Page 145 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

I lean back on the bench, finally understanding the dynamics at play here. The queen has believed from the beginning that I have ulterior motives for being here. Motives as dark, perhaps, as desiring to take her throne. Faerieland is finally returning the land it stole from the humans, but it would make sense from her vantage point that individual fae like myself might hate the High King and Queen’s plan to return the land—and decide to take matters into my own hands to reclaim it. The troll might be my ploy to get her away from her throne, her beloved heir, and the protection of her people. Kat, herself, might be a captive victim threatened behind closed doors to act like the happy young wife to make the queen and court trust me.

Well, this just became far more complicated.

“Even if you do not address the troll,” I say, trying to make my tone as unthreatening as possible, “your own people are at the edge of the Wood and the troll puts them in danger.”

Queen Vivienne cocks her head to one side. “My people? What are they doing at the edge of the Wood?”

“They are growing massive fruit and vegetables!” Kat blurts. “Tomatoes the size of my head! Or bigger!”

“They?”

“Commoners, mostly,” I clarify. “They are farming the land—stealing it from its rightful owners, the people who suffered when the forest encroached, and risking their own lives in the process. The phenomenon will wear off eventually, but it may be weeks or months before it does. I do not think it will be much longer before there are casualties at the hand of the troll.”

Vivienne nods, sipping her tea. “Have you a proposal for this problem?”

I consider her question. Kat watches me expectantly, and she seems unusually curious about what I will say next. I exhale slowly. “I leave the decision in your hands, Queen Vivienne. Ymer, the troll, will leave if you go out to order him to leave. The matter of how to handle the land is for you to decide. My recommendation would be that the land be restored to its rightful owners.”

Queen Vivienne smiles. “Which, I suppose, means much of the land would go to you.”

Ah. She thinks of me as coming to claim the missing pieces of Kat’s inheritance. It is a silly thought, because if I were here to steal the Harbright throne, I would have no need to bother with land I could otherwise commandeer at my whim.

I see no point in insisting that I will not touch Kat’s inheritance. It will only set the queen further in the advantage.

“Only a small portion of all the land swallowed up by the Long Lost Wood belongs to Lady Katherine,” I reply coolly. “The graver matter is the issue of the lives at risk as long as the troll is allowed to stay.”

Queen Vivienne leans forward slightly. “If you wish to prove your loyalty to myself and to your wife, you should get rid of the troll yourself.”

I don’t bother replying. I’ve explained why I cannot do that in the past, though the thought of just killing Ymer and letting Ash deal with the consequences grows more appealing by the day.

I get to my feet. “We have taken enough of your time. We have delivered our message. Send a reply if you decide you wish for me to accompany you and your men to visit Ymer.”

I hold my hand out for Kat. She takes it, and I’ve only just drawn her up when Queen Vivienne speaks again.

“Since you are here, you must ease my curiosity.”

We both turn toward her.

She has a fiendish fire in her eye, clearly bent on unraveling me and finding my weaknesses. “Lord Rahk, since your children will be half fae, half human, will you raise them here or will you take them back to Faerieland?”

I blink in surprise at the forthrightness. Kat chokes on thin air—a sound that seems to shock the manservant who has reentered the room more than it surprises either me or the queen. Her head whips toward me, a look of sheer terror overcoming her expression.

I place a hand on her back and reply easily, “They would be raised here, certainly. I’m afraid they would not be recognized as legitimate in Faerieland.”

“Not considered legitimate?” The queen leans forward at that. “I heard my sister, who has been gone all these years in Faerieland, has a son. Is he not considered legitimate?”

Kat subtly wrings her hands in the folds of her skirts. I give her spine a subtle stroke, meant to comfort her and tell her I’ll handle this. She leans into my touch. My heart races in reply.

“The situation with your sister is not the same,” I say. “I am from a different Court. Lord and Lady Nothril will not recognize any half-human children of mine, and I consider that a fortunate thing.” Before she can ask another overly personal question, I repeat, “Since we have delivered our news, we shall leave you. Thank you for receiving us.”

She waves impatiently. “You both had better be at the ball at the end of the week.”

“Of course we will.” I push Kat out of the room with light pressure between her shoulder blades. The moment the doors close behind us, she turns a look up at me as if to say,“Can you believe that?”

I chuckle as we make our escape. She lets out a great big exhalation when she settles into the carriage and throws her feet up on the opposite bench, next to where I sit. They are startlingly small and distract me from the frustration of this meeting.

“I could go a long while without seeing her again!” Kat announces once the sound of horse hooves on cobblestones drowns out any possibility of us being overheard. “Only she could ask a question like that and not suffer consequences.”

“It seems she has suffered a steep consequence: the lack of your good grace.”

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