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I could only nod, keeping my gaze from taking in Cullen. Bain sighed in relief not knowing what his friend had just put me through. It was like sleeping with the evil version of Philip, but the good was no longer around to counter the bad.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to it.” Cullen pushed me off his lap. My legs were trembling too much, so Bain had to right me with his hands catching my elbows. “I’m going to talk to Alasdair and Fergus. They need kept in the loop with what we’ve done, and what they’ll both have to do.”
11
Bain
Briar wasn’t okay. Even though she didn’t breakdown into sobs, there was nothing behind her stare. Helping her over to a different chair than the one Cullen had been sitting in, she plopped down.
I could see the turbulation spiraling her thoughts, but I wasn’t sure why. Briar looked like she was haunted, and that’s when the truth smacked me upside the head. “You didn’t know Cian was Muir’s brother.”
“I knew Philip had a twin, but I didn’t put it together until it was too late because I just learned his fae name,” her voice was quiet, echoing the heartbreak she endured to help us. “Cullen made me swear to him that I’d do what had to be done. At first, I thought it was from my inexperience. Now I know it’s because he knew I’d struggle with seeing Philip’s face take me so cruelly.”
“I cannot say an apology for Cullen, but I do know he did it to save our world,” I tried to condone his actions.
A small sniffle couldn’t be concealed as she cleaned her nose. “I just wished you all viewed me as your equal. Had it been you in my position, he would’ve warned you. I would’ve still done what I had to do, but a warning would have been nice.”
“You think we view you as less?” I commented, hoping to change the subject from what Cullen felt was right.
“I’m human. You view me as weak and pathetic.”
I didn’t like how she annunciated the end of her word to show her disdain for our vulgar ways. “What makes you say that?”
“My people, how do they live in your lands?” She turned her puffy eyes and rosy cheeks in my direction for me to see her determination for the truth.
“In segregation, I’m afraid. But you must understand a lot of that came from how some of yours stormed into our lands, thinking they could claim it as kings.”
“Some, right? You know, I knew some faes that were the same way on Earth. Áine wasn’t the only fairy I knew. Because they possessed magic, they thought they could take what wasn’t theirs. Morrigan is also a fae, but we didn’t damn the rest of you.”
Her words weren’t coming out clear, reminding me of Fergus, but I understood what she was saying. The difference between a few bad ones should not have denounced them all. Dipping my chin to her, I let her know I recognized her words. “With you being queen, you can bring change for your people, Briar.”
“But there shouldn’t been need of change!” she countered with the true venom of her passion to lead. My dick twitched from recognizing the alpha within her.
“It was not our law, Briar. We have not taken the thrones yet.” When I spoke, she realized her error as though she remembered something.
“With your parents gone, none of you have taken your thrones?” Her quizzical brow arched at me, but it was as though she already knew the answer to it.
Clearing my throat, I told her the thing that none of us had spoken to anyone outside of our group. “Until we feel worthy, we all vowed to not take our seats. With everything in peril, it hasn’t mattered anyway. They follow our ruling because they know we’re the strongest against Morrigan, but we have not earned the title of king.”
“Does any prince or princess?” she shook her head in confusion.
“For your kind, it was based on bloodlines, but that isn’t how ours works. We must complete a trial in order to take the throne from our father. If we succeed, they go into retirement. If we don’t, they keep the crown until the next heir stands ready.”
“Interesting. Are the queens of your people held to a similar standard?” Briar had finally stopped crying as she engaged me in the conversation.
“Absolutely. We join with the top ranks that compete.”
“But not for love,” she whispered while fixing her top to hide her breasts again. The tear down the front didn’t cover her as much as she had hoped, but I wouldn’t mention how enticing it was when staring at the gap, hoping a boob might slip and reveal itself.
“No, but unlike your kind, women are also welcome to have consorts. It isn’t just the men who receive that in our world. They also stand in the ranks of our military.” Raising the corner of my mouth, I knew she’d enjoy that one. Briar was an equal rights person, wanting more freedoms for her gender. We already had that here.
“And is that what you will all have?” She swallowed hard, thinking about our future together. “More naked nymphs to parade through the castle?”
Scratching the back of my head through my long, straight white hair, I knew Cullen hadn’t told her. “Um, did Cullen skip the part that mating you this way will make it so we cannot have another?”
“W-what?” she struggled to breathe.
“I caught sight of the page before he sent me away.” Moving to the table beside her chair, I grabbed the one that Cullen had been in previously. Flipping to the page that was near the one he stopped on, I pointed that clause out to her. “See?”
