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“Ah, so you’re going to try to reason with my queen,” he said before crumpling the paper in his hands. He locked eyes with me. “That’s not a good idea.”
Fury raged inside me. It made me tremble. I could feel the garden of power inside me shaking, too. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
He cocked his head, his grin spreading wider. “Why? Because you’re aprincess?”
I blew air out between my lips. “Pfft, no. It’s because I’m my own person. I don’t exist under your jurisdiction.”
“You think you’re part of the Pack? Okay. Go ahead and shift for me.”
I sputtered. He’d struck a nerve, but I didn’t want to let him know. Rhoan had gone out to check the perimeter, but this man had waltzed right in without warning. The fae warrior needed to come back and drag our uninvited guest out.
“Why are you here?” I spread my hands wide in question. “You haven’t attacked yet, so I’m assuming you’re not here to kill me. You want something else.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. He pointed a finger at me, as if to say that I’d gotten it right. My stomach sank. Great, someone else wanted something from me.
“You’re going to take the throne,” he said as he straightened, smoothing the front of his shirt. “When you do, I want a promise of safety. I will make you a deal and vow to stay out of your way when you come for Beryl if it means that I get to walk away with my skin intact.”
“I don’t want to fight her! I want nothing to do with this throne that everyone keeps telling me to steal.”
This, my pots and pans dirty from cooking all morning, powdered sugar and flour on every surface, and the smell of vanilla and berries in the air, was all I wanted. Yet, no one seemed content to acknowledge it. They all wanted me to risk my life for them.
I was done with putting my neck out for others.
“If you want Beryl gone, do it yourself,” I spat. “I have dishes to do.”
I shoved past the fae man so I could get started on the pile of pans in my sink.
He turned with me. “She’s weak right now. That beast, Fenrir, devoured her right-hand man. While Beryl put me in his place, I’m not as cooperative. Now is your time to strike.”
I stared down into the soapy water filling my sink. This wasn’t what I wanted. Hearing Beryl’s people asking me for help changed things. When I glanced back at the man, he wore a devious expression, but that glimmer of hope still sparked in his eyes.
“Fuck,” I said under my breath.
Stomping echoed up the stairs outside my apartment. The fae man stiffened. His nose twitched. Surprise vaulted his brows as he slid an appreciative look in my direction. I thought he would run away before Rhoan opened the door. Instead, the fae man spun my vacant chair around and took a seat.
Before I could even curse, the door opened. Rhoan froze in the entryway. He pinned the fae man with a murderous glare. When Rhoan took one step into the room, I caught an almost imperceptible flinch from the fae man. Though Beryl’s new right-hand man seemed confident, he was afraid of Rhoan.
Then why did he stay?
I scowled when he filled Rhoan in on the state of the Unseelie Court because Rhoan’s eyes went wide with hope. I didn’t want to squash it because that seemed mean. However, I wasn’t going to start a coup.
Not today. Not tomorrow.
Not ever.
“You guys,” I pleaded. “Lakesedge is peaceful for once. The Pack is safe for the first time in years. I can’t upset this balance right now. You’re asking too much of me.”
“Take that up with Fate,” the nameless fae man said.
I gripped the handle of a wet frying pan and debated throwing it at the fae man’s head. He would vanish before it hit him, anyway. Sighing, I dropped it.
At this point, I wished the two men had attacked each other on sight. It would have saved me from this oppressive silence. Their gazes burned into my back while I stared into the sink. Swallowing, I tried to figure out how to face them.
Feri scrambled onto the windowsill in front of me and rose onto his hind legs.
I pointed at him. “If you utter a single syllable, I am going to drown you in the dishwater.”
He recoiled, disgusted.
