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“Come,” Finn said, “I’ll help you dress,” and rose from the bed to light a lantern.
“I’ll call for some tea,” Tiernan added, padding to the front door to give the bell two sharp rings.
Alaric took me by the arms and held me back to look into my eyes, “Queen Suriel will see reason. She’ll help us,” he said with a forced smile.
I wanted to believe him, but I wasn’t sure he believed it himself.
“Your Majesty,”I said, bowing at the waist in greeting. The sun had only just risen, and there was still a shroud of morning mist clinging to the earth. Making the hot air seem thick and hazy. “Thank you for meeting with me so early.”
The council chamber in the palace of day looked more like a drawing room. There was a table in the middle, but big-puffy armchairs and wide fat cushions sat against the walls as though for her council members to relax or meditate. The whole room had a warm feel, clothed in golds, reds, and burnt orange fabrics and finery, bathed in the growing dawn light.
It was very… informal.
“Yes,” said Suriel, pinching the bridge of her nose, dark circles under her eyes marred her otherwise flawless features. I mentally thanked Tiernan for his wisdom in calling for the ginger root tea to soothe the aftereffects of my over drinking…
“I’m told the reason you’ve requested the old law of Honorem Copulare is urgent, but I’m sure it could’ve waited until a more agreeable hour.”
I shook my head, “No, it couldn’t wait any longer.”
Her brows raised, but she nodded, “I apologize—please do unburden yourself, you look as though ready to burst with it…”
My hand shook at my side and my heart sputtered in my chest.She will help us.She must.
I filled my lungs with a steadying breath—no sense in easing into it… “King Ricon II has returned—he didn’t fall in the battle of Mt. Noctis.”
Her face screwed up into a confused scowl. She allowed the information to marinate between us, not uttering a word.
After a beat or two of silence, I continued, “He and his army camp in the northern reaches of the Wastes.”
“His army?”
A flood of ice rushed into my gut, “Ten thousand strong. Alchemists, Fae, and Draconians.”
“Alchemists working alongside Fae?”
I’d just told her an army of ten thousand waits on my doorstep, andthatis the bit she picked out.
I didn’t oblige her with an answer.
“We’ve come to ask for your help,” I said, and her teal eyes flicked up to meet mine, gleaming with something like fear, “Our Horde army numbers close to five thousand—it won’t be enough to defeat him.”
She cocked her head at me, squinting her eyes, “Why? Why has he returned/ What does he want?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” I asked her, clasping my hands to keep them from trembling, forcing my voice to remain strong and true, “He wants what was taken from him—his crown.”
“Yourcrown?”
I could tell she was weighing her options. Her asking me if it wasmycrown he meant to take told me she was already shying away from the idea of helping us. “Yes,” I answered, “But once he’s wiped out the Fae of my court and claimed his prize, what’s stopping him from wanting toexpandhis empire?”
She snarled, pacing the pretty carpet in her bare feet—her shoulders tensed and shaking, “You don’t know that!” she nearly shouted, “You don’t know that he’ll come here. It was his daughter who stole his crown—it wasn’t us. It wasn’t the Day Court!”
I put my hands out in a calming gesture, “That may be true, but it wasyourcourt that came to aid us in the battle at Mt. Noctis. His followers died by Day Court hands, too.”
“And you think he’ll want retribution? Blood for blood?”
“I don’t know, Suriel. All I know is that together, we stand a chance of defeating him. But neither of us can alone.”
She paced her way to the only window in the room, leaning out of it and gulping down air as if the council chamber itself was suffocating her.
