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“Hussy! After our gracious condescension to allow her to bear the next king of Solderland despite her defects, she snubbed us. She ignored the needs of her country, defied her king, and corrupted the royal bloodline. It is an insult! A stain on the glorious history of our nation. Our reputation!” He spewed a slur, spittle flecking the table before him. “Your Majesty, we should execute her for her insolence!”
The version of my wife that stepped from the circle of my arms was one I had yet to meet. Regal in bearing, cool in expression, and perfectly graceful in a way I had not known her capable of, Kate moved to stand next to the speaker.
“Such a lack of composure, Lord LaRue.” She offered her brother the barest of nods as befitting an equal. Their eyes met across the table. “Brother, I wish to speak with you.” The king’s flush deepened, but Kate’s composure didn’t slip.
Lord LaRue swung around to face her. Pure hatred flared in his eyes and a sneer twisted his features.
“You—” LaRue uttered a slur that made my whole being revolt with rage. Fisting my hands at my sides, I forced myself to breathe, slow and even. This wasn’t my fight…yet.
“Striding in here with your escort of abominations after sharing the bed of the enemy.” LaRue clearly didn’t know when to stop. “You are no longer welcome here.”
Kate didn’t even flinch. Ignoring the blustering idiot, she maintained eye contact with her brother. “Perhaps some privacy would be in order.”
“Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of these witnesses.” Her brother glowered. “It isn’t as though your indiscretion isn’t already known.”
“What indiscretion would that be, brother?” she asked.
“You accepted the elf king’s invitation into his bed.”
A frisson of wariness brought my already tense body into high alert. I exchanged a glance with Favian. How had they known that? I had issued precise orders that no one should let that fact slip. My attention returned to my wife. The curve of Kate’s cheek had paled slightly, but not enough to signal imminent collapse.
“I married the elf king according to the traditions of his people. I have fulfilled my part of our bargain. Now I wonder if you will honor yours.”
LaRue gasped like a dying fish, and one of the three courtiers coughed violently while the other two simply stiffened. Only the king remained unmoving, locked in a silent battle of wills with his sister. The two of them acted as if there were no one else in the room.
“You have ruined me,” the king declared.
“I am sorry you feel that way.”
“Feel?” Her brother blinked. “This has nothing to do with feelings, Kate, and everything to do with the security of my throne—our throne, our home.”
Kate laughed once, a soft, humorless huff. Lowering her gaze to the tabletop with the subtlest of blinks to hide the moisture in her eyes, she pressed her lips together for a moment. “You gave me a choice, and I chose.”
“No, I gave you an order.” The Solderland king straightened, his voice rising with his righteous confidence. “Your king commanded you. Now, I command you to return home and fulfill our arrangement.”
“Laurence, it is over.” Sadness filled her voice as she regarded her brother. “I am married to the King of Eldarlan.”
It was as though she had punched him in the gut. Her brother staggered back a half step. “What about our agreement, my heir, the throne’s future?”
Kate straightened to her full height. Diminutive as it was, she more than made up for it in presence at that moment.
“From where I stand, Laurence, you have two options. Accept my children as your heirs or beget your own. As it is—” She sought my gaze over her shoulder with a soft smile that tempered my irritation at my brother-in-law’s obtuseness. “My husband has informed me you cannot have our firstborn as an heir. He or she will rule Eldarlan.”
Understanding finally dawned in the king’s expression as he glanced from his sister to me and back. “Kate?”
“Abomination!” LaRue sputtered at my wife. “Unnatural creature in woman’s garb.” He lifted a hand to strike her. Using my elf speed, I caught it before it reached its zenith. His bloodshot eyes bulged as I glared down into his debauched features.
Shadows deepened in the corners of the room. Wisps of darkness crawled across the floor, multiplying as they reached my feet. The pull of my tightly controlled anger summoned them. The man in my grasp squeaked in apprehension. My shadow elf escort materialized among the wisps. The fading light ominously glinted off their black blades despite the gathering gloom as they formed a circle around Kate, my victim, and me, weapons outward.
“Let me introduce myself.” I squeezed his fat fingers and grabbed the front of his fancy clothing. He whimpered as I hauled him up so our noses almost touched. “I am Emrys Iston, King of Eldarlan and Emperor of the Shadow Lands. You raise a hand to my queen, and I will see you never touch another woman with it again.”
Dimly aware of the other men scrambling for the door to save their own skins, I maintained my focus on the blithering mess of cowardice in my grip. “Do I make myself clear?”
LaRue’s response was so soft that it was barely audible, even to my ears. I debated throwing him against the wall to further emphasize my point, but I didn’t.
“Emrys?” Kate’s gentle touch on my arm cut through my ire. “Can we go home?”
I dropped the man and turned to my wife, pulling her into my arms. Without another word, we left.
