I didn’t want him to understand me. I didn’t want him to take pity on me or sympathize with me. I wanted him to be someone I could easily hate. Hate was a much easier emotion to project onto him. Hating the enemy made sense. Letting the enemy in? That was pure weakness.

  …

  After Sakari and I made it back to the castle, I wanted to shower. I needed to wash away the lunatic that just took over my body. Talk about an awkward walk back to the castle. Try an assassination attempt gone wrong and then we can talk. Or assassination attempt gone right, depending how you look at it. But I suppose I was filled with more guilt than anything else. If he had any question about my feelings toward him before, that definitely answered it.

  What was Adair going to say? What would my consequence be for stepping out of line? Would he harm someone? Would Sakari even say something? He would. I knew he would. How could he not?

  Once I was dressed, there was a knock at my door. I expected it to be Sakari coming to get me for lunch, but it was the perkiest sounding knock I’d ever heard. Who, from Rymidon, would actually have enough of a soul to sound that happy in a knock?

  “Come in?” Though I didn’t mean for it sound like a question, it came out that way.

  The door swung open with gusto. Dressed from head to toe in layers upon layers of shades of black and gray, the most vivacious looking faery glided into my room followed by Sakari.

  “Ah, our bride to be! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!” She wore a full long dress with a vest and thick scarf that was so long it touched the ground.

  I stood near my bed feeling rather uncomfortable and unsure how to handle this cheerful Rymidonian. It was nearly an oxymoron. Cheerful Rymidonian?

  “Calliope,” Sakari stepped forward. “This is Unterrial.”

  “Your Majesty.” She curtsied deeply, fanning out her scarf and nearly touching her nose to her knees. “What an honor.”

  “Thank you,” I said timidly. “It’s nice to meet you as well.”

  Unterrial stood back up with a plastered smile as if she were on a pageant stage. Twigs held her hair in multiple buns on top of her head, as if the twigs were chopsticks knotting it in place. Her turquoise eyes were wide with excitement and, quite frankly, full of crazy. There was no way her enthusiasm could be genuine.

  “She wanted to meet you to get a sense for your dress for our bonding,” Sakari offered explanation as he gently closed the door.

  “Oh,” was all I could muster.

  “Come on over here, Your Grace.” Unterrial gestured for me to stand in front of the floor-length mirror near my washroom. I didn’t want to. She looked like a ticking time bomb. If I got any closer, she might blow up with affection or violence. It was a fine line on what end of the spectrum she might be.

  When I didn’t budge she gestured more exaggeratedly, flailing her arms in the air. “C’mon now. Don’t be shy. I don’t bite. Well, only on occasion.” She winked. If she thought that was any incentive to come closer, she was wrong.

  Then I felt Sakari’s touch on my lower back, his mouth by my ear. “I promise she’s harmless,” he whispered.

  “So you say,” I quietly hissed back, leaning away from him and the feel of his breath on my skin.

  He chuckled, but pushed me forward. “I’ll be right here if I’m wrong.”

  That wasn’t any more comforting. I attempted to offer her a smile as I walked closer, hoping I hadn’t appeared too rude.

  “You’re just a tiny little thing now, aren’t you?” She smiled brightly. So bright, in fact, it almost looked forced. “Tiny, tiny, tiny.”

  I looked down at myself and shrugged. I didn’t think I was that small. Though I knew I was a little short, I’d always thought of myself as average. But if everyone thought the same way as Unterrial, it was no wonder they didn’t find me very intimidating or powerful. Clearly, I didn’t look like much of a threat.

  “Let’s get a good look at you. May I?” Unterrial questioned before placing her hands on my shoulders when I nodded. She scanned me up and down, spinning me around and turning me from side to side. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster as she jostled me around. “We’ll just have the waistline cut in here and ruche the bodice,” she mumbled to herself. “Do a nice deep V-neck and line the neckline with big ruffles, having it come up around like a collar. Yes, I think that would be divine…” She peered up at me and asked with her wild eyes, “How do you feel about long sleeves, Your Highness?”

  Whatever she had in mind sounded complicated, and, without having her same vision, I had no idea what would even look good. From what she had already mumbled, I knew it wasn’t going to look like anything I’d want to wear. Not that I was actually expecting the day to arrive. Someone would put a stop to it before. Declan would find a solution, or I would. Though, above all solutions, I hoped Kai would be the one to stop it all. He had to. He had to come back.

  As to avoid any confrontation with Crazy Eyes I decided it was best not to give my opinion.

  “Whatever you think is best will be fine with me.”

  Her eyes roamed my body once more. “I think long sleeves would look exquisite,” she babbled. “Possibly lace or some sort of sheer fabric.” She mumbled about some other aspects of the dress, but it was all Greek to me. “Organza, I think.”

  Once she was done, she clapped her hands together. “I think that’s everything!”

  “Do you need to take measurements or anything?” I asked, not that I wanted her hands anywhere near my body any longer.

  “Oh, the Weavers have everything they need.” She smiled widely. “You’ll look just lovely. Gorgeous. Perfection, even! I promise not to disappoint you. I know King Adair will be very pleased as well.”

  “Just the person I want to please,” I mumbled.

  “I’m sorry, Your Grace?”

  “Of course we want him to be pleased,” I repeated louder with a fake smile.

  She nodded eagerly. “Yes. Yes. We will please King Adair very much. Thank you for your time. I know it’s very valuable.” She curtsied once more and swiftly left the room when Sakari opened the door for her.

  Once he closed the door I said, “Holy crap she’s crazy, like certifiable. You could have warned me.”

  Sakari smirked and laughed softly. “She’s a little passionate, but she means well. She wants our bonding to be the best it can be.”

  “Oh, is that what you refer to as passionate? I’d hate to see crazy.” I lifted an eyebrow and thought for a moment. “On second thought, I think I’ve already seen crazy.”

  Sakari gave me an unimpressed look. “Okay. You’ve made it quite clear that you think my father is crazy.”

  “Crazy only scratches the surface.”

  “You know I have no idea what that means. You and your human phrases confuse me.”

  “And it’s getting old having to explain them to you.” I sighed. “It means crazy is only a small part of what I think your father is. He’s so much more and worse.”

  Sakari took a deep breath. “Will we ever talk about anything but your disdain for my father?”

  “Will he ever consider leaving Faylinn?” Sakari sighed and shook his head. “Then you have my answer.”

  …

  “You two almost missed lunch,” Adair stated, wiping a napkin across his mouth, as Sakari and I walked into the dining room. Skye and Lia were getting up from the table as Adair finished up. “You’ve been gone for quite some time. I almost thought you’d gone and eloped.” He chuckled.

  I didn’t find it very funny.

  Sakari cleared his throat. “Calliope and I were merely spending some time together to get to know one another better,” he answered.

  I didn’t correct him, though I wasn’t sure why he didn’t just tell Adair what we were really doing. Adair didn’t want me to die, so obviously he’d want me to be able to protect myself if I needed to. And if someone had made an attempt on my life, there would’ve been no way I’d keep that from my parents. But, I kept my mouth shut so as to not give anything away.

  “And then Unterrial needed to take a look at Calliope for her bonding dress,” Sakari said.

  “Perfect. I expect you two are getting along well then.” It wasn’t a question. It was as if he was demanding us to get along.

  Sakari nodded and then pulled out my chair for me. I sat down and let him scoot me in. Thankfully, Skye and Lia left the room without saying a word to us, or even looking in our direction.

  “Well, I’m quite disappointed we missed lunch together, but there’s always dinner this evening.” Adair wiped his mouth and stood. “Please excuse me. I have some business I must attend to.”

  I wanted to spend the least amount of time in the same room as Skye and Lia. Eating in my room sounded much more appealing, even if it meant being cooped up. I would just ask Sarai to bring me something like the night before. “I’d much rather have Sa—”

  “Calliope and I were actually talking about eating alone,” Sakari interrupted me. “Out on the veranda this evening, if it’s all right with you, of course, Father.”

  Adair looked equally pleased and suspicious, while I shot a look at Sakari for lying once again. He ignored me.

  “Very well.” Adair nodded. “I have a few matters I must attend to, so I’ll leave the two of you. When you are finished, Sakari, if you will meet me in the Atrium, I would like to speak with you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Enjoy your lunch.” Adair bowed his head before leaving the room.

  I waited for him to be out of earshot before I asked, “What was that all about?” Why was he covering for me? I just tried to kill him. Did he not recall?

  “What was what?” Sakari began cutting his food.

  “Don’t play stupid with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about. We were just getting to know each other? We decided we wanted to eat out on the veranda tonight?” I hissed. “I didn’t even know there was a veranda.”

  “Would you like my father to know about every little aspect your life?” he snapped, and I tried to keep from flinching. “I’m sorry,” he said quieter. “I simply assumed you’d like to have some privacy since you hardly have any. And tonight I do want to have dinner out on the veranda with you. And yes, there is a veranda on the backside of the castle. It overlooks more gardens.”

  Once again I remembered the conversation I had with Declan the night before. I hadn’t done a very good job thus far if I was going to implement his plan. Nearly killing the man I was supposed to pretend to love probably didn’t fall in line with the plan to get Sakari to trust me. But when he threatened Kai’s life, I lost it. I nearly strangled him then and there. I almost didn’t wait to release the arrow.

  “Why didn’t you tell your father what I did?” I asked.

  He peered at me with an eyebrow lifted. “Do you want to give him more of a reason to keep you locked up in your room?”

  I shook my head.

  “And neither do I.”

  I blinked. Why could I not figure him out? Was he playing me? Was he trying to do what I was doing to him? Did he just want my trust so I would comply with him? Nothing made sense when I was with him. Equally, I wanted to hate and like him.

  “But I assumed you would want to give him a reason to keep me locked up.”

  “Contrary to what you might believe, Calliope, I want this bond to work. Tattling on my future wife didn’t feel like the right move.”

  “Tattling. You make it sound as if I broke your favorite toy.”

  Sakari cleared his throat, covering up a laugh. “Well, I knew it wouldn’t make our circumstances any better. We have plenty of factors against us already. I didn’t want to add another. My father doesn’t need any more ammunition than he already has.”

  He continued eating, and I watched. Did I misjudge him? Was he his father’s little puppet? Or was he just trying to survive like the rest of us?

  “Dinner on the veranda sounds romantic.” I took a bite of the food on my plate.

  Sakari stopped mid-bite and looked sidelong at me. “Are you really all right with that?”

  “If we’re to bond, I might as well get used to it.” I tried to keep the resentment out of my voice this time.

  “I would prefer that to an arrow in my chest.”

  I laughed, caught off guard by his sense of humor. “Yeah.” I smirked. “I am sorry about that, you know. Truthfully.”

  “You’re forgiven, but next time let’s try and keep the arrows aimed at the trees instead of each other.”

  “I think I can agree to that.”

  We smiled, and somehow the discomfort and bitterness I’d felt toward him slowly began to dissipate.

  Chapter Ten

  SAKARI

  “Where were you two?” Father asked accusingly. I knew he hadn’t believed me at lunch, but I was hoping he’d let us get away with it.

  “She needed to get out of the castle again, so we went on another walk around the forest.”

  “He’s lying, Father,” Skye interrupted. He watched me from the window seat, his back against the wall with his arms crossed. Why isn’t he with Magnolia? If I’d spent the last however many moons away from my true love, I’d never want to leave her side.

  “Another walk.” My father’s eyes studied me, searching for a crack in my facade.

  I refused to acknowledge Skye. Ever since we’d arrived he’d done nothing but taunt me and cause rifts between Father and me. “I thought she was allowed to leave her room. You had agreed.”

  “Within reason, yes. But it seems interesting that you keep going on walks in the forest.”

  We’ve been on two. I bit my tongue. He was too close to using his Supremacy on me. I could feel it. The way Supremacy messed with my head, once it penetrated, made me lose myself. It was too hard to decipher what it was I truly wanted, how I truly felt. I had to steer him.

  “There aren’t many places we can go aside from the forest for privacy. You told me to get to know her. How am I supposed to do that with Keepers watching our every move?” I tried to reason, appealing to his logical side. “If I treat her like a prisoner and keep her confined to her room, she’ll only hate me more. If I’m to spend the rest of my life with her, I want her to trust me, Father, to like me. So, if she asks to go on a walk around the forest, I will say yes.”

  “Does she have any underlying motives to be in the trees?” he candidly asked. “Are you meeting anyone out there?”

  “Who would we meet?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know.

  “Her Keepers,” Skye interjected.

  My father’s eyes cut to the window seat. “Hush, Skye.” He slowly peered back at me. “It’s why I asked. So, no Keepers or other Faylinnians?”

  “It was just us,” I confirmed. Thankfully, it wasn’t a lie.

  “Very well.” He walked over to sit behind his desk. “And you plan on a private dinner on the veranda. I think that’s a wise decision. Gives you more alone time to convince her to comply with our plan, to tap into her abilities.”

  I nodded, but was beginning to wonder what plan I was trying to convince her of now. His or mine.

  Everything seemed to be happening faster than I anticipated. I thought these five days would feel endless, but it was as if there wasn’t enough time. Our bonding was two days away, and I wasn’t any closer to mending my relationship with Calliope. Soon, the other kingdoms were going to be here, and then what?

  “Father, now that we’re here and your plan is falling into place so seamlessly, what will happen when the other kingdoms come?”

  He leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable. He was pleased I wanted to know more, but was careful with his words. “Well, as they arrive I’ll give them a choice. They can either follow me or not.”

  “And what happens if they don’t?” I didn’t know why that hadn’t occurred to me before. I always assumed that they would. Why wouldn’t they want to? His plan had made sense to me. Why won’t it make sense to everyone? Were these questions mine? Or his?

  “What do you think, brother?” Skye’s tone was condescending. He stood and moved to stand beside our father. He sneered at me.

  “They will be executed.” My father said it as if it was something I should have already known, as if I was an imbecile for even asking.

  “All of them?” I tried to hide my alarm.

  “Don’t be so weak, Sakari. Of course, all of them,” Skye ridiculed. “He’s not strong enough to lead Faylinn, Father,” he muttered. “He’ll ruin everything.”

  “I’m perfectly capable to rule,” I countered. “I was simply asking a question.”

  Father exhaled and clasped his hands on his desk, ignoring Skye. “We have a duty, Sakari. It’s important that we return everything to the way our ancestors organized us. We must honor their beliefs. You saw what happened to Faylinn because of Favner. Some Royals just aren’t meant to rule. There are too many ruling Royals now. We must bring it back to the True Royal Bloodline. Calliope will make us pure once more.”

  He’d explained this so many times before, but for some reason it didn’t sound as noble now. Before it felt as if he stood for honor and truth. Now, it felt… selfish—not for the greater good. “So, how will you get all of the kingdoms to come back?”

  “They will come,” he said calmly.

  “But how? What have you decided to do to the Oak?”

  “The how isn’t important, Sakari.”

  The how seemed extremely important to me, but I knew if I pushed him any further I would get nothing but a slap to the face or more spiteful comments from Skye that I didn’t have the energy for.

  With his power over the earth, he could do anything to the Oak. There was no limit to his power to destroy it. I knew that destroying the Waking Oak would bring faeries back to Faylinn, and I understood why the sacrifices had to be made, but he’d never told me what would happen afterward. I honestly didn’t believe he would kill those who didn’t follow him. Imprison them maybe, force them to comply—not that those were much better—but death? How was I going to let that happen?

  So many innocent faeries would die. If Calliope felt this strongly after only being a part of this world for as long as she had, those who’d lived here forever were going to rage a war that made the Great Divide look like a trivial quarrel.

 

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