Page 31 of Why Broken Wings Fray

“I… I do,” I laughed. “You remembered?”

“Of course.” He smiled as he rolled a few slices onto my plate. I had only just placed one in my mouth, content to listen to the small conversation being had farther down the table, when Killian leaned against me.

It was more than just a brush of our shoulders – he leant the majority of his weight against my side as his mouth neared my ear. “I wish to apologize.”

Feeling the bumps lift across my body immediately, I shook my head. “No apology needed. It was I–”

“No,” he breathed. As if I wasn’t already dangling on the edge of his words, he shifted the hand closest to me until it was on my knee, where he squeezed. “I was wrong.”

Trying to hide the shock from my face, I turned my head towards him and frowned.

“I have learned nothing in life but that it is short. That, and you make me happy, Olivia. I will accept only a day with you if that is all that you are able to stay, over being so near to you but feeling so distant.”

I was regretting the peach. The sweet fruit felt overly acidic in the back of my throat as I stared at Killian.

“So I apologize, once more,” he sighed, his hand a heavy presence on my knee “And I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive my harsh departure from your company last night. Perhaps… Perhaps we can move forward from this?”

I couldn’t help but to smile at Killian. Brash-appearance yet soft-hearted Killian, fervour between his brows but sweetness on his tongue.

“Of course–”

Our side-conversation had garnered some attention. That was made apparent by the sudden appearance of another hand, this one on my other leg, farther up my thigh. The grip of it was tighter, more intentional, and ever so slightly demanding.

I swallowed as I felt both of them touching me; Killian in a soft and gentle way at the tip of my knee, Raegan with a daunting and alluring tight grip on the middle of my thigh.

Sneering, I turned my head until I saw Raegan watching us, a goblet of something to his lips leaving only his brows and eyes visible behind the rim.

But that was all that was needed, because everything he would never say was in that look, in the furious creases of his brows and the pain in his eyes.

~

Neither one of them removed their hands for the entirety of our breakfast. Killian’s grip remained soft and grounding against my knee, whereas Raegan’s hand roamed as he spoke. His eyes and his words were directed at everyone around the table, but his fingers lightly grazed up and down my thigh in a reassuring, soothing sort of motion that made me wish I could flop onto my side and purr. The only thing that stopped me from doing exactly that was the constricting fear, the worry that at some point, their hands were going to touch. And I had seen a possessive side to both Killian and Raegan, which meant I didn’t have to imagine what would become of the dining hall if they realized what was happening.

I should have pushed one of them off.

I just couldn’t decide who.

There was Killian, the soft-hearted, kind-soul who wanted to promise me everything and more, who wanted to lay himself bare before me no matter what would become of him.

And then there was Raegan, who would never put me above his duty, who would only ever be able to offer me a hidden side of himself. But that hidden side of him… My whole body ached in warning as I thought about pushing him away from me. It cried and deafened me, wept and blinded me.

So I let them both remain. I decided that it wouldn’t matter, in the long run. All three of us would be nothing more than heartbroken when I returned to the life of a human once my job was done, so what harm could it cause? It was cowardice that made me consider: would it not just be easier to indulge… both of them?

~

After nearly an hour of everyone alternating between laughing and eating, Raegan cleared his throat. The power of it, the vibration of the movements, travelled down his arm and straight into the contact he still held possessively on my thigh.

“Olivia, Killian–” I couldn’t have been the only one who heard how begrudgingly he bit out his friend's name. “You are traveling today. To Uisge.”

The room fell silent, some with goblets halfway to their lips, others mid-chew. All eyes landed on Raegan. It would forever amaze me how he remained so still, so confident, so strong with every pair of eyes on him, some of which were narrowed and doubting of their King. It was a credit to those many masks he wore, the ones I hated and wished I could peel from him, except I now understood they were what allowed him to survive.

He pulled something from a hidden pocket within his surcoat, the sheen of it nearly blinding me.

“You are to take this to Queen Tonn. Tell her it is a token of my genuine intent, and that I wish to host her and her court here so that we may, at last, discuss the events that have transpired.”

He said nothing further as he set the large, blue gem down on the table. It had some sort of chain wrapped through it, though it was no metal nor material that I had ever seen. But it beckoned all to look at it, drove all mouths to open. The necklace was not completely of this world, I believed that more than I cared to admit as I stared into the promising abyss of it.

“Is that—”