AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I'd never raised a child until then, but I quite enjoyed shaping his mind. Now I have a companion I can almost trust, and a friend who can almost understand me. Nevertheless, from time to time, his youth shows.
I take it upon myself to give him another lesson.
"Revla’s only interest is power,” I tell my second with as much patience as I can summon. “That's to her credit, but to enter into an alliance such as that when I don't need her wouldn't benefit me in any way."
If I'd needed men or lands or access to the sea, I might have sung another tune, but my court is the largest on the continent, and the other unseelie are sworn to me. There is nothinganywoman can grant me.
"What of children?" Caenan asks.
"What of them?" I dismiss.
"The high queen left us in a mess when her line ended. The only thing preventing an all-out war to seize control is the fact that you don't want one, and everyone else is afraid of you. But what if you die, Ryther? What then?"
I close my eyes.
It is not the first time such a thought has been voiced in my presence, or come to me unbidden.
I tell him what I've told others and myself every time since. "You think a young brat of diluted blood could hold the courts as I do?"
"Young brats grow older eventually. I was seven when I came to you," he reminds me.
"You're still a brat."
I crush the air in my fist and the ground trembles before me. Right out of the ground, the stone of the continent rises and twists to form the pillars and walls I'll live in for the better part of this week.
Caenan rolls his eyes. "And you, ashowoff."
The modern vernacular doesn’t surprise me: young as he is, Caenan always learns the latest sayings, and subjects me to his dreadfulslang. It’s useful. I’ve been away too long; without him, I would struggle to understand the world as it evolves around me.
Showoff. That’s self-explanatory, and accurate enough to describe my character. I do like to remind the world that I am something other. Something darker, and more powerful.
Dispensing subtle warnings saves time and energy. When halfwits dare try me, in full knowledge of what I’m capable of, then well, it’s hardly my fault if I crush their very essence into a pile of ashes. I like to be a good sport and forewarn the rabble. Besides, I’ve avoided plenty of wars that way.
Caenan walks inside unbidden, but I linger at the entrance.
I would not want a child with a pouty, power-hungry nymph, but nevertheless, Ioughtto breed one or two. Though the high queen had several who didn’t survive a full day after she died. What’s the point?
My lord.The deep timbre of the hob I keep as my chamberlain enters my mind, clear as day, though Kiron is nowhere to be seen.Pestilence was seen at the forest's edge. He took two hags before the knights chased him off.
Of course, the old eldritch would circle my land now that I am back in my flesh and away from my court.
Tell the hunt,I order.
My brother can handle one measly huntsman. Still, the conclave can't end soon enough.
I need to win the rites, leave the ruling to Caenan, and then return where I am of use.
CHAPTER TWELVE
CAREFUL WHERE YOU DANCE
Darina
Dreadful she might be, but I’m grateful for my owner’s wife’s presence, guessing that he won’t do the kind of crap he’s been doing while she’s right here, in the same cramped vehicle.
He leaves me alone, ignoring my existence, and I make myself small and silent to encourage it.
There’s no telling how he would have tried to spend the time if he’d been alone with me, but with his high-pitched, disagreeable wife here, they simply choose to bicker over decoration choices, and the theme of the new drawing room—the wife, Fawn, is tired of having to stick to blue, the colors of their court—and the cost of her brand-new wardrobe.
