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I huffed. "We can't fall asleep like this," I complained weakly. "I'm a mess."
"Hush," Fife said as he nuzzled into the messy hair covering my shoulder. "Adder will draw us a bath. He gets off on aftercare."
I chuckled at that surprising bit of information. "If you say so." But something inside me eased when I realized Adder wasn't giving me the cold shoulder after what we had just shared.
Fife was right. Adder was back soon enough, and he effortlessly scooped me into his arms and herded the others out of bed and into the attached bathing chamber, where he had filled the soaking tub and laid out towels for each of us.
A sense of deep contentment and wonder settled over me as we quietly washed up and headed back to bed. Adder was about to run off to find clean sheets, too. But I gripped his sleeve, stopping him as I muttered a brownie cleaning charm on the bedding and dragged him over to the bed.
In no time at all, I was snuggled into a comfortable nest, surrounded by the males who were now, finally, completely mine.
It was only as started to slip off into dreamland that I thought to wonder if this really changed anything. Would this new bliss last past the year specified in our bonding contract?
I was asleep before I could ask.
Chapter 29
As much as I wanted to glory in the newfound connection with my mates, there was more serious business to attend to. The day after we caught Gambol and Jig with Fife's spell, a portal opened up in my suite, where we were just finishing an early dinner and looking over any last-minute needs for the upcoming Harvest Festival.
The high cleric at the royal palace was the only person in Elfhaven who was powerful enough to open a portal, and only with the blessing of the king or queen. His portals took an immense amount of energy, so they were used sparingly. If he was familiar with the person he was looking for, he could plant the portal right where you were. Hence how he found me in my private suite.
I stared at the watery image of the high cleric through the shimmering tear in reality. I was startled, but this wasn't really a surprise after yesterday's events. "I take it we're all being summoned?" I didn't waste time on polite niceties. I knew he would want to get this over with as quickly as possible to avoid completely draining his magic stores.
"You and your mates, if you would please, Lady Katrina." He stepped back and made a little bow and a sweeping gesture with his arm, inviting us to hurry and step through.
"Best jump to," I told my wide-eyed mates as I set aside my work and hurried toward the portal. "They don't use portals lightly."
I stepped through the shimmering circle and a tingling wave of magic washed over me. I had traveled by portal a few times before, but it was always a bit jarring. It was as if warping reality this way was wrong, and the source of creation was watching to see what you were up to.
I stepped out into the king's private office with a sigh of relief. My mates followed soon after, and the portal snapped closed with a wash of displaced magic that traveled through the room like fading ripples in a pond. The high cleric gave us a terse nod before speaking to the king and queen, who were sitting on a couch off to one side. "I will return when you ring for me."
Then he strode from the room, his entire body tense. He looked angry, but I was pretty sure he was just trying not to pass out.
"Katrina!" Queen Iris said with a smile. "It's so good to see you again." She glanced at my mates, who were all trying to look polite while covertly glancing around the room. They had probably never been in the king's private office before—or anywhere in the private wing of the palace, for that matter. "It's good to see you all looking so hale and hearty."
"And alive," King Wolfsbane added in a droll voice. He waved a hand at the assorted chairs that were scattered about the room as he spoke to my mates. "Please, have a seat. We do not stand on formalities where Lady Katrina is concerned."
I sank into an overstuffed chair as my mates stiffly did the same around me. I could have used Amaryllis's presence to temper the strange moods of her parents, but her most recent letter had indicated she was on a diplomatic visit with her foreign princess. I feared I was about to lose her forever to her romantic prospects. But sadly, that was the least of my concerns at the moment. "I assume we're here to talk about the would-be assassins," I asked, lifting a brow at the queen. I still couldn't believe no one had ever told me I was in danger. But then again, the king and queen did as they pleased.
Queen Iris waved a graceful hand, her voice airy, as if we were talking about the weather or the latest palace gossip. "Yes, that. We thought you might like to be updated on what we have learned. You did say you wanted to be included in these things, did you not?"
I nodded. "I did. And I’m curious to know what in the world is going on. Why would my best friend’s family take part in some assassination plot? Even they resented my position, and he felt…a certain way toward me, that doesn't explain them suddenly wanting me dead."
King Bane snorted and lifted a tumbler of amber liquor to his lips. "As if people really ever need a reason for committing foolish acts."
His cynicism was a bit unsettling, as always. He had lived for a very long time. It was disheartening to hear that he hadn't found more to endear him to fae kind.
"It took us some time to put this puzzle together. And the apprehension of your would-be assassins gave us the last piece we had been missing. Now we have a complete picture." Queen Iris said. "To understand the story, we need to go back to the beginning." She shifted in her chair, like a storyteller settling in by the hearth at a cozy inn. The gleam in her eyes said she enjoyed the telling of the tale. Her own age was showing, I supposed. She was less concerned with the current moment than with the story she had a hand in unearthing.
I glanced at my mates to find them all wearing politely attentive looks on their faces. Pretending this was all quite normal and not at all strange. Fife's gaze met mine for a moment, and the look in his eyes said that while he shared my resignation, he might actually enjoy the drama. I shook my head.
Queen Iris ignored us in favor of telling her story.
"Once upon a time in the human kingdom of Bellspear," she began gravely, "there was an old king who wasn't content with his own wealth and power. He saw the success and contentment of the fae of Elfhaven as a glittering gem he could mine for riches. Maybe he was fascinated with the fae people. Maybe he had been wronged by one of their kind. Or," she smirked, and her glittering green eyes went hooded. "Perhaps he became obsessed with a beautiful fae queen, and she scorned his ridiculous advances." She shrugged. "The reasons are lost to time. But what was clear was how much he loathed all of fae kind, while envying the prosperity, peace, and power that they enjoyed."
I rolled my eyes at her dramatics, and she grinned, the expression turning her delicate features into something dangerous.
"Crazed with obsession, and perhaps a touch of dementia," she said cuttingly, "the old king devised a plan. He would infiltrate Elfhaven in an unlikely place, where his efforts were sure to go unnoticed until it was too late. No matter how successful or enlightened a civilization is, there are always some who would be discontent, who nurse their hurts and animosity in secret. The old king found these people among the citizens of Elfhaven. Lured by the promise of recognition and power should the human king succeed in taking over Elfhaven, these malcontents banded together to conjure up enough dark magic to help the grasping old human ruler murder the steward of a distant northern territory so they could replace her with someone who would assist them with their plans." She made a face like she had stepped in something foul, her delicate nose wrinkling in distaste. "The old king hoped to quietly gain a foothold in the territory of Larkwood, then make deals with the nearby trolls and dwarves to secure their loyalty and assistance. He planned to slowly weaken Elfhaven from the inside out."
