King Aedan’s low, drekkan-like voice filled the hall again. “As a reminder, Callista is under my protection. If you are upset with her behavior, come see me. Anyone who harms her can expect a much more violent justice.” He waited a few seconds while that permeated everyone’s thoughts, and then he added, “Now get out of my tower.”
Lady Carmine shot one more glare at me, and then scurried after the rest of the crowd. In seconds, only Koan and Jolter remained with the king and I.
The king tipped his head toward Koan and Jolter. “You two should go get her dinner.” As the brothers ran off, he turned to face me entirely.
I hugged the lute against my chest. What was I supposedto say to this king who marched in on chaos and used his powerful magic to scare away the elves who threatened me? Why had he done it? And why had he believed Koan over the lady?
“Why did you help the child?”
I tipped my head. Apparently he had questions too. Perhaps that was the best place to start. “Honestly, I was trying to help Koan and Jolter first. I didn’t know why they were trying to stop the boy, but they were having a hard time. And I had the lute in my hands.” I shrugged. “And then he was a sweet boy. I didn’t mind playing with him.”
The king’s bright green eyes bored into my face. “Tell me a lie.”
“What?” This elf made no sense.
His voice lowered and his gaze remained fixed on mine. “Tell me a lie.”
Why would he ask that? And could it hurt anything to indulge? “I hate lemons.” Like usual, my mouth answered before my head finished analyzing the situation.
His eyebrows wrinkled. “You hate lemons?”
“No.” I rolled my gaze to the ceiling, but that felt childish, so I met his again. “You said to tell a lie. So that was the lie.”
“So you like lemons.”
“I love lemons,” I corrected. Just thinking about them made me smile. Growing lemons might have been the only thing I was truly good at, the only thing I could confidently do without inviting chaos and disaster.
He nodded slowly.
“What’s behind the door?” I asked.
His brows raised.
“The door that Koan told Lady Carmine about. When he said I might have saved Jorlan?”
His face settled back into an impassive, unreadable expression, and then he changed the subject. “Would you have hurt the boy if you’d had the chance?”
“No! What kind of question is that?”
He didn’t answer but asked me another one. “Would you like to hurt his mother?”
“No! Why do you think I want to hurt everyone?”
“She would have hurt you.”
I tightened my hold on the lute. “She was worried. People do things…” I drifted off. I didn’t know if I had a good excuse for her or not, but I did know that hurting her back wouldn’t make me feel better.
He watched me closely. His gaze was too much—too intense, too focused, too powerful. And it mixed with a heady combination of cedar and leather. When I glanced away, he cleared his throat, and I… I brought my attention back to his green eyes.
He extended an elbow. “Will you come with me?”
Heaskedme to come. A light-hearted glee exploded in my chest. After all the times he had assumed I would just follow him, this invitation carried more meaning than it might have if he’d asked any other time. It implied a degree of acceptance and respect that I had craved since we met but had almost given up on receiving.
And now, with no clear reason, he offered it freely. I’d try to figure out why later when I was alone in my room. I shifted the lute into my right arm and slipped my left into his elbow. Like always, he radiated a heat that was comfortable andrelaxing. Perhaps this life would not be so awful. I had friends in Koan and Jolter. And now the terrifying, drekkan-shifting, iron-fisted king even exhibited a degree of civility.
We walked past doors that—if Koan was to be believed—opened to the king’s quarters, and then we continued to the end of the corridor and up another small set of spiral stairs.
He gestured at the door in front of us. “The door that Koan spoke of. Would you like to see the source of his concern?”
