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Hope sprung into her eyes, but she tried to hide it. “As always, Cade, your timing is off,” she teased. “Let’s discuss wedding plans after we figure out if we have a more pressing problem on our hands, yes?”
I shook my head. “These attacks are obviously meant to distract us from the coronation. That’s why they’re happening now. We won’t let them prevail. We will go ahead and plan this wedding—regardless of what kind of threat is lingering over our heads.”
Zephy drew in a breath, excitement filling her eyes, but as she opened her mouth to answer, a whoosh of air pushed us apart, and Aradia materialized in the suite in front of us.
“Hold that thought,” my enchantress sighed. “I’ve got some news for you first.”
Chapter22
Cade
Ihad been feeling stronger under Zephy’s tender care, but seeing the enchantress in our suite depleted me of some of my energy. I had almost managed to forget the outside in the bubble I had created with Zephy. Now, there was no ignoring whatever was happening in the kingdom.
“Is there trouble?” Zephy demanded, ready for battle, her foot halfway toward the door, but I held out a hand to stop her. I knew Aradia well enough to sense that if she needed us, she would have come much sooner.
“There is,” Aradia agreed. “But it’s under control for the moment.”
“What does that mean?” Zephy asked worriedly, and I cast Aradia a scathing look.
I wished she hadn’t shown up like this to alarm my queen when all was going so well. I had only just gotten Zephy into a place of peace, her things placed nicely among mine, her shoulders relaxing now that she saw she had a place at my side.
“The spell that attacked you both has been contained,” Aradia offered quickly, catching my wary expression.
“I should hope so,” I said coldly. “Why didn’t the shroud work on Zephy? Why was she attacked when you claimed you had protected her?”
Through my peripheral vision, I noted how Zephyrine moved closer to me as if she were looking at Aradia with suspicious eyes. But I couldn’t bring myself to think of the enchantress in such a way. Aradia cared too much for the kingdom to bring strife and suffering upon it. She had been the one who was the most adamant about me marrying Zephy.
But was that part of her plan all along?
I loathed this paranoia and forced myself to focus on what Aradia was saying. I only had my advisors, after all. Second-guessing them was not going to serve me well.
“There is a deep root of black magic running through the palace,” Aradia explained. “It’s not one fae working against you, but a group—it’s the only explanation as to why the shroud didn’t hold to protect Miss Zephyrine. I did warn you about all that when I enacted the shroud, Cade. It was not a sure thing, depending on what we were up against. This is definitely a worst-case scenario.”
Zephy and I exchanged a worried look. “What are you saying, Aradia?” I asked quietly, although I believed I understood.
“I am powerful—the most powerful enchantress in the kingdom. It’s why you have me here. But I am no competition for a mob of black fae magic,” Aradia admitted. “There is a group at work here, and we need to unearth them from hiding.”
“How could something like that happen?” I insisted. “This isn’t something that starts overnight. This was planned, plotted. There had to be whispers.”
“Perhaps,” Aradia agreed.
“You’re supposed to have ears everywhere,” I pressed. “How do you not know?”
“I’m working on it, Cade,” Aradia grunted, exasperated both with my tone and presumably with the lack of progress.
“Then I suggest you get to that!” I sputtered, alarmed by this turn of events. “Who would do this? Why?”
“I think we know why,” Zephy interjected softly, sitting on the edge of the bed as if her breath had been stolen. “They don’t want me as their queen.”
“This won’t stand!” I insisted. “I don’t care what needs to be done. We will move forward with this union, this marriage.”
“You need to tread carefully,” Aradia warned. “You don’t want to antagonize them.”
I scoffed loudly and looked at Zephy, studying her worried face. But when she met my eyes, I read the gleam of determination there. “Zephy, what do you say about this?”
She pursed her lips together and raised her head to look at me. Energy sizzled between our gazes, and my pulse immediately slowed. For the first time, I recognized the calming effect that Zephy had on me by merely meeting my eyes.
“You are the Alpha King of Ironhelm,” she told me fiercely. “You won’t be commanded by a group of cowardly faeries who won’t even show themselves. They can’t even fight in the flesh. They enact spells and fight from a distance!”
