"I still wonder about it," I said.
His brow furrowed, eyes searching my expression. "Wonder about what?"
"Whether you're the villain in my story."
~~~~~~~
Mara Monroe is at the center of a war she wanted no part in.
But with her new throne she fac...
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I was not the only one to react when Cedric entered the dining hall.
Out of my peripherals, I saw that Torin stood from his table and Maddox was already pushing away from his seat to move toward him. Neither of the two guards had any weapons. It was considered impolite to brandish weapons in a guest's home, and at that moment I cursed the stupid fey hospitality rules.
My chest rose and fell under his stare. The king spoke to me, I knew that he did, but I could barely hear him over the sound of my own heartbeat.
"My Lord," I finally said, "you have a traitor in your court. An enemy of the Summer Kingdom. I ask that you release this knight into my custody so he may be dealt with according to the laws of my court."
How eloquent, my Lady. Have you been practicing?
My eyes shot to the silver eyes that watched me on the other side of the dining hall and there was a small twinkle of amusement in his expression. The amusement turned to wariness as both Maddox and Torin closed in on him.
The Winter King coughed a little and scratched his chin beard, "he mentioned that you might react this way."
I gaped. "He— wait, what?"
That's more like it.
The voice— his voice was smug. I wished I could scream at him to get out of my head, but I already had a dining hall full of people with their attention on me. Apparently there were already rumors about me, and I didn't need anyone to think I was the Mad Queen in addition to being the Human Queen.
"Cedric Fitzroy is under the protection of my house. He serves at my leisure."
"Cedric Fitzroy serves no one but himself," then I added as an afterthought, "and his father—"
King Gaius cleared his throat meaningfully, gesturing to the crowd of eyes that were beginning to watch us now. Even Torin and Maddox stopped in their tracks before reaching my old bodyguard. They couldn't attack him on foreign grounds if he truly was under the protection of the king. It would be another act of war, and that was sort of the whole reason why we'd come and something I generally hoped to avoid.
"Perhaps we should take this conversation to the strategy room, my Lady. I would be more amenable to hearing your position there."
I nodded my assent to the king and he motioned for me to exit the dining hall through the back door. Maddox followed, as did Emyr, Freya, Andras, and Torin. He led all of us into a room just around the corner from the dining hall, close enough that we could still hear the rumble of the other courtiers enjoying their dinner. I, however, felt as though my dinner was going to make a sudden reappearance.
Especially when Cedric stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him.
Torin and Maddox both fixed him with cold, death stares. I was grateful they did because I couldn't even look in his direction. If I did, I knew that whatever semblance of control I had over myself would wash away.
