Page 9 of Sworn to the Shadow Throne

Several of my newer soldiers had watched her pass far too intently. Like all part-Fae, she looked younger than her actual age. But they would quickly come to understand that she wasn’t a woman to be complimented or charmed. She was the true political powerhouse in Larethia—even if she mainly worked behind the scenes.

With a dramatic snap of her gloved fingers, loving the performance, she cast a ward of silence around us.

“Owain, do not listen to that buck-toothed,” she made an incoherent sound that was a growl and a retch all in one, “prig. You have not failed this kingdom by any measure.”

So, she’d been listening to my conversation with Berian.

The words left my mouth without emotion, a memorized script. “Yes, Auntie Reina.”

“Don’t patronize me,” she scoffed, but the smile she wore told me she wasn’t truly upset. “I’ve come to say goodbye… Well, at least until I know whether you’re staying in Tir Gelida.”

I lifted one eyebrow in question.

“What?” she asked. “You don’t truly expect me to stay here if you’re to marry, do you?”

“The Tir needs you,” I argued. She did even more political maneuvering than Berian to keep things running in our city, really in the whole damn kingdom.

“Fuck the Tir,” she spat.

And people wonder where I learned to curse.

“Crowns come and go,” she added flatly. “Men like you do not.”

Reina had filled the void left by my parents’ untimely deaths. Her steady presence always soothed the anxious writhing in my chest—even if she did act like a feral mother bear most of the time.

I threw my hands in the air. “Easy to casually spout treason when you know no one can hear you.”

Her smile only grew, showing all her teeth. “The dress is to show that I plan on fitting in with Gelida’s customs if your marriage forces me to leave Larethia.”

Gelidians did enjoy showcasing the beauty of their women. Still, my heart clenched at her words. “You truly mean to join me there?”

A shadow of sadness crossed her face, replacing her smile. “I cannot fathom why you would ever doubt it.”

“The people… I just…” I said weakly, allowing my vulnerability to show only to her.

“You don’t trust Berian not to make a mess of things without us. You’re just too damned loyal to admit it,” she snapped.

She was right.

“Owain, your men are waiting for you, so I won’t hold you any longer.” Reina grabbed my hands and gripped them with surprising strength for one so small. “This isn’t goodbye. This is see you soon. If you find the right woman out there, don’t push her away. Promise me.”

I swallowed through a suddenly constricted throat. “I promise,” I said, and meant it more than she knew. If I was surrendering this much of myself, I could at least try not to waste it.

She squeezed my hands one more time then launched herself at me for a hug. “You may be a foot taller than me, but you’ll always be my little Wain.”

I would miss her. It was incredibly selfish of me to be relieved that she wanted to leave her home to be with me, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to regret it.

She disappeared amongst the crowd of chain mail, likely headed to someone’s office to demand something ludicrous that she would get anyway.

The men continued their work, but I could feel the weight of their gazes as they glanced at me from the corners of their eyes. Looking to see how I would react. Looking to see who I would visit next.

They looked to me before they looked to their king. Even without the Mage Assembly fomenting unrest in Gelida, without Vaustin Maeron smiling at me over a scaffold, without Darreth’s warnings folded in my saddlebag, their loyalty could be the most destabilizing part of this.

The men responsible for defending Larethia looked to me before their king. What would happen after I left?

Camrick would fill my shoes easily but I didn’t trust Berian not to push him out. If they wouldn’t follow Berian, the military would fall apart from the inside out, playing right into the Assembly’s hands. They would find a way to turn my own men into the torch that burned Larethia down.

They had already tried to kill me at least once. If they understood what this alliance could cost them, they would try again before I ever reached Tir Gelida. I swung into the saddle and forced my hands to loosen on the reins.