Destined for the Fae King (Courts of Faery #3)

Chapter 20

I f my stomach doesn’t settle, I’m not going to be able to eat a bite at this luncheon. Actually, I’ll be lucky if my breakfast doesn’t end up all over the floor or in a flower pot. Adeline slides into step beside me as the guards guide us toward wherever we’ll be dining. The look in her eyes might make a lesser person wither, but I have nothing to apologize for.

One of her brows arcs up.

I give a slight shake of my head. Of course I didn’t rat her out.

Her shoulders lift in a visible sigh, and she turns more fully, mouthing a quick thank you . The other women chat quietly or marvel at the soaring stained-glass windows along one wall that send a kaleidoscope of colors dancing over us and the otherwise pale marble hall.

I really would love to know what she’s thinking, entering a competition to marry the king and then falling for a guard, one who’s suspiciously absent today.

Not that I’m one to talk.

Two double doors are pulled open at the end of the hallway. Through the women in front of me, I catch sight of a long table, high-backed chairs lining its sides. The sight makes me skip a step and nearly halt as my heart pounds against my ribs. The urge to turn and fake an illness is strong, but Adeline slips her arm through mine and pulls me along.

“Nervous about seeing him again?” she whispers.

If anyone overheard her, they’d probably assume she meant the king, but I know better. So does she. I really don’t think she saw Lysandir and me kiss, but the similarity of our situations wasn’t completely lost on her.

“Of course not,” I reply.

She pats my arm as if we’re closer friends than we really are. “It’s okay. I always am, even though I want to see him.”

My brows pinch. She makes it sound like things have been going on far longer than the days we’ve been here. That can’t be, can it? Though how much do I really know about these other women? The answer leaves me feeling hollow. I’ve seen them as one thing—competition. An obstacle to be overcome so that I can make my family proud and live out my dreams of spending time in Faery. But not all of them are new to this world like I am. Some may have visited for several years. Didn’t my uncle say as much? That I might have an advantage because I was a fresh, new face? Adeline herself talked about visiting before and how her pocket watch helped her keep some sense of normalcy. Maybe she has had a thing for her guard far longer than this competition, but it still doesn’t help me understand why she’d enter—

The answer resonates through me like the deep sound of the doors closing behind us as we enter the room. What if she didn’t have a choice? What if her family forced her into entering much like mine did?

There’s no time to contemplate it further as the tittering picks up and I spy the reason why. Vasilius beams at the gaggle of us where he stands next to Queen Elaine. Light pours into the room—or large balcony rather. Though a high roof covers our heads, the walls, save the one we entered through, are a series of open archways that let the light and warm air pour in. While the king looks pleased, the dowager’s expression is more shielded, and she leans heavily on her cane. But I don’t take the time to ponder that as I scour the room searching for another face.

I stretch on my toes, leaning side to side, and though I spy some of the king’s advisors who I did not expect to be here, I can’t see Lysandir.

“Absent?” Adeline whispers, finally releasing my arm.

The breath that had been lodged in my throat slips out in a sigh, and even I’m not sure if it’s relief or longing.

“That could be…good?” she adds.

For her, maybe. And probably for me too. At least I’ll be able to pay attention, but something about it leaves a stinging burn on my chest.

Vasilius welcomes us all, as do the others, but his smile is a little too broad, his words careful. The little bit of relief I savored evaporates as he gestures for us to take a seat at the table. We have assigned seats this time, probably to save us from the near brawl that threatens to break out as the women scramble to see who can sit closest to the king. After what Fia told me earlier, I’m not surprised when I see that Bailey is one of the ones sitting at the king’s side.

Good for her.

In fact, I’m rather glad to have a seat near Elaine and farther from the king. It makes things far less awkward after yesterday.

“Before we begin, you’ll have noticed that our party is a little different than planned,” Elaine says, her strong, clear voice in sharp contrast to her aged appearance. It’s easy to see why she has such respect from the court, not to mention the king. No matter the effects of age and her human fragility, she carries herself with dignity and authority—it hangs about her like a cloak that she never needs to take off. “My son, Lysandir, is absent today, and I feel you should all know why.”

My stomach bottoms out. Adeline stares at me hard from across the table, and even though no one else turns their gaze from the dowager just a seat away from me, it feels like they do. I grip the seat beneath me so hard that I feel a fingernail give way against the wood.

“The Unseelie have breached our boarders and harassed a settlement,” Elaine says.

Gasps ring out around the table. I blink, my brows knitting as some of the tension loosens from my shoulders. The Unseelie? Of all the things I expected, that was not it.

“Was anyone injured?” Zoe asks.

“What happened?” Grace asks at the same time.

Elaine raises a hand, calling for silence. “Prince Lysandir and Captain Avara are investigating with a squadron as we speak, but know that we will not let such atrocities continue.”

Investigating . I shift in my seat. It implies the attack is over, but if they sent someone with his authority and a whole squadron of guards, it cannot be without risk.

“The ball,” Gabriella says. “Will it be safe for our families?”

“The Unseelie would be foolish to attack while the other fae delegations are present, and we’d feel their presence at our wards far before they could ever hope to make it remotely close to the capital,” Advisor Danai says with calm surety.

A round of murmured agreements follows, but I’m far less concerned about the upcoming ball than whatever Lysandir and the others are facing presently .

“Is the conflict ongoing? Prince Lysandir, and the others,” I tack on quickly, “are they at risk?”

“The conflict with the Unseelie is always ongoing,” Advisor Memnon grumbles from his seat next to Adeline. A bang of his tightly clenched fist on the table rattles the dishes. “We should take the offensive. Stop them before they can cause further harm.”

Advisor Efthymi lets out a dramatic sigh and leans back in their chair as if they’ve heard this speech a million times.

“This is hardly the time for a council discussion,” Elaine says. And though her voice never rises is pitch or volume, the rebuke is clear enough for Memnon to snap his mouth shut and frown toward the other end of the table.

“Indeed,” Vasilius echoes. But his voice lacks the softness of his mother’s, as does the hard look in his gaze as he stares across the room at nothing. “But I should be there to deal with them myself. To show that the Court of Fire is not to be trifled with.”

“Why aren’t you?” The table falls deathly silent at Bailey’s question.

Vasilius twists his head to stare at her, expression unreadable. A beat passes. Then two. I can’t help but sink back in my chair, bracing for the worst.

A huff of air slips from his nose, and the king’s features even out into a half smile that’s only for her. Thank God it was Bailey who asked and not anyone else. The thick bubble of tension seems to slip away as several of the women’s gazes dart between one another before settling back on the king who has yet to speak, caught in a silent conversation with the woman at his side.

I’m starting to think they don’t intend to let us in on it when Vasilius raises his arm and taps on the binding marks encircling his wrist. “Remember our bond? If I were to shift to the edge of my territory, for example, you would feel a strong tug on your bond mark that would persist until I returned. But for me, bound to you all, the pull would be excruciating.”

When he initially bound us, I never considered that—that the protection the bonds offers us might have a negative consequence for him. Surely, they thought through that beforehand, but I wonder if they regret it now.

“So, I cannot go. Not unless you all go with me,” he finishes.

And there’s no way he’d take a bunch of human women into a war zone.

Bailey’s brows scrunch. “But if it’s for the good of the court…”

Vasilius shakes his head before finally turning to look at the rest of us. “My brother and Captain Avara are capable of dealing with the incursion for now. They’ll see that things are set right and our border is resecured.”

What’s probably supposed to be a reassuring grin breaks across his face, but it does little to settle my nerves.

“But,” he begins once more, this time with a pointed look at his stepmother, “once the ball is over, we may need to move to a city closer to the border so that I can address this threat myself.”

Elaine gives a dramatic huff. “Enough on that.” She claps once, the sound ringing through the open space. At once, fae servers snap into motion, bringing platters of food and pitchers of drink toward the table. “Let’s move on to happier topics, shall we?”

Conversation picks up. Food is scooped onto my plate. But I can’t summon much appetite for either. One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a long luncheon, but for entirely different reasons than I expected.