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“Wearen’t staying together, Relva,” I inform her, squashing that hope right out of her mind.
Just because I let her ride with me—then ride me—during the journey doesn’t mean I want her under my roof, distracting me from the conclave.
Her question, ill-advised though it is, isn’t unexpected.
When the locations were assigned at the first conclave, I was invited to take a large area right at the steps of the keep, which shows the herald of the crown knows nothing of the wild folk, and even less about me. Instead, I claimed this spot right at the edge of the woods, upsetting the formerly clear hierarchy. The higher-ranked lords were closer to the keep before. Now many set their camps up around me.
I didn't mean to divide seelie and unseelie here in the Hollow, where we're supposed to be one people under one rule; my desire was simply to stay closer to nature—and away from the high keep.
Still, I should have expected the result.The seelie courts never united, each of their lords too proud of their own power to bend the knee. Their seat, far up in the western peaks, is a council where each ruler has a voice.In contrast, I am lord of the wild,andking of all who consider themselves unseelie.
I may listen to the will of the lower kings and queens, but my word is law to all on our shores. While the high throne remains vacant, there is no one with more power in all of Ilvaris. Not even the prince of the bone court, though he held the reins of Ilvaris these last hundred years.
The only person above me is the high queen. And she doesn’t truly exist yet. She’s more of a concept, a thought lost in limbo.
The only conclave Relva attended—the last—must have been much simpler, with all monarchs close to the keep.
So seelie.
If I must be ruled by a primal force, I much prefer chaos to order.
“But surely, you want to be closer to the lords. Valdred’s likely right at the gate.”
She’s so blatantly ambitious; and what man would satisfy her thirst for power, if not me or the only other to ever have claimed the regency, for as long as it existed? She’s a viscountess, the daughter of the duchess of the sea court, the largest, and one of the strongest unseelie seats. I doubt she’d ever consider settling for less than a king—or a regent.
"Stay where you wish," I reply dismissively. "Your mother will have her own camp."
Irritated, the heiress huffs and leaves without another word, yet again forgetting her place.
I am tiring of Revla’s demands.
She came to my halls at the heart of the mountain for the gathering of the lords preceding the previous conclave—as is her right as the heir to an unseelie court—but she should have left with the rest of the sea folk.
Relva remained under some excuse I can't recall now, and soon slithered her way to my bedchamber. I could have turned her away, but she's rather pretty, eager, and most of all, quite good with that mouth of hers, so I let her remain. Just like I let her extend her stay before joining the hunt. Still, she needs to understand that my being willing to occasionally fuck whatever hole she offers will never lead to anything but an orgasm or two.
Caenan, the third in our party, chuckles under his breath as he follows me out. "You'll have a lady wife in your halls, if you're not careful."
I wrinkle my nose in distaste. "If I do, it won't be Revla."
"Right. What man could possibly wish for the most beautiful unseelie high born in Ilvaris to warm his bed each night?" My friend's amused, as usual. “She’s delicious.”
He’d know: the sea girl entertained us both in the carriage. She sucked him after riding me, and let him take her on all fours.
Caenan and I have shared almost all of our lovers at one time or another.
“She’s a bore, and borders on vapid when discontented,” I retort.
“Have youfelther mouth?”
I sigh.
If I were younger, I might see things as he does, but beauty alone does not make for a desirable partner. I learned that much at an early age from being witness to my brother’s woes, and Caenan will see that truth in time.
He was born less than three hundred years ago, which makes him about as old as the seelie regent, come to think of it. Caenan came to me as a tithe from the court of air, after his foolish father tested my borders.
After dismantling his court, absorbing it for the wild, I gave him the choice between relinquishing one of his spawn or losing them all, as well as the capacity for fathering any more. Aren’t I forgiving? My brother would have cut off his balls regardless.
So, I got Caenan. I’ll admit, I didn’t quite know what to do with him at first; he was a prop, a warning to those who dared think of opposing me. It turned out all right, in the end. I haven’t had any wars since.
