Page 78 of A War of Three Kings

Keira jumps in her seat. Prince Niall rushes to his brother, murmuring soft words to him. King Finan stalks past him, and I move in a flash as he goes straight for Keira. I stand in front of her, blocking her body.

Keira stands and puts a gentle hand on me. “Let me try to speak to him,” she whispers.

I begrudgingly take a step to the side.

King Finan gets right in her face. “You will return to the palace with me. You will do as you are told and put this little rebellion behind you. Everything will be forgotten, and your father can remain the Lord Protector. Just come home with me.”

His tone is somehow aggressive and pleading all at once. Keira looks at him with those huge doe eyes, rosebud lips parted and face pale. I want to tear him away from her.

“My king, we have already set out terms,” Lord Desmond cuts in.

Finan turns swiftly toward him. “By the Soul Ripper, I don’t care about your gods-damned terms, Lord Desmond! I want my betrothed back.” He returns to Keira and hisses, “Don’t you ever say I don’t fight for you.”

“I will not marry you!” She takes a wobbly step back from him, closer to me, and I place a steadying hand on her shoulder. Her heart races erratically beneath my touch.

The king’s eyes flick from her face to my hand on her. “You do not mean that. We are meant to be together. Our whole lives have been building toward this. The fae who kidnapped you has enchanted you. They have turned you against me.” Finan’s headmoves wildly around until he spots the High Priestess. “Remove the enchantment on her!”

“There is no such thing as a fae enchantment.” Naomi stands, the tendrils of her long white hair dancing upward on a phantom breeze. Her voice echoes and overlaps with a neat trick of air magic. “There is no spell on Keira. She makes her own decisions.”

Finan points at his druid adviser. “Murdoc. Remove the spell! NOW!”

The man wrings his hands. “As the High Priestess said, there is no such thing as a fae enchantment that can make her act against her will.”

Finan whirls on Keira. “You will come with me, or I will slaughter everyone who comes between us and harbors you. Innocents will die and it will be your fault. Your family. Your people. Your fellow priestesses. EVERYONE. WILL. DIE.”

An immediate change ripples through Keira. A current of air flows around the three of us. It is almost as though I can hear her in my head, whispering, demanding.Hold back,that voice seems to say to me.This is my fight.

“I do not belong to you, and I never have.” Her voice booms through the pavilion. “You do not get totakewhatever you want.”

The torrent of air around us churns faster, pulling in sheets of parchment and obliterating them in a vortex with us at its center. It howls. The rugs beneath us whip up and are tossed around. A storm of hot air crackles through it and small embers incinerate anything that gets drawn in. Incoherent voices yell around us, banging against the transparent barrier at its outer edge.

Finan grabs Keira by the arm and drags her the few paces between them, pulling her against his chest. “I should just take you now and kill your people here. They won’t be able to stopme before I reach the palace.”He pulls a knife from his side and moves it toward Keira’s belly. “If I can’t have you, no one else can. Especially not fae.”

It all happens so fast, in a blink of an eye, but I am faster.

In a heartbeat, roots explode out of the ground, tearing through carpets and running up the mad king’s legs and arms, holding him in place. I swing an arm around Keira’s waist and pull her into my chest, angling her body away from the king. I wrap my free hand around his narrow throat and lift him from the ground. My roots binding him give just enough that they don’t snap at the motion.

“I should kill you right here, like this,” I growl at him. “Snap your neck and prevent a war.”

The king’s eyes widen and tears stream down his face, even though I’m not actually choking him. The roots more than support his weight.

“Maybe I should leave you with the same bruises that I found on Keira’s throat when I entered this realm.” I flex my fingers, squeezing enough to hurt, then squeezing more.

His body shakes with fear. “Please,” he gasps. “Please?—”

Keira shivers against me, and it only incites me further.

“Release your hold on the king,” a voice booms.

I peer through the storm toward the murky image of Edmund and Prince Niall at the edge of the barrier. It is the voice of the prince that reaches us, on the air wielded by the Lord Protector. “Our forces have this pavilion surrounded. It will be a bloodbath if you kill the king.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “What are your measly human soldiers compared to the fae warriors I have stationed out there?” I lean right into the king’s face. “You will never touch Keira again, or I will kill you. Are we understood? Not. A single. Finger.”

The king nods vigorously and I let go of the pathetic creature, my vines retreating and taking his blade with them.

I glance down at Keira, still pressed against me. “Are you okay?”

Finan starts laughing. The uncontrolled hysterics bubble out of him, and he collapses to his knees, doubled over. Tears run down his face. When he glances up at Keira and myself, his eyes are feral.

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