Page 108 of The Princess's Chosen

Daniel swallowed, eyes on mine, and then lifted my hand to his arm. He needed support, and it was his. I moved with him at his side, holding my gaze to his face, watching the way he held his head high as he approached his father.

"What are youthinking, coming here like this? For this cause?" Edgar hissed, glancing briefly at me and stiffening. "Excuse me, Your Highness, but—"

"I attend my princess," Daniel said, and I tried to focus on the friction between the two men rather than the delicious rasp of Daniel's voice. "My mistress. Where she wishes me to."

"You take your new role as steward perhaps a little too seriously," Edgar huffed. "It is not your place to appear here like this. To use our…connection in such a way."

I tried to stay calm, but my hand clenched around Daniel's arm rather than use it to reach out andsmackthis man across the face. Daniel's head began to bow, his shoulders tight, and then he paused, relaxed, and held the older man's gaze, saying nothing.

"Daniel. You risk everything. You realize this? You risk itall. You break with the council, you humiliate me? You will leave everything you might have ever gained, here behind you, and it willneverbe yours, do you understand?" Edgar asked, ignoring me, his princess, completely in favor of snarling at his son. His son who had been promised nothing, only ever shown the possibility of it.

Daniel was quiet, and I expected to see the struggle on his face. There was a wince of his eyes, yes, but also a faint smile on his lips.

"No. Today, I will leave here with all that has ever, truly, been given to me," Daniel said softly.

I frowned at him, puzzling through it, until Daniel's hand lifted and covered mine on his arm, squeezed over the back of my hand gently.

Oh.

His head turned to me, and my heart soared, entirely away from this fussy pristine manor and solely alone with the man at my side, just for a moment. Daniel meant me, and all I had only barely begun to offer him.

"Daniel," Edgar snarled, reaching out.

I raised my hand and there was magic on my palm, totally unformed but still strong enough to make Edgar Farraque choke and pull his hand away just as quick as it had started to lash out.

"My Chosen makes his own mind clear in this matter, Duke Farraque," I said.

Daniel hummed, his eyes crinkling in the corners as he raised my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. "Indeed. I know what I want."

Which left me unreasonably flushed and wishing I could squirm with pleasure in this hallway in front of this horrible man. Thankfully, we were all interrupted against whatever might have come next when the door to the meeting room opened.

Sir Weston was there, as was Lord McCallum, the viscount. "The proposal fails, Your Highness. Twenty-nine votes against, twenty-six for."

My heart stuttered as Wendell clapped and Owen whooped until Thao yanked on his arm, grinning and shaking his head gently.

Soclose, I thought mournfully.

But a victory all the same.

33

Bryony

Iwanted to leave immediately. Edgar Farraque's rage was barely restrained at my back, and many of the men who were leaving the failed vote seemed equally vexed. But Wendell gave me one significant look, and I swallowed my discomfort and began to mingle. I had a duty to greet the men who were eager to assure me that they stood with my statements—they were primarily younger, and I suspected that some of them only had interest in holding their seats. And also one to soothe the egos of the men who glared at me and my Chosen, as much as I was able to do so.

I acted grateful. I acted docile in some cases, serene in others. I was haughty and stern where I needed to be.

And I Hungered through every second of it, my eyes tracking Daniel's movement, his own still holding that happy laugh, always sure to keep himself in my sights as if he knew exactly what I waited for. What I wanted.

Owen's hand cupped my waist, and Cresswell remained close at my back. I craved them too, any touch really, but the clear tug was in Daniel's direction. He was an unfinished end that needed tying in. My Chosen who needed to be claimed in earnest. As Wendell worked the older conservatives toward our cause, and Thao reminded the trade-inclined nobles of who their allies were, I watched with a predator's stare as Jonathon Roderick approached Daniel.

"I must tell you, I'm gratified to know that a member of the royal family feels so strongly in favor of the two-natured," the young viscount, Lord McCallum, said, bowing over my hand.

"Of course," I said absently as Jonathon's head bent to Daniel's ear. Daniel flinched and frowned, his jaw ticking shut, and he answered Jonathon with a shrug and a shake of his head, lips pressed in a hard line. "I'd like to believe I'd have felt the same regardless, but I cannot stand to think of the people I hold so dear to me being treated the way Kimmery has been treating its two-natured citizens."

At my back a warm palm brushed against my spine, retreating quickly, some secret note from Cress that made my heart pang as I watched Daniel try to leave Jonathon's side only to be caught against the wall. Daniel was broader and taller than Jonathon Roderick, but I was beginning to realize there was a kind of timidness he hadn't conquered yet, a restraint that had been beaten into him.

"Indeed, Your Highness. A two-natured friend is good to have on your side," Lord McCallum said.

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