Page 107

The Ard Rí rested in state at the very end of the hall, in the largest room. One that was appointed solely for the royal family should they ever have need of it. They rarely did, but there he was, lying peacefully in a bed made of silk grass, surrounded by a bounty of fresh flowers that had been arranged to look as if they bloomed from the plush bed. Beneath that lawn was a mattress of the finest down and feathers. It was shit for fucking on but felt like sleeping in a cloud.

I was supposed to kneel next to him, to supplicate myself beside the living god of the spring. I was not going to do that. Not now and not back when I’d first seen him in this bed after the war when he had caught some sort of magic fever that boiled the essence within him and left parts of him withering and dying.

I’m still unconvinced it hadn’t been a curse from the Lady Airgetlám, wherever she had gotten to.

Instead, I dragged, noisily, a couch from the corner and set it next to him.

“You can stop pretending,” I grunted down at him, taking my seat and leaning my elbows on my knees.

I could see him rolling his eyes behind his lids before he opened them. The dark veins of the venom still ate at the whites of his eyes, still crawled on spidery fingers across his flesh. “I was sleeping.”

“You haven’t been sleeping for the last ten minutes. You knew the moment I entered the temple.”

“How do you know?”

“Do you forget how well I know you? You had a wisp stationed in the gardens to watch for my approach. It flew in ahead of me to report that I was coming.”

“A pix, actually. Wisps are dumb and prone to getting distracted.” He groaned as he tried to get comfortable. “Help me up.”

“A please still goes a long way, my lord.”

He frowned up at me. A crown might as well have burst into a flaming wreath atop his head. Imperious fucking bastard.

I rolled my eyes and leaned over. “Fine.” I helped him scoot up and then back against the painted headboard with a pillow at his back.

“Thank you.”

“Why is it that even when you’re saying thank you it feels like you’re barking an order?”

“You never seemed to mind my orders before.”

There was a hint of a flirt in his dull eyes, but I ignored it. He could flirt and play the slut all he wanted. My heart had hardened to him centuries ago, and now, more than ever, I had no interest in his affections.

When I didn’t take the bait, he sighed and pressed the blanket flat against his lap. “I am glad that you came, Emrys. We need to talk.”

“I was unaware I had the option of not talking with you, my Liege.” I leaned back in my seat and watched him through slitted eyes.

I had learned more than one lesson about being careful with his words.

“True. You do not have the option of not speaking with me.” His diseased eyes turned up to the swaying butterflies that danced on artificial breezes, animated for his amusement by squandered magic. “Duty calls for you again, Emrys.”

“Stop calling me Emrys. I revoked your right to use my true name casually a long time ago.”

I hated when he called me by my true name. It reminded me of all the times I had heard it bellowed on the wings of passion or whispered lovingly. I never wanted to hear him so familiar with me again.

“You are especially surly this evening. What has my Raven so thorny?” He turned his attention back to me, and I could see the slight green tinge to his usually tanned skin.

“I’ve had to put another of my friends in the dungeon for treachery, my Liege. I do not have so many as you, my lord. I cannot afford to lose them as easily.”

It was an agile lie. He didn’t need to know that I was on edge because I had, once again, allowed myself to be convinced by some misplaced sense of chivalry that, when my anger rose, I should abandon Cricket. Was it truly better for her to never see the way she lit me aflame and drove me mad? Was it more kind, knowing that I intended on spending the rest of my life with her, to hide the true edge of my beast from her?

“And which friend of the court did you find skulking about that bitch daoire girl?”

I fought the urge to flex my fists in his presence. I had already wounded his pride once when it came to Cricket. Further slicing at it would prove deadly for either Cricket or Daróg.

“Ard Tiarna Brittle Spear, lord of Tromluí Údramáil, has been arrested for the crime. We are currently interrogating him to find out if his hand wielded the blade or merely pointed it at you, your Highness.”

“Brittle Spear?” A deep, weak frown sculpted itself into his features. As if he was confounded by how, of all Fae, Brittle Spear could have laid him so low. The information weighed heavy on him and forced him back into the pillows as if all his energy had been spent sparring with me, even if it had been but a kitten batting at a dandelion. “So, the whole of the court is corrupt?”