Page 26 of Till Kingdom Come

“It’s not a story, Killian. I brought you here because I’m going to marry you. You’re the true-blood heir to the Elven throne. We’ll find a surrogate to have your child to ensure inheritance of the royal line. The child you have has to be a true-blood to be accepted as the next in line.”

“Marry me?” he yelled at me, apparently unable to focus on anything else I’d said. “Two men can’t marry each other!”

“First of all, I can do anything I damn well please. What’s to stop me?”

“All right, yes…but I’m not some animal for you to breed.”

“We’ll find you a surrogate female—maybe a Fairy woman—to have your child. As long as the babe is yours, he’ll be a true-blood like you and heir to the throne when the time comes.”

“This is insanity. You can’t just tell me you’re marrying me. I should have some say in it.”

He began pacing again and glared over at me as he passed by me. “Maybe I don’t want some Fairy woman to bear my child. I need more information. Like why did my mother run away? This King Brendan must have been cruel to her, or else she’d never have left. And then why did she just abandon me in the human world—why?”

“Perhaps hewascruel to her. The king is dead now, so we have no way of knowing for sure. As for your mother—we simply don’t know. She was no doubt a beautiful creature and Brendan must have had some reason to want to marry her. We’ll keep trying to find her and discover what that reason was.”

“Why would she take me with her? Just to hurt my father or because she-she didn’t want to leave me behind?”

“We have no way of knowing that. She must have had her reasons.”

He glared at me. “This is all too hard to believe,” he said, and turned away.

I pulled him back around to look at me. “But it’s true, Killian. If we find her you can ask all your questions. She didn’t completely abandon you. She was responsible enough to leave you with Sir John.”

“He sold me to the Fairies!” he shouted in my face.

“Well…yes, there is that. But what I’m saying is that it could have been far worse. Your mother left you when you were a small child, didn’t she? Don’t tell me you remember much about her. Maybe it was for the best. How do you know what she would or wouldn’t have done to you eventually?”

He blushed a rosy shade of pink but looked up at me mulishly. “The same way you seem to know everything.”

“Damn it, Killian, stop arguing for once. You asked my intentions. We’re going to be married. Do you seriously object? Tell me now and there may be a way to stop this. Do you want to marry me or not?”

“Do you want to marry me?”

“Why do you persist on making the simplest question into a challenge?”

He shrugged.

“Yes, I want to marry you. Get that through your head. It will be quite soon, so try to listen to me. Your father was the king of the Dark Elves and now that title belongs to you, because we’re convinced you’re the true-blood. How many times do I need to say this?”

He pressed his lips together and glared at me. “I fully understand that part of it. Because you’ve said it like a million times now.”

I spread my hands in a “Well, then?” gesture.

“When you came for me, just how were you planning on making me agree to marry you?”

“You’ll agree.”

“Are you so sure of me?”

“Yes.” I caught his hand and pulled him into my arms, staring down at him. “But here’s your chance to protest if you like. Will or will you not marry me?”

He blushed and refused to look directly at me.

“Will you?” I insisted and stared down at him. “My father could find you another husband if you prefer. Perhaps one of his councilors?”

“No!” he shouted at me, his eyes wide with panic.

“Then do you have a better idea? King Hendris won’t let you just waltz in and take his throne. You’ll need our help and our army’s assistance just to get in and see him.”

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