Ahren doesn’t speak but pulls back his hand from Mother’s while Luther moves back to his seat. Tightness gathers under Ahren’s eyes. He holds himself composed, and I doubt anything could rattle his outside appearance. Different story on the inside.
This isn’t an easy choice. Nope, not a choice at all, is it? He has no other option, and it kills me to watch him drown while there’s nothing we can do. To save all of us, he has to carry the burden. And that’s why he says nothing. Arguing won’t change the situation we knew was coming, and any match he’s paired with won’t bring him closer to Guendolyn.
He wants her, like the rest of us, and his silence is the realization that he will lose her.
“You will be fine, Ahren, you’ll see,” Mother explains. “I barely knew King Tibout before I married into Shadow Court, and now I love him.” She stands and pats down her cloak, her cheeks blushed, her eyes still spilling with tears. “Please keep this to yourself for now. Only a handful know. I will begin arrangements for the wedding in the meantime.” She lowers her head and no one responds, plunging the room into a stifling silence.
His face reddens with fury, but if he says no, then we lose our home. And while he’s alive, the second son can’t take his place. I pity him, but I’ll never show him that.
“We have a few days to the wedding,” she states, her posture strong. Gone is our nurturing mother, replaced by a woman forced to take the lead to protect all of us. “We must be diligent and cautious until the killer is found in case they want you dead too, Ahren.”
She turns on her heels and heads out of the room.
“Hell, Ahren,” Luther blurts first. “What the fuck, man? Are you alright with this?”
Ahren’s gaze narrows and he jolts to his feet, his chair scraping against the stone flooring. “What do you think?” he growls. “I’m fucking pissed, and I sure as hell don’t want to marry someone else.” His voice chokes. “But I don’t have a choice, do I? I won’t let our mother end up homeless.” His pale green stare turns cold, his long white hair windblown, giving him a wild appearance. I swallow the boulder in my throat for him, as I can’t begin to imagine how I’d feel if I were in his shoes.
“We knew this would come to pass one day. It’s not a surprise,” he says like he’s trying to convince himself. Moments later, he says, “We don’t tell Guendolyn, understand?”
“But—”
“No!” Ahren shuts down Luther. “Not yet, and I’ll be the one to let her know when the time arrives.” He marches out of the room, the door banging shut behind him. Luther clicks his tongue.
“This is cruel torture for him. You know he’ll lose it and end up doing something stupid in his rage.”
“Most definitely.” I’m on my way to the door. “I’m going hunting or something. I need to get away from this shit.”
I can’t stand still, drowning in my thoughts. Ahren is fucked, and I don't know exactly how strong his bond is with Guendolyn, but from what I've seen, the news will break her.
Chapter 2
Guendolyn
I roll the red ruby over the back of my knuckles and flick it over my palm with a thumb, then repeat. Over and over. It’s calming, in a strange way. The stone is cold against my touch, no matter how much I hold it. Then again, this isn't an ordinary rock, now is it?
It’s the last crystal from the fairy queen's crown and belongs with the fairies, yet Hiss insisted it stay with me. Not to mention, it helps me open up portals with ease. Luther had said that the king had sold all of his mother’s jewels in exchange for this stone from a witch fae who passed through Shadow Court. The king had been promised that the ruby would give him affinity with the fairies, which makes me wonder why he insisted on having it. Pure obsession, or something more?
Sitting cross-legged on the couch in Deimos' bedroom, I keep looking outside where the winds lash against the window and snow falls fast and heavy. The weather howls, and all I can picture are the tiny hive-style homes hanging from trees in the fairy village swinging wildly in the storm.
Since arriving in the Wandering Realm, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that nothing stays calm for long. Then there's the whole fairies helping me and calling me Eirian, a word for fairy queen, which confuses me even more.
I keep rolling the ruby over my knuckles, my thoughts wandering to Ash Court.
This is why Seelie and Unseelie can never be together. The Unseelie king's mother had said those words to me. She also added that the Unseelie bloodline comes directly from the fairy queen herself, which might explain my connection with them. And everything else she told me confirms the late king of Shadow Court had an affair with someone from the enemy kingdom. And yet, the king never knew he had a child. Why didn’t my mother tell him?
The Unseelie king’s mother had reveled in that announcement. I hate her for that alone… and the fact she then tried to kill me, of course.
But I’m no fool. Whoever my mother is, she must be someone important. Why else would there be a war between the courts with me in the middle of it? I just hope she’s still alive.
For so long, I was a pawn in their games.
The Unseelie king’s mother had put the curse on me as a baby, and she gloated about it. I grit my teeth, as I barely escaped with my life... with
