Page 129 of I Summon the Sea

Everything about this place, about the fae and their world, seems that way. Hard. Unforgiving. Set up by rigid rules.

Silver hair threaded with gold, I think, as the page boy retreats and the guards shut the heavy doors. Changing with the light. Or with the day. His mood. Or his intentions.

I feel kind of dizzy.

“There has only been one woman for me.”Jai’s words echo in my mind.“Only one mate, and that’s fate.”

How can I fault him for holding onto a past love? Am I not doing the same? I loved a boy once, a young man with golden hair falling into gray eyes, and he lives inside my heart.

Holding that memory like a talisman against my chest, I walk up to the dais and drop into a curtsy in front of the fae king.

“Lady Rae,” he says.

“Your Majesty,” I breathe. “You asked to see me.”

The king’s head bows, pale brows rising. “You can speak. What a surprise.”

He doesn’t sound entirely surprised, though. My mouth tightens as I straighten from my curtsy. I have to remember my voice is back. I’m still startled every time I hear it.

“Magic.” He rises from his throne to tower over me. “I knew I felt magic on you. Hidden by a spell, was it? After all, without magic, how would you have found the royal apartments, or come so close to stabbing me? Each spellwork has a taste, salt for water, sweet for earth, smoky for fire, bitter for air, and I tasted yours.”

Hells.He can feel magic.

He walks toward me and stretches out his hand. “Walk with me.”

Letting out a controlled breath, I put my hand in his and let him lead me around the dais and the pillar standing behind it. We walk to another set of doors, these ones opening to the outside world.

We step over the threshold into another walled garden, a smaller one this time. Trees grow in concentric circles, with the same twisted trunks and the same grotesque faces in their bark.

“Why was there such a spell on you muting your voice?” he asks as we walk around the statue of a fae woman holding up a flower.

I swallow past a throat gone dry. “I crossed a sea nymph,” I murmur a half-truth, keeping my head down. “She took my voice.”

“A siren?” At my nod, he looks thoughtful. “I wish you’d tell me the truth, because I will get to it, sooner or later.”

I stiffen, and his hand tightens around mine, as if he’s sensed I’m about to bolt.

But bolt where? We’re in a walled garden, guards nearby, with this powerful king walking beside me, a king able to summon all kinds of magic.

As if hearing my thoughts, he lifts a hand, and a large rock slowly pushes out of the ground. I gasp, pulling away, but his grip is unmovable as he raises this large rock out of the earth. It settles with a groan, soil piling at its sides, worms and centipedes writhing around it.

He’s not done, though. He flicks his hand, and a rose plant climbs over the sides of the rock, weaving over it, growing taller until it forms a small bower.

The rose bush is still rustling and pushing out new shivering blooms as he leads us closer. The rock forms a bench, the roses the backrest.

“Let us sit,” he says as if he hasn’t just performed a major spell without breaking a sweat, a reminder of his vast elemental power, and I sink down on the hard surface without a word. A thorn pinches my arm, and I jerk.

“You can’t love the roses without their thorns,” he says, and it’s an echo of something deep inside my mind.

We sit in silence for a few heartbeats. He’s still holding my hand, though the grip has gentled.

How can I kill him? I’m still without my magic, without a blade, without a plan. The despair is eating me alive.

“He has been lying to you,” the king says, startling me. “Athdara is lying to you.”

“About what?”

“He does that with pretty girls. Seduces them. Talks sweet nothings in their ear. Did he try to get you into his room?”

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