Page 5 of The Kingdom of Flames and Ash

“Take them to their bedchambers.” Tavish stepped away, intertwining our fingers. “Then have someone wash their skin gently to remove anything that could irritate it as it heals.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Struan bobbed his head, his light-green hair spilling into his face. “Isla, come with me. Let’s get you behind the castle walls.”

Isla pouted. “But what if the king and Lira need protection?” She unsheathed the knife from her side. “I should remain here to help guard them.”

The corners of my mouth tipped upward. I understood, especially with my memories returned, that Fate was a little more cutthroat than humans. But this ten-year-old girl had everyone I knew beat, and when she grew up, I had no doubt she’d be in charge of the guards, even over her father.

“She can remain with us.” Tavish forced a smile, though it didn’t meet his eyes. “I’m addressing the people now to reinforce that the fighting is over. There’s no need for alarm.”

Tavish sounded way more confident than I felt, but as I finally paid attention to the village and the people on the stonedpathway, I noted that the fighting had stopped. Dead bodies littered the area.

Since being forced to relocate to this decimated island, about seven thousand of Tavish’s people had perished due to the harsh living conditions and lack of food. Now, the remaining three thousand had been reduced by a hundred, if not more.

Not wasting any additional time, the guards carried off Finnian and Lorne as Tavish led me to the top of the stairs and spread out his dark wings behind us as Nightbane flanked my other side.

“I, the true and rightful king, have proven once again that I’m the strongest Unseelie and will lead my people.” His voice boomed, echoing against the village walls. “The revolt against me is over, and the ones who turned on me—”

Don’t make them prisoners, Tavish.I didn’t want to tell him how to lead, but at least a quarter of the Unseelie had aligned with Eldrin, and the others had remained quiet, giving in to peer pressure, afraid to speak out for what they wanted.Show them that you’re better than Eldrin. Make them see the difference. After all, haven’t you made a similar mistake, siding with others when you didn’t want to or remaining silent even when you felt like it was wrong?I didn’t like bringing up how he’d treated me, but this was a unique circumstance. He had to see how hypocritical he was being when I’d forgiven him.If they abuse your trust again, that’s a different story.

Silence hung heavy since Tavish had cut off midsentence in order to listen to what I had to say. Proof that the two of us had come far in a short amount of time.

“Your Majesty.” A man with hair the color of charcoal bent to one knee and bowed. “You are the rightful king, and I should have stood strong beside you. Punish me as you wish, for I deserve it for my betrayal.”

Murmurs of agreement filtered through the village as person after person kneeled, including children, leaving a handful of Unseelie standing before they dropped as well.

Those have to be Eldrin’s loyalists.Tavish’s hand tightened.The blasting wildlings who assisted in getting everyone to turn on me.

But now we know, and we can let them believe they got away with it without being noticed.I understood that, eventually, some of these people would need to be dealt with.We can have the guards you trust closely monitor the holdouts to see if they attempt to free Eldrin or something else.

Unfortunately, though they weren’t the majority, Eldrin’s followers numbered more than we’d anticipated. Still, the ones who’d cried out against Tavish had given us more information than we’d known before, and we might not have learned of their disloyalty if Tavish hadn’t paused to consider what to do next.

You’re right, but there is one person who won’t be given that grace.Tavish lifted his chin, looking ever more the royal that he was. Even with his injuries and weakened magic, he appeared stronger than any man I’d known.

My chest expanded to the point that it felt as if it might explode from how proud I was of him and how much I loved him.

“I understand that, under the circumstances, it was easy for you all to doubt me. I did allow you to believe that I’d perished, and I left the land to save the Seelie princess. But I never intended to abandon you. I had to rescue my fated mate, who was taken away from me against her will.” He lifted the sleeves of his black tunic, showing them part of the intricate fated-mate tattoo of delicate vines and leaves interconnected with thorns that spread across both our chests, down our arms, and continued to our left hands, circling our ring fingers.

Following his lead, I pulled the sleeves of my dress toward my elbow and allowed the crowd to see that I had the same markings.

A few people gasped, and one of the women muttered, “Impossible. There hasn’t been a fated-mate pairing in centuries.”

“Well, the tattoos are proof, and he spoke the words.” Isla appeared on the other side of Nightbane and wrinkled her nose. “I’m a child, and even I know better than to question that.”

I planned to hug the girl as soon as I was able.

“As soon as Lira and I found a way back here to you, we didn’t hesitate to return.” Tavish paused, allowing his words to sink in. “And though I’m willing to give all of you a second chance, there is one person standing out here who won’t be allowed that fate.”

Completely human, Lira might have interjected and tried to convince Tavish to change his mind, but I knew of whom he spoke and understood that the person had purposely harmed me, and worse, she had a weapon that we needed to learn how she’d gained access to. There would be no talking him out of it.

“Princess Lira,” Tavish said tenderly but firmly. “Please turn around so the people know what willneverbe tolerated.”

My heart hammered as my emotions clashed. A part of me did want justice for what had been done, but I feared Tavish’s choice would be death.

Obliging him, I did as he requested and spread my wings just as the breeze picked up, causing them to ripple. The injury I’d sustained near the base of my wings from an Unseelie woman’s arrow throbbed. The arrow had been made of true Unseelie wood from their original kingdom and some sort of special stone, and while I’d healed my wings partly with my magic, they hadn’t fully healed. Plus, the wounds had reopened during battle.

Nightbane growled at the sight, and Tavish let out a low snarl that could’ve passed as an animal’s.

“This was done to my fated mate, your futurequeen, when she wasn’t threatening anyone,” Tavish said and patted his chest where blood smeared from a cut that I hadn’t noticed until now.

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