Page 28 of A War of Three Kings

Did he treat Keira with respect when she was in the palace? Would he have helped her escape his brother had she asked him to? Or did he turn a blind eye to her abuse?

Everyone in the room rises from their seats and bows before him. I am the last to stand. The look of simmering hatred I give him is a mercy compared to all the things I’d prefer to do. I only bow my head. Exiled or not, I outrank this man.

Prince Niall’s eyes pass across each person, quickly analyzing the mood of the room. They soften when they fall on Keira, and she gives him a small smile back.Some of the tension leaches from my muscles at the exchange. He is a friend of hers.

“I am relieved to see you have made it safely home, Lady Keira.” Prince Niall takes her hand in his and kisses it. The maddening urge to grab the back of his neck and pull him away from her fills me, and I have to clench every one of my muscles to stop myself.

“I am visiting with my High Priestess,” Keira says seamlessly. “My home is the priestesses’ sanctuary, as a Mother of Magic myself. I belong to the temple now.”

There is a significance I am missing in those words, but a ripple of relief travels through the room as the prince nods his acceptance of them.

“And you are well? You are here of your own free choosing?” Niall stares deeply into her eyes, still holding her hand in his. It takes a moment for me to realize that his thumb is discreetly on her pulse, checking for a spike in her heart rate at a lie. This bastard is too wily.

A frown crosses Keira’s face; she is completely oblivious. “Yes, of course.”

Then his eyes flick to me. A frown creases his eyebrows as he examines me like I am an academic study.

I fold my arms and glare down at him where he still stands just a foot away from Keira.

I will not explain myself to him. Especially after Naomi had me glamour my ears to rounded shells to pass as human.

The prince’s gaze returns to Keira, and he speaks so softly, I can only just hear him. “I would have gotten you out of the palace, if you had asked it of me. I would have helped you, Keira. I need you to know that.”

She nods, but doesn’t say anything.

“Prince Niall, please, can we get you a drink? Or a seat?” Edmund’s entire countenance has softened to a side of him I have never seen before. With a flick of his wrist, a leather armchair slides across the immense study, right behind the prince. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

Prince Niall sits, and everyone else follows suit. I don’t take my glare off him once. A strong desire for violence rolls through me. I cannot help it. I crack my neck, then slowly sit down. Maybe I have become the crazed fae they think I am.

The prince taps the arm of the couch with a single long finger while everyone holds their breaths as though they teeter on the tip of a blade.

“I have some unfortunate news that will greatly affect Keira.” He turns to the priestesses who escorted him here. “If we could have privacy?”

They leave the room, closing the doors behind them.

He turns back to Edmund. “Is this room warded for sound? Do you trust everyone in it?” The little shit looks straight at me.

“Yes,” Keira says quickly. “If it is about me, I want Aldrin to know as well.” The hard look she sends my way tells me everything. She is letting me in again, just a toe, but the anger of lies and betrayals is far from gone. That makes two of us.

Niall lets out a sharp breath. “For context, you must know one thing first. The news will travel to you fast enough. My father, the king, is dead.”

Edmund’s eyes flare wide, and Maeve gives a small start. Keira’s hand flies straight to her heart. Naomi opens her mouth, clearly about to give condolences, but Niall throws up a hand to stop her.

“I was never close with my father. His passing a few days ago is not why I am here. For years he has had episodes of poor health that kept him bedridden for weeks at a time, but always hid the fact. We must get one thing straight: no one is to know I gave you this warning personally. My absence from the palace has been hidden, and I was allowed passage through the priestesses’ portals to help one of their own.” Niall raises a hand to indicate Keira.

My blood runs cold and dread fills me as Keira’s face turns deathly pale. Her hands shake.

I want to bundle her up in my arms and press her tight against my chest. I want to kiss her until the fear drains from her, but she doesn’t want my touch.

“Finan is delirious in his grief,” Niall says cautiously. “He didn’t take it well when you left to become a priestess, Keira, though I agree you had every right to. Your wishes should berespected. Whatever passed between the two of you the night you left, I fear Finan has distorted it in his head. The story he tells keeps changing.”

The prince pauses as contemplates his next words. Keira’s eyes are huge and glazed as she stares at him, and I want to shake the man for making her wait.

The princeling finally continues. “Word of high fae trespassing in the Appleshield Protectorate has reached the capital. The main rumor is that they were taken prisoner and sentenced to death. Finan is convinced high fae used the portals to travel to the capital and kidnap Keira from the palace. That she needs to be saved from monsters. He claims they are keeping her hostage in this fortress, and that she needs his army to set her free. He plans to march on Appleshield Castle and set up a siege until he gets her back.”

Maeve sways dangerously on her feet and looks like she might faint. Naomi has the air of a wildcat that might claw the princeling’s throat out with its fingernails.Finally, something we can agree on.

It takes all of my willpower not to pick him up by the throat and watch him struggle for breath while his legs dangle in the air. Keira shakes violently beside me, and I can’t do a damned thing about it, because I ruined the trust between us.

---