Page 6

Lonan

I have been avoiding the wing that Allie is being kept in. The maid held almost some type of magic sway over me. I was quite sure it wasn’t actual magic, but Gods above, I was drawn towards her. Cleaned and in a fresh dress, her near white hair in a loose braid, the pretty fern green streaks peeking in and out, she had been breathtaking. Her eyes sparkled like polished coral and suddenly I was imagining liberating her some jewels from the next rich, Stonesthrow-supporting Fae’s home we raided.

I cannot act like a thirty-something boy, cunt-struck for the first time. Absolutely ridiculous. I ought to get out to the Disappointing Fiddle, stretch my legs so to speak, but I know any of my inner circle that found out would read me the riot act about being unprotected in a ‘vulnerable state.’ I’m not sure why I’m so drawn to her; I am really hoping a roll between the sheets with her will clear up my obsession.

After four days, I’m in the hall, taking breakfast with Caspian and Tazi, who have just returned, when Kai strides in, looking flushed.

“Kai,” I nod and he nods back at the three of us, very congenial for him.

“Morning all,” he says, obviously rushed but upbeat.

I raise an eyebrow and his gaze slides away. Alright .

I look back to the others. “So, nothing? You’re quite sure?”

Tazi nods, mouth stuffed with eggs. She swallows hastily, “Made sure of it, Lo. I zipped under even the smallest formations with any kind of space.”

I lean my hand in my chin while I mull that over. If any of the Gaeba line survived... well that would make this much, much easier. But their castle has been in ruins for nearly forty years.

Cas starts speaking with Kai while Tazi shovels more food into her mouth. I frown, I shouldn’t have sent her in this cold snap. Perhaps I’ll see if Cook can make her some a treat.

“She’s still locked up then?”

I can tell Caspian’s question is directed at me but my mind is running in so many directions, I respond stupidly. “Who?”

Kai chuckles as Cas raises a sardonic eyebrow. “Like you’ve forgotten her. Even I saw the way you looked at her.”

Caspian has never taken a lover. Says the thought of doing something with his body that sounds like Cook’s cheesy pasta being stirred makes him violently ill.

“Oh,” another brilliant response from me. “Yes, Allie. I was thinking to keep her in her rooms until Lilac returns, see what she can verify about Allie’s intel. After that, hopefully she could find work around the keep. Kitchen perhaps.”

Keeping her locked up is the logical choice. It’s what I would do with anyone else. But I’ve been feeling guilty about her being cooped up.

Kai clears his throat as he runs a hand through his curls. He looks like he just rolled out of bed. “I think you ought to leave her imprisoned. She’s a wild card. Not worth the risk.”

I gaze at him for a moment, hoping he’ll elaborate, but that was a bit of a big speech for him. I prompt, “Explain.”

He tilts his head, obviously confused by my softness. “Despite her moving speech the other evening, she really—on the rather large assumption that she was an actual maid for the Stonesthrow family—has very little information of value. If we truly need intel from a maid, we could kidnap and-or bribe a maid that we are certain works at RedWater. But I don’t believe we do.” He crosses his arms over his chest, probably trying not to call me a hapless twit.

I finish my glass of juice and stand. “I deeply appreciate you all trusting me enough to share your true thoughts on my actions.” I nod to Kai. “But. Get bent. Respectfully.” And I stride from the room.

I UNLOCK THE DOOR AND enter and Allie is sitting at the little desk, holding a pen to a notebook. She’s half turned, with a lush, white eyebrow raised at me.

“Allie,” I say softly, not wanting to frighten her like I did the last time. Her name rolls off my tongue and I want to enjoy the feel of it in my mouth but something feels wrong. What a silly thing for me to think .

“Commander Lonan,” she says pertly, turning back to her writing.

I step into the room further as I shut the door behind me. I stand awkwardly for a moment, feeling ridiculous.

I clear my throat. “Apologies for interrupting your very full schedule, but I wanted to ask you some more questions.”

Bollocks. I had had no thoughts on what I was going to do besides the driving desire to lay eyes upon her.

She finishes writing and closes the book with finality. She stands and I blink hard at seeing her in a thin chemise. She crosses to her bed and sits near me, hands in her lap.

“Yes, my lord?” She looks up at me through her lowered lashes.

“Do you not have any dresses?”

She giggles. “You wanted to speak to me of dresses?”

“Yes. No.” I run a hand through my hair. “I noticed...” I gesture at the nightgown she’s in.

“Well, I arrived wearing my only dress I could escape with. And one of the maids found me a simple shift dress as a spare but you see, I... spilled something on them both and had to ask the staff to launder them for me.” She pauses here, looking nervous, “Though I would much rather do my own laundry and pull my own weight, my lord.”

I groan inwardly at hearing those words slip out her plush, pretty lips. I look upward, trying to get myself together.

“I see,” I respond, my voice rough.

A tiny grin plays on those lips. “Are you ill, Sire? You seem... out of sorts.”

The vixen, she’s doing it a-purpose. She must be, surely? “Fine, fine. I came to ask you more about the Stonesthrow family.”

“Of course,” she answers quietly and she shifts on the bed.

“Alder has no heirs. No siblings.” I start.

She looks up, “No siblings alive ,” she corrects.

“Yes. Tell me what you know of his older brothers.”

In Faery, it is not the eldest that inherited the parents’ land or titles or money. It is the strongest. So Alder being born later did not exclude him from the throne, though it’s unlikely he’d have been choose as successor by his ruthless, bloodthirsty father.

Allie speaks, her eyes dark, “Ash died of a fall. A fall from a horse he’d trained himself. He, an experienced horseman. And Linden died in some silly honor battle. But he was a gentle soul, who barely knew how to hold a sword and would more like be in a tavern playing a lute. Lennox was poisoned. The cook was swiftly executed before they could be more... forcefully questioned.”

I nod. Stories and rumors I’d heard before.

“That’s not to speak of the babes,” she adds softly.

I blink. “The babes?”

She clears her throat, her face blank but I can still see the sorrow there. “Sylvan, Elm and Wyth. Born to the King Wells’ mistresses after the death of his older boys. He was inconsolable and sought refuge in the ladies’ skirts, trying to replenish his brood.”

I blink, wondering if perhaps one of the ladies was Allie’s mistress, and thus she had been attached to the babe. “And where are they?” I ask, though I have a solid idea.

“All died. Changlings, they said. Human babes switched with our strong Fae young.”

I drop to my knees in front of her. “But you don’t think so, do you, little maid?”

“I know so,” she whispers, rage flashing in her eyes.

I study her coral eyes, pupils ringed by a rich red before turning that orange-pink shade. I nod slowly. “We’ll speak more soon, Allie.”

I stand and stride out.

I’M WALKING THE HALLS near blind with rage. I’m unsure why. Alder murdered his older brothers, I knew that. Or as much as anyone can. Alder has ordered the murder of other babes, I knew that too. But the murder of his half-brothers? Still in their cradles?

It’s disgusting.

It’s what any King, or even a Lord, might do to keep his spot, however. I know our world enough to know that such things happen. And I’m not a bleeding-heart. While I’ve never killed or ordered the death of a child, I’ve killed many fully grown Fae. Ordered the death of more.

No, what’s really bothering me is Allie’s pain. She hurts from this action, so I’m angry. Not just angry. Raging . I’ve wanted Alder dead for awhile. First, personally as a leader of his father’s army, then, professionally after he took the throne as I was starting Misery’s Militia. But now? Now it’s something else.

I push open the swinging doors to the kitchen. Cook looks up and smiles at me, her round form and grey hair reminding me of a Grandmother I was robbed of. Cook’s a sweetheart, too.

“Aye, my lord, what can I do for you?” She asks as she kneads bread on the long wooden table in front of the stone oven.

“Several things, if possible.” I manage to flash her a smile.

“Lay them on me, Lo.”

“Make Tazi’s favorite cookies?”

“‘Course. Fool thing shouldn’t be changing out in the cold.”

I smile. “Get a few... nicer dresses made for Allie?”

She nods, “Aye. Poor lass. I’m trying to fatten her up a bit, those scrawny limbs. She eats like Tazi.”

I ponder that. Is Allie a small shifter? That would explain a lot.

“Would you be able to find someone who could shadow her, if I allowed her out to work?”

Cook snorts. “Making your prisoners work nowadays for their keep, eh?” My face must show my disgust at such an idea for she waves a floury hand. “Teasing, Lo. If she’s amenable to kitchen work, I can keep an eye on her.”

I nod and she comes around, wiping her hands on her apron before placing them on my back and pushing me towards a stool. I sit, fighting down a grin, and she putters about. She produces a bottle of liquor and small glasses, pouring us each one, before turning to bring over a plate of brownies.

“Toss ‘em back, child,” she says just before she shoots the liquor.

WHEN I FINALLY ESCAPE the kitchen an hour later, Cook has caught me up on all the minor drama of the keep and most of the village. I rub a hand down my face.

I blink hard, feeling a bit buzzed. I forget how much of a punch Cook’s homebrew packs. No more visiting her in the middle of the day.

But she’s quite happy to have Allie in the kitchen, which is a weight off my mind. I head towards the staff office, hoping to find my steward. I need a room prepared for the Ordained that should be arriving sometime soon.

The door is shut and I knock.

“Enter,” Nell, my steward, calls in her perpetually-annoyed voice.

I open the door and step in. Three of our staff are scattered around the room, probably awaiting today’s marching orders. Nell’s muddy-green hair is tucked behind her ears, her gill slits visible on her neck.

“What is it?” She asks, her eyes flicking back to the journal in front of her.

I chuckle and look to the staff. “Why don’t you finish up with Lu, Amaya and Rei?” I ask as I toss myself in the comfy chair opposite Nell’s desk.

She glares at me but starts issuing orders.

Nell and her partner were displaced from Lake Woe after the Attack of Cowards. Kai and I didn’t find them for years, but we both remembered them, for they worked at the Castle. It’s taken decades, but we’ve found most, if not all, of the refuges of that wretched month of terror and death that wiped out the Gaeba line.

I clean my nails with a dagger as Nell finishes up. When the door shuts, she immediately turns to me.

“Well? What is it? I have forty-three things to do. And you’re not currently on that list, Lonan.”

I struggle not to shake my head at her. “The Ordained should be here soon. Not sure when exactly, they were rather cagey on travel time.”

She snorts but holds her tongue. Smart lady.

I continue, “I need a room prepared for them. I cannot insult them, nor do I want them to put on airs, so the location and size should be considered.”

“You really didn’t trust me to have this done without personally speaking with me?”

“I am a cautious man,” I reply as I spread my hands.

“Perhaps too much,” she mutters.

I arch a brow but decide not to bother. “Right then. I’ll be off.” I stand and slip out without another word.

I’m halfway to the south wing, where Allie’s rooms are, when Kai steps out of nowhere. The man is damn near silent, which one wouldn’t expect of a fire Fae. But he had two of the best teachers, as I did.

“Kai,” I start, as he strides towards me. “I—”

My words are cut off as his mouth is pressed to mine. His tongue is in my mouth and my hands wrap around his waist instinctively. His hands rise and one cups the back of my head.

I pull away from his kiss, panting.

He speaks before I can, “Why are you avoiding me, love?” His one hand plays in my hair and his eyes are tender.

“I’m not. Just busy.”

“You lie. This is about that silly maid, isn’t it?” He arches a dark red eyebrow.

I sigh, “No.”

“You’re an awful liar, Lonan.”

“Only to you. You know every part of me, Kai.” I lean my forehead against his as my fingers tighten.

He grunts. “Glad you think so. Your rooms or mine?” His lips find my neck as he tugs back my hair.

I gasp out, “Mine.”

Do I have time for dick right now? Not really. Do I give a fuck? Not at all.