Page 60 of Faeling (Monstrous World #4)

Ravenna slept better than she had in a fortnight. Although she and Vallek were both early risers normally, they stayed abed long into the morning. It was Brynhíl bustling in with their breakfast who finally roused them out of bed, tutting as she stoked the fireplaces.

“The king and queen lazing about after the ninth bell—whoever heard of such a thing.”

“We are known to throw precedence to the wind,” Ravenna quipped as she spread butter across a roll of warm bread.

Bryn chuckled before bidding them farewell.

When they were alone again, Ravenna chewed on her question alongside her roll. It was a long few moments before she managed to ask him what had been on her mind since waking.

“Are you sure?”

Vallek’s eyes flicked up to meet hers. Without hesitation, he nodded. “Yes. It will benefit the kingdom, and if it makes you safer and happier, then it is well worth it.”

Ravenna tried to smile, tried to be relieved, but she’d spent too long in the shadow of Amaranthe to let a few promises vanquish all her fears. Even promises from her azai .

“I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re far more important than me.”

Vallek’s brows crashed down his face in a forbidding frown. “You will never say that again, sprite.”

“But it’s true. You mean far more to many more people. Me included.”

He huffed as he split and cored a pear. Handing her a piece, he said, “Nothing will happen to me.”

“You can’t promise that. My vision…” Although she’d managed to go a day without seeing it, the images were still seared into her mind.

“Have you seen me dead?”

“No.” Thank fates. She’d have fled far and fast from him if so, to ensure the vision never came true. “I haven’t seen anything after her fall.”

“Have you seen everything that has ever happened to you?”

Ravenna frowned. “Well, no…”

That cocksure grin she loved and loathed twitched on either side of his tusks. Leaning forward in his seat, he caught her lips in a pear-flavored kiss. “Did you see that in a vision?”

“No,” she grumbled.

He leaned forward and kissed her again, this time his free hand cupping her breast over her nightgown.

“Or this?”

“No, but I could’ve predicted it.”

“Not the same,” he said with a wink. “If you haven’t seen it, then there is every chance we succeed. We just have to be clever about it.”

Leaning back in his seat, he looked far too sure of himself. Between that and the easy, confident way he peeled and cut up an apple, his big hands moving dexterously with the small paring knife, she couldn’t decide if she wanted to tear her hair out, cover him in kisses, or wallow in relief.

She wanted it to be that simple. If there was anyone who could deliver her the opportunity for revenge, it was Vallek. She’d known that for years already. But to have him onside— knowingly —had something very, very dangerous blooming inside her.

Hope.

The first test of that hope came not long after, when Asta, Eydis, and Hilde arrived.

“You wanted to speak with us?” said Eydis, taking her usual seat in the den.

With all of them gathered round, and her hand held firmly in Vallek’s, Ravenna admitted much of what she’d told him the previous night.

The orcesses listened without interruption—knowing the three of them as she did, Ravenna wasn’t sure whether this was heartening. Eydis even leaned forward in her seat.

When Ravenna finished, her tale was met with complete silence. It was an awful moment.

Hilde broke it first, a smug little grin between her tusks. “I knew you were up to something. Didn’t I say that, Eydis? ‘That woman is up to something.’”

“You did,” Eydis agreed absently, the cogs of her brilliant mind clearly turning.

Ravenna couldn’t hold her sharp, assessing gaze for long.

“I asked you here to help plan,” Vallek said. “I mean to kill the Fae Queen.”

His declaration was met with an even longer, even more ominous silence.

“Is that…wise?” Asta asked, looking between Vallek and Eydis.

“It’s not,” Eydis said slowly, without inflection. She was clearly still pondering, a little crease visible between her furrowed brows.

Vallek held up his hands. “Maybe not, but it must happen. She’s obviously hunting Ravenna, and sooner or later, she’ll find out where she is.”

“You can’t just go around killing other monarchs,” argued Asta. “That would lead to war. Unless you already mean to march on the faelands with an army.”

“It’s not my preferred strategy, but I will defend what’s mine.”

“With an unprovoked attack?”

“ Preemptive attack, yes.”

“And what if that invites, say, the Pyrrossi emperor to preemptively attack you?”

Vallek grumbled, conceding the point.

“I will do it.” Everyone turned surprised looks onto Ravenna. She nodded, insisting, “This is my revenge. I’m grateful for aid, but Asta’s right, Vallek can’t be the one to slay her. I will. Honor demands it.”

Vallek’s expression darkened. “I won’t allow you to be so close to danger.”

“Then we don’t do this at all,” Ravenna shot back. “I won’t allow you to fight in my place.”

“What do you think, Eydis?” asked Hilde.

Her question diffused a bit of the tension growing between Ravenna and Vallek, although she knew they were far from finished. She could already tell from the stubborn set of her mate’s jaw that this would be the point where he dug in his heels.

All looked to Eydis, strangely quiet so far through their discussions. The orcess leaned forward to balance her elbows on her knees, her mien still pensive.

“I think it’s not the wisest course of action, and we can’t control nor foresee all the ramifications. You know I don’t like loose ends. However…” She scrubbed her hands over her face. “There is some mad logic to it.”

“You’re not serious,” Asta scoffed.

“Maybe—I haven’t totally made up my mind. But if Vallek is right, if Amaranthe truly is hunting Ravenna, it’s only a matter of time before she learns Balmirra has hidden and aided her. If the tales of her are true, we can expect a swift, brutal response.”

“The tales are true,” Ravenna confirmed.

Eydis nodded gravely. “We found one spy but there must be others. I have my people following leads, but it’s possible one may slip our net.

And then, of course, news will spread. It will be slower, but, eventually, the whole continent will know the orc king took a faeling mate.

We therefore have a limited window of opportunity. ”

“It will be the only time we wield the element of surprise,” Vallek agreed.

“Risky as it is, we may have no other choice,” said Eydis. “If we wish to decide the rules of the engagement, we’ll have to strike first.”

“Be that as it may,” argued Asta, “that doesn’t mean an attack on the faelands will succeed.

Even crossing the water west of the Spearhead will mean at least two days of marching.

You could attack from the sea, but they say Fallorian is set high on a cliff.

There’s no way to maintain the surprise, not once you touch foot in the faelands. ”

“So then we draw her away,” said Ravenna. She met Eydis’s steely gaze when it cut to her. “She’s already sent scouts to ask about an escaped criminal. Tell her you have them. Use me as bait.”

Eydis’s eyes glittered. “As a fellow monarch, Vallek would be within his rights to request a parley,” she said over Vallek’s growing unhappy growl. “We say it’s important enough that the king comes himself but can only deliver his news to the queen herself.”

“Would she fall for it?” asked Hilde.

“Maybe not a few centuries ago,” Ravenna said, “but she’s grown evermore spiteful and paranoid. If she thinks Vallek means to hand me over, there’s a good chance she’d come herself.”

Eydis grinned viciously. “There’s a spit of land at the mouth of Dyfan Bay. Where the Treaty of Spearhead was signed. We draw her there with the promise of neutral territory.”

“No army, no war,” said Ravenna. “An ambush.”

“It could work,” Vallek grumbled, “if she takes the bait. But—” he lifted their clasped hands to hold over his heart “—I don’t like it. It’s too much risk to you.”

“It has to be me,” she reminded him gently. Ravenna leaned over to kiss his chest, right where the fresh scar of her first bite was. “You’ll be there to keep me out of mischief.”

He grunted, drawing his arm around her to tuck her tightly to his side. “I would prefer you stay safely here and let me bring you her head.”

“I know. But Asta’s right, you can’t be the one to kill her.”

“I will do whatever I must to keep you safe,” he growled.

Ravenna held his serious gaze, knowing that they wouldn’t agree, at least not that morning. For now, that was all right. There was still time to plan and plot—and convince him.

Never had the chance to fulfill her vow for vengeance felt closer, her blood running hot with fresh hope. She wouldn’t let anyone take that from her, not even her azai .

“There are many fae who despise Amaranthe. With her gone, the faelands may finally know peace,” she told them. “We can send word to my father’s friend Allarion. He brought me to safety after my parents were killed. I know he went north, to Eirea, to try to find refuge.”

Vallek nodded. “Messengers can be sent. Kennum has a growing partnership with one of their cities.”

“Dundúran,” provided Eydis.

“Yes, that’s it. He can facilitate contact.”

Eydis clapped her hands, looking a little too gleeful about the prospect of assassinating the Fae Queen. “Let us lay our trap and lead her into it.”

If nothing else, Eydis loved a good plot.

Hilde just sighed.