Page 93 of Golden Queen
I stepped to the side to take my customary seat by the window, but Bryce Mandelian pulled out a chair that had been squeezed in between his and Lord Lunke's. "Sit here, Princess. You will need a place at the table for this discussion."
That sounded dire to my ears, and as I took my seat, I realized many of the eldermen refused to meet my gaze.
Markus, at the head of the table, stared back at me with near contempt in his expression.
My first thought was that they must know about the time I'd been spending with Io. I was here for a formal censure. Perhaps they were officially setting me aside from the throne. My heart...unexpectedly leapt at the possibilities that might present.
I stayed silent, but my pulse thundered in my ears.
After pushing the chair in for me, Bryce Mandelian took his seat at my side. He gave me a smile that was either sympathetic or encouraging. I couldn't decide which.
Markus cleared his throat. "We have called you here, Princess, because we have had two offers of marriage for you that we are considering."
"We are not considering two," Bryce put in shortly. "We are considering one offer and how to deal with the refusal of another."
"Offers from whom?" I asked, assuming that a seat at the table meant I could speak openly.
Markus looked at me as though my assumption was dead wrong, but he answered me all the same. "We have had an offer from Nightfall, and another from Penjan."
My heart leapt in my chest. An offer from Nightfall...
"We are not considering the offer from Penjan," Bryce said, again rather sharply, eyeing Markus with clear disdain. "Even if they were notelves, the King of Nightfall is offering a sovereign contract."
"The...King of Nightfall?" I asked, my heart seeming to pause its beating.
"Yes, Aelia," Bryce said solemnly. "The king has offered very generous terms for a marriage alliance in the form of a sovereign contract. It would mean you rule Windemere in your own right."
"Do you mean..." I began, feeling the cold now seeping into my very soul. "Do you mean I would marry the King of Nightfall?"
"Yes, Princess," Markus nearly spat. "You and the bloody King of the fae. Nightfall would get the first heir and Windemere would get second. You each maintain your sovereign nations, and he will send his armies to defend us from the elves."
My heart had simply vanished from my chest. I knew it must be in there. Itmusthave been beating, since I was still alive, but I could not feel it. I could not feel anything.
"And Penjan—" Markus began.
Bryce cut him off. "To hell with Penjan. They offer nothing but to take Aelia to the Shadowlands and leave your fat ass on the throne while she breeds little elfling heirs for Prince Refaedon."
I could see that Bryce was extremely angry, but their words still made no sense. None of it made any fucking sense. I could not marry Behr Aldur. I could not marry Io's brother!
Bryce turned in his chair. "Aelia, child," he said, taking my cold hands in his. "You have to know how sorry I am for this—to put you in this position, but we simply will not survive without the armies of Nightfall. Windemere will fall. Penjan is nearly upon us with a million men. You will be crownedthis very day so that you enter the betrothal as a Queen. You will be able to spend most of your time in Windemere. Your life will be yours. It is the best you could hope for."
The best I could hope for. The words still just made no sense. They had all lost their collective minds. "What...what if we refuse them both?" I asked, finally daring to use my voice and counting on myself to not start screaming and never stop.
"Whenwe refuse Penjan, they will take it very personally," Baroness Adiala said. The other eldermen had been silent thus far, so her voice surprised me. "We will need Nightfall just to bear the brunt of saying no to the Shadowlands."
"And Nightfall made it clear that they will not send their armies if there is no marriage alliance," Markus said snidely.
"But there’s no time for us to wait for the king to come here so that we can marry!" I insisted. "It will be too late for Windemere either way."
"The betrothal contract will suffice. It is as unbreakable a vow as the marriage contract will be," Bryce added.
I shook my head. That was hardly true. A contract did not weigh against a vow sworn to the gods. "He will still need to come here to—"
"His brother is here to stand as proxy," Markus said.
"But—" I began again, desperately trying to order my thoughts, trying to find some way around it.
My heart had seemingly returned. The whooshing of its frantic beat in my ears threatened to drown out all the rest around me.
