Page 22 of Destined for the Fae King

She shrugs as best she can with the tray still in her hands. “I thought the others might want some too.”

“Oh, and we do,” Grace croons as she arrived at my side. “We really do.”

Grace takes hers black. But Alex adds sugar until the little bowl Fia brought is nearly empty.

“So much for relaxing,” I say, brows raised at her cup.

“I like it sweet.” She takes a long sip, her eyes rolling in pleasure. “Besides, we’ve got that thing with the kids in a bit. I’m going to needallmy wits for that.”

“Not a fan of kids?” I ask.

Alex shudders. “Smelly, loud, never still.”

“Just like you.” Grace pokes her in the side.

“Hey!” Alex swatted at her. “I do not smell.” She sniffs at her armpit. “Okay, well maybe a little.”

To be fair, I do too. Yoga might be relaxing, but it never fails to make me sweat. “I think we all do. And we should probably get cleaned up before we spend time with the king.”

That, and I can not handle another run in with Lysandir if he’s headed this way.

“Excellent point.” Alex sighs. “But I’m taking this with me.” She wraps her hands a little tighter around her mug before heading inside. Grace follows her.

I’m about to leave when I notice Adeline talking to a guard. He holds rolled-up yoga mats in his outstretched arms, waiting as Adeline adds another to the pile. She picks up the last two and says, “I’ll carry these.”

He shakes his head. “I wouldn’t ask you to carry them, Lady Adeline.”

“You’re not.” She grins. “I’m offering. You have too many already. Besides, I’d like to walk with you.” His sandy cheeks flush, but he doesn’t argue with her.

“Coffee, Adeline?” I offer as they passed by.

“Oh.” She tears her eyes away from the guard, seeming to finally notice Fia and her tray. “No thanks.” Just as quickly, her focus shifts back to her companion, and she says, “Lead the way.”

I watch them go, marveling at the seeming friendship that’s developed between her and her guard already. Or did they know each other before? My brows pinch. She has visited here often. Either way, it’s a reminder of how behind I am, of the connections some of the others have that I don’t.

“I’ll take these back and then come help you get ready,” Fia says, breaking me from my reverie.

“Eh, bring them to my room. I’ll drink them.”

Her eyes widen. “All of them?”

I wink. “One can never have too much coffee.”

She shakes her head but keeps her rueful demeanor. “If you insist.”

Chapter 9

When I envisioned meetingthe fae children, I always placed us in a classroom of sorts. Somewhere educational and indoors where we’d sit at little tables and talk to the kids while they worked on art projects or something.

Instead, it’s about the opposite of that.

We meet in a lush inner courtyard similar to the one we performed yoga in this morning, except this one is a little more open with a large, grassy oval in the center, the outsides smattered with bushes and trees, including some that look like especially tall palms. But where the palm trees I’ve seen on trips are tall and narrow with all their fan-leafed fronds draping from the top, these have branches that jut out from the trunk as well. Perfect for climbing, and the fae kids clearly think so too.

Two of them are high up in the branches. A distressed fae male shouts up at them from the ground, demanding they come down that instant.

Grace snort with laughter as Alex mumbles, “I told you kids are trouble.”

Maybe so, but they’re clearly having a good time. As are many of the others already gathered in the wide, oval space. One groupof kids plays a soccer-like game with three balls of varying sizes, though I don’t see any goals. Little ones crawl in the grass near their caretakers, all of whom wear a similar uniform to the shouting man’s, consisting of a tunic and pants in a sandy-colored material that shimmers in the light.

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