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“Too much,” I whispered through the tears coursing down my cheeks. “All the—” Pain? Demands? Every word I considered felt inadequate. “Too much.”

Kent hummed his understanding. “Remember what the healer elf told you. You don’t have to carry it all at once. Draw your awareness inward. Make your awareness smaller. Right here, right now, it is just us. That is all you need to be aware of.”

But a child was screaming in frustration a floor above us, his anger exploding from his small body in violent shrieks. I couldn’t hear his cries, but I could feel the emotion of each one as if he was pouring the outbursts directly into my ears.

“Draw inward.” Kent’s hand settled between my shoulders, applying firm pressure as he rubbed the knotted muscles there. “Relax.” His fingers found the tension and began working at the snarl.

Slowly my body responded to the reassurance. My magic and mind followed as I sagged against Kent’s solid support, and tears of release filled my eyes.

We sat like this for a few quiet moments, my sniffles the only sound in the silence of the empty corridor.

“Sorry.” I pushed up, straightening in his arms so I could face him. “I can’t.”

Kent smiled as he wiped my tears from my cheeks. “I doubt there is anything you can’t do, but I will accept the bait. What is making you doubt your capabilities?”

I shook my head in frustration at his unfounded confidence in me. “I can’t be your queen.”

Instead of protesting, Kent considered me calmly, waiting for me to continue.

“What do I know of being a queen? I barely know how to navigate Lord Greyson’s household. How am I going to oversee a court full of vain and vapid fae eager to take advantage of my every misstep?” I shivered as I recalled the raw ambition in Sicilia’s glare and the deadly calculation in Stanton’s icy-blue eyes. “I am not willing to risk Mela’s wellbeing.”

“What about a compromise?” Kent’s question shattered my resolve as he lifted his arm and peeled back his sleeve. The mating mark on his forearm glowed with the binding between us even as an anchor in my chest thrummed in response, echoing back the bittersweet delight of the connection.

Tears filled my eyes anew. As much as I wished to protect Mela and myself, I could not run away. Not if doing so harmed Kent. He was bound to the land; the Wild Wood had chosen him much the same way he had chosen me. “I can’t take Mela and go, can I?”

“You could, but it would kill me by inches until I could stand it no more. Then I would hunt you down wherever you were and plead for you to take me with you.”

“And the court, the crown, the throne?” I asked.

He shrugged as he studied my features. “They are not my first love. You are.”

I laughed in surprise. “Surely you can’t mean that.”

He met my gaze with steady blue eyes full of purpose and intent. “We are entwined heart to heart, Rue. We can’t tear that asunder without grave consequences to both us and the realm. Why do you think my sire is so cut off from the magic in the air he breathes? He rejected his mate, so the land rejected him in turn. What I have learned in the past few weeks seems to indicate that the healthier a fae king’s marriage is, the healthier the realm is.”

Kent paused. “If you aren’t willing to stay for my sake, are you willing to stay for all those poor, innocent fae that you keep reminding me are also part of my realm?”

I laughed weakly. “You are reason enough.” I slid my fingers along his jaw.

Kent closed his eyes, leaning into my touch. “I have an idea.” Covering my hand with his own, he pressed a kiss to my palm. “Let’s completely change how the court runs.”

“How?” I smiled as he nuzzled my fingers.

“By borrowing some human conventions, some elven conventions, and throwing in some ideas of my own I would like to try. Petition days, for example—opportunities for any fae of the realm to speak with their king and voice their opinions and requests.”

I laughed as I recalled some of the horrified reactions I had overheard only the day before when a servant had the audacity to express an opinion to a courtier. “The nobles will hate that.”

Kent grinned mischievously. “They will. It will be good for them and the realm.” Then folding my fingers over his, he kissed the back of each. “So, are you willing to remain at my side and help me to set the Unseelie realm on its head with our reforms?”

I smiled. “Can I make suggestions?”

“Suggestions?” Kent made a show of horror. “I expect lists of demands, my love. I want to know what will make this new role irresistible. Lavish gowns? Houses? Gold and jewels? You can have it all.”

I laughed. “I don’t want all of that.”

“Then what do you want? What can I offer to make you stay with me forever?”

I leaned in and pressed my lips to his cheek before whispering, “Just you.”