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“Princess, I’m going to tell you. But, you know, you aren’t the only one who has something going on tonight. I’ve waited twenty-four years for you. Twenty-four years of having to go through that process and people thinking what they think and hating me for it.”
He was right. I thought about how Luke and almost every single other man in the Kingdom felt about the Choosing and Nik.
“But at least that part is over now. So let’s have a gods damned drink,” he said.
Usually so unflappable, Nik’s momentary transparency pulled me out of my own head.
“A drink would be nice,” I replied simply and grabbed his hand, so used to him traveling us to our next location.
“We can walk,” he said, but he didn’t let go of my hand.
Instead, he led me through his bedroom. His bedroom was smooth and dark and enticing, just like his demeanor. He dropped my hand as we crossed the threshold of an adjacent room I’d never been in before. The sitting room shared the balcony that was attached to his bedroom and had a small bar in the corner.
“I’ll take a scotch—”
“With a twist of lemon. Yes, princess, I know,” he interjected.
I opened my mouth to say something and then closed it, bemused. I needed a drink.
We didn’t speak as he made our drinks. I plopped down onto a camel-colored leather lounge, deciding to kick my heels off. I decided to further make myself at home by propping my feet up on the coffee table. My gown was long, and the weight of it pulled its length to the floor, exposing my legs.
Nik came over to me, handing me my drink before he sat next to me. He took a sip of the glass of dark liquor he’d made himself, eyeing my casual demeanor with amusement, but he didn’t break the silence.
I took a sip of my scotch, letting it roll over my tongue before swallowing, and then, despite my extensive education on the significance of silence, I spoke first.
“The prophecy—”
“Is known to few,” he interjected.
“It’s real?” I asked skeptically. I’d heard of such powers, but it seemed like something made up or exaggerated.
“Rarely. But in this instance…” he paused, enjoying another taste of his drink. “It is very real.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I have lived by it, princess. Do I strike you as a frivolous man? One overtaken by the whims of others?” he asked.
His thick, dark brows were furrowed into an intense, challenging stare.
“No,” I admitted quietly.
Another minute passed in silence.
“What does this prophecy say?” I asked.
I almost expected him to pull some old tomb out of his invisible closet of darkness and start reading. But he didn’t. He began to recite the prophecy from memory.
“She will be of high fae and lesser fae, of north and south, and of light and darkness. Shealoneshall have the power to save the magic. But her star will fade and the magic of all along with her unless she is found in her twenty-fourth year by he who shall be King, the first of his name of mixed birth. His mark upon her and her magic shall give her the strength to save the lives and magic of all…” he recited, trailing off.
“Is that all of it? Say it again. Please,” I asked intently.
He obliged, repeating the words once more in the same calm cadence.
“But, Nik, how could you possibly think that is me? I’m a mixed fae. But north and south? I don’t know what that means, but I’m not from the north. I’ve never had anything to do with the north. And I won’t even get into the light and darkness part. No one can have powers of light and darkness, Nik.”
Except maybe the King of Alancia, according to Jay.
“How do you know you aren’t from the north?” he asked, clearly placating me.
