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“You’re still a brat,” he mutters, though unless I’m mistaken, his blush is back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
AFTER CONSIDERATION, THAT WAS NOT MY BEST MOVE
Darina
I follow Caenan through an unmarked path only he sees, deep into the forest, until we reach a hill, smaller than some, but greener, somehow. Healthier.I would have missed the entrance, between two sharp stones, if he hadn't been here to show me.
I reach for his arm as we cross the darkness. I’m definitely not getting used to these fae doorways where there’s no telling what’s on the other side.
Instead of the natural underground chamber I expect, through the door, we reach a meadow bathed in sunlight. The laws of physics or logic really have no say in this world.
Dozens of people are gathered here, standing in circle around two men, everyone shouting, throwing their fists up in the air. I've been to rock concerts less tumultuous than this. I can’t hear a thing in the cacophony of screams, insults, and demands.
“Silence!” someone demands toward the center, their high pitch piercing the noise. “We’re getting nowhere. Lords, ladies, quietly state your opinions. Everyone will be given a chance to speak.”
The voice comes from a lithe woman with pale skin of a green hue, burning, golden eyes, and dead straight ink-black hair piled up on the top of her head in clever knots.
“That’s Rebalga,” Caenan whispers. “The sea duchess. Her court’s one of the strongest amongst the unseelie, and extends under water. Usually, people wouldn’t risk her wrath by daring to ignore her.”
They do so now.
Her voice holds authority, but it’s mostly ignored. Chaos reigns, the decibels around the place only dropping a smidge.
“Our laws are clear!” someone screams. “We’ve all sworn to the high crown when we took power, every one of us. If Morrigan has a child still breathing, we’re sworn to her!”
I make myself pay attention, trying to see who said that, but I might as well be playing Where's Waldo. The clearing is packed, and my height is a disadvantage.
“A child, Tenith. A babe who hasn’t even seen her first century. No one that young should ever have that much power. No one should stand above us all, at all.”
“Not to mention, she wasn’t raised here.”
“I say we kill her!” someone roars, inciting both screams of support and protest.
“I say we tie her to an altar and only let her go with a belly full of children. We can’t risk losing the line.”
One of the men at the center lifts a hand.
The crowd around us is thick, most people much taller than me, so I couldn’t see much, but that simple gesture achieves what the sea duchess’s screams didn’t: the room falls silent.
I get to my tiptoe, and catch a good look at their features.
Though he’s dressed in formal, dark red and gold attire, it’s Valdred—and the other man at the center looks like Ryther, but at the same time, he doesn’t.
Last night, his hair was falling to his shoulders, but now it's cut, on the short side, brushing past his ears.Where Valdred looks more elegant and regal here in his suit, Ryther, by contrast, only seems wilder. He wears nothing except dark pants, low on his hips.
I note bruises on his sculpted chest that had been smooth just last night in the pool, as well as a long gash across his ribs, and the hint of a cut on his eye.
“What happened to him?” I whisper, earning a sharp look from Caenan in warning.
Right. I'm supposed to shut up. I close my mouth, but I keep looking at Ryther, thoroughly confused.
Is that blood on his chest? Or mud, maybe.
He looks like he took one hell of a beating, yet he moves as smoothly and comfortably as ever.
“Yesterday, we were gathered here to decide whose will would shape Ilvaris for the next hundred years,” Valdred says. “Today, we’ve learned we don’t have to. The regency was only ever meant to be a tool after High Queen Morrigan passed. We were all baffled that the Hollow has accepted no master, and sadness strikes us each time we gaze upon the closed castle. And now, we understand why. We have been blessed with this gift. We have a chance at prosperity, unity, order, under the command of our new queen. Her arrival is the best thing that has happened to us in a millennium. I say anyone pretending otherwise is a traitor.”
