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He grins and caresses the side of my face with one hand.
“I love the fact you believe telling these people our reign will be a just one is enough to make them vote for us. Hopefully, your optimism in fae-kind will rub off on me, but tonight, I’m counting on their greed. It’s been proven to me more than once that giving someone what they want is the fastest way to earn their loyalty.”
“What are you going to give them?”
Oberon’s hand leaves my face to drop back down to his side. “Power.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” my father calls out to the crowd. “May I have your attention please.”
All eyes turn to the back of the room where my father and mother stand side by side.
“This is it,” I whisper to Oberon. “Are you ready?”
Oberon nods and straightens his shoulders slightly as he waits for my father to call him up.
“My lovely wife has made a suggestion,” my father says to the partygoers. “She believes Oberon and I should make our cases for the crown, and I wholeheartedly agree with her. Oberon, will you come up here please?”
He nods to me reassuringly before making his way to my father. The crowd parts in front of Oberon like a school of skittish fish frightened off by a predator. It’s obvious people here fear him. All I can do is hope their fear won’t blind them to the real monster in the room.
“That is one fine specimen of a man.”
I turn to find Aubri standing behind me, ogling my future husband.
“I can’t argue with that,” I say.
Aubri loops her arm around one of mine. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed what you’re wearing. It looks as gorgeous on you as I knew it would. Am I right in assuming your upcoming nuptials with Oberon is the reason why you’ve finally put it on?”
“After tomorrow, I won’t be a widow anymore. I’ll be a wife again. It’s time to let go of what I once had and focus on my future.”
“Thank the heavens,” she says happily, hugging my arm. “I’ve been waiting forever to hear you say those words.”
“I know. I guess I just needed a reason to look forward instead of backward.”
“Oberon better treat you right,” she says with a hard edge to her voice, “that’s all I have to say.”
“I wouldn’t be marrying him if I didn’t believe he will. I think he’ll be a good king, maybe even a great one.”
By this time, Oberon is standing on the other side of my father.
My mother gives my father a kiss on the cheek and strolls off to the front of the crowd to give the two kings everyone’s full attention.
“Being that this is still my kingdom,” my father says jokingly, earning a few chuckles from the crowd, “I believe I’ve earned the right to go first.”
Oberon nods cordially to my father and holds out a hand, offering his rival the proverbial stage as he takes a polite step back.
My father looks at everyone with a great deal of fondness. It’s an expression I’ve rarely seen him display to anyone, much less his people.
“For quite some time now,” he begins, “I have led you all, and you’ve trusted me to keep your best interest as my top priority. Our time on Aos wasn’t as long as we wanted it to be, but by working together we have rejuvenated this planet and made it our home.”
Most in the crowd cheer but there are still quite a few who do so in a reserved manner. It’s those people Oberon will need to reach during his speech.
“I can promise you that I will continue to do what I’ve always done—keep you safe, keep your loved ones safe, and never let you down.”
He bows his head to the crowd as they all politely clap after hearing his rather trite words of comfort. The flaccid enthusiasm of the crowd isn’t a ringing endorsement of my father’s leadership skills, but we’ll have to wait and see how they react to Oberon’s words in order to determine the mood.
My father turns to Oberon and gestures with his hand that it’s his turn to speak.
Oberon nods to my father in thanks for his courtesy.
