I opened my mouth to argue, but dammit if Krew didn’t have a point. The entire process was...difficult.
“No offense to anyone at the table,” Apollo began, “but waiting around for Keir to fall in love seems like a horrid idea. There will never be a perfect time. Never. But right now we have the element of surprise on our side.”
“Yet looking long term, acting now still leaves too many doubts for the next king and queen,” Hatcher said quietly. He turned to Keir. “How long do you need?”
Keir’s head went back as he shrugged. “I have no idea. None. Right now, in this moment, I wish to marry neither of them.”
Owen offered, “Well it isn’t as if Jorah will be able to keep hiding away and trying to underplay her powers around the king. We don’t have all the time in the realm for you to romance them.”
“I understand that,” Keir agreed. “I’m not the one asking for more time. I’m just trying to be honest with you all on where I’m at.”
“How about a month?” Anderson asked logically. “A month buys you some time. You focus on the women of your Assemblage, while the rest of us focus on a plan to get the sword either in our possession or away from the king. We can track when he has it on his person and when he doesn’t.” After a long pause, he added, “And Jorah will have to slow down her healing of the forest as to not give away her true strength.”
I groaned.
“What?” Anderson asked. “I thought that was rather reasonable.”
I rested my head against the back of my chair. “Oh it is, minus the bit about the forest. I just realized if we have to wait for another month, I’ll have to be the queen’s proxy for another parliament session.” I paused. “My favorite.”
Hatcher grinned. “I’m going to try to be unoffended by that.”
“So a month,” Krew began. “Our wedding will be in two weeks. The king will be more than busy with a royal wedding in the mix. And then we make our move.”
“Quite the honeymoon,” Emric added with a snort. “Newly married and plotting a murder.”
That had the laughter cutting away at the tension. Emric was kind of the goof of the group, but I understood by this point that he was extremely adept at being able to read a room. Also thrived on other people’s drama, it seemed.
As the group went on debating how exactly that move should be made, whether we attacked the king at night, or lured him into the forest somehow, I listened in but didn’t really participate any further.
One month.
Somehow putting a timeframe on it made it all the more terrifying. The king had been a thorn in my side since the moment I walked into this castle. Could we really do it? At times it felt like he was as old as this mountain itself. And equally as difficult to kill.
A month from now would I prove to be a widow, or would the king finally be gone?
As soon as the conversation died down and the men called it a day, I said my goodbyes and excused myself out to the balcony. I’d had enough of people for the day. Unless it was Renna and Molly. I just wanted to curl up with a book and escape to a far less scary world for even a moment.
Krew slid his arms on either side of where I leaned against the railing, resting his head on the back of my own.
“There are so many things I wish to do,” I whispered without looking at him, for fear that I would not be brave enough to speak. He already knew how I was feeling anyway, so there was no use in trying to disguise it, but there were still things I wished to voice aloud. “So many things I wish to do and see with you. Things I wish to bake you. Picnics with Warrick in the healed meadow. Memories I wish to create and tuck away to cherish. And—” I stopped, my voice thick with emotion. “And only one more month of your touch will never be enough.” A tear spilled out of my eye. “It will never be enough, Krew.”
He spun me toward him. “I know. Believe me, I know.” He used his thumb to brush away my tears. “I hate putting a time limit on it, but at the same time, I want to get it over with. Because all this time spent torturing ourselves about what will happen is cruel. No matter how it ends, gearing up for it like this... it isn’t fair.” He grabbed my cheek, his fingers buried in my hair. “It isn’t fair. I’ve only just found you. Our bond is new and powerful. I can’t believe that it will all come crashing down in a mere month.”
I closed my eyes. “Is it cruel to wish that this wouldn’t land upon your shoulders? That someone else, Keir, or The Six,anyonewould do this for us, so we didn’t have to fear like this?”
He gave me a smirk. “They likely would volunteer if we asked, yes, but do we trust anyone more than ourselves to see it done?”
I hated the answer to that question in a violent manner. “One month,” I whispered, resting my forehead against his.
“One month,” he repeated. “And since we are on this topic, I need for you to promise me something, love.”
“No.”
He leaned back to look me in the eyes. “No?”
I gave my head a shake as the tears in my eyes multiplied. “No, I will not make you any promises as if you will not be here with me in another month. My answer is no. I will make no promises to you about happy endings or finding peace. I will have neither of thosewithoutyou.”
He closed his own eyes, needing a moment before he could speak. “Promise me then,” he began but had to swallow as emotion caused a crack in his voice. “Promise me that no matter the outcome, the picnics with Warrick will still happen.” A tear slipped out of the corner of his eye, and it was simultaneously the most beautiful and horrifying thing I had ever bore witness to. “Promise me that he will come to know, if not right away then eventually, how much I love him.”
