“We’re not anywhere near that stage.”
“When you are, give it to her.” His dadsqueezed his shoulder before releasing him and returning to hischair. “If you’re a fraction as happy with her as I was with yourmother, you’ll have a wonderful life together, and that is all Iever wanted for you and your brothers.”
Before Cole could respond, Brokk breezed intothe room with his wet hair hanging into his eyes and a smile on hisface. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” their father replied as he liftedhis drink.
Cole slid the rings into his pocket. When hemet his father’s eyes again, they smiled at each other before hisdad’s face became more serious.
“We have a meeting with the others tomorrow,”his father said. “They’re arriving here at lunch.”
Cole knew the others meant the coalition.
“What the Lord did to that marketplace nevershould have happened,” Brokk said. “He’s becoming more unstable andcrueler.”
“I know,” their father murmured as he twistedhis glass in his hands. “What we don’t know is how to get at himand kill him.”
And a solution to that would solve so many oftheir problems.
CHAPTER 57
They spent the next few hours catching up andplotting, but none of them had any new ideas. In the end, they wereno closer to a solution for the Lord, and if they didn’t find onesoon, he would destroy them all.
Every passing day was one more that the powerof the throne ate into the increasingly rancid brain of the mansitting on it. But they still had no idea how to stop him.
This fact was becoming increasingly annoying.Cole felt as if they’d done nothing but talk about it for years,and, in truth, they had.
There had to be some weakness they weremissing, but this Lord had learned from the mistakes of the othermad kings who came before him. He wouldn’t repeat the same mistakesthat allowed others to be destroyed.
Cole was preparing to rise and send a crow toLexi when a knock sounded on the door. They exchanged a look beforehis father set down his whiskey and rose. It was a clear rule thatthey were to be left alone when they were in the solar.
His father strode with elegant, fluid graceto the door and opened it to reveal Sindri on the other side. Thehelot’s black eyes glittered in the dim light.
A couple of hundred years ago, Sindri madethe mistake of gathering an army to try to dethrone Tove. That armywas ruthlessly slaughtered, but Tove kept Sindri alive. He had thedark fae’s powers bound by a coven of witches and forced Sindriinto servitude.
The coven was depleted for weeks afterward,but Tove gave them enough carisle to make it worth their while. Healso allowed them to stay in the palace until they were strongenough to travel again.
No one in the palace trusted Sindri, but hewas a neutered dog, and this punishment was far worse than death.Every day, Sindri repeatedly endured the humiliation of his defeatas he waited on the man he’d sought to depose.
“What is it, Sindri?” Tove demanded.
“There is a messenger here from the Lord,milord,” Sindri murmured as he bowed his head.
The irritation vanished from Tove’s face.“Then send him in.”
“As you wish, mi—”
Sindri didn’t get a chance to finish speakingbefore a warlock pushed past him and barged into the solar. Theabrupt action and the audacity of the warlock caused Cole to sethis glass down.
Rising, he braced his legs apart as hesurveyed the haughty-looking vamp who practically sneered at hisfather.
This fucker deserves a beating.
Cole flexed his hands.No oneenteredhis father’s private room in such a way.
Beside him, Brokk also rose. The warlockseemed not to notice the increased hostility in the room as Tovekept his face expressionless, but Cole didn’t miss the fury in hisfather’s eyes.
“The Lord will speak with you,” the messengerstated.
