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Nerio dropped it back to his side. “Why? And who are you?”

“An envoy from the Seelie court,” I volunteered. “Do you see Sicilia with them?”

“What is going on?” Nerio asked.

“The land magic has declared Kent king,” one guard whispered.

“And someone stole his mate,” a second added.

“—probably the Stanton rat looking all smug do—” Grund cut off with a sharp grunt that probably indicated an elbow to the gut.

At the sound of his name, Lord Stanton lifted his head and looked directly at us.

“Hush,” the leader ordered.

“Is Sicilia with her parents?” I asked Nerio again. Down in the center of the arena, Stanton said something to Greyson with a glint of triumph in his eyes. Greyson glared at him in reply, but Stanton was too preoccupied watching me to see.

“No,” Nerio replied in a subdued tone. “Do you suspect he took them both?”

“I do.” The land magic thrummed beneath my feet like a deep-throated drum, eager and ready for my use.

“Orders, Your Majesty?” one of my personal guards asked.

“Go find my mate and free her.”

“Right!” The leader barked a command in a low tone, and the armed men around me dissipated into the crowd. Nerio apparently went with them because when I glanced over my shoulder only Portent remained at my side.

“Ready?” the Seelie asked.

“As ready as I am going to be.” I longed for my familiar sword and gear from the years I worked along the trade road as a hired man-at-arms. True, Stanton didn’t have a visible weapon, but that didn’t reassure me much.

Accessing my natural magic, I took the first step toward the center of the arena. However, not just my magic responded. A flood of land magic came with it, rushing forward and filling me. As tempted as I was to cut it off, I realized that to do so would be foolish. This was a contest of power, a battle of wills and magic that I couldn’t afford to lose. Now was not the time for restraint.

So, I welcomed the land and embraced the heritage thrust upon me.

The Wild Wood responded with reckless abandon. By the time I covered half the distance to where Greyson and Stanton waited, I felt aglow as every part of me hummed with power. The crowd turned to stare as the grass beneath my feet burst into flora with each step. Grasses, flowers, and sometimes ferns or bushes burst up from the dirt, sprouting in a growing circle as I walked. More than one fae jumped, startled, or cursed as the forest carpet erupted around me.

Stanton’s confident grin dropped. By the time I reached the ring of stones marking the arena’s center, he had completely dropped his mask, and his hatred shone clearly for the entire court to see.

His lip curled as his gaze focused on a spot just above my head. Then his gaze shifted to my companion. His face twisted into a hateful glare before he puffed up his chest, but before he could snarl, Greyson spoke.

“I now call the challenge to determine the next king of the Unseelie to order.”

Thanks to natural acoustics and a small magical nudge, his voice boomed out over the stirring crowd.

“Considering the evidence Master Kent is manifesting for all of us, I see little reason to debate the issue. The land’s choice is obvious.”

“I will not concede!” Lord Stanton declared. He swung around to face Greyson and pointed at the old king. “Doesn’t the current king get a say in his heir? No curse can completely strip him of all power.”

The king flinched. Straightening his stooped shoulders, he tried to stand tall, only to give up. I studied him.

Clearly, I hadn’t witnessed him at the peak of his power. The curse or binding the Seelie king had placed on him had slowly drained his personal power, and with the land magic’s progressive rejection of him, his reserves had depleted. Now, as I truly looked at my sire, I could see the physical evidence of his poor decisions both as a fae and as a king. Premature white streaked his hair, subtle wrinkles creased the corners of his eyes, and the most visible change of all, his posture stooped his formerly straight form into a question mark.

“Our former king made many foolish decisions in the most recent decades,” Lord Greyson said in a carrying voice that reached the entire audience within the arena. “Pursuing and then attempting to murder his true mate while already married to another, being unfaithful to his wife, squandering the court’s funds, and finally jeopardizing the security and integrity of the realm in a personal pursuit of power and revenge.”

The king mumbled something.

“Louder!” someone in the back of the crowd yelled.