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“King Ash will bring in the Mild Months, and keep us safe during the Bitter Months. He will welcome warmth and growth and new life. He will rule over all serpents, boar and cattle. Except Mol,” she added in a whisper, which made my tense face crack into a tiny smile.
But then she turned to face me, and my heart leapt with fear again.
“King Ash, do you accept your duty to the seelie Folk as their king?”
I licked my lips and nodded, then cleared my throat. “Yes.”
Fioda’s head dipped in a graceful nod before she picked up my crown. She gave me a kind smile as she gestured for me to lean forward so she could place it on my head.
The moment I felt it settle in my hair, I looked back at Lonan again. My face broke into a huge smile when I saw him already grinning at me, his black eyes gleaming in the afternoon sun.
“Now your vow,” Fioda whispered, shooting Lonan a wry smile. “Then you and your unseelie lover can fawn all over each other for the rest of the night.”
My face went hot at that, so I turned to face the silent, waiting crowd. My voice was rough with nerves when I spoke.
“I give my oath as Seelie King that I will try to make things better for all of you.” I swallowed, my throat dry. “I’ll do my best to improve your lives. To ensure that all seelie Folk stay safe on this land. And to make sure we prosper and flourish.”
I shifted when I felt the scratch of the oath etching into my skin between my shoulder blades. Fioda nodded, giving me an encouraging smile. She pulled out a fat book bound in ancient brown leather from a lower shelf of the pedestal. After removing the cushion, she set it down on top and opened it to a half-filled page.
I stared at the last entry.The Brid. 1359 –
Fioda dipped a quill in ink and completed the entry with the current year, before passing it to me.
“Your ruling name, King Ash.”
Nua had told me Ogma would whisper it to me—somehow—but I still jumped when her low, raspy voice curled around my ears. I set the quill to the page and wrote, cringing internally at my messy chicken scratch beside all the elegant, looping scrawls of all the seelie rulers before me.
As I passed the quill back to Fioda, Ogma’s raspy voice whispered in my head, “Congratulations, Acherone. See you soon,” before I felt her presence leave.
My eyes darted to Fioda as she peered down at the book.
“Mol approves,” she whispered, before raising her voice to address the crowd. “Please welcome the Luad as your new king.”
I jumped when the crowd cheered, a thunderous roar that made me struggle very hard not to wince. I grinned before looking back and seeing Nua fussing over Gillie as the dark-haired fae roughly scrubbed at his eyes.
Lonan smiled at me, before nibbling his bottom lip as his eyes darted to the crowd then back to me. He went to take a step forward but stopped himself.
I forced myself to turn back to the crowd and raise my hand in a brief wave, which made them all cheer wildly again, before I looked at Fioda.
“Is… is that it?” I flushed, hoping that hadn’t sounded rude.
“That’s it, Luad.” She closed the book and raised a hand to stroke Mol’s head. “Go and relax before your feast.”
I was already grinning again as I strode towards Lonan. His eyes flared a second before I tugged him close and kissed him deeply, blocking out the sounds of the crowd behind us. I knew some of them—probably most—wouldn’t approve, but I didn’t give a shit. I wasn’t going to hide how much I loved Lonan because some random Folk didn’t like it.
He cupped my face and kissed me back hard. His black eyes drifted up to my crown when we pulled back, hands slipping down my neck to my chest.
“Congratulations, Oak King,” he rasped in his husky voice, before giving me a wide, sharp fae grin.
