Page 8

Chapter

Seven

K ing Rioner elegantly jumped off the cliff, closing the distance between them.

A few feet away he stilled, the gemstones adorning his weapons glinting in the moonlight.

Lessia stared at him, her mouth falling open. “What do you mean, run for regent?”

She’d expected he’d use her for something dangerous, perhaps even something evil, but this?

What would the king have to gain in the human elections?

“ Your Majesty ,” Merrick snarled at her.

She was tempted to tell him to speak like that to her face but drew a shaky breath to calm her temper. “I apologize, Your Majesty. Could you repeat what you said?”

King Rioner stood unnaturally still before her. “I should think I was quite clear. I need you to partake in the human elections, run for regent.”

Lessia threw out her arms. “I won’t win, Majesty.

My magic doesn’t work that way. I— I can only control one person at a time.

I thought you were happy with Loche. He opened the trade with the Fae, he allowed us half-Fae to live here and be part of the society.

He even allows Fae to come to Ellow should they like. So, why?”

The air crackled with tension, and Merrick’s magic tightened its deadly fingers around her shoulders and neck, but she forced herself to keep her gaze on the king. Flexing her hands to conceal their shaking, she waited, the sharp breaths she let out seeming too loud in the deafening silence.

“Are you questioning me, Elessia?” King Rioner’s voice was soft, but there was a lethal edge to it that had goose bumps pepper her neck.

She was certain he was about to end her when he took another step forward, but then the king halted again. “I don’t need you to win. I need you to partake. You will run, participate in whatever they make their running regents do, and get close to Loche and his men.”

King Rioner shot a look at Merrick before he continued.

“I guess you need some information for what I need you to do.” He picked at his cloak.

“We’ve found spies in our castles, boats have disappeared off our coast, and Fae have gone missing—important Fae.

I was happy with Loche. For a human, he doesn’t disgust me as much as the rest of them do, but if he has anything to do with this, I need to know so that we can retaliate.

If he’s broken our treaty, war will come upon Ellow. ”

Her pulse thrummed in her ears.

Retaliate?

There was a reason there hadn’t been a war for a hundred years. The last one had been so devastating that the Fae and humans finally bonded together to stop the bloodshed. And now her king was contemplating it again?

As if he sensed her thoughts, King Rioner snarled, “I don’t want war, I lived through the last one. But strange things are happening in Vastala, and I need to know why. I need to protect my people.”

A scoff made its way through her throat before she could squash it, and the next moment she was on the ground, stars dancing before her eyes from the blow Merrick delivered.

Shaking her head to get her vision back, she didn’t anticipate the second blow, either, and her face crashed into hard stone before she could throw her hands out.

Warm blood rushed down her face, but she whipped around, pushing to her feet to face the two cloaked males.

When Merrick made to approach her again, the king held up a hand, and the Fae froze.

“Yes, be a good male and listen to your master,” she spat, blood streaming into her mouth when she smiled at the growl that left Merrick.

She’d not fought back last time she’d been in the king’s claws.

When they’d beaten her, she’d accepted it.

Welcomed it.

The pain and grief inside her had been so raw when she was caught, she hadn’t cared if she survived. The king’s dungeons were where she belonged for what she’d done.

But now…

There were others to fight for.

And if she died tonight, she wouldn’t have time to set everything up so they would be safe.

“You bore me. Elessia, you will join the elections to get close to Loche and the rest of the participants to see if he, or anyone else in Ellow, is the one behind this. I don’t care how, but you will be beside him every step of the way.

You will be standing there as the vote is cast. And as you’re well aware, you may not breathe a word about me or anything related to my involvement, or our involvement together.

You will tell everyone you want the disgusting halflings better represented, and that you’re willingly participating. Make it believable, would you?”

She flinched when the tattoo on her arm burned in response to the command, the oath she’d sworn to serve him reminding her that she didn’t have a choice. Blood chilling, she stared at the king as she memorized every word of his command.

What he’d told her to do.

And most importantly—what he’d not told her to do.

King Rioner began to make his way to the cliff again, to the water he controlled, which would transport him back to Vastala in minutes instead of weeks.

Turning back, he continued. “If you succeed in finding me the information I need, I promise to release you from your blood oath, and you can stay here with your pets should you like. As a free female.”

When the bond between them flickered with the truth of his words, her heart began hammering against her rib cage.

The one advantage with the blood oath was that it went both ways: a vow from King Rioner couldn’t be broken, as any vow he forced from her couldn’t be escaped.

She could be free.

She could stay here, stay with Amalise and Ardow and the rest of the people she loved.

“One more thing.”

The smile that overtook her face fell when the king gestured to Merrick.

“Show her what happens if she fails.”

Lessia didn’t have time to react before a fist connected with her stomach and she doubled over.