She pressed her fists against her hips and eyed me with a fiery determination. “But it’s not really your choice, is it?”
Koan coughed in surprise, and Jolter’s head twisted up to stare bug-eyed at her.
My own lips twitched into a smile. Nobody had ever challenged me with such unassuming openness. “Isn’t it?” I asked.
“No,” she declared. “I was the person they wronged, so I should get to decide the justice that will balance the injury they gave me.”
Was this kind of audacity normal fae behavior? Or human? Or a result of her mixed inheritance? The combination of fear that emanated from her through our bond with the pure boldness that she expressed in her posture and language put me on edge. Should I be protecting her invisible fear? Acquiescing to her obvious mandates? Or insisting on the respect I usually expected?
I tapped the whip handle against my palm again. “I cannot simply release them. They have violated a standard of honor that I expect from adults in Hemlit, especially those that have lived in Sirun as long as they have.”
She raised her chin higher, emphasizing a beautiful face. “Then I’d like to speak to the drekkan.”
“The drekkan?” I repeated.Did she mean…
She interrupted my thoughts. “Yes. His Majesty Aedan, the High King drekkan.”
A smile stole across my face as I debated the best way to answer this request. “Is there a reason you would prefer to speak with a legendary monster over me?”
She smiled and answered in a sweeter voice than I’d heard from her yet. “Of course. I would think that as the High King his opinion on punishments would supersede yours.”
Koan coughed again, and my smile stretched even broader. “You believe he would agree with you in this case?”
My questions made her more nervous, but instead of backing down she tightened her fists and raised her chin a little higher. “I’m sure he would, once I explain the situation.”
I couldn’t help a dark chuckle. “And why are you so sure?”
She narrowed her eyes. “He seemed both honorable and reasonable when I spoke with him this afternoon.”
I raised my brows. “An honorable and reasonable monster? How very generous of you.” Especially considering that I’d nearly killed her.
She arched her own brow. “Will you take me to him?” She scanned the dungeon hall. “I don’t think he’ll fit down here.”
My humor had not been so tickled in ages. I bowed to her and tried to temper the grin on my face. “Allow me to introduce myself. I amAedan Vander Ignim, the cursed High King of Hemlit, drekkan by day and elf by night.”
Chapter 3: Callista
The elf in front of me was the same drekkan who had bound me. My mind whirled faster than a windstorm on a monsoon night while any thoughts I’d had earlier about his attractive power and dramatic rescue withered. He could force me to administer the punishment he preferred. He could tear those two elves on the floor to pieces. Or he could have let them continue to throw rocks at me.
But he had promised me safety.
And he was following through on that promise by insisting on a dramatic punishment for the two elves behind me.
I bit my lip. I had to find a way to convince him. This was important, so I needed to set aside my usual impulsiveness and think through a response.
The humor in his face faded as he considered my reaction to his news. “Am I no longer an honorable and reasonable beast?”
His question was supposed to be light-hearted, but I heard a painful bit of vulnerability behind it. He had tried to behonorable. Despite his monstrous form, despite his burden of ruling, and despite his easily-pricked temper, he had an ethical standard that he aspired to.Thatwas the angle I needed.
“I still believe you are honorable,” I said, “but I’m afraid you have not been diligent in keeping your promise.”
He clenched the handle of the whip and bowed his head. I held my breath. This would either convince him to agree with me or send him into an angry rage. Nobodyenjoyedbeing called out for breaking a promise. He might have had the form of an elf, but I felt like I was poking a dragon with a sharpened nail.
He raised a pair of bright green eyes to shoot anger at the two elves on the ground. Then he clenched his jaw and brought his gaze to mine.
“You are correct.” Anger dripped from his soft words and filled the hall. A steel entered his tone. “I promised you safety. I should kill these vermin for forcing me to abandon my honor. While their offense against you was much greater, they did wrong me also.”
I nodded. “A debt to their king is not a small thing.”
