Page 29

I had a meeting with the others last night. We pooled our information. I told them about my plans to get the witches on our side.

“I’m hoping they will see logic. That they will see that I am not a threat.

McColl’s mother is the head of the coven.

I know that she and McColl don’t have the best relationship, that they don’t always see eye to eye…

but I have to try, Xander. I have to win them over.

If I don’t, then Snow might get to them first. They’re a group of powerful beings. We can’t have that.”

“What you are saying makes sense…on paper. But Kian, think about this rationally. You’re walking into enemy territory with no backup and no guarantee that they won’t just kill you on sight.”

“McColl will speak for me. She’ll—”

“I’m sure she will, but will it be enough? You just told me that she doesn’t have the best relationship with the coven leader.”

“Her mother.”

“Semantics.”

My jaw tightens. “McColl is stronger than she knows and certainly stronger when it matters.” I turn to face him fully.

“I’ve seen her in action, Xander. When lives are on the line, she finds a way.

I believe in her.” It’s something I’ve said all along, something I still stand by.

Perhaps even more so now that I’ve gotten to know her.

I can see he wants to argue further, but something in my expression stops him.

“I know I can convince them. I just need a chance…that’s all.”

He nods a few times. “As long as you are sure. I would hate for something to happen to you. We only just found you again, brother.”

“I know, and I will make it out. I’m not worried,” I lie. I’d have zero self-preservation if I wasn’t worried to some degree. “If for whatever reason I don’t…make it back…don’t come after me. Don’t risk yourself or the others. You have to promise me.”

The words seem to hit him hard. “I don’t like you talking like that. It means you’re not nearly as confident as you’re making out.”

“It is a gamble, I will admit—”

He starts to say something, but I put up a hand. “It’s a calculated gamble. One that I am sure will pay off.”

“Take me with you!” Xander growls. “Let me—”

I shake my head. “No way. This is my decision. My harebrained scheme. If I am lost, at least it will just be me and not the two of us. We can’t lose two.”

“You just told me that the odds were in your favor; now you’re calling it a harebrained scheme. Which is it?” He makes a noise of frustration. “There has to be another way. Send an emissary, have McColl arrange a meeting on neutral ground—”

“They won’t trust just anyone. I am one of the seven fae kings.

I can prove it.” I pull open my tunic, exposing the top of my royal marking.

I shake my head. “It has to be me. And there is no neutral ground anymore. Snow has corrupted everything. The only safe places left are the protected enclaves like theirs…and ours.”

Xander stares at me for a long moment, and I can see him taking in the resolve in my eyes.

“We have to be willing to sacrifice everything if we ever hope to have a chance of beating Snow. It’s the only way.”

“You’re right. I hate to say it, but…you are,” he says finally. “But I don’t like it.”

“I know.” My expression softens. “But it’s the right thing to do.”

We fall into a comfortable silence, both lost in our own thoughts as we watch some ducks playing on the water, creating patterns that shift and dance.

“Do you remember,” I smile, “that summer when we were thirteen? When you convinced me to sneak out of the castle and go fishing in the Silverbrook?”

Xander chokes out a laugh. “Your father was furious when the guards found us later that night, soaking wet and covered in mud, with no fish to speak of.”

“We caught nothing but weeds.” I laugh.

“Probably shouldn’t have brought that bottle of elderflower wine along with us.”

“It was a good thing we didn’t drown.”

We both laugh. The memory hangs between us. Those were simpler times, when our biggest concern was avoiding our tutors and finding new ways to get into trouble. Before crowns and responsibilities and the weight of entire kingdoms on our shoulders.

“We’ll get back there,” I say quietly. “To those times. To that peace.”

That’s why I have to do this.

“Will we?” Xander asks. “Even if we defeat Snow, even if we reclaim our thrones…can we ever go back to being who we were?”

I consider his words for a moment. “Maybe not exactly who we were. But we can build something new. Something better.”

“You sound so certain.”

“I have to be,” I say. “The alternative is unthinkable.”

Another stretch of silence falls between us, and I can feel him studying my profile.

“Kian,” he says carefully, “when you take McColl home tomorrow…are you sure you’ll be able to leave her there?”

“Of course,” I say quickly. Perhaps too quickly. “It’s where she belongs.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“It’s where she’ll be safe, Xander. It’s what she needs.”

“And what about what you need?”

“I need to fix this.” I gesture around us. “I am a king without a kingdom,” I say with a bitter laugh. “Every decision has to be about what’s best for my people, for the realm.”

“Even to your own detriment?”

I’m not sure if he’s talking about my leaving McColl or my walking into a coven of witches.

It doesn’t matter. “Even then.” I nod once.

The resignation in my voice seems to do the trick, and he nods in return.

In this moment, I envy him his relationship with Thesha. I think of the way his face lights up whenever she enters a room, of the partnership they’ve built together, the future they’re planning. I feel a sharp pang.

He’s lucky that his duty and his heart are aligned.

“For what it’s worth,” he says, “I think McColl cares about you, too.”

My smile is sad. “I know. That’s what makes this so difficult.”

He puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes.