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His face split into a grin. “One day, huh? Are you making plans to stick around?”

I stopped laughing. I’d been envisioning Vale and me, whispering and chuckling over some shared joke as younglings played around us. Younglings with my hair and his dark, warm eyes.

My heart clenched at the vision, no matter how unrealistic. How unwise and dangerous. If I stayed here, I’d be on edge for the rest of my life. Or at least until his father, mother, and even Rhistel died.

Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to wish for that vision to disappear.

“I’m not sure.” I watched his eyes light up from within. “I?—”

Fast footsteps came down a connected corridor, and a young dwarf soldier covered in blood rounded the corner. “Prince! The king has been looking for you.”

Vale’s expression changed. “Did he make it out without injury? What of my mother and Rhistel?”

The soldier nodded. “They’re all fine, my prince. That’s not why I’ve been sent to find you. The king has called a meeting of lords and ladies.”

“Right now?” Vale asked.

“They’re all waiting for you, my prince.”

Vale looked at me, and I understood. I wanted him tostay too. But he couldn’t, so I laid a hand on his arm. “Go. This soldier will escort me back to the suite.”

“And guard the door,” Vale said. “Most Clawsguards were detained at the theater.Youwill watch over my wife.”

The soldier’s eyes bulged. Watching over Vale’s wife was, no doubt, one of the biggest responsibilities in his career.

“I’ll guard her with my life, my prince.”

Vale took my hand and kissed it. “When I return, we can revisit our conversation.”

Chapter 24

VALE

Istrode into the council room, consumed by Neve, our kiss, and what had almost happened, only to find my father in a blind rage.

Immediately, I pushed the thoughts of Neve’s legs wrapped around my torso and of the wetness of her lacy undergarments when I’d picked them up—those same undergarments that were burning a hole in my pocket—to the back of my mind.

I needed to be present. Resigning myself to my fate, I took my seat next to Rhistel.

“My king, Prince Vale is here now,” said Lord Balik, the high lord of the southlands and Filip’s father. He sat close to the king, as stoic and confident as ever. Like his children, High Lord Balik had warm brown skin, honey-colored eyes, and golden hair that was only slightly lighter than Sian’s. Shockingly, he wore even more gold than I’d ever seen Sian wear, which was quite a lot. The preciousmetal dripped from Lord Balik’s ears, his wrists, and around his neck. “Might we start?”

“Vale.” Father turned to me. “It’s about bleeding time. Shut the doors.”

The soldiers moved to do so and the sound of the large doors shutting echoed through the room large enough for twenty, as everyone within sat in silence.

Tonight, each head of house in the Sacred Eight, save for Lord Roar, was present. As were ten influential jarls from around the kingdom and five Clawsguards, all covered in blood and standing, rather than sitting at the large circular table that dominated the room.

Though her father, Airen Vagle, Lord of Coin, and brother, Eirwen Vagle, sat on the other side of Father, Mother was not present, a notable observation. It hinted that Father didn’t suspect anyone in this room of treason. If he did, he would have sent for his mind-reading wife.

“Tell us all what happened after the stars-damned rebels arrived.” Father gestured to the Clawsguard. “How many casualties? How many rebels were caught?”

One Clawsguard stepped forward. Not Lars, Father’s most trusted guard, but another that took the opposite shifts to Lars. Though I was not close to the old guard, I hoped Lars survived the arrow he’d taken for my father.

“My king, ten jarls, three ladies, and many common fae were injured.” The soldier paused.

“Continue,” Father growled in a way that told me he already knew what the soldier would say.

“And we caught no rebels. Though our forces killed many at the theater.”