Page 30 of A War of Three Kings

Edmund is in shock. His hair stands up in disarray as he stares into space. Maeve’s eyes are wide, her eyebrows restingsomewhere near her blond hairline, all the color gone from her cheeks. Her mouth works, but nothing comes out.

Neither parent is ready to speak the truth to their daughter, so I step in. “We go to war.”

Keira’s wild eyes dart to me.

“I will not sugarcoat it: you have dark days coming.” My gaze glides to Edmund. “You have two choices. Hand over your daughter to the mad king, live through his reign of chaos and keep the borders shut to us fae. Or—Keira keeps her freedom, and the sparks ignite a civil war, but you replace the mad king with his brother, with the support of a fae alliance. I will throw everything I have at protecting Keira. I am not without my own soldiers.”

They stare at me, and not one of them denies the truth behind my words.

I fall to my knees before Keira’s chair.

A deep desire floods me to tenderly brush away the strands of hair that fall across her face, or to take her hands in mine, but my heart will not survive her slapping me away again.

Instead, I stare into her eyes. “I will fight until my dying breath to guarantee your freedom, even if you never want to speak to me or see my face again. There are no caveats to this. I will summon Cyprien from my realm and all the warriors he can muster if it means you don’t end up in the clutches of that monster again. I would die happily, but I ask one thing of you: do not blame yourself forhisactions,hischoices andhiscruelties.”

Keira reaches out a hand toward me, but her father steps between us, blocking her. “How do we know this isn’t some ploy to bring more fae into our realm? That you are not taking advantage of our weaknesses?”

“Are we not past this already?” I stand to my full height, satisfied that I am slightly taller and can look down at him. “Have you not seen how my magic has returned? Think on it.The same is true for the rest of my band of warriors. If I were here to kidnap Keira by force and drag her back to my world, what is stopping me? There is a monster who wants to steal your daughter, but you’re not looking at him.”

“I trust him, Father,” Keira calls behind me. “Despite everything, I don’t think he would hurt me willingly.”

I wince at those words. I did hurt her, even though I had the purest of intentions.

“Shall we make a bargain, Edmund Appleshield?” I ask. “If you set me and my people free from our captivity and treat us as honored guests, I will fight for Keira’s freedom until this threat posed by King Finan is neutralized. I will not steal any consorts or humans. The conditions of this bargain will hold any fae who enter this realm under my name.” I hold out my hand. “What do you say?”

Edmund glances at Keira and she gives him a curt nod. He places his hand around my forearm and we shake on it.

“It is done.” Edmund’s voice is rough, his eyes wild, as though he can’t quite believe he is making a bargain with a fae.It is the only option he has to force my hand.

Bright orange light curls up our forearms, almost blinding in its intensity. My skin burns and I grit my teeth as the magic runs across my flesh, etching a pattern of swirls in a band just below my elbow.

It looks like tongues of a dancing flame, and the mark shimmers gold under the orb light. Embers of magic fly out from our clasped arms and dissipate like ash floating up from a bonfire.

We let go of each other, and Edmund quickly pulls down the sleeve of his tunic, covering his mark.

“I want any of your soldiers with even a spark of magic to train with my warriors,” I demand. “Your humans have a habit ofblocking their magic, from fear and a lack of learning. Especially you, Edmund.”

He barks out a short laugh. “You will be hard-pressed to get any of them to train alongside fae.”

“Then assign someone of influence to act as a liaison between us,” I say. “Encourage them yourself. You need to use every advantage you have.”

“Diarmuid could get the troops to cooperate,” Maeve volunteers. “As a druid, he has a position of authority when it comes to magic.”

“No. I will do it.” Keira stands suddenly. “No one knows both Aldrin’s fae and our guards like I do. Diarmuid has never hunted alongside them.” I flinch at the reminder of that little betrayal. Keira must sense it, because her voice becomes choked. “They need to remember who they fight for. Besides, we should send Diarmuid out immediately to prepare the druids for a potential war. We will need healers on hand.”

She doesn’t look at me, focusing only on her father. He nods curtly and some of the tension melts from her shoulders.

This will force us to spend time together. Not alone, but it increases our chances of talking to each other. Of working out the fact from the fiction in the huge wall of hurt that lies between us.

Hope unfurls within me. When Keira’s eyes dart up to mine, I see it there too.

Chapter 8

Keira

Istand on a small balcony where two staircases meet, overlooking a large courtyard. Below, our finest soldiers work in groups with fae teachers, sorted by their elemental abilities.

This training will be an invaluable opportunity—if I can get humans and fae to work together without killing each other.

---