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Jora returned, giving Ash a hesitant smile. “The Folk are gathered in the gardens, my king.”
He nodded, his throat bobbing and betraying his nerves. I squeezed his hand, then lifted it to my mouth to kiss his knuckles. “You’ll be fine.”
“I’m so nervous,” he whispered shakily as we started moving towards the doors. “What am I meant to say? I should have planned something—”
“Just keep it brief.” Nua rested a spindly hand on Ash’s shoulder. “Just confirm that you’re their new king, and say you’ll have your official coronation soon.”
He nodded again, squeezing my hand painfully tight as we stepped outside.
Shock made my mask momentarily slip as I stared at the sea of Folk before us. The crowd stretched all the way back, past the tall archway at the end of the huge, sprawling gardens. I knew there were more seelie than unseelie, but seeing them all gathered in one place made it glaringly obvious just how many there were.
Ash had many, many more subjects than my mother. The thought made my mouth twitch with the start of a smile that I quickly suppressed.
“Jesus Christ,” he breathed beside me, his hand sweating in mine. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“You can,” I murmured as the last of the crowd near the back quieted, and there was total silence as they all waited for Ash to speak.
When he remained silent, Gillie snorted from beside Nua. “You have to say something, lad.”
“I…” His voice shook, but then he cleared his throat and raised his voice. “I’m sure many of you have already heard. I… I killed the Brid and her King of Boars.”
His face flushed, his golden-brown forehead damp with sweat as the hot sun beat down on us. “She was a terrible woman. A terrible mother and a terrible ruler.”
His voice grew more confident as he swept his eyes over the crowd. “I vow to you that no more seelie will ever be needlessly slaughtered by the court.”
His hand twitched in mine as the crowd went still, and I knew he was feeling the oath etch into his skin.
“There’ll be no more rituals like that on Beltane. Or Samhain.”
“She did it on the Summer Solstice too,” Nua muttered.
“Or the Solstice,” Ash added. “Or whenever else she did it.”
He swallowed, and I saw his eyes dart down to the small group of broon gathered at the side of the crowd. The palace staff had come out to hear his address.
“Some of you may have heard what I… what happened a few weeks ago here, when the Carlin came for dinner.” He looked at the broon, pain tightening his features. “She ordered me to kill one of you. She… she used my name. I’m sorry.” His voice was hoarse. “I’m sorry for what I did. I carry the guilt of it. It will never happen again.”
He looked back at the crowd. “I hope I can make things better for all of you.”
He seemed to run out of steam then, and in the ensuing silence an unknown fae called out from the crowd, “What of the Golden Son? And the unseelie prince beside you?”
“My brother is welcome here. And so is his partner, and Prince Lonan.” He gripped my hand tighter, his voice hard and unforgiving. “I won’t stand for any intolerance towards any of them. I’m not an angry or bloodthirsty person, but if I hear even ahintof disrespect towards any of them,thatwill make me angry. Very angry.”
His eyes focused on the group of noble Folk gathered at the front of the crowd. They’d still set themselves apart from everyone else, which made my lip want to curl. My mother was awful, but at least she was too cold to keep herself surrounded by simpering Folk who thought they were better than everyone else.
“Like I said, I want to make things better. After my coronation, I’ll… I’ll open up the palace one day a week for you to come to me with any issues. I’ll see what I can do.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd at that. Ash let out a hard, quiet breath, so I squeezed his hand again.
“Okay, well… that’s it.” He stared at the crowd uncertainly. “Um… go back to whatever you were doing.”
The crowd slowly started moving. The noble Folk didn’t seem to know what to do, standing there at the bottom of the grass steps. They started whispering frantically to each other.
As we turned to head back inside, I disentangled my hand from Ash’s to give his back a comforting stroke. His shirt was damp with sweat. I could feel the nervous heat coming from him.
“You did very well,” I murmured, kissing his shoulder.
“You did,” Nua agreed, smiling at him. “That’s a good idea, about opening up the palace for them.”
