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Eli winced, but the king laughed. “You are not without charm.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or not, and I had no idea if words of thanks were acceptable. So, I nodded. Iwascapable of some caution.
Then the king made a gesture, and a long line of faeries filed into the room. Women specifically. Rows of beautiful women lined the throne room. Feet bare, arms bare, and bosoms nearly so. With hair loosened, and in some cases nearly to their knees, the fae women were lovely. I had no idea why they were in the room, though.
“What’s happening here?” I whispered. My brain was connecting the dots from what the king had said and the women. Hopefully, I was wrong. The act of choosing a partner, a lover, surely wasn’t this shallow. What was Eli to do? Check their teeth? Their bra sizes? Ask a few questions? Waltz?
“Pick one. Kiss your intended, and we’ll be done with this stand-off.” The king made a gesture, and somewhere in the shadows beyond the room, a band began to play.
The women started walking up to us, curtsied, and slowing circled so he could see the full view. They smiled. They met his gaze as best they could while he stood beside me in a state that seemed somewhere between resignation and polite disinterest.
“If you don’t want to stay here, we’ll fight our way out,” I told Eli quietly.
Eli glanced at me with a kind of regret in his eyes that made me question everything I’d felt. He stepped closer to me and took my hand. “They’d cut you down if you tried. You are unarmed, cupcake.”
I shook my head. “For now.”
My gaze slid over the room, seeking options. The throne room was filled with several dozen faery women who were all available and eligible. Guards now stood around the perimeter—not to keep the women in, but to keep Eli in.
“I knew the cost when I brought you here,” Eli reminded me. “I expected this.”
My mouth opened, but no words came. I realized that he made decisions while I was unconscious. I realized that taking me here to heal was what he thought was necessary, and maybe it was. I just didn’t like the thought of leaving him here. I felt guilty. If he left against the king’s wishes, I would cost him his home and family history. If he stayed, he lost the world where he’d been living for at least six years.
And me. I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t a loss. Whether or not he loved me, Eli certainly had high regard for me. He’d basically torched his life to save me—and now we would be separated.
“Youknewthere were consequences for me if I came home. I do not regret any cost if it means you are alive.” He held my hand tightly, as if I was the sort of woman to charge an armed faery guard to try to steal a weapon.
He knew me well.
But the odds of success in such an endeavor weren’t high, but I really and truly hated feeling trapped. And the guard two over from the king wasn’t as attentive as the rest. Maybe I could—
“My nephew will be inElphameuntil he has filled his duty,” the king pronounced. He stared at us from the throne, and I wondered if he was as much of a warrior as he looked. I couldflow,reach the inattentive guard, and draw that blade against the king and . . . Eli would lose his family. Fighting wouldn’t undo this mess.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I don’t know how to fix this, and I just want us to go home.”
“I do not want to leave you alone in New Orleans either,” Eli said softly. “But attacking my uncle will not help.” His gaze drifted to the guard I’d been eying. “Please don’t do that.”
I sighed.
“I could . . . Iunderstand.” I felt tears in my eyes. “It would be wrong to just pick one of them, right? Get engaged, and then leave.”
My voice sounded hopeful, and I felt like a terrible woman. A kiss from Eli would turn any of them into his future bride. If he didn’t select a bride, he was trapped here. They were strangers to me, but that didn’t mean I ought to throw any of them under the proverbial bus. So many beautiful faery women, willing to love him and give him children. I hated each of them.
“Could you select one? Choose the woman to be in my bed one day, Geneviève?” Eli leaned his forehead against mine. “Tell me whose body am I to touch wishing she could be you?”
“No.”
His hands cradled my face. “Then how can I?”
The king’s voice cut through the moment. “Tell her goodbye and pick a bride.”
Instead of releasing me, Eli said, “There is another option.”
“Fight?” I asked hopefully.
Eli smiled. “No. There is another choice. One that would mean I could leave with you and still come home. A choice that would meanyouwould have a haven here.”
We stood in silence as if he was trying to will me to understand. What would allow me to be here? The only way to do that would be if I was . . . his.
