Page 33 of Fey Empire

My entire body recoils. Mother? Hell no! I can’t imagine anything worse.

“Please don’t!” I gasp, and my voice comes out in a hoarse rasp.

Jamie gives me a sad smile. “Yeah, I got the impression that she wasn’t the maternal type.”

A strange, unhinged-sounding giggle bubbles out of me. Jamie chuckles too.

“I’d lend you my mum, but she is off with rebels somewhere.”

My eyebrows rise. “Your mother is… rebelling against your husband?”

“It’s complicated,” Jamie agrees, but he sounds calm, as if it isn’t too much of a problem. “I did give her a fey to hide, so she didn’t have much choice.”

I have no idea what to say to that. Zero. And being held is so nice it is making me feel sleepy. It is also stirring memories of Papa and my childhood nanny. She used to hold me and sing me lullabies. Before Mother fired her for being too soft.

I sniff before I can stop myself.

Jamie strokes my hair. “I’m so sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything,” I assure him.

He sighs. “That’s exactly what I am sorry for. I should have listened to Dyfri. You are too young.”

I frown. Luckily, he can’t see me. I’m not too young. I’m an adult. I’ve been trained to be a perfect consort and vessel my whole life. I don’t know why I have fallen apart like this, but it is nobody’s fault.

Suddenly, three loud knocks sound out. I flinch, and it takes me a startled moment to realise that the knocks aren’t on this bedroom door, they are further away. Possibly on the doors that separate Dyfri’s quarters from the rest of the palace.

“Return my consort to me.”

Prince Selwyn’s voice rings out loud and clear. Stern and more than a little frightening.

Jamie’s arms tighten around me.

“As the humans say, Brother dearest,” Dyfri calls out. “Fuck off.”

Jamie lets out a little snort-laugh while I suck in a scandalised gasp. Surely, if Prince Selwyn wants me back, nobody can deny him? They certainly shouldn’t be swearing at him. Dyfri may be a prince, but he is younger than Selwyn. He should show his older brother respect.

“Don’t worry, Laurie. These are Dyfri’s rooms. Selwyn can’t come in without permission.”

But surely that will just make Selwyn angry?

A long, tense silence drags. A pause and a regroup before battle commences.

“I brought someone to comfort Laurie.”

The words, as well as the tone, shock me. Neither are what I was expecting. It’s a complete change from the booming command of a few heartbeats ago. Selwyn’s voice sounds awfully contrite, but I must just be hearing things.

Jamie jumps off the bed and flings open the bedroom door. A small parlour comes into view. Dyfri and Ollie turn their heads away from the closed main doors to look at Jamie.

“He doesn’t want his mother,” Jamie says quietly to Dyfri.

Dyfri nods. “The ambassador is not welcome here,” he calls out.

“It’s not the ambassador.”

Dyfri, Jamie and Ollie all look at me. I shrug helplessly. I have no idea how Selwyn’s mind works. He could have brought anyone. Maybe it is the servant woman with the wispy hair. She seems nice.

“Send them in, but you are not welcome,” says Dyfri.