Page 15 of Straw and Gold (A Realm of Revelry #2)
Killian
Fedir entered my study as I pinched the golden thread, inspecting the spin, the tightness, the strength—it had been nothing short of pure Changlingfae magic that Morella was able to transmute straw into gold.
“How was the rest of the tour?” my captain teased, tossing himself into an armchair by the fire.
“She can spin straw into this.” I chucked the spool of thread into the air where Fedir caught it.
He frowned but chuckled. “Odd joke, but I’ll play along. What do you mean by straw?”
Rising from my desk, I joined him by the fire. “What I mean is that the Queen of the Citrine Cliffs took a handful of straw and spun it on a spinning wheel into that .”
He shook his head, pulling on the thread and winding it around his hand. “We assumed she must have Changlingfae blood, but something like this is...”
“ Exactly. ” I leaned back in my seat, staring at the low flames.
His chest rumbled and he set the thread down, crossing his leg over his knee and settling back. “She’s definitely under your skin. Didn’t expect that, did you?”
“Of course I didn’t,” I snapped. “She was supposed to be dull, ugly, and simple. Just as you predicted she would be.”
He tsked. “I can’t be correct all the time, Your Majesty.”
“You were supposed to be right about her . Your ability to predict the change is the reason I keep you around.”
“Sure, sure,” he laughed. “Changelingfae magic doesn't always work the same way twice. You know that. Hence the change part. And to be fair, I did predict the change in you . I said you would soften your heart to your future wife.”
“There was no softening. I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and take her to bed the moment I locked eyes on her, and then toss her out to go find someone else to marry who could actually love her.”
“Ah. I see I should have said you’d harden to her, then.”
“ Fedir, ” I scolded. But he was right, and we both knew it.
I rubbed my face, shifting my fingers through my beard. “I offered her the bargain.”
He almost tumbled out of his chair. “Thank the Goddess,” he breathed, slipping to the edge of his seat. “Did she take it?”
“Yes,” I huffed a laugh despite myself, remembering her face as it lit in the challenge. “I added a few amendments…as did she.”
He smiled slyly. “Amendments?”
“The only ones you need to know are that I will be teaching her Céaduah. And she’ll be spinning more of this each day.” I pointed to the golden thread.
“The wheel of change is spinning fast, my friend. You cannot slip up. This is your?—”
“Last chance,” I finished. “I know.”
“Three months,” he sighed, rising from his seat and taking the thread with him.
He knew what to do with it. They’d want it in the vaults below the castle. We dyed our threads gold, but this…this would raise a fortune if the weavers could use it in their embroidering.
Real threaded gold .
“Three months,” I repeated. “It has to be enough time for her to discover my name.”
“For her?” he said, tossing the spool of thread into the air on his way out the door. “I think so. But for you to make it that long?” He caught the spool in his golden fingers. “That I’m less sure about.”
He shut the door on his way out, leaving me with the same fear.
Regardless, I had no choice.
My fate was now tied to the Golden Queen of the Citrine Cliffs.