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But the possessiveness in that male’s eyes, dark and brooding…

Glowing. I had not missed the ring of black fire in his eyes as they raked over me. Elementals were famed for our ability to dissemble, but the cursed fae eyes spanned both our kingdoms. Desire was the one thing that could not be hidden.

“Your Majesty, would you like to receive the messenger yourself?” Gawayn asked. I didn’t need to hear the tone of his voice to know he was relieved he no longer had to avoid looking at my barely covered breasts.

“Of course not,” I shot back, too quickly. I forced a deep breath in. “It would be inappropriate for the queen to receive a mere messenger. Esa can do it.”

Lyrena snickered from the doorway, where she and Evander were standing as silent sentinels. Not so silent, in Lyrena’s case.

Esa would take it as a slight; anyone might receive a messenger. As thedonnaof the Royal Council, she was supposed to besomeone. But I did not care enough about Esa or any of the rest of them to orchestrate such a thing. She imagined herself in charge of the Kingdom of the Elemental Fae? She could deal with the delegation’s early arrival.

I had other concerns—primarily, what I would use to bribe or threaten the terrestrial male who had seen me in the mountains. His price would not come cheap, I could tell that from our brief minutes spent together. The way his fingers had curled around his battle axe… taking his tongue would not be as easy as I hoped, either. He’d put up a fight, cause a scene.

I would need to be more cunning—more elemental—to silence him.

“Very well, Your Majesty. We will deliver your edict.” Gawayn jerked his head in Evander’s direction.

The latter did not bother to hide his grumble as he opened the door and stalked out, little more than an errand boy. That suited me fine. I would never understand what my brother had seen in Evander, to approve his appointment to the Goldstone Guards. The less time that I had to spend in his presence, the better.

A chill swept in from the open veranda doors, sending a shiver down my spine.

Carly moved at once to close them, but I forestalled her. “No. Leave it.”

I couldn’t tell her that when the veranda doors closed, it was like I was being trapped inside the water gardens once again. I could not tell any of them that since Arthur’s death, even walking through the inner halls of the goldstone palace, the ones that were entirely closed in, was a trial.

Gawayn cleared his throat. “The Dowager has also sent word.”

The blood in my veins turned to ice, no chill breeze required.

If Gawayn had any notion of the pain, if Arthur had ever confided in him, he did not let it show. “She wishes an audience with you.”

“No.”

Gawayn did not argue. It was not his place. But from the way Cyara tilted her head, avoiding my eyes, I knew some silent conversation was passing between them. They were supposed to hate one another, not pass silent messages about my wellbeing, as if they knew better.

“Your Majesty, perhaps it would be best to entertain her now, in private, before the terrestrial delegation arrives,” Cyara said, holding out a goblet of wine I hadn’t seen before.

She did not possess conjuring magic. Later I would wonder where she’d gotten the wine from. But in that moment, I saw fire and ice and stars and the very pits of damnation.

“No.”

Cyara bit her lower lip.

“The Dowager can make a fool of herself before the terrestrial delegation if she so desires,” I said, venom dripping from every word. I might have been startled by my own show of emotion, were it not for the burning in my chest that made it impossible for any thoughts at all. “She no longer holds any power in this court or this kingdom. Nor in all of Annwyn.”

That calmed me, when nothing else did. My mother held no power over me, not any longer. I was the Queen of the Elemental Fae. She had been stripped of all powers other than those gifted to her by her heritage. Not unsubstantial, but no threat to me. Especially with Gawayn and his Goldstones guarding every breath I took.

“As you wish,” Gawayn said, bowing.

“Take that message to her,” I heard myself say.

Gawayn froze in a half-bow. “Your Majesty?”

“Go to the Dowager and repeat my words to her.” It was cruel. But if I was capable of such cruelty, my mother was the one who’d shaped me into such a creature.

I hated her.

The moment that my Joining was sealed, my betrothed’s blood mingling with my own, I would be the High Queen of all Annwyn. And then I would banish my mother straight to hell.