Page 63 of The Fae Queen's Revenge

There it was—the slight hitch of breath and the widening eyes. The hint of calculation. And then, awareness. “I would support Queen Etessa with my life. Had I ever had the chance, of course,” the lord added as a pair of guards drew closer to their resting spot.

Ber’s stomach turned, and his shoulders grew heavy with dread. But they really did have little choice about taking such risks. Time was running out. “I’m sure she would hold you to that were she here,” he murmured.

“As she should,” Ilduin whispered.

Lifting his sword, Ber straightened and gave the other man a smug grin. “Rested enough, Ilduin? With the advice I’ve just imparted, you’ll surely do better on the second round.”

Surprisingly enough, the man actually did.

Chapter 30

The Tour

It was impossible for Tes to remain in the disguise room, waiting politely for night. She needed information, and there wasn’t much time to gain it. She could sense that Ber was outside the palace, likely at the training grounds based on direction, so her father would either be meeting with advisors in his study or in his private rooms. She didn’t dare attempt to spy on the latter—he’d long ago shielded the tunnels behind his inner sanctum with the strongest protections possible. But the section near his study held possibilities.

Those passages weren’t unprotected, but the shielding was light enough that she’d learned to work around it centuries ago. If her father had remained either complacent or lazy enough not to adjust them, she could slip through and observe his meetings. It would be dangerous, of course. If he managed to sense her energy, she would surely be caught. But if she could gain crucial information, it would be worth the risk.

Tes slipped through the secret tunnels on silent feet, her enchanted dress from Ria helping her to move without a sound. Not that stealth was necessary. She hadn’t encountered her father here in centuries, and as far as she knew, no one else besides the two of them and Ber possessed the magical keyrequired to enter. It was habit, one formed over millennia. Even without an actual need, it made her feel secure.

As secure as one could feel in such a situation, at least.

She stopped just outside the welling pulse of shielding that hummed from the walls here, being such an important part of the palace. This needed care. She’d passed unnoticed while observing the throne room, but there had been hundreds of people to distract her father there—both physically and energy-wise. But here, one wrong brush of her energy, and he would know that she lived.

After pulling in a deep breath, Tes gathered her own shielding tightly around herself before probing the spells around her with a deft but methodical mental hand. The spells here were just as she remembered them. Strong, yet weak to her family’s power. These safeguards had been cast around the entire study to keep others from observing royal business. She wasn’t specifically blocked, so it was easy enough for her to slip through.

Tes sidled up to the only observation spot likely to do her good, though it was also the most dangerous since it was just behind her father’s desk. The narrow slit between the stones required her to lift onto her tiptoes to see through, and most of the view was obstructed by a tapestry. But she could make out her father’s left side and a thin slice of the area in front of his desk.

He wasn’t alone.

Her gaze narrowed on Duke Aony, who stood almost nervously on the other side of the desk. The duke’s lips moved, but she could barely make out the murmur of his voice through the thick stone. Clenching her teeth, Tes turned her ear to the gap so she could pick out each sound.

“I understand what you are saying, Your Majesty,” Aony said.

“Then you’ll let me have her.”

“This is our family’s honor, or I would happily concede.” Tension entered the duke’s tone. “She is young, with dreams of a grand courtship and wedding. Should she be ruined—”

The hiss of the king’s breath reached Tes’s ear even through the stone. “You dare suggest her time with me would soil her, Aony?”

“No, no,” the duke hurried to reply. “I referred only to her marriage prospects. Even if you decide she doesn’t suit, the other lords will be too worried about your wrath to ever wed her. That is my concern.”

“Shewillbe my bride.”

“And I would like to present you with a wife of absolute purity.” Aony’s voice turned sly and slightly mocking. “If you bed her now, you’ll have no way of being certain on your wedding night that she’s truly untouched by any other. Not to disparage my sister, but you know women. Had once, they’re prone to wander unless tightly reined.”

Bile rose up Tes’s throat, and she ground her fist against the stone wall to keep from letting out an oath. If she could get away with it, she would stride into that study and shove her dagger straight into the man’s gut. Or maybe she would cut out his tongue? Her lips thinned. She could always do both. Knives were imminently moveable, after all.

Her father chuckled. “Now, that is an excellent point. It’s that type of thinking that earned your summons here.”

“You aren’t angry at my refusal, Your Majesty?”

“We both know it is a setback, not a refusal.” The king paused. “I had thought to offer you an incentive. A sign of my honest intentions.”

Tes bit back a snort. Her father probably hadn’t had an honest intention since childhood.

If then.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Aony replied.

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