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Fear streaked through me. He’d been there, when I’d shot the Carlin with Gadleg’s venom. He’d heard me foolishly boast about having it, though he had been whimpering in pain with an arrow in his dick. But I didn’t think it would take much for either of them to realise why—why I’d had the venom of the mighty serpent that inhabited the Isle of Hybra, the place that was so treacherous and difficult for any Folk to reach. Why I’d bothered to go and get it.
I tried to relax. Nua had said that no one had attempted to cross the fingerstones. We had spies watching the north shore, and there’d been no sign of anyone on that desolate beach.
“He can’t get to us here,” I said, trying to make my voice sound confident. “There’s nothing he can do.”
Lonan watched me, eyes sombre. “One day I will have to leave, Ash.”
My chest clenched with panic. “Not yet though,” I said quickly. “We’re not ready. We don’t have a plan. It’s too dangerous.”
For him.
Lonan licked his lips, voice hesitant when he said, “Perhaps we should start thinking of a way to—”
“Not yet,” I repeated. “I—We—We’re still getting settled here. Maybe I can—When I have more time, I can look through the Brid’s stuff again. Maybe she had something—an easy way to kill the Carlin.”
“If she had something that told her how to kill the Carlin, she would have done it years ago.”
“Not necessarily,” I blurted. “The Carlin was familiar to her. Killing her would have meant standing opposite a new unseelie ruler. One of her sons.” I offered him a tiny smile. “Maybe the thought of that scared her more than her desire to beat the Carlin.”
Lonan didn’t look convinced, but he said, “I had never heard of the Brid being all that concerned with beating the Carlin. My mother is obsessed with ruling over all fae land. Unseelie and seelie, and probably the Woods of Orna. The Brid didn’t seem to have much interest in that. She already had enough Folk here. Enough land.”
“Okay, so maybe she did have something then,” I offered. “Something she never bothered to use. We should check first. We shouldn’t… we shouldn’t run into anything half-cocked.” Lonan looked confused by the phrase, so I clarified, “We shouldn’t do anything until we’re completely ready. Your crown isn’t going anywhere. Unless… I mean, unless you’re eager to become king?”
“Not… eager.” Lonan pursed his lips. “But it almost feels pointless to wait.”
“No,” I blurted. “It’s… it’s not pointless. We don’t know if the Carlin is planning anything. We should—I’ll get more spies to watch unseelie from the forest. See if we can spot anything.”
“They won’t be able to spot much.” Lonan sounded doubtful. Panic made me grip his hands tight.
“Please,” I croaked. “We’re not ready. Just a bit more time.”
He stared at me before slowly nodding. “Alright. We’ll wait.”
Relief made me sag. I leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”
I knew I couldn’t delay it forever. I knew Lonan would become king eventually. But not yet. I just wanted more time with him first. Time to be together. Time knowing he was truly safe, when none of them could touch him.
Time when he was only mine, just for a little while longer, until I had to share him with others. With a whole kingdom. We’d both worked so hard, lost so much, to be together. It felt reckless and foolish to needlessly throw it all away too soon, to rush into more danger when we had the luxury of waiting now.
I carefully shifted my parents’ belongings off the bed, then crawled over to him. Tugging him down onto his back, I nestled my hips between his thighs and crushed my mouth to his, not wanting to think about anything beyond this room. Beyond him and his beautiful face, his lean body, the taste of him on my tongue.
Just for a little while longer.
Chapter Fourteen
Ash
It hadn’t felt like it at the time, but going back to my old house had helped.
It was like I’d lanced a festering boil I hadn’t even realised had been paining me. Getting to say goodbye to my old life, getting to keep little pieces of my parents, had lessened the grief.
It hadn’t erased the boiling fury towards the Carlin and her other sons. That still lingered, hot and sour under my skin, but most days, I didn’t have enough time to really think about it. I hadn’t realised there’d be so much to do as a king, but in the weeks that followed mine and Nua’s journey to the mortal world, I was busy from the moment I woke up until dinner, every single day.
I was still holding the open court every week, but Nua had wondered aloud whether we might need to make it two days a week, because the line of Folk waiting to see me usually stretched from the door to the throne room out onto the living steps, and half of them didn’t even get to speak to me. In the days that followed, Nua and I would sit and go through all the issues they’d brought to me, trying to find ways to resolve them fairly.
Then there were my lessons on seelie history with Nua. I’d tried to read those fat old books from the library, but they were so dull I kept falling asleep, so I’d asked if Nua would help me, and he’d happily agreed.
On top of that was the time he spent teaching me the intricacies of running a kingdom. Tithes, land ownership, acting as judge and jury for those who committed crimes. Even who I wanted as my royal merchants for jewellery, clothing, food, wine… I’d been tempted to just keep them all the same as the Brid’s, but Nua had advised me that it might be better to at least consider other options. That being a royal merchant gave a business a position of power, an edge over all their competitors, and the Brid had kept the same ones for centuries. Fairness dictated that others should get a chance at the privilege.
