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  “Well, then I suppose I’m lucky to be the first.” His smile reached his pulsating eyes in the most sincere and friendly way. I could feel the heat warming my cheeks.

  “I don’t suppose while we’re being real with one another I could ask you a question.”

  “Please.” He took my hand then, face unguarded and open, welcoming any form of conversation in this unorthodox situation.

  I glanced at our hands, taken back by his boldness, but for some reason I wasn’t uncomfortable by the gesture. I liked the way my hand felt in his. “When was the last time there was a royal bonding?”

  “Not in decades. I believe the last one was Ronan and Aislinn of Oraelia.”

  “Oraelia. Where’s that?”

  “Australia.”

  “Oh. And where is Rymidon?” I vaguely remembered Declan mentioning it a few days back.

  “Ireland.”

  “The accent should have been a dead giveaway.”

  He quirked his eyebrow and smiled embarrassedly at me. “Is it that obvious? I assumed a lot of us had the same accent. Is mine so different?”

  “I like it,” I hurried to fix his self-conscious expression. “I didn’t mean to single you out. I suppose Americans just get excited about any other accent than our own.” Why did he make me nervous? Not uncomfortably so, more like so-giddy-I-want-to-say-the-right-thing nervous.

  “You lived in America before Faylinn.” His eyebrows pressed tightly together like caterpillars chasing one another.

  For being a Royal who was lining up to be my future someone, he didn’t do much investigating before coming here, which baffled me a bit. But I guess the passageway was closed. How would they be able to learn much about me in the first place?

  “We don’t have much interactions with Americans. Or any other human beings for that matter. Only our kind. It’s been so long since we’ve even interacted with Faylinn I almost forgot how different we are. Would you mind if I called you Calliope?” he asked abruptly.

  “No. Please do. I was actually going to ask you to. I prefer it, but I’ve got to keep up with Royal decorum and such.” I smirked.

  He smiled back. “I’d say you’re doing rather well considering how new you are to this. Not just being a Royal, but to our world.”

  “Thanks. It doesn’t always feel that way. Like in there, you had to come to my rescue. Thank you.”

  He shrugged like he did nothing. “My father can be a bit intimidating, but he means well.”

  “Yeah.” I chuckled. “Just a little intimidating.”

  “My Queen.” Kai appeared then. I hadn’t realized he had followed us out here, but I suppose it made sense. I didn’t know Sakari all that well, and of course, those two could never let me out of their sight for one single minute. “It may not be the safest to walk outside at night. It’s getting quite late. It would be wise to head back.”

  “Isn’t that the point of having you and Declan?” Sakari questioned. I understood where he was coming from, but I didn’t like his tone.

  I could see Kai physically bite his tongue. He wanted to retort so badly. For a moment I wondered why he didn’t until it hit me that with Sakari’s Royal status it would probably be a bad move on Kai’s part to disrespect him.

  “If you’d rather we head back we can, Kai,” I stepped in, taking my hand from Sakari and turning in the direction of the castle.

  He nodded once, the relief apparent in his eyes, though it was masked with frustration.

  “Okay,” I said.

  Sakari rested his hand on my lower back to guide me forward. “Faylinn really is beautiful at night,” he murmured near my ear.

  I shivered, but I don’t think it was because of the cool night air. I’m not sure why, but I looked over my shoulder then and wished I hadn’t. Kai stood motionless where we had left him, defeat in his eyes, twisting the emotions in my heart. When our eyes met, the moonlight reflected his eyes back at me in a deep iris, turning cold. He shot off into the dark, away from the castle. I wanted to follow him. I wanted to know where he always escaped. I wanted him to talk to me for once.

  “Back so soon?” Adair questioned when Sakari and I walked into the castle. They had moved from the dining room into the front resting room. It was basically a glorified living room with comfortable seating.

  “It was getting a bit cold,” I spoke first so Kai wouldn’t be mentioned. For the first time, I felt a need to protect him.

  “It is getting late. I hope we haven’t over stayed our welcome,” Adair said.

  “Of course not,” Evan chimed.

  “Calliope, could we have a minute before we leave?” Adair addressed me.

  “Sure.”

  We stepped away in an alcove across the entryway and sat in the two chairs there. The alcove was obviously only meant for quick visits. “Calliope, your father was a dear friend of mine. We grew up alongside one another in Faylinn before the Divide.” My ears perked. “I was very sad to see him go. How is he?”

  I offered a small smile. “He’s good, but I know he misses this.”

  He nodded. “Is he happy?”

  “I think so. He has my mom, and that was all he wanted. Though I’ve seen him stare out the window on different occasions, I know he feels certain of the decisions he had to make.”

  Adair was quiet for a moment, his eyes staring off over my shoulder. “Well I hope he knows he is missed. He would have done great things for Faylinn.”

  My heart swelled. “I think you’re right.”

  He lifted his eyebrows and nodded his head to the side, asking with his eyes if I was ready to head back.

  I smiled, but felt a small hole in my heart as we walked back, thinking about my dad.

  “Please do come back,” Evan commented as the three Rymidonians stood outside of the castle doors.

  “Shall we set up another time to visit?” Adair asked, directing the question at me.

  “Another visit would be great,” I found myself replying and meaning every word. It surprised me that I actually wanted to see Sakari again.

  “Marvelous, my dear. We will be back in a few days. Sunrise or sunset? What would be better timing?”

  “How about sunrise?”

  Sakari and I shared a smile.

  “I think that would be most kind of you, Calliope,” Adair stated. “We look forward to it.”

  “That we do,” Sakari chimed and I chuckled, bashfully shifting my eyes away.

  Skye stayed quiet, keeping his face emotionless then bowed his head before they left. I think I could count on one hand the amount of words he said to me.

  “That went rather well,” Evan commented as we stood under the vaulted ceiling in the foyer. “What are you thoughts on Sakari?”

  “You could have warned me that you invited them here to play matchmaker.”

  “Well, you only have so much time before you have to make a decision. I thought you would like to start meeting your options as soon as possible.”

  “I only have so much time? As in I have a deadline to meet for bonding?” I was questioning him, but I knew what he was implying, and the tone of my voice was clearly warning him to give me a positive answer. Which I knew I wasn’t going to get.

  “A female heir has until the third setting of a full moon. It’s not permitted for a female heir to rule on her own,” he stated matter-a-factly.

  “What does that even mean? How long is that? Give it to me in days or months.”

  “Our time runs differently, Your Grace. Don’t forget that. I could tell you how many days, and it wouldn’t mean anything.”

  “Then give me a rough estimate,” I pressed. “Try.”

  “Well … since you’ve been here, we’ve had close to half a cycle. What has is felt like to you?”

  “I don’t know, like a month?”

  “Then you have five and a half months to bond.”

  His bluntness infuriated me. “That’s bullcrap! You’re telling me that I have five and half months to pick someone t
o spend the rest of my existence with?”

  “You have five and half months until you must be bonded, so you will need to find a match before that.”

  Wow. That would have been very useful information before deciding to come here. Evan seemed a little more apologetic, but I was beginning to understand that Evan was not here to baby me. He was here to tell me how it was, and though I appreciated that, I didn’t like what he was saying. “Why didn’t you tell me this when we talked about bonding before?”

  “It was something Cavan just recently informed me of. We haven’t had a female heir in many centuries. There are things I could not recall, things that needed to be reinstated.”

  “Who makes these rules?” My voice echoed off the walls and ceiling, making me sound a lot louder than I intended.

  He remained silent, gauging that my outburst was purely rhetorical. As I paced, he let me calm down. My mind lurched and tumbled, trying to grasp what he was telling me. If I couldn’t ease the kingdom into the idea of being able to choose a partner soon, I would be forced into a bond. Forever.

  I inhaled deeply then exhaled. “So I have to pick one of the Royals and in less than six months be bonded to him?”

  “It’s plenty of time, Your Majesty. You’ll see. It will all work out.”

  That was easy for him to say. “Are you bonded to anyone, Evan?”

  He blinked and quietly said, “I was, yes. She is gone now.”

  Oh. “You haven’t thought about bonding again?” I asked hesitantly.

  “She is all I know. All I wanted. My memory of her is enough.”

  I nodded, feeling officially chastened. I would accept this for now. But it wasn’t over.

  When Evan left, Declan turned the corner into the foyer where I remained frozen.

  “Can you believe this?” I groaned.

  “I was unaware of the circumstances, Calliope. Or I promise I would have mentioned it.”

  I exhaled. “I know, Declan. If Evan didn’t even know, I wouldn’t expect you to. I know you wouldn’t have kept it from me.” My fingers gripped my curls in frustration as I looked up to the vaulted ceiling. “This is ridiculous.”

  “Maybe you should get some rest,” he suggested. “I think you’ll feel better in the morning.”

  “I’m far from tired, Declan. I’m so irritated I don’t think I could sleep. There’s got to be like a record or something of the original laws. Is there a library where I can research our history?”

  He shook his head. “No library, but there are some scrolls in the atrium where I believe your family documented the rulings of Faylinn after the divide. They wanted to begin a record of what we believe and our history.”

  “Show me. Please,” I added.

  When Declan guided me inside the atrium he pointed to the far right side of the room. There was a bookcase from floor to ceiling that I hadn’t paid much attention to before. It was loaded with rolls of parchment paper. There had to be at least a hundred lined up on each shelf.

  “How could they possibly have that much to say?”

  “We have quite a long history.”

  “I don’t need to start from the beginning. I just want to know where bonding originated.” I held my tongue on telling him any more than that.

  “Well, I’m not sure how exactly the scrolls are organized. They are only meant for the eyes of the Royals. I won’t be much help.”

  “That’s okay.” I sighed. “I’ll just start from the beginning.”

  He carried over a wooden stepladder and reached for the first one on the top shelf. After stepping down, he handed it to me. It was a lot bigger and heavier than I had anticipated. It weighed down my arms, nearly causing me to drop it. Declan helped to catch it and took it from my hands.

  “How about I bring it over to the table for you?” he remarked.

  When he set it down I rolled the parchment out layer by layer until I got to the first page. There had to be at least sixty pages to comb through.

  “I’ll give you some space. If you need me, I’ll be outside.” He began to back out of the room.

  Without looking at him, I stared down at the coarse paper written on in tiny script. “Thank you, Declan.” This was going to take a lot longer than I had expected.

  Chapter Eight

  On days when I couldn’t stand to be in the castle any longer and felt like I might pull every last curl off of my head, Declan learned pretty quickly that I just needed some fresh air. He kept an eye on me as I walked through the village. He kept his distance, not making it obvious that he was guarding me, but everyone knew what his presence meant. He chatted with fae as we passed them and let me have my space, which I appreciated. I just wanted to observe everyone in their colonies, hoping to understand a little more about how they worked and why.

  “Calliope,” someone called my name.

  I turned to see Lorelle standing outside her chalet. Her long, wavy hair flowed over her shoulders. She smiled and waved.

  “Enjoying some fresh air?” she asked.

  I returned the smile and walked over to her. “Yes. Do we ever have bad weather? Because I could definitely get used to this.”

  Her eyes twinkled under the sunlight. “Occasionally.” She nodded. “But we’re not in season for inclement weather now. And when we are, it doesn’t normally last long.”

  “I love this place more and more every day.”

  Her face beamed. “Would you like to come inside? Allura brought home some viga yesterday. I think you might enjoy it.”

  “Sure.” I motioned for Declan to stay put. I knew I was safe with Lorelle.

  Their cottage was quaint. I walked right into the living space that consisted of a cozy looking couch and some chairs. There was a loft above the kitchen. She walked straight back into the kitchen between two tall beams so I followed.

  With a cream knife she cut open a purple melon with yellow spikes. The spikes were flexible under her fingertips. “It’s one of the sweetest fruits we grow.” She cut a slice, removed the skin, and handed it to me.

  “Thank you,” I said before taking a bite. It was super sweet, but I liked it. “It’s delicious.”

  “Allura thought you might want to try it.”

  “Where is Allura?”

  “The Harvest Borough.”

  I had wanted to talk to Lorelle for a while, but I didn’t know what to say or how to say it. “Did Kai or Allura ever talk to you about that day in the forest with Favner?” I tried to be as delicate as possible.

  She smiled meekly, shaking her head. “Not a lot. They know my heart can only take so much, but I’ve heard pieces here and there from other faeries.”

  “I want you to know how sorry I am for putting them in danger. If it wasn’t for me, Kai never would have been put in the situation, and Allura never would have felt the need to protect him.”

  “Please, Calliope.” She stopped me and gestured for me to have a seat at a small table in the corner. “I feel honored to have children that are so brave and willing to make sacrifices for what they believe in. You are a worthy cause to make sacrifices for.”

  I couldn’t respond to that. How do you even respond to something like that? “I was really worried about Kai. After he killed Favner, he took off. I didn’t hear from him until I came here. I know he’s strong and fearless, but I know that day affected him more than he has let on. Did he talk to you about it? Tell you where he went?”

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t until Allura came home that I even knew he had returned. He went missing for a few days. Allura filled me in with a simple account of what took place, but I didn’t want to know more than that. Then one day Kai showed up, gave me a hug, and we carried on. We haven’t spoken of it since. I know he’ll talk to me when he’s ready.”

  “Kai kept me alive, Lorelle. I want you to know that if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here with you. I’ll always be grateful.”

  Tears glistened in her eyes as she gazed at me from across the table. “Than
k you for telling me that, Calliope. I do worry about him, but I think you’ve given him more of a purpose. He has needed that,” she said softly. “It’s important for him to feel needed, for him to feel as though he’s making a difference.”

  I didn’t really know what she meant, so I just smiled. I touched her hand and stood. “Thank you for welcoming me into your home. And thank you for the viga. It really was very good.”

  “You are always welcome in our home,” she said kindly. Lorelle bowed as I walked out, and I waved.

  Declan joined me after I said goodbye. He had been waiting outside their door. When we started to leave, I caught sight of Kai walking toward us with a confused expression.

  “You just hanging out with my mom now?”

  “She invited me in to try some viga. What’s it to you?”

  He shrugged. “Just wondering.”

  “Where have you been?” Declan questioned.

  “Around,” Kai said vaguely.

  “Don’t hurt yourself with all the details,” I commented dryly.

  He chuckled. “I won’t.”

  “You should go say hi to your mom,” I suggested. “I think she’d appreciate that.” I had a feeling he stayed away from home more often than not.

  “Well thank you for the counsel. Although that’s exactly why I’m here, so if you’ll excuse me.” He bowed lowly and grew a slick half smile. “Your Majesty,” he said while backing away.

  “He drives me insane,” I murmured after Kai closed the front door.

  Declan laughed, his head tilting back. “You sound like Allura. I’m surprised she hasn’t strangled him in his sleep.”

  “She obviously has amazing restraint.”

  “All things considered, I believe you are right on that.”

  • • •

  A couple weeks later, Evan and I had just finished our morning meeting when Declan and Kai came into the room. Kai sat down comfortably on the loveseat across from me, crossing his ankles and leaning his head back in his hands, while Declan stood off to the side with his arms across his chest.

  I peered up at them and chuckled at the sight. “Don’t you two get bored of constantly hanging around me?”