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Tiernan brushed the blond hair from his face, looking so much less put together than I’d ever seen him. “Now?”
“Yes, now. May I come in?”
He straightened his cotton undershirt, blushing as he noticed it was all he was wearing. I could see each of the muscles of his abdomen through it, even in their latent forms. Tiernan waved an arm inside the room, “My chambers are you chambers, majesty.”
Kade moved to follow me inside, but I stopped him with a look. “I’m in no danger here. You can wait outside.” He muttered something about Alaric ripping him to pieces, but did as I asked, stationing himself outside the door as I closed it.
The emissary rushed to clear a chair of papers and remove a half-empty crystal decanter from the table. He pulled the chair out for me, and I sat, folding my hands in front of me, the scroll clasped between my fingers.
Tiernan slumped into a chair opposite me, eyes fixed on the scroll, “I was wondering why he came back so quickly,” he said gesturing to the falcon sitting on its perch by the window. It was a magnificent bird, with small black eyes and russet brown feathers. It watched me, tilting its head as though saying hello.
I twirled the school between my fingers, then tossed it into Tiernan’s lap. He lifted it, bewildered to find the seal still intact.
“I didn’t know my sentries had intercepted it,” I told him, “And as you can see, I didn’t read its contents.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged, “I’d rather it if you told me what it says.”
He raised an eyebrow at me, “And you would trust me to speak the truth?”
“Should I not?”
“No, you shouldn’t,” he told me, eyes darkening, “But not because it says what you think it does—but rather because you shouldn’t trust anyone at court.”
Without another word, he broke the seal, and rose to place the scroll into my hand, his fingers brushing the soft skin of my wrist. “Read it.”
He wasn’t lying, it didn’t say what I thought it would. Written in a fine script was his account of my Ceremony—and it wasn’t true.
It said I was Graced with fire, and the denizens of my court welcomed him and held their queen in high esteem. It also said he had been invited to stay and thought it would be a dishonor to refuse the offer.
“But this isn’t true,” I said, incredulous, “Why not tell her the truth? That my court is falling to ruin, and there has been no proof I was Graced at all? Is that not your duty?”
He considered my statement, taking the small piece of parchment from my hands, “Perhaps. But it would do no good for her to know that—and I would like to see you keep your throne.”
He poured himself a glass of wine from the decanter, looking at me in askance before he filled the second. I nodded. “But why? Why are you helping me?”
“The truth?”
“Yes, the truth.”
He handed me the glass, and swirled the contents of his own, staring down into the rich crimson liquid as though it held all the answers, “Because I think you are a good person. And because I’d like to stay and learn more about your customs—I find the Night Court fascinating.”
There was something else, but he hesitated before saying it, “And I’m curious,” he said, casting a sly glance my way.
“Curious? About what?”
Tiernan took a long swallow of his wine, “About you. And aboutthat,” he told me, pointing at my face.
My eyes.I had forgotten to conceal them from him.Stupid.
Too late to deny it now.
“Do you know what it means?” I asked, thinking perhaps there was knowledge of the strange occurrence in the Day Court.
Solemnly, he shook his head, coming to kneel in front of me, “May I,” he asked, but before I could answer he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear—away from my face, and tilted my chin down to look into his vivid sea-water eyes. “There is a story someone told me as a boy, that one day everything we knew would change. It would be the dawn of a new era… and there would be a queen, beautiful and fierce—the most powerful ever seen, who would rule us all.”
My throat tightened at his words, and the way he beheld me, like a dragon guarding its horde. “It’s a fable.”
