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I stopped her in her tracks, needing to show her I was still in charge. With a tug, she was in my arms, and I bent her backward to prevent her from going anywhere as I hovered my lips over hers. “Say please.”
“Please,” she breathed, and I rewarded her with a brush of my lips over hers.
“Good girl,” I said, releasing her from my embrace and intertwining our fingers. “Where is your cloak? It’s cold today.”
“Liliana has it,” she replied.
“And where is–” I stopped mid-sentence when I opened the door and discovered Liliana flirting with the guards stationed there.
With a flick of her hair over her shoulder, she ended their conversation and left one of the young males standing with his mouth slightly agape as he watched her jog to catch up with us. She handed Izidora her cloak, and my mate fastened the large diamond at her throat before tugging the fabric around her to keep her warm. I smoothed the back of it, ensuring every bit of warmth it provided was given to her.
“Thanks,” Izidora beamed up at me, so much love in her eyes that it almost physically hurt.
“I’ll always take care of you,” I reminded her.
“Can you two be less in love for a bit? I’m struggling over here,” Liliana grumbled, and I tore my gaze from Izidora, lifting a brow at her.
“Trouble with Endre, or did Zuriel turn you down?” I guessed with a teasing lilt to my tone.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she huffed, and I dropped it, since she and Izidora had likely hashed it out already.
The halls of Ryza buzzed with activity, excited voices echoing off the stone walls as people streamed out the main door and into the courtyard that bustled with activity. All morning, artisans had arrived, setting up booths from the barracks to the stables and everywhere in between. Color danced in all directions in front of the citadel, and it was nearly wall-to-wall with people.
“Where do you two want to go first? Over there,” I indicated the direction of the stables, “is where you’ll find stones, salves, and fresh goods. While over there,” I indicated the direction of the barracks, “you’ll find metalwork, woodwork, and other crafts. In the middle is where the lanterns and other Goddess-related artifacts are.”
Izidora’s stomach rumbled, and I had to suppress a smile. “Snack first,” I said decisively.
“Are there sweets?” she asked.
“Of course there are. We’ll make ourselves sick on them.”
The crowd parted for the king of the Iron Realm, opening up an easy path for Izidora and Liliana to follow behind me. We found Drazen at a stall shoveling the treats in his mouth. The vendor offered brown sugar-coated balls with honey to dip, and by the looks of the empty cups beside him, Drazen had already had more than a few.
“Drazen! I didn’t know you had a sweet tooth,” Izidora laughed as he sheepishly looked up from his half-full cup.
“I don’t. These are my favorite treats, and I can only get them during Béke,” he mumbled through a mouthful of food.
The shopkeep tsked at him. “I’ve told you for the last several years that if you come to my shop I’ll make them for you anytime.”
“I think he needs the mental block of only eating them during Béke, otherwise he wouldn’t stay in shape,” Liliana teased, running a finger along the muscles of his free arm.
Drazen swallowed the last of his food and nodded. “Exactly.”
The shopkeeper handed over four more cupfuls, and I paid her before the four of us continued our stroll around the stalls. Izidora and Liliana, unsurprisingly, stopped at several jewelry stands, oohing and aahing over the finely crafted rings and necklaces. Izidora wanted a set of tiny bands meant to fit around each knuckle, and I gladly handed over coins for them. The smilethat crossed her face as she slipped them on was enough to make me weak at the knees.
“You’re going soft.” Drazen elbowed me in the side as we followed the females around.
I snorted. “Only for her. I still expect perfection from you and the guards. One fuck up, and you’re done.”
“Uh huh,” Drazen responded, stealing a pastry from my cup.
I rolled my eyes and did not rise to his test. The throng of people around us was so thick that it was difficult to move, and the smells drifting on the breeze were an overwhelming mix of herbal concoctions, sharp metal, and sugary treats. I crinkled my nose at the combination, wishing for once that I didn’t smell everything. Drazen did the same, though our female companions didn’t seem to notice when they stopped in front of a stall selling soaps, candles, and salves. We waited several paces back to avoid the worst of the combination, and mutterings of ‘My King’ filled the space around us as my subjects offered me the proper respect. I nodded in acknowledgment to most of them, though I refrained from speaking. Even though the Félvér numbers grew every year, power was still respected most of all in the Iron Realm, as with every other realm on the continent.
And I was the most powerful Fae, and Félvér, in the whole of it.
Finally, Izidora and Liliana returned to us, the two casually passing off their new items for us to hold before linking arms and beelining to a stall at the end of the stables. Mistik’s gray head popped out of the open door, and she neighed merrily when she noticed her rider.
Drazen smothered a snicker as I followed, my arms laden with goods, smelling as unkingly as possible with the floral scents rolling off me. “What was it you wanted the other realms to see? Wealth, strength, and power?”
