if we could even call them that – how big of a step this was for her.

‘He confessed to me last night after a couple of drinks and I … I said it back without thinking. It felt natural. I know that it wasn’t supposed to happen and believe me you don’t have to reprimand me. I know how messy this is and I know it’s not a good idea given everything that’s happened already and … what is to come. Bu – But I can’t help how I feel. Sometimes the heart wants what it wants. Surely you know this as well as anyone else –’

I lifted my hand to cut off her rambling and reached behind to place it over her hand that held my hair. She was spiralling, but I said, ‘I’m happy for you, Mer.’ And I was. She deserved this piece of happiness. Even if it wasFyrel.

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