Page 60 of Why Broken Wings Fray

“I am inclined to not believe you,” I grumbled, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest. Even with Liam’s head in the way – though he tried his hardest to shrink himself into nothing but a puddle – Raegan still seemed to be able to stare at me.

“Would you like me to show you, Olivia?”

No one choked this time, instead it was much worse as a damning sort of silence befell us all. I wasn’t even sure what we were talking about anymore, only that I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to shout and scream and holler my frustration at the King, and I was only able to do that with this strange disagreement about Queen Tonn. And necklaces, I think. Generosity?

“Are you two done?” Shea finally snapped, which I was eternally grateful for. “This is great and all, that Queen Tonn admitted Olivia into her kingdom and took the necklace, but what good does it do for us? What good does it do for Saoghal?”

Raegan motioned for Killian to take the floor, and he did. “Queen Tonn has agreed to meet with Raegan. For Imbolc. We will host the party, she will be our guest of honour, and Raegan will have the chance to smooth things over with her.”

Raegan was still staring at me. And the look on his face suggested he did not plan on doing that with Queen Tonn. Though I wasn’t sure how everyone else was incapable of seeing that.

“And then what?”

Raegan finally blinked away from me and frowned at Shea. “What do you mean, and then what? What more would you have me do, Shea? Would you like me to fix Saoghal in the span of a single day? Please, if you have ideas, do not hold back.”

I never thought I would see the day that Shea, piss-and-vinegar Shea, would recoil from someone’s words. But she did, and then her head hung and she remained quiet.

“And then–” Killian sighed at his King’s short temper. “Then, we will, with Queen Tonn’s help, appeal to King Nevan of Speur. And at last, Saoghal will be back to peace, and the reign of the three will endure.”

Another pinch of Raegan’s eyes. Another shudder of uncertainty through me.

I hated that I had come to understand his tiniest movements. And in a way that it seemed no one else did.

“And if we fail?” To everyone’s surprise, that was Aisling. She asked, then immediately tucked some of her bubble-gum-pink hair behind her ear and blushed an even brighter colour that her slightly-tinting skin was.

“Well, about that,” Killian grunted, shooting me a nervous look. I was more nervous about the look Raegan shot him. “Queen Tonn made a… suggestive threat.”

Raegan’s hand tightened around the goblet before him, while Shea picked up her fork as if she planned to stab someone with it.

“Suggestive threat?” Aisling repeated, somewhat confused.

Killian turned completely to Raegan and dropped his voice to what I could only equate with attempting to soothe a quick-to-anger King. “She intends for allegiances with others.”

Raegan did not look surprised by this. If anything, he was simply contemplative as his darkened brows set against his eyes. “Did you get an inclination as to which others?”

“I know that she has found herself a sea-dragon.”

Raegan’s expression was completely locked, allowing for no tiny flicks, twitches, or flinches. But I somehow felt how he felt, my chest tightening and my throat thickening.

“If I had to guess, I would say we should prepare for Water Spirits. Selkies, too. But I am most concerned that they might find a common cause with the Merrows, once and for all.”

Everyone took a sharp breath, excluding me as I simply stared with no understanding what any of that meant.

Raegan leaned forward, both of his elbows on the table, his chin braced atop them. “Think about that, Killian. What would the fair folk of the sea benefit from in siding with Queen Tonn?”

Silence was dominant as we all watched Raegan, everyone’s bodies stiff and prepared to flee.

“What you should be asking yourself is what could the King of Talamh offer the sea-faring folk, if it came down to a fight of kingdoms?”

My eyes blew wide and my jaw hinged without thought. As did everyone else's.

“You don’t mean…” Shea trailed off, her head shaking. “You wouldn’t. No, you wouldn’t, Raegan.”

For once, Raegan could not meet my eyes, but looked at everyone else. “Queen Tonn of Uisge makes allies of our enemies. Of the Aos Sí and the Elves and the Gnomes. Of those who for so long have wanted Saoghal if only to rid us of our land and for no other reason.” Raegan rose, his back unfurling, his power prominent and pulsing across the room. “So I sought out new relationships, too. It is up to Queen Tonn, now, as to whether either of us needs to call in those pending deals.”

I was looking at a king and not Raegan, my eyes still wide, the moisture sucked from them as I feared to blink. Rory had been wrong in doubting Raegan’s paranoia – Raegan was as he had always been. He was calculated with his moves and he took that fear and panic that looked prepared to drown him and he had crafted something of it. Something sharper, fiercer, and far more wicked than any of his previous iterations. It was all there, in the way his eyes were no longer green but some colour of a bleeding forest.

Shea, for all of her previous flinching and avoiding of enraging Raegan, shook her head. “When does it end, Raegan? How much blood will need to be spilled for this so-called peace to take place?”