Page 81 of Flirting with Darkness

The princess huffs and leaves without another word, yet again forgetting her place.

I am tiring of Silevra's demands.

She came to my halls, at the heart of the mountain, for the gathering of the dark lords proceeding the conclave—as is her right as the heir to an unseelie court—but she should have left with the rest of the sea folk. She remained under some excuse I can't recall now, and soon slithered her way to my bedchamber. I could have turned her away, but she's quite good with that mouth of hers, so I let her remain. Just like I let her extend her stay before joining the Hunt. Still, she needs to understand that my being willing to fuck whatever hole she offers will never lead to anything but an orgasm or two.

Caenan, the third in our party, chuckles under his breath as he follows me out.

"You'll have a queen if you're not careful."

I wrinkle my nose in distaste."If I do, it won't be Sil."

My friend's amused, as usual. "Right. What man could possibly wish for the most beautiful fae princess in Ilvaris to warm his bed each night?"

If I were younger, I might see things as he does, but beauty does not make for a desirable partner. He'll learn in time.

Caenan was born less than three hundred years ago. He came to me as a tithe of the Court of Air, after his foolish father warred at my borders.

I'd never raised a child until then, but I quite enjoyed shaping his mind. Now I have a companion I can almost trust, and a friend who can almost understand me. Nevertheless, from time to time, his youth shows.

"Silevra's only interest is power. That's to her credit, but to enter into an alliance such as that when I don't need her wouldn't benefit me in any way."

If I'd needed men or lands or access to the sea, I might have sung another tune, but my court is the largest on the continent, and the other unseelie are sworn to me. There is nothing any woman can grant me.

"What of children?" Caenan asks.

"What of them?" I dismiss.

"The high queen left us in a mess when her line ended. The only thing preventing an all-out war to seize control is the fact that you don't want one, and everyone else is afraid of you. But what if you die, Aedron? What then?"

I close my eyes.

It is not the first time such a thought has been voiced in my presence, or come to me unbidden.

I tell him what I've told others and myself every time since. "You think a young brat of diluted blood could hold the courts as I do?"

"Young brats grow older eventually. I was seven when I came to you," he reminds me.

"You're still a brat."

I crush the air in my fist and the ground trembles before me. Right out of the ground, the stone shaping the continent rises and twists to form the pillars and walls I'll live in for the week.

Caenan rolls his eyes. "And you, a showoff."

He walks inside unbidden, but I linger at the entrance.

I would not want a child with a vapid, power-hungry nymph, but I ought to breed one or two.

Though the high queen had seven who didn’t survived a day after she died.

My lord.The deep timbre of the hob I keep as a page enters my mind, clear as day, though Kiron is nowhere to be seen.Pestilence was seen at the forest's edge. He took two hags before the knights chased him.

Of course, the old eldritch would circle my land now that I am back in my flesh and away from my court.

Tell the Hunt,I order.

My little brother can handle one measly huntsman. Still, the conclavecan't end soon enough.

I need to win the trials and return where I belong.

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