Page 43 of The Fae Kings' Bargain

“You should not have ordered me stopped,” Mehl snapped.

Toren halted in the middle of the hallway, so suddenly that Ria continued on a couple of steps before turning around to frown at them. “I disagree,” Toren replied coolly.

“Do you know what this has likely cost us?” Mehl longed to throttle his husband or, barring that, at least pace the corridor. Something. As usual, he couldn’t. “We haven’t heard a word from Sir Macoe, which means the Centoi informant escaped. I could have caught her.”

Abruptly, his husband’s reserve evaporated. “I don’t give a fuck about the spy. We’ll capture her or we won’t. It’s you who concerns me. If I must protect you from your own impulses, I will do so.”

Ria gasped, but Mehl couldn’t focus on anything but Toren’s words. Protect him from his own impulses? Protect. Him. Apparently, he had returned to his youth and now needed a minder.

Mehl scowled. “Has your regard slipped for me, then?”

“My regard?” Eyes narrowing, Toren stepped into his space. “What madness is this? I cannot believe you would ask me such.”

“There was a time you trusted me and myimpulsesimplicitly,” Mehl said. “For decades, I stood guard over you against every danger, but now you treat me like a fool.”

“I don’t mean to. But you are nowking, not abodyguard,” Toren gritted out.

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? Mehl loved his husband and for the most part bore his current role well enough, but there was a core of discontent he’d refused to face until the current threat from Ber had forced it to the surface. For truly, what purpose did Mehl serve? He offered opinions on issues and helped manage the household, but Toren didn’t need him for those things.

Toren could rule the whole blasted kingdom alone.

“I don’t know what I am,” Mehl said. “And neither do you.”

He shoved past Toren and hurried around a shocked Ria, only to be pulled up short by his husband’s grip on his arm.

Toren circled him, expression furious. “You are mine.”

That wasn’t in question—or perhaps it wasn’tthequestion. “And what else?”

“You needn’t do anything.” Toren advanced, crowding him once more. “As my king—”

“I am useless.” A wave of his husband’s energy crashed against him, a sign that Toren was near his limit. But Mehl couldn’t yield. “I am a warrior, but I have no battle or task. No purpose beyond your bed.”

Toren stumbled back as though Mehl had shoved him. He might as well have. Gods, had he just said that? Horror washed over him, followed promptly by shame and regret. Toren was his heart, and he’d never doubted being loved in return. What had come over him? He knew very well that he wasn’t a mere bedmate.

A small, distressed sound from Ria caught his attention, but he could barely take in the upset on her face. His gaze was for Toren and the stark pain in his eyes a few heartbeats before it was shuttered away. Mehl’s stomach lurched. It was a rare hurt that his husband hid from him.

“I see,” Toren said. “I will be in our room. If it is still ours.”

Then Toren spun away and strode off, his footsteps sharp against the stone.

Mehl wanted to call him back, but his tongue felt awkward and frozen. A useless thing, much as he’d claimed to be. He closed his eyes, unwilling to look at his husband’s retreating back. Or Ria. She was no doubt terrified by their argument.

What had he done?

* * *

For a moment,Ria couldn’t move. She and Mehl could have both been statues, turned to stone in the center of the corridor and left for future generations to gawk at. But she doubted they were stunned for the same reason.

A Centoi informant? She’d been suspicious of the situation and had guessed there was danger. Of course she had. But she’d tried to ignore her disquiet, especially after Mehl returned and the meal continued.It could have been anything,she’d eventually told herself.

The fact that she’d been served dinner by an actual spy from the enemy kingdom and Toren hadn’t breathed a word…that was a blow to the gut. Toren could take her body. He could trust her to carry his heir. Yet he couldn’t confide in her when her life was in actual danger? If not for Mehl’s outburst, she wouldn’t even know that the spy was still on the loose.

How could Toren do that?

Mehl’s shoulders sagged, and harsh, naked pain twisted his face as he stared down the empty hallway. Just like that, the shock holding her in place cracked. As much as she was bothered by Toren’s actions toward her, she couldn’t deny the old pain behind his argument with Mehl. She’d never thought of the kings as anything but a unit, as solid and ever-present as the palace itself, but they were clearly more complicated than that.

It wasn’t really her business, yet how could she ignore Mehl’s obvious need? Before she could stop to think, Ria crossed the space between them and stopped in front of him. He seemed to peer through her for a second before he blinked and focused his gaze on hers.

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