“Who? Probably Rex or someone on his side,” I replied, getting a grasp on my anger. “As to why, well, it was war between the fae. I, and everyone I had ever cared about, had a target on their back, and I wasn’t… I wasn’t there to protect her.”
I held onto Alarie a little tighter.
“Jay, you can’t blame yourself—”
I interrupted her. I wanted to get through this story and move on. “But going back to your question, if I’m being honest, my dislike for Lila Tragon these days has more to do with her role on the High Council than anything that happened back then,” I said. “She ruined the balance of the High Council, and that’s made my job as Contra a lot more challenging than it should be.”
“How so?” Alarie asked.
“Well, as you know, my role as Contra is to check the King and throw my weight behind what I believe is best for the Kingdom so that the King’s love of self or power or any number of the other vices that monarchs can fall prey to do not overtake the interests of the Kingdom. The role of the other members of the High Council is to throw their weight behind either me or the King when disagreements between us arise, again, with the best interest of the Kingdom in mind. Although we cannot overrule the King, any King who hasn’t totally abandoned all sense of duty will listen to his High Council.”
“But Lila, almost without exception, throws her vote with the King’s, which undermines the purpose of the High Council. Now, I too often find myself and Vince on one side and the King and Lila on the other. Or worse yet, Lord Rein and Lady Tragon go against me entirely. So, I’m thwarted left and right when I’m trying to do what’s best for Valencia. The situation with the lesser fae is just the latest example of this. Despite being from a northern border town, the high lady’s views regarding the lesser fae are particularly unenlightened.” I stopped, checking the anger creeping into my voice again.
“How did she make it onto the High Council to begin with?” Alarie asked, her tone matching my frustration.
“She was never supposed to be the one who fulfilled the counselor role on the High Council to begin with. It was supposed to be her husband, Lord Tragon. Grey had cut a deal with Lord Tragon—he would serve on the High Council for a span of ten years. Promising a fixed term on the High Council in itself was unheard of because, other than the heads of the Courts, counselors traditionally served at the leisure of the King. But Lord Tragon could deliver the support of House Tragon and Mouchard and the resources we needed on the northern border. Plus, Lord Tragon was a congenial lord and, overall, known to be a reasonable guy. So, the Kingdom wouldn’t suffer from his guaranteed term on the High Council.”
“Unfortunately, before Lord Tragon could deliver on his promise, he was killed in battle. This set back our negotiations with House Tragon and House Mouchard—they became one and the same. We were now dealing with Lady Tragon and her side of the family directly, instead of Lord Tragon. This is when they changed their price to marriage with Lila. When that didn’t work out, they insisted that the original deal was for House Tragon to have the seat on the High Council, not Lord Tragon specifically.
“Ultimately, against my advice, Grey relented, believing it would be little repayment for her husband’s death in the war to not give House Tragon a role on the High Council. He agreed that Lady Tragon would serve on the High Council, but her term would only be guaranteed for a period of five years.”
“She’s been on the High Council for a lot longer than five years,” Alarie noted, incredulously.
“Ah, well,” I said with a sigh. “Grey’s not without his faults. He says he likes the high lady on the High Council because it’s progressive to have a woman in a role that has traditionally been filled by men. But I think Grey has grown fond of the echo of his own views that he hears more often than from the lady’s lips. Plus, she is not without her own support at the Court.”
I made this admission with a bit of sorrow in my voice. I rarely voiced any criticism of my longest friend. Alarie stood next to me, leaning against the railing as well and staring out at the moonlight reflected on the ocean.
“Enough of that, love,” I said after a few moments, turning toward her and pulling her into an embrace.
I placed my hand under her chin, tilting her face toward mine. I kissed her, burying my past in the taste of her lips.
“It’s our last night before we have to go back to Court. Let’s make it a late one.”
28
Alarie
It was my first day back at the High Court since my vacation with Jay at the Vitruvian estate in Breakpoint. Jay was already back at House Heroux, having spent too much time away from the King. But, most importantly, he had to tell the King about the revelation with his powers.
I already missed the estate, the beach, and the life I’d shared with Jay while we had been away. I missed the part of Jay who walked into the room and was greeted warmly by his surrogate family, Cress and Oliver, instead of the fearful silence that fell over any room he walked into at the High Court. I missed walking hand in hand with him in town and going to dinner together instead of wearing our facade of high lord and liaison any time we were in public at the High Court. I missedus. I hadn’t realized how much I was missing until our visit to Breakpoint. Our charade at the High Court, which was once exciting to me, now chafed.
Walking into Court, I could feel Cole’s eyes on me as I approached. When I reached Cole Tragon and his circle of sycophants, his eyes met mine, lingering on the gold that was interlaced with the green, and if possible, the disdain that permanently lived on his face intensified.
“Mutt, you’ve been gone a while,” Cole said as his usual way of greeting me, smugly looking away from me to his companions.
“How nice of you to notice,” I responded dryly. “And it’s even nicer of you to spare us the charade of you pretending like you are something other than the shit stuck to the bottom of my shoe that I had to throw out because that kind of stink just can’t be washed off,” I said.
My comments got more snickers from Cole’s friends than his own had.
“That’s oddly specific,” Lord Preston joked, barking out a laugh that he unconvincingly veiled as a cough.
I saw Luke turn his head from across the room in response to the laughter. He gave me one of his best smiles, a wide, toothy one that lit up his entire handsome face. He knew there was no need to come to me. I could handle a twat like Cole. But I almost gave up the interaction with Cole at the sight of Luke’s smile. I’d missed that smile.
I momentarily felt guilty about this thought before telling myself that I could love Jay and, at the same time, miss Luke every day I wasn’t with him. He was my closest friend here at Court. The two were completely unrelated.
Without waiting for any further bile to spew from Cole’s mouth, I turned toward Lord Preston.
“Grant, could I borrow you for a moment?” I said, lightly grabbing Lord Preston’s arm and playfully tugging him away from the group.