He shook his head, trying to bring himself back to full awareness of what was happening around him. Talus was standing in front of him and had produced his old iron flail from somewhere, threatening anyone who came near Con.
Although, oddly, it didn’t seem like anyone was paying that much attention to him. Instead, their attention—and their ire—seemed to be focused on Andy.
Andy—whose expression was one of total devastation. Why would he be upset? Con wasn’t reduced to dust. No other fae were threatened. The two of them now had a chance to make something of their budding relationship.
Then his hearing returned and he heard the accusations the dark elves were hurling at Andy.
“Norn!”
“Villain!”
“Apostate!”
“You won’t get away with this! We’ll see you condemned before Odin, cast into Helheim!”
While the Norse contingent seemed certain Andy had used his powers for his own gain, Gloriana seemed furious because he hadn’t done something.
“I warned you, norn. You had one task. One. Yet you couldn’t manage to do that single simple thing. Your time is over. Your worthless associates, your ridiculous company. All of it is—
“Silence!” Talus roared. Amazingly enough, everyone complied, even Gloriana, although by the way her nostrils flared and her eyes flashed, she was moments away from turning the lot of them into pond scum.
Talus strode between her and Andy. “Your Majesty, you are not permitted to visit any punishment on Sir Andy, Lady Brooke, or the others.”
“No? Just watch me.”
“I said you are not permitted. I am the arbiter of Justice, and I say it is not just for you to punish others simply because you’ve been thwarted, and because your own son was unworthy of his office.”
“You think I didn’t know that? The point of this whole farce was to rid me of a completely unnecessary heir, to consolidate my power, not to share it with… with… my consort’s bastard.”
Anger swirled in Con’s chest, amplified by that new kernel of power. He felt as if he could shoot flames out his eyes. “You knew? You knew that Rey would be destroyed, yet you did it anyway?”
Talus held up his hand—the one with the flail—before Con could launch a probably fruitless magical attack on Gloriana. He could feel the increase in his firepower, but she was the Queen and had centuries of practice on him.
“Regardless of your intent, the ritual is now complete.” Talus glared at the disordered ranks of the guests. “I repeat: All hail Conall of Odstone, the one true prince of Faerie.”
A ragged, halfhearted cheer went up from the crowd, although the dark elves didn’t participate.
Nor did Andy. His blue eyes were wide, his lips pressed into a thin, trembling line as he backed away until he bumped into Thomas’s side.
“Andy? What’s wrong?”
“You’re the prince. I mean, you’re really the prince. There’s no way we can… I thought we’d have a chance, but not now.”
“What are you talking about? Of course we have a chance.” Con grinned and spread out his arms. “I’m not dead. Let’s start from there.”
“Don’t you get it? You’re the prince.”
As Thomas nuzzled Andy’s hair, Con remembered the other benefit of his new position. “You’re right. I am the prince. And by the terms of the ritual, I’m entitled to three boons.” He turned to Gloriana. “I claim them now.”
Gloriana drew herself up until she seemed as tall as the trees behind her, but with Con’s newfound abilities, he could perceive her own form within the illusion. In fact, he was surprised to note that Gloriana was a full foot shorter than he’d always believed, barely over five feet tall.
Apparently she still had the attitude of her giant simulacrum, though. “You are owed nothing of the kind.”
Talus cleared his throat. “Yes, he is, Your Majesty.”
She scowled at him. “Then we’ll do it later.”
“He is permitted to choose the time and place of the boons as well as their nature.”
Con stepped forward. “And I choose here and now.”
The expression on Gloriana’s face was remarkably like a pout. “Very well.” She sank onto her throne, her fingers clutching the willow fronds until they bent. “Do your worst.”
“First, you will immediately free my mother from her captivity—without visiting any further punishment on her.”
Gloriana sniffed. “Very well. It shall be done as soon as I return to Faerie.”
Con crossed his arms. “I believe I said ‘immediately.’ Send word. One of your counselors—assuming there’s one who hasn’t fled—can handle the details surely.”
“Fine.” She gestured to a fae courtier who was attempting to hide behind a tree. “Next?”
“You will immediately restore my father to his former human form—also with a full pardon and no additional retribution.”
She sat bolt upright. “Outrageous! How dare you—”
“How dare you spend centuries tormenting him out of spite? It would be one thing if you even treated him well, but you did not. It’s time to move on, Your Majesty. It’s not as if you ever loved him anyway.”
Not ten minutes past, the glare Gloriana aimed at him would have turned him into a worm for sure. Not now. He allowed himself a satisfied smile.
She turned away from him and began muttering under her breath in Gaelic. She formed a complicated glowing rune in the air, then flicked her fingers, sending it arrowing straight at Thomas.
Thomas reared, fanning his wings as the rune hit him square in the chest, flared red, then blackened his scales while he roared, obviously in pain. To Con’s horror, he began to collapse in on himself, roar fading to a keening wail.
Con whirled on Gloriana. “I told you, no additional punishment.”
She looked down her nose at him. “It wasn’t a punishment. It was necessary. How do you imagine one could go from wyvern to man without a little pain?”
Con turned back in time to see Thomas—the human Thomas—push himself to his hands and knees.
“Trust me.” His voice was hoarse—understandable, since he hadn’t spoken actual words for centuries. “Going from man to wyvern is much worse.”
He stood up. His skin was pale, his dark hair overgrown and unkempt. Andy gestured to one of his associates who hurried over with a tablecloth, which Thomas wrapped around his hips. The smile he turned on Con was full of affection.
“Thank you, my son. I never expected you to waste a boon on me.”
“How could I not?”
Gloriana made a “let’s get on with it” motion. “The third one, if you don’t mind. I want to get out of this gods-forsaken place as soon as possible.”
“Last….” Con met Andy’s eyes where he stood next to Thomas, silently willing him to understand and to wait. “I want you to reconstitute Rey, with no additional punishment.”
The crowd burst into wild chatter again, but Thomas smiled at him gratefully, nodding as if he didn’t expect anything less.
Andy, though. Andy looked devastated… again. It must look as though I didn’t choose him. Con willed Andy to understand. This was the only chance he had to save his family without fear of Gloriana mounting later reprisals.
Gloriana glared at him irritably. “I can’t do that here, no matter what you think. It has to happen at a particular place in Faerie, one of the Old Places, at a certain phase of the moon, or the bloody ritual won’t be satisfied.”
“Understood.” He turned to Talus. “If you could collect Rey’s… pieces, please?”
Talus bowed. “It would be my honor, Your Highness.” He glanced at Brooke, who hurried over with a silver champagne bucket.
Well, at least Rey will be housed in something classy.
Three of the clan leaders from the Norse contingent shouldered their way through the other guests to stand before Gloriana. Lars, the leader of the Stjarna clan, pointed an imperious finger at Con.
&n
bsp; “Who is this person, this misbegotten cur? Why have we never seen him at court? You have never presented him at any official function. What does he know about serving Faerie, about diplomacy, about the honor due other realms?”
Con drew himself up, crossing his arms over his chest. “I know that you, Your Grace, spent the better part of the last interrealm trade conference drunk on fire mead, only appearing at the last moment to cast your obstructionist vote. The vote that blocked Faerie from all Earthside technology.”
“What— How would you know?”
“Because I was there. As Rey.”
Gloriana leaned forward, her fingers digging into the willow until Con swore he could hear the tree scream. “You had the temerity to pass yourself off as my son?”
“I’ve been standing in for Rey since we were boys. I saw how each of you—” Con pointed to the clan leaders of both the light and dark elves, the undine leader lounging in the fountain. “—conspired to keep Faerie out of the modern world. I saw how you—” He pointed at Nils, who scowled back. “—treated Earthside as if it were your own playground, its people unworthy of consideration simply because they possess no intrinsic magic.”
He scanned the crowd, carefully avoiding Andy’s gaze. If he’d been appalled by Con impersonating Rey this time, how would he feel if he knew it had been happening for years? But if he expected to make his next move stick, if he expected to be able to accomplish any kind of reforms in Faerie, forge any treaties with the other realms, he had to establish his credentials.
“Think back on every meeting, every negotiation, every tedious official function that the Queen didn’t attend, yet Rey was present. That was me. I was never a voting member—you all saw that Faerie was excluded from any real decisions. But I know more about the way you all govern than Rey ever could, because he always passed those duties on to me.”
“Bloody gift of responsibility,” Gloriana muttered. “Why did it have to land on you?”
“It’s as well that it did. Because you thought those meetings beneath you too, otherwise why send Rey instead of attending yourself? It wouldn’t have mattered which of your hand-picked candidates Rey chose. Their clans have all been voting to keep you from real power for centuries.”
Gloriana sat back in her throne, eyeing the clan leaders with hostility. That’s right. Direct your anger to those who deserve it.
Con drew himself up, calling on that new glowing kernel in his chest to infuse him with a princeliness that still sat on him like one of Rey’s borrowed red velvet tunics. “Now, I believe I have one more duty this day. It is time for me to announce my choice of consort.”
And Goddess, please let Andy forgive me for this.
Chapter Nineteen
WHEN Con made his announcement, Andy froze in the act of draping his Enchanted Occasions blazer around Thomas’s naked shoulders. Of course. That was the whole point of this event—the coronation, the choice of consort, the wedding. It didn’t matter that Con wasn’t Gloriana’s son—he’d been the acting prince for years, decades, centuries, in all the ways that mattered.
He was a natural for the part. A natural to offset Gloriana’s petty cruelty. A natural to care for his people. So naturally, I fell in love.
But Andy could never hope to fit into the mold of a royal consort. Con needed someone with political clout. Someone who could bridge the diplomatic gap between Faerie and the other realms. Definitely not me.
Besides, even though Con had declared his love, if he was ready to die for his people, he’d definitely be willing to sacrifice something as relatively trivial as love for them. After all, he had the example of what love had cost his father—who was shivering despite the mild temperature.
While Andy understood Con’s need for a true consort intellectually, emotionally he wanted to kick and scream.
So instead, he focused on his job. He signaled a couple of the EO housekeeping brownies to assist Talus—they could corral dust no matter where it was, not to mention differentiate between Rey and the less royal dust of the path.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out near the back of the crowd, and Andy heard the unmistakable roar of a goblin berserker in a rage.
Oh, sweet Fate. Chef! He patted Thomas on the shoulder. “I’ll be back shortly with some clothes for you, but there’s a… a thing I have to deal with.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Thomas said. “I’ve endured far more discomfort than this.”
Andy dodged through the crowd—not easy considering they were all retreating from the angry goblin, their fancy robes hiked above their knees.
“Eat!” Chef roared. “You will all eat, or I’ll know the reason why!”
Andy tapped his earpiece. “Smith, I need the flower fairy IRT, stat!”
“No can do, Andy. They had to escort Gloriana’s toady through the Intergate to Faerie to release Con’s mom.”
“Well, get them back. Chef’s about to slip into berserker mode.”
“Shit. I’ll try, but tech doesn’t work in Faerie.”
Odin’s beard, if Con managed to get that problem reversed in his new role, it would make life easier for the Enchanted Occasions staff. Even if I’m not a part of it anymore.
Andy rushed over to Chef, checking each of his massive hands for knives and cleavers. None, thank Freya. However, he was waving his crème brûlée torch about, which could be just as disastrous, especially if he injured any of Forrest’s plants.
“Chef. What’s wrong? Why are you out of the kitchen?”
Chef glared at Andy out of blazing eyes. “There is a feast. There are shrimp puffs. There is cake. But there are no diners! People are fleeing without eating. This is unacceptable.”
“Things got a little complicated here, which threw the schedule off, but we’re almost done. The… the coronation is complete.”
“Good.” He pointed the torch over Andy’s shoulder. “You! Claim your consort at once before my soufflés are all ruined.”
Andy swallowed around a lump in his throat the size of Chef’s fist. “I’m sorry, but I think that part of the ceremony—”
“Should proceed immediately.”
Andy swung around at the sound of Con’s voice. “Oh. I thought—” He swallowed. “Of course. You have a duty to your realm now.” He raised his chin, attempting to smile despite his trembling lips. “A responsibility.” No matter what Andy had hoped before Con’s unexpected ascension to heir presumptive, all of that was gone now. “Chef, go on back to the banquet hall, and everyone will be there shortly.”
Chef hmmphed, but although smoke trailed out his nostrils, he didn’t actually expel any fire. He crossed his arms. “Then I wait here. I will not be made a fool of. This one—” He pointed at Con. “—will choose. Now.”
“Chef,” Andy said, exasperation creeping into his tone. “You can’t order a prince—”
“He’s right,” Con said. “It’s my duty to make sure I have the best partner at my side to guide Faerie into the modern world.” Con gripped Andy’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. With my gift of responsibility, I don’t really have a choice.”
Andy nodded. “I know. It’s okay.” And if I try really hard, I won’t burst into tears when you choose someone else.
Con let go, after giving him one last smile, and turned to face the crowd—who were still staying a safe (or safe-ish) distance from Chef. “Thanks to the exemplary efforts of the staff of Enchanted Occasions, I have made my choice. For my consort, I choose….” Con scanned the crowd, his gaze lingering over each of the candidates as Andy’s heart slowly broke into tiny pieces. “Anders Skuldsson.”
AS Con had expected, his announcement created an uproar—outrage from the dark elves, contempt from the light elves and undines, palpable fury from Gloriana. But he could care less about any of them. The only person whose opinion mattered was Andy.
Half afraid, half hopeful, he glanced down at Andy. As Con had feared, Andy looked stunned—and not particularly happy. How could he be? If he accepted Con’
s proposal, he’d be leaving his old life behind for one that came with burdens that Con had no right to impose on someone he loved.
But Con needed Andy. Faerie needed Andy. Con would have preferred a more private setting to make his declaration—and more time as well—but he didn’t have that luxury.
He took Andy’s hands in his. “I really am sorry. You didn’t ask for this any more than I did. But Faerie needs you.” He pressed a kiss to Andy’s knuckles. “Your positivity. Your capableness. Your practical problem-solving.” He smiled wryly. “Your ability to manage groups of ego-driven people with their own agendas.”
Andy swallowed and looked away, causing Con’s heart to swoop like a plummeting dragon. “Faerie needs me?”
“Can you doubt it? Who better than an event planner to organize our entry into the modern world?”
Andy opened his mouth, but Con laid a finger over his lips.
“I know you deserve better. You deserve a proper wooing and a mate who’s never lied to you.”
Andy rolled his eyes. “Show me someone, anyone, in any realm ever whose mate hasn’t lied to them at least once.”
“So you don’t object to me personally?” Con tried to keep the pleading note out of his tone, but he couldn’t help the way hope took root in his heart.
Andy ducked his chin and peered at Con from under his raised eyebrows. “Seriously? I think I was pretty clear before the whole ring-choosing-the-true-prince extravaganza.”
Con drew him closer, clasping their hands together on his chest. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear it again.”
But Andy’s brief burst of confidence seemed to desert him, and he deflated. “I love you. You know I love you. But I can’t marry you.”
“Why not? There’s no impediment that I can see. We love each other. Where’s the problem?”
“The problem?” Andy tugged his hands free and flung them out. “Look around you at all the people trying to incinerate me with their eyes. I’m just lucky that nobody here can actually do that. I’d be nothing but a pile of ash if Hashim’s clan had showed up.”
Nudging Fate Page 17
