Page 21 of Kiss of Ice

“Such fatherly concern. It warms my heart.” He met Salaq’s narrowed gaze. “This is what’s going to happen. You will return to the coast, my Lord, and your daughter will move into the quarters I have prepared for her here. We will conduct our courtship away from prying eyes. And in due course you will receive an invitation to the wedding, just like every other jinn and fae of noble birth.”

Away from prying eyes.He’s trying to keep me hidden, Ren thought bitterly. He doesn’t want the public to know about me. I bet it would be a different story if I looked like one of his girlfriends.

“I have to go home with my father, so I can pick up my…”

“No.” His flat statement rendered her to silence.

“Your Majesty, she has nothing with her except the clothes she’s wearing,” Salaq protested. “She needs to collect her personal items.”

“Everything she needs is here.”

“Perhaps it would be best if I temporarily moved into the guest quarters with her? I do not wish her to be alone.”

“She won’t be alone.”

Kam was remorseless. Salaq cast around for another reason to stay with Ren. It wasn’t that he was worried about leaving her at the palace; rather, he hadn’t had a chance to discuss with her how to wring every last drop of advantage from her unique position. But in the end he was forced to give up.

“Very well. I shall return home. I trust I will see my daughter once she’s settled?”

“If that is her wish.”

“Of course it’s my wish,” Ren said sharply. She took her father’s hand. He disliked being hugged. “I’ll see you as soon as possible, I promise.”

He allowed her to squeeze his fingers before pulling them from her grasp.

“Your mother would be proud,” he said. Ren felt tears prick at her eyes and blinked them back.

“Thank you, father.”

Salaq was led back to his carriage. She watched him go, her stomach a roiling mass of anxiety. Hiding her nerves, she turned to face Kam. He was watching her like a hawk watches prey. She straightened her spine.

“What now, your Majesty?”

“Now I show you to your new home.”

Ten

The royal guest quarters were on the other side of the palace, away from the main gates. Ren felt as if they walked for miles just to get there. He led her down one corridor after the next until she was well and truly lost.The palace is enormous. I’ll never find my way around. Finally they went through a set of double doors into a lobby with several smaller doors leading off it.

“This is your grace-and-favour apartment, yours to use for as long as you’re here. I think you’ll find it comfortable.”

“Where doyoulive?” she asked curiously.

“I have the penthouse. I like to be high up. But my advisors tell me I’m expected to move into the formal royal residence once we’re married.”

“Don’t you want to?”

He shrugged.

“It’s where I lived with my father before I… before he died. It holds a lot of memories. I’m not sure I’m ready for them.”

Ren felt an unexpected spark of sympathy.

“I was like that after my mother died. Everything around me reminded me of her.”

“Is this your attempt to bond over a shared loss, Lady Morenna?”

“I… I just thought if we are to be married we may as well try to get along.”

---