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I overheard a snippet of Alaric’s conversation with Kade and sighed. The nobles who watched what happened had spread word of my Grace through the entire court already. They had witnessed me bring a Fae back from the brink of death with only the aid of a newly Graced, and unskilled healer. They were saying I must be the strongest healer ever known to our kind. No one could bring the dead back to life, but in their eyes, that’s what I had done.
No one noticed the air I forced into Kade’s lungs, and no one was there to bear witness to my use of Kade’s fire.I’m a healer,I told myself for the umpteenth time, preparing myself to speak the lie when asked. It was too risky, Alaric said, for them to know the truth. Different is dangerous—unpredictable. And the Night Court didn’t embrace change well.
“Tiernan, majesty,” a servant said, entering my bedchamber after a gentle knock on the door.
I still hadn’t thanked him for what he’d done. He saved my life not once, buttwicenow, and I wasn’t sure how I could ever repay him for that. After Kade awoke, Finn helped him back to the royal quarters and Alaric had had to carry me back. I was too weak to walk and blinded by tears at the death of my closest friend—but more so for knowing she was never my friend at all.
Removing the blanket Finn had wrapped around my shoulders, I stood, my legs sturdier than they had been all evening, “Send him in please.”
Alaric cleared his throat, running a hand through his dark hair, and stood at my side. Finn put away his blade, and Kade propped himself up on an elbow.
Tiernan entered the room with an air of uncertainty, his teeth pulling at his bottom lip, “I’m sorry for the intrusion. I wanted to see you were well.”
I crossed the room in three long strides and pulled him into an embrace. He softened at my touch and loosely hugged me back, brushing the scruff on his jaw against my hair. I breathed him in, the peaceful scents of sea spray and pine bringing me a sense of calm.
“I’m alright because of you. If you hadn’t found me, I’d be dead, and then so would Kade. I don’t know how to thank you.”
He released me, and I stepped back, finding Alaric next to me. He shook Tiernan’s hand, “Thank you, Tiernan—on behalf of all of us,” he said, and the newfound respect he had for the Day Court emissary was clear in each word. “We’ll have to think of a way to reward you for what you did.”
Tiernan inhaled deeply, pushing the hair from his face, “I have a request,” he said, his eyes flitting to mine.
“Name it.”
He pulled a sealed letter from his trousers and held it out. I took it into my hands, recognizing the seal of Suriel, Queen of the Day Court. I cocked my head at him, not understanding what it meant.
Tiernan sighed, gesturing at the letter, “It’s a formal notice to the queen. It states I hereby relinquish all ties to the Day Court.”
My pulse quickened, “What are you asking?”
He regarded me then, his gaze steady, unwavering, “I would like to be given a place here at the Night Court, as a sentry in your Royal Guard. If you’ll have me.”
I looked to my males for guidance, waiting for them to dispute his request, but none did. “Kade?” I asked, “What do you think?”
The giant warrior spread half-naked on my bed pursed his lips, “He saved you when I couldn’t. He deserves the position—maybe more than I do.”
“Don’t say that,” I snapped at him, earning myself a roll of his ochre eyes. I turned to Finn, “And you, what do you think?”
Finn shrugged, “I trust him. And I can’t say that about most,” his eyes flitted to Tiernan, whom he gave a grateful nod.
Alaric said nothing when I turned to him. He stared into my eyes as though attempting to decipher my thoughts. His brows pulled together, and then he must have seen something within me, because all at once his expression softened, and he blew out a long breath.
Alaric nodded to the emissary, “Welcome to the Royal Guard, Tiernan.”
I could only imagine the uproar that inevitably would ensue when the denizens of my court found out. But they would come to accept it in time. I hoped.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Alaric sent Kade and Finn back to their chambers to rest and instructed Tiernan to take one of the vacant rooms next to theirs. He would have his belongings moved down tomorrow. Reluctantly, I let my males go, already anticipating when I’d see them again—afraid to let them out of my sight for even a moment.
In only a few hours, Ronan would be hanged, and both threats against me will have been eradicated. At least, both threats from within the palace walls. Thana’s words repeated in my head, poisoning my thoughts with doubt.It’s time for him to reclaim what’s his.
His.
The Mad King.
The sentries Alaric sent out returned with disturbing news. They found three of the missing Fae. Dead—each stabbed in the chest, their bodies left to desiccate on the cliffside. I had a suspicion I knew who’d stabbed them and for what purpose. The Blessed Blade was not a myth. I had seen it. And it was the Mad King who intended to wield it. With the blade he could steal a Grace from any Fae he pleased. But he wanted my Graces.
I twirled the ring on my finger again, feeling its sentient pulse again. The blade wasn’t complete without the dragon’s eye stone. And I was willing to wager, the Mad King couldn’t do what he had planned—whatever that was—without it.Never take it off, Morgana had told me. And so, I never would. I would die before I let it fall into his hands.
