“Thank you, but I want it made by the same person.”
Her stiff smile remained in place, but the skin around her eyes tensed as though inwardly she glowered.
She didn’t wish us a good day.
“It’s probably going to take a few days to get to all the shops.” Rose spread her hands as we left. “And we have your appointment soon, so we should…”
I didn’t hear her next words, because amongst all the blond, green, and brown hair, a flash of auburn at the end of the road caught my eye. Tall, lithe, back to me as they moved through the city like they knew it well. Was that the fae I’d seen in Lunden? The one I’d seen at the race?
Pace increasing, I steered that way, but a crowd crossed my path. I tried to peer over them, but at my height it was a doomed effort.
Blinding sunlight flashed off pure, pure white armour, and a low hubbub of murmurs spread through the street.
“Kingsguard,” Rose muttered.
It was only when I gave up searching for another glimpse of fox-coloured hair that I registered what everyone was looking at—or rather, who.
Resplendent in gold-green iridescent silk, the man working his way through the crowd with a sunburst crown atop his head could only be the Day King. His long, pale hair caught the sun, transforming into gilded lengths so beautiful I couldn’t look away.
“The Dawn royals do this from time to time,” Rose murmured as we stood back for the growing crowd. “Come and talk to ‘the little people,’ giving gifts, winning hearts—that sort of thing.”
He shook a woman’s hand, nodding as she spoke and the man beside her beamed.
“I suppose the Night Queen does the same after sunset.”
“Or… never. I don’t think she leaves the palace—or at least I’ve never seen it.”
As though he felt my attention, the king looked up from pressing a wrapped gift into the man’s hand and met my gaze.
His eyes. His eyes.
They weren’t just sky blue—they were the bright sky overhead, with no pupils. Cocking his head, he surveyed me briefly and said a few words to the woman before turning this way.
The guards hung back as a path cleared for him, and I stood rooted to the spot.
A king—a fae fucking king was walking towards me.
Despite the sun, a chill fled down my spine.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t flee with it.
Instead, I stood and waited, taking in every detail I could to help me work out the safest way to respond. Was I in trouble? Or just a curiosity?
The slight lines bracketing his mouth and lingering between his brows suggested he frowned as often as he smiled, and made him look older than Bastian and Asher. He seemed to be in his forties.
But he’d allied with the Night Queen in the Wars of Succession a thousand years ago—like many things about fae, nothing was as it seemed.
Beyond him, a woman with hair the colour of summer oak leaves glanced after him, her crown a smaller version of his. His wife, Meredine. A queen, but one without a throne.
She exchanged a look with another man and nodded towards me. Golden blond hair—true gold, not pale like the king’s—and a crown depicting a sunrise framed a remarkably handsome face. From his smirking lips and dimpled chin to his hooded eyes, he seemed made of sinuous curves. He raised his eyebrows at me and gestured at what had to be his father, as though reminding me that I was in the presence of a king.
As if I could forget.
“King Lucius.” Rose bowed when he stopped before us, and I rushed to follow suit. “An honour.”
He sniffed but otherwise ignored her, only looking at me. His mouth curved slowly like a bow I wasn’t strong enough to draw. “Well, if it isn’t the newest arrival to my city. And, may I say, such a pretty one.”
Some compliments made me warm—they were approval, safety. A sign I’d done something right.
Not this one.
Still, I smiled and bowed my head. “Thank you. Your Majesty is too kind.”
“The sight of you adorning my streets is thanks enough.”
“Then I’m glad to please Your Majesty.” My skin crawled at how sincere I sounded, but pleasing a king meant safety, so maybe it wasn’t entirely a lie.
He watched me a beat too long for comfort. “Yes, I think you’ll do well in Luminis.” He glanced at the gathering crowd and spread his hands. “But I must continue with my work—a king is nothing without his people. If you get bored of that shadow, you know where to find us.” Inclining his head, he took a step back. “Katherine.”
Never before had my name sounded so much like a threat.
It blocked my throat like a mouthful of stale bread, and I had to fight to keep my pleasant smile in place before Rose hurried us towards the Hall of Healing.
My fingers had never itched so much for the comfort of my pistol. Inside Bastian’s rooms, I’d felt trapped… but also safe.
I didn’t know the rules of this game, but having met one of its key pieces, I was certain of one thing.
Being noticed by royalty was not safe.
13
Bastian
“‘When the princess is in power’—that’s what they said.” The witness held my gaze, not troubled by the unseelie glow.
I shared a look with Faolán.
There were no princesses. Not anymore. Not since I’d beheaded the last remaining heir to Dusk.
Her elder daughter, Princess Nyx, had died in an unseelie attack before I was born.
My fingers tightened around my pen. All the more reason to stop Hydra Ascendant before they became a true threat. The Night Queen had no clear heir. If she died, factions would rise around her distant relatives, like Asher, and those factions would clash in a race to the Moon Throne.
A total fucking disaster.
As was the fact word had got out about Ascendants operating in the city.
The wrinkled woman before us had heard two people outside her house in the early hours. When she blasted them with a sudden rainfall, they’d fled. Unfortunately, her weather magic had also washed away any evidence, save for a pot of red paint.
“‘When the princess is in power this will all pay off.’” She nodded, grey eyebrows drawn together in a fierce frown.
“We heard you.” I tried to keep the sigh from my voice.
“Hmph, good luck getting her on the throne,” Faolán muttered.
The witness’s frown intensified. I liked it, to be honest—it was refreshing for a civilian not to fear me. “Dead women don’t make great queens, do they, Serpent?”
I fixed a smile in place, like I found her comment terribly amusing.
But I could feel the blood on my hands, even though it had been long ago. Throwing her head across the throne room had felt dramatic and daring.
Now I knew it for what it was.
Brash and thoughtless.
Not that I wouldn’t kill her again if I faced the same situation. But some aspects of how I dealt with it—those I’d change if I had my time again.
The orrery on the mantelpiece chimed softly. Almost time for that meeting. I cleared my throat and straightened. “Was there anything else?”
She shook her head. “That’s all I heard.”
“And I appreciate you bringing it to me.” I stood and gestured for the door. “If you hear anything else—”