Page 15 of A Blaze of Fire
“Hmm.” The King peered around the room. “You’re all excused. Alec, may I have a word?”
Alec bowed politely. “Yes, Your Highness.”
I stayed put, fully intending to learn what they were going to discuss, when Rosemary grabbed my arm and guided me out of the throne room, Rook following closely behind. The instant the heavy double doors closed behind us, I realized the solid wood prevented the barest whisper of sound from escaping. I deflated.
“What do you think the King wants with Alec?” I nervously asked Rosemary.
She shrugged, her big eyes blinking in a weird manner. “Who knows? It’s not our concern. Alec can take care of himself.”
In other words,Mind your own business.
8
ALEC
Once the throne room’s double doors sealed closed and I watched Violet safely exit, I turned my attention back to the King. Whatever he had to say must have been important if he didn’t even want Kazimir listening in.
I would’ve arrived sooner if Sage hadn’t held me up. I really needed to quit her.
The King sniffed the air and I tensed. I’d showered before entering but the King had a keen sense of smell.
“I smell a female on you. It isn’t our dear Violet. Hmm, must be Sage.” The King grinned lasciviously. “Still going at it, eh?”
I cleared my throat. “It’s nothing serious,” I assured him. “Just a little fun.”
“I hope so. You had the upper hand on Sage this go around, but she’s been one step ahead many times before,” he noted dryly. “I’ve always considered her your greatest weakness.”
This time I couldn’t help but laugh, though I managed to cover my mouth to keep from being too loud. “My apologies, Your Highness, but Sage is far from being my weakness. You could behead her right now and I wouldn’t even flinch.”
The King rested his elbow on the throne’s armrest and placed his chin on his hand, contemplating what I’d just said. “Is that so? What about your brother?”
I almost laughed off his claim out of habit but paused. My brother? Since when did he bring up Ansel? That topic had always seemed off limits around here. Anything that had to do with my family and how I’d turned my back on them was fairly taboo. So why now?
“Cat got your tongue?” The King grinned impishly.
I shook my head. “I-”
“It’s all right, Alec, you don’t have to answer that. Just answer this one question for me: Why would your brother want to come to the Unseelie Court?”
With great effort, I cautiously controlled my expression, even though he’d just shocked the hell out of me. Ansel … in the Unseelie Court? Was my brother really so desperate he would out himself just for one girl?
“Alec?” the King called out. “Are you listening?”
“Yes!” I answered quickly. “And no, I don’t know why he would want to come to the Unseelie Court. Has a formal request been made?” I tried to stall to give myself time to think of a plausible excuse for Ansel’s request.
The King nodded. “And unless I have a good reason, I cannot deny the Seelies their representative.”
Each Court was allowed to have one representative in the other’s Court as an ambassador of sorts who acted as an intermediary for the King and Queen.
“The Seelies already have a representative here. Are they requesting an exchange?” I asked for clarification.
The King nodded. “Now you see why I’m curious. Your brother hasn’t wanted anything to do with you in decades andnowhe wants to be in my Court?”
Stupid fool. He wanted to be near Violet, and the only way to get the Seelie Queen to agree to send him was to tell her about Vi. Ansel wasn’t coming here just as the Seelie representative. He was coming to infiltrate the Unseelie Court and eventually take Violet away.
I had two choices here. I could either out Ansel and fracture whatever plans he made with the Seelie Queen, possibly kindling a war between our Courts, or I could let this play out and see what happened. At the end of the day, the only one who would get hurt was Violet.
I had to choose the lesser of two evils. What would be less painful for Vi? If I outed Ansel, that meant divulging Violet’s skeletons as well – namely who her father was. The King wouldn’t hesitate to turn Violet from his guest to a prisoner.
