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Chapter 24
GOLL
Sittingat the head of the table in the war room, unwilling to receive our unexpected guest in the throne room, I stared at the moon fae male standing at the opposite end of the table close to the door. It was an awkward place to receive foreign ambassadors, but I couldn’t step foot in my throne room. The mere thought curdled like acid in my stomach.
I’d been keeping busy with my royal and military councils at this table since the Rite of Servium, so I’d summoned my guest here since I’d barely left the room for weeks. I was almost thankful to the arrogant, foolish ambassador from Issos, staring me down with an unbreakable gaze.
For the first time in a fortnight, I felt something other than hot rage or self-loathing. With the exception of those brief, illusory moments between sleep and wakefulness when I felt her sweet mouth on mine and her hot sheath as I sank into her, I’d known nothing but pure ire. Every morning, I wished I could return to those soft dreams where she wanted me, where I didn’t see the tears pouring from her eyes while I fucked her.
So now, I was glad to turn my anger on someone else besides myself. I spoke low and steadily when I finally broke the silence after he’d told me his reason for coming to Northgall.
“Princess Una is well and good,” I told him icily. “You may return and tell her brother so.”
“Forgive me, my lord—”
“You’ll address him as my liege or King Goll,” snapped Keffa, standing to the fae’s right. “He is not merely a lord.”
The fair-haired ambassador straightened his spine, his pale-blue wings stiffening. “Forgive me, King Goll,” he began again, “but I’ve been given explicit instructions to speak to Princess Una alone, to ensure she isn’t being coerced to say what she’s been told to say.”
“By me,” I added.
He had the wisdom to keep his mouth closed, his jaw clenching. He kept his hands clasped at his back, his stance erect and formal.
I was debating whether to stand, march across the room, and punch the man in the face or to summon Una before him now in my presence. I had no inclination to allow her to be alone with any man, least of all this dandy of an ambassador with his pretty attire and prettier face.
But the thought of her standing here now and declaring me the heinous monster she knew me to be in front of him made my blood boil and my heart clench.
Suddenly, the door opened with swift force, jarring me to my feet, my hand at the dagger at my waist. It was Pullo, his scowl fierce, as he stormed into the chamber, followed quickly by Ferryn and Meck.
“What is it?” I snapped.
Pullo passed the ambassador, sparing him a quick glance, before striding directly toward me, his long braid swinging at his back. Meck and Ferryn were right behind him, each fallingto one knee when they reached me, heads bowed as if awaiting punishment.
“What?” I growled.
Pullo reached me and whispered close to my ear, too low for the ambassador to hear, “She’s gone.”
My vision hazed with sheer panic at those two words.
“We’re looking everywhere in the palace and gardens, but we can’t find her.”
My gaze snapped to the ambassador, his expression curious and grim. Did he know? Was that why he’d actually come? To help the princess escape and bring her back home? It made no sense.
And yet, surely, she hated me enough to leave me. Had she somehow gotten word to them? In all this time I’d been avoiding her, had she managed to get a message to her kind?
Pullo took a large step away from me, bowing his head. I could feel my magick brimming with fury, electrifying the air around me.
“Keffa. Take the ambassador and hold him in a chamber without windows. I don’t want him flying away.”
The ambassador spoke with indignation, “You are going to imprison me?”
“Keffa.Now,” I barked, my voice echoing off the black stone walls.
He quickly guided the ambassador from the room, shutting the door behind him, leaving me alone with Pullo, Meck, and Ferryn.
“Explain,” I demanded, cold rage chilling my blood.
“Sire,” Meck began, looking up at me, “she took a walk in the gardens this morning with Hava then returned to her bedchamber with her. We never left the door. When a maidservant brought a platter for luncheon as she has been sincethe Mizrah’s arrival, she returned from the room with the platter in her hand and asked where the mizrah was.”
