Page 91 of To Wake a Kingdom

At that moment, Ronan’s mother came into the room and paled as she took in her son, the truth written on her like a prophecy hammered into stone.

Reaching up to touch his cheek, Vivian trembled like a wind-blown petal. “He promised,” she said, addressing Maida. “He promised to keep him safe.”

Maida gave a shrug of his wide shoulders. “You knew this day was coming, and King Nictis tires of waiting. With your husband out of the way, the time had come.”

“Someone explain what is going on,” Ronan demanded, his initial uncertainty giving way to steel and anger.

Maida raised a slate-gray eyebrow at Vivian and said in a bored tone, “Would you care to do the honors, Your Majesty?”

Ronan swung his gaze to his mother, who quailed under the fierceness of his expression.

After a coarse swallow, she finally spoke. “Many years ago, I fell in love with a Fae noble who is close to the king, but I was already married to Winston. We had an affair, and you were the result.”

Ronan swayed on his feet.

The man I had killed was not his father.

“To keep us both safe from Winston’s wrath, we agreed to keep it quiet and raise you as his son. Your real father performed the dampening and glamoured you to look human. I’ve always felt differently about you, Ronan. That was no secret. You were created out of the greatest love I’ve ever known, unlike your brother, who grew up to be so much like his father I sometimes couldn’t bear to even look at him. I hated that man,” she said, her voice catching like silk on a thorn.

Ronan said nothing, a disbelieving look on his face.

I wanted to comfort him, but there were no words to soften this.“What does any of this mean?” I asked. “Why are you telling us all this, and why did you wait until now to reveal it? You knew the king was dead weeks ago. Why wait until tonight?”

Maida canted his head. “I only received my orders after Erick surprised us by deciding to marry you instead of Lady Perrand. I was curious to see how things played out,” he said with a wicked laugh. “Oh, that was a delicious bit of irony. But even I couldn’t stomach him heaving and panting over you any longer. I needed to end that obscene display. You’re welcome.” He made a sickened face.

Shame flushed my cheeks, knowing Maida had watched Erick about to force himself on me. Ronan’s hand tightened around mine, fury coiled and ready to strike like a caged viper. Maida’s slow smile spread again as he turned to the noblemen who had been listening in stunned silence.That snapped whatever spell they had been under because they all broke out in a chorus of denials and refusals to accept a half-Fae prince as their king.

Maida silenced them with a slice of his hand.

“You’re under the delusion you have a choice here. King Nictis will invade Estria should you refuse him. Your pitiful human army will be nothing against a legion of trained Fae warriors.”

No one could deny the truth of that.

Maida crooned at me. “Don’t look so devastated, Princess. I did you a favor.”

A few hours later, I was back in my guest room. As night blanketed the city, I sat on the balcony beneath a thick quilt before a firepit crackling with flames, with my legs tucked under me. The cold air opened my lungs.

Ronan approached, his shirt sleeves rolled up, displaying the corded muscle of his forearms. He looked human again, with rounded ears and standard canines. Like Maida and Alban, he still glowed faintly, but it wasn’t as hard to look at him.

“Maida showed me how to control my, uh…otherworldliness,” he said, sitting next to me.“He says it makes humans uncomfortable to be around our true forms.”

“How do you feel?”

“Different. My sight, my hearing, my speed… It’s all so different. The world looks nothing like it did before.” I didn’t think he meant just physically.

“What about the noble houses?”

“They’ve agreed to King Nictis’s terms. Me on the throne to form an alliance between Estria and the Fae. My father would be turning over in his grave. He loathed the Fae.”

“But at least it means security for your kingdom.”

“Yes.” Ronan rubbed a hand down his face.

“What is it?” I unspooled from my position, scooting in next to him and draping the quilt over both of us.

“I’ve never wanted to be king. It’s the last thing I’ve ever wanted to be.”

“I know. But you will make an excellent one. You are a better man than your father or your brother could have ever hoped to be.”

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