“Forgive me.” Aaron stepped back.
“I forgive you—for that, at least,” Edon said. Aaron’s eyes snapped up, anger oozing out like pus.
“The girl,” Briana said, continuing on as if Edon had said nothing. “What will it take to get her back?”
“Well.” Edon sat down in one of the empty chairs no one had yet taken advantage of and swung his feet on top of the mahogany conference table. “Please,” —he gestured to the other chairs— “sit. This negotiation could take some time.”
After some hesitation, everyone sat down. I sat close to Mickey and leaned over to whisper in his ear.
“What’s going on?”
“You remember the rebel fae who want you dead?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know Edon’s one of them, so why don’t you guys just drag me out of here already?”
“Edon’s one of the main leaders and you knowingly drove onto his territory. Under fae custom, you now ally yourself with him and are under his jurisdiction.”
“But—but I was driving through. It wasn’t like I was stopping by to say hi.
Mickey shook his head. “Did he ever tell you it was his territory? And more importantly, did he ever invite you to join him?”
I thought back to the first time I met Edon, him saying if I ever changed my mind, I knew where to find him—that I’d be safe with him.
“Well…I guess that first day, yeah.”
At the time, I thought it was creepy, but now…warmth swept through me as I realized Edon had been trying to protect me. But I shook off the feeling. Whatever his intentions back then, things had changed. And now, he was perfectly fine with possibly killing me.
“And you still drove onto it?”
“Yeah, but—”
“That’s all that matters.”
“Well, then I’ll fix it.” To the rest of the room, I said, “Hey everyone? This was all just a big misunderstanding. I hereby switch over to the loyalist fae people. We good?”
Maeve slapped her face into her palm. Mickey shook his head.
“It’s not that simple,” Edon said, a smirk on his face. “You see, you’re mine unless I give you up or you escape. I’ve no intention of either happening.”
“Okay, then,” I said, my voice shaking a little. “Then what needs to happen so I stay alive?”
Edon looked over to the council members and Mickey.
“I’ll have her at the investiture provided the council meets a few conditions. First. I am her escort for the investiture—”
At that, Mickey jumped to his feet. “My—no. That’s not happening.”
“Why?” I asked. “What’s the big deal about my date to the investiture?”
Briana’s face was impassive. “The fae who escorts the heir to the investiture is traditionally the heir’s chosen consort.”
“You mean the person she has babies—” I peeked over at Edon before glancing away, my face flushing with mortification.
“More or less,” Briana said dryly.
Edon snorted. “It would be in the ‘less’ capacity. I’m no O’Faolain, and I have zero interest in becoming the witch’s lover.”
I still couldn’t look at him. He was seriously calling me a witch? He was the one who might as well have had a gun shoved in my back, ready to pull the trigger.
“Clever,” Aaron said, not sounding particularly impressed. “The rebel finds a means to keep his skin once the queen returns.”
“Insurance policies are nice,” Edon said, his voice neutral.
“She isn’t some rebel’s insurance policy,” Mickey snarled.
“Then whose? Because no one’s lining up to bind themselves to her out of love. Each candidate only wants one thing: protection for themselves and for their house.”
Silence greeted that assessment, giving me time to wrap my mind around what Edon had said. To make sense of everything. I remembered how Bridgette kept pushing me to find a date, how she’d orchestrated for Patrick with the ‘amazing reflexes’ to ask me to Homecoming.
I swallowed.
“Who is Bridgette really? And Patrick…” I’d already agreed to make him my, well, escort. Was that enough to make him my fiancé?
Aaron snorted. “Bridgette is no one of consequence. She was a high-elf who brought dishonor upon herself when she deserted her house.”
Mickey’s eyes flashed. “And lucky for the council she did. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have found a halfway decent assassin to guard Kella since their house allied with the rebels.”
So, I had a traitor assassin as a bodyguard. Good to know.
“And Patrick?”
Briana sighed. “A minor lord of little power and even less consequence. You are not bound to take him as your consort if you wish to choose someone more suitable…a high elf with stronger bloodlines to pass to your children.” She took in a breath, as if gearing up to admit something distasteful. “Edon’s bloodline is…decent.”
“I get to choose?” I asked, ignoring the children part for now. “I mean, this isn’t just you guys in negotiations here—I actually have to sign off on this?”
“Yes,” Maeve said, eyeing Edon distastefully. “That decision is not one we have power to negotiate—as you well know, Edon.”
Edon shrugged. “Although you do need to approve it.”
Briana nodded. “Provided you win the heir’s approval and we reach an agreement, the council will not block an alliance between you and the heir.”
“There you have it,” Edon said, looking me in the eye, a smirk on his face.
“They blessed our alliance—pending your proposal, of course.”
My palm itched to smack the smirk off of his face even as warmth coursed through my body, flushing my skin.
I looked away, embarrassed. He was doing the same thing O’Faolain did—confusing me into thinking I wanted him. Manipulating me to get what he wanted.
It took me a moment to unclench my jaw.
“No.”
Edon’s smirk wavered. “Let me put it to you this way, Kella.” The intensity in his eyes made my stomach flip-flop. “Make me your consort, and I won’t kill you—so long as negotiations continue to go well.”
It took all of my self-control to hold his gaze—to keep mine from drifting down to his lips.
Edon was good at charms, I’d give him that. He could threaten my life and still have me wanting him. But even with him fogging my brain with magic,
