He shook his head. “You should have told me.”
“We couldn’t. That mark in your skin. We feared it would somehow know, and then reveal the truth to your father.”
They were right to fear that. Lorcan had often feared it himself. He did not truly understand the extent of the power that had once lived inside his skin, but it had been terrible indeed. He didn’t think his father had ever been able to read his mind, not fully, but he’d known some things he never should have. Some things Unseelie must have whispered into his mind.
“What if I don’t want to sit on the damn throne?” Lorcan asked, hands hanging heavily by his sides. “Look at it. It’s a bloody terrible seat, and everyone who sits there dies.”
“Then, you’ll be an even better High King than we hoped.”
“Reyna,” he said, shaking his head. “I need to speak with Reyna.”
He knew what his kingdom needed from him, and he would not turn his back on them, even if outside plots had put him there. But he needed to see her, to ask her to stay with him. She’d defeated the Ruin. She did not have to go. He knew it would be tough. She would miss the ice and the snow, but they could journey north once it was safe. Once the kingdoms were settled. Once peace found them once again.
The war had lasted one hundred years. It would not last forever.
“Reyna has already gone,” Segonax said quietly.
Lorcan’s heart dropped into his boots. “What? You said she was on the way to the castle.”
“I didn’t want to tell you she was gone until after we’d confronted your father. I was afraid you’d rush after her and forget about the throne.” He pressed his lips into a thin, white line. “We sent a scout to find her, and the warriors on the ground said they saw her board a ship sailing north.”
A sharp pain sliced through his gut. He almost fell to his knees from the force of it. Everything ached. His soul, his heart, his body itself. One moment his arms had been around her, and then the next…he’d been here, in the shadow of his father’s blood, staring at a cursed throne he did not want. Alone. Even though he’d known she’d planned to leave, it still felt as though she’d shoved her ice blade deep into his heart and then wrenched it to the side, destroying him completely.
“She wouldn’t do that,” he whispered. “She promised she would say goodbye before she left.”
“Unfortunately, Your Majesty, it seems she lied.”
Lorcan flinched at the sound of the title on the commander’s lips. “I am not your majesty yet.”
“With the death of your father, you very much are. We will call for your coronation by the week’s end. The kingdom will be pleased. After the recent turmoil, they will enjoy having something to celebrate.”
Lorcan growled, glaring at the luminous stone seat for which so much blood had been spilled. “I don’t want it, and I don’t have to take it. I could walk away from this right now and never look back.”
“You can,” Nollaig said quietly. “But you won’t.”
He whirled on Nollaig, heart thundering. “You did all this for the realm. You’ve plotted it for decades. Why don’t you sit on the damn thing yourself, Nollaig? Why don’t you become the High Queen?”
She was silent for a long while before answering. “Because I am a cursed monster, and this kingdom needs better than me.”
Lorcan turned his glare onto Segonax. The old commander lifted his hands in surrender.
“Do not look at me. If I wanted it for myself, I would have killed him a long damn time ago.”
“I am just a bastard,” Lorcan said, his hands hanging heavily by his sides. “A village bastard, raised in an enemy court. A spy who betrayed his lover. A son who watched his drunk of a father bleed out on his throne.”
“It will make a great tale for a bard,” Segonax said with a slight smile. “The Bastard Prince of Rothach.”
“No,” Nollaig whispered, striding forward with the twisting antler crown. “The King of Shadows.”
54
Mariel
“Grand Alderman.” Lord Neil dipped low as if he were addressing a king rather than a weedy male who had tried to steal the title for himself. He held up a rolled parchment, tied together with green string. “A letter arrived for you.”
Aengus frowned and snatched the parchment from where he sat at the head of the strategy table, pushing pieces around. He’d been doing this for days, distracted by the news that the Wood Court and the Shadow Court had engaged in battle.
“Who’s it from?” he asked, tossing it onto the table.
“There is a green tie on it, my lord,” Lord Neil said with a tight smile. “The color of the Wood Court, as I’m sure you know.”
Mariel bit back a smile at the dig. Of course Aengus would know. The majority of his army was with the wood king, and Aengus had yet to get them back.
“Why would the wood king be sending me a message?” Aengus snapped. “Think he’s finally decided to relent? Too scared to keep ahold of my army any longer, is he?”
Lord Neil pressed his lips together. “Of all topics this letter might cover, that is certainly an option.”
“Your niceties are sickening, Lord Neil.” Aengus snatched the letter from the table and unrolled the parchment. Mariel watched him hold the letter extremely close to his narrow eyes as he scanned the words. His expression went from angry to incredulous to intrigued. When he finally slammed the letter on the table, he was full on delighted.
“What does the letter say?” Mariel asked innocently.
“He wants to make an alliance,” Aengus said triumphantly. “I knew he would! Now that I have the entirety of the realm on my side, he’s terrified of me. He wants me to come at once and join the army down south. We’re to lay siege to the Shadow Court.”
Mariel exchanged a glance with Lord Neil. “Well then, it certainly does seem you were right all along. And once the rest of the realms see two great powers come together, they will surely fall in line as well.”
“I shall leave at once.” Aengus stood eagerly, his eyes wild with anticipation. Mariel had guessed he would react this way. She’d long suspected that he did not agree with Imogen’s decision to fight the Wood Court. The king was a terrible, cruel creature who inflicted monstrosities upon his own fae. Exactly the sort of fae that Aengus would be drawn to.
“Wait, my liege,” Lord Neil cut in as Aengus scurried toward the door. “Is this wise?”
“Why ever not?” Aengus snapped. “Or do you not wish to see our great kingdom rise to something even greater? We can finally become the empire we’ve long deserved to be.” His chest puffed. “I could become an emperor.”
“What I mean to say is that your absence will be surely...noted, my liege.” Lord Neil cleared his throat. “You are the Grand Alderman and the voice of our missing king. With you gone as well, who will rule us? Who will keep this court running smoothly in your absence? I worry we risk everything falling apart. Lords revolting. City uprisings.”
Aengus frowned as if this thought had not even occurred to him.