Page 82 of Until the Stars Fall

“So basically like all females?” I said, winking, and she threw a towel at my head.

I had just arrived at Lieke’s door, heavy tray in hand, when a page came skidding around the corner. His brows shot up at the sight of me, and he came running. Mentally I considered all the reasons he might be coming at me with such fervor, and none of them were good. Were they ever?

“Yes?” I asked him, doing my best to stay patient.

“His Majesty, sir. He wants to see you.”

My stomach fell to my feet, my heart taking its place in my gut. While he and I had spoken briefly about my engagement to Lieke last night, I’d insisted we talk more about it later. Later was apparently now. I glanced at the door and then back at the page.

Shoving the tray into his arms, I tossed my head toward Lieke’s room.

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll head over there now. You take my fiancée her lunch.” With wide eyes, the boy regarded me nervously. He had no trouble taking orders from the king, but having to deliver a meal to a human woman scared him? As laughable as that was, I needed him to do this.

“Yes, Your Highness,” he stuttered as I walked around him.

“Oh,” I said, turning to glance at him over my shoulder, “let her know I will stop by this evening to see how she’s faring.”

He gave me a string of small nods and gulped. Poor kid. I hoped Lieke would go easy on him. He might not recover if she didn’t.

“Come in,” my father’s voice boomed from within his study, and I stepped inside as confidently as I could. He was seated behind his desk, focused on the papers in front of him. Without looking up, he ordered me to sit down.

I did. Silently. Folding my hands in my lap, I waited for him to be ready. I’d learned the hard way years ago not to speak first. Sometimes that meant sitting here in silence for an hour. One time he had made me wait nearly three. My stomach grumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten all day.

Thankfully it only took him seventeen minutes to drop the papers onto the desk and address me.

“What were you thinking?” he asked calmly, though a storm brewed in his eyes, waiting to be unleashed on me if I answered insufficiently. If I lied to him, tried to play this off as a true engagement and not a whim, he’d lose his shit. I needed him on board with this, though, if I was going to keep her out of the executioner’s hands.

“It was the best move I could think of,” I admitted, holding his stare.

He barked out a laugh. “Best move. Best move?! I expect this type of harebrained nonsense from your brother, not my military commander!”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he shut me down with a glare.

“Stop. Just tell me this isn’t real and I haven’t spawned two idiot sons.”

Roughing a hand over my mouth and chin, I searched for the best way to explain this. It had all made sense last night.

“No,” I finally said, “it’s not real. Mother—”

Shit.I realized my mistake too late, and my father slammed his fists down hard on his desk.

“Don’t you dare bring her into this! I know she always insisted on protecting the humans. I know I promised her I would. I don’t need you to remind me.”

I pulled in a slow breath and exhaled fully before I tried again.

“With relations between humans and fae deteriorating as rapidly as they are, I understand why you sentenced her as you did. But executing her would have been a missed opportunity to fix this once and for all.”

His sharp eyes narrowed on me, and he nodded for me to continue.

“The humans want what? Their homes back, their place in our society restored. But the fae resent them, blame them for the war. It will be difficult, I know, to convince the fae to accept this, but a human queen could be our best chance at ending the rebels’ attacks. If the attacks cease, the fae—”

“Are slow to forgive, Connor,” the king said, his tone softening ever so slightly.

“I know. That’s why we start winning them over now. With her.”

He shifted his gaze to the side as he pondered my proposal.

Finally he sat back in his chair.

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