Royal Pawn (Jacky Leon Book 6)

by K. N. Banet

  “Father, we’re also more comfortable with Rian staying here,” Fergus said, reaching out to touch his father’s shoulder. “He’s young, and he’s not a fighter.”

  Brion eyed his sons before nodding to Cassius. “Fine, but you know what you gave me in return for ignoring the protocol I established.”

  “I remember,” Cassius said softly.

  I glanced at Heath, but he was too busy watching everything unfold, probably more focused on what his nose was telling him. Why didn’t I like the sound of that? What sort of man bargained with his son over the protection of another son?

  “Sorcha, open the door, please,” Brion said, waving to the archway made of stone and wreathed in beautiful flowers. Sorcha walked forward and touched it. Language I didn’t understand began to glow on the stones, the light growing from her hand and making a path around the entire thing. Once they were all glowing, she stepped back and spoke in a language I couldn’t identify. Swirling magic formed, and finally, a new beyond was there, no longer the hedge of the garden we stood in, but a stone path on the other side, going somewhere I didn’t know.

  Brion walked through first, Fiona at his side. Cassius allowed his brothers through next, then went hand in hand with Sorcha. The couple waited for Heath and me on the other side. Leith was right behind us, waiting.

  “I’m ready to go home,” I said very softly.

  “Me, too,” Heath whispered.

  We followed the group through, knowing home wasn’t on the other side.

  32

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I looked over our new location as we walked, more classic castle and gardens than Cassius’ home. There was no sprinkling of modern furniture, no one wearing clothing I recognized as from my time. The staff wore leather like Sorcha had dressed me in, with swords, bows, and spears, but there wasn’t a firearm in sight.

  “Sister,” Brion called as Alvina walked out of the castle. “Where is he?”

  “Oisin is staying in his wing. You will come with me. I can’t let you two exchange barbs without the right people watching. Already, the rest of our family and the nobility are arriving. The Tribunal has also been informed, and they gather to be brought in a single trip.”

  “Word traveled quickly,” Cassius mumbled darkly. “How many onlookers are we expecting?”

  “Seventy-five to a hundred, possibly more,” Alvina said but didn’t look at him. “Enough to spread the word of whoever comes out the victor.”

  “By publicly supporting me, if I lose, you will suffer a blow in power.” Brion sounded as if he was genuinely concerned, but I didn’t believe a moment of it. I was becoming more than a bit jaded with this particular fae.

  “If you lose, I will step down and disappear,” Alvina said as her brother touched her cheek. “This is my last attempt to keep the fae as you knew them. If Oisin defeats you, we will be ushering in a new time, one I have been trying to stop. Dark times are on the horizon if you lose, ones I will not rule over.” She pushed his hand away. “Do not lose.” Turning on her heel, she walked back to the castle, her head held high. As she walked, a cloak grew from her shoulders, long enough to touch the ground, and a crown appeared on her head, silver and delicately designed in a vine and leaf motif. When she was back at the double doors she had come through, she turned to us.

  “I, Alvina, Queen of the Fae, welcome you to the King’s Palace, for the king cannot currently. Please follow me, and I will make sure you, my esteemed guests, are well taken care of.”

  Heath and I stayed at the back of the group. Watchful, we looked at every fae we passed in the halls. They were all sidhe of both varieties, royal and clan.

  “Is there a Queen’s Palace?” I asked softly as we walked, directed at Heath, who I knew wouldn’t have the answer.

  “Well…I would hope so.” Heath shrugged.

  Sorcha looked over her shoulder at us, a small smile playing on her lips.

  “There’s a Queen’s Sanctuary, a palace, which was the home of Titania when she and Oberon separated for whatever reason. Kings of any variety are not allowed to tread there. Oberon, Brion, Oisin, none of them can enter. Cassius might be able to, but since he was a king for all of ten minutes, just long enough to abdicate, probably not. Titania’s magic is powerful.”

  “Do you always tell non-fae our secrets?” Alvina asked, stopping our forward progress to direct the question to my favorite of our group. Sorcha was interesting and kind to us. There was an undercurrent of fun to her, and she was more powerful than Brion, which made her more powerful than anyone we had met so far. Staying on her good side, becoming her ally, was in my own interests.

  Hasan would be proud of me. Zuri, too. Stuck in a bad situation and trying to pick one out as the best ally. Why does it make me feel a little dirty?

  “It’s not a secret among the fae. Why would it be a secret to those who aren’t?” Sorcha asked, tilting her head to the side. “No one has ever told me it’s a secret.”

  Alvina stared down Sorcha, but the silver-haired beauty was unamused. She made Alvina, who was drop-dead gorgeous, seem plain and made Alvina’s outburst seem childish. Alvina’s wavy, thick blonde hair seemed too much compared to the silky straight silver Sorcha sported.

  “Of course. The Queen’s Sanctuary is a very important place among our people,” Alvina agreed softly. “Why would it be a secret?” Alvina said nothing more, walking once more as sidhe in the halls bowed as we passed. Eventually, we were led into a large room with an elegant silver chandelier.

  “Ah, we’re to wait in the ballroom,” Brion muttered in disgust. “Like a foreign party of dignitaries.”

  “Well, your quarters became Oisin’s when he took the throne. This is the best I can do since this is still technically Oisin’s palace,” Alvina snapped. “Maybe you shouldn’t have left.”

  “Please, sister, tell me how you really feel,” Brion sneered. “As if I really need the reminder from you, my son, his wife, and every other member of this blasted family.”

  “Forgive me,” Alvina said, lowering her head. “You hurt more than just Cassius by walking away.”

  “Yes, I realized I trusted someone I shouldn’t have,” Brion agreed. “And that led to more problems than I intended to leave.”

  “He talks of trust when he couldn’t even tell me he only needed a regent, let alone why,” Cassius growled. “Couldn’t bother to trust his son enough to tell him he fell in love and wanted some time away, even when he knew his son never wanted that damn throne and its crown.”

  Here we go again.

  I spaced out, letting the father and son argue while I surveyed the ballroom. There were doors on every wall, and with closer inspection, there were even hidden doors blending in with the walls.

  “Servants’ doors,” Heath explained as I tried to open one. “Something for them to slip in and out of without risking bumping into the nobility or the guests. Unobtrusive.”

  “And probably secret passages only the servants know,” I said softly. “Yeah?”

  “Yup.” Heath nodded. Neither of us could get one of these hidden doors to open, so I moved on.

  If it was a different day, I would have taken in the beauty of the space. The paintings on every wall and the ceiling told stories I didn’t know, with characters reappearing several times. There were no windows to the outside world. Everything in the ballroom was contained in this bubble that was its four walls. The lighting was done with fire—candles on the chandelier, torches on the walls, small hanging braziers to light farther away from the centerpiece of the room.

  Today, I was only looking for ways a possible assassin would get in, not admiring the design of the fae or trying to figure out what stories the paintings held. There were too many doors for Heath and me to guard, too many for our entire group to guard. Ending my journey around the ballroom, I stood close to Fiona. Brion looked over me once, then nodded. Fiona glanced my way but quickly turned away, her eyes going back to Brion as he held her to his side.

>   The minutes ticked by as others came in and bowed to Brion, greeting him as their brother or their true king, glad to have him back or angry with him that he left. They brought stories of the problems Oisin had created over the years—higher taxes, protecting criminals who pleased him, killing those who committed petty crimes by inventing new reasons for execution. Some whispered they had considered revolt years ago, but Alvina convinced them she would continue to fight for them.

  I wasn’t the only one who listened but said nothing. Some glanced at Sorcha warily, but when I caught her eye, she winked and nodded. She had been right. Oisin was more trouble than he was worth as a king. Brion was a mixed bag, but a goblin pleaded for him to win, and a pixie fluttered in on pretty wings and nearly hugged the king. Brion took it all with a stoic expression. He wouldn’t take criticism from his son, but he took it from all of them.

  After several minutes, Sorcha slowly moved through the growing crowd and ended up by my side.

  “Do you see now?” she asked softly.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Stay close to Fiona. Not everyone in this room is as loyal as they claim. Some may be completely loyal to Brion but see a human wife as a weakness. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

  “I don’t think she’ll leave his side,” I pointed out, nodding to how she still practically clung to him, clearly overwhelmed by the new faces and people who knew her husband and her husband knew in return.

  “Eventually, he’ll have to leave hers,” Sorcha countered. “Be ready for it.” She went back to mingling among the crowd, laughing at pretty jokes. I caught a barb whispered behind her back, but when she ignored it, everyone else just cast a dirty look at the person who said it.

  “They’re looking at us,” Heath pointed out after what felt like hours.

  “I was trying to ignore it,” I mumbled, taking a step closer to Brion and Fiona. Heath casually followed that move, using it to reposition himself on my other side. He was right, though. Fae stared, wondering what two moon cursed were doing. Some cast glances between us and Sorcha, who said nothing about the looks we were given. No one tried to talk to us.

  I took a step closer to Fiona as Brion was pulled into a conversation with what appeared to be an old friend, laughing over a story. Brion dragged his sons into it, relaying a grand adventure he’d accidentally gone on in his youth.

  “Hey,” I said to the one human in the room. “How are you feeling?”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be a silent guard?” she snapped, glaring at me.

  I blinked several times as Heath came up to flank Fiona. The blank look on his face did nothing to temper the anger in his ice-blue eyes.

  “We’re not your enemies, and we’re not servants,” he growled very softly. “But if you want to stand alone in silence, fine. Pretend we’re not here.”

  “I…” Fiona pushed her hair back. “I need fresh air. I can’t stay here any longer.”

  She started to march off, and I followed her. Heath tried to intercept her at the door and block her.

  “I’m a free woman. I’m allowed to go where I please,” she hissed. “Your job is to keep me safe. Just do it.”

  Heath looked over her head to me. I started to shake my head, but Fiona used the chance to push past Heath and leave.

  “You make sure no one follows us. Keep an eye on everyone around us at all times. I’ll manage her,” I told him as I rushed after her. “She’s in a fucking mood.” I followed her through the halls until she found a door that led into a garden.

  “Fiona, we’re not in our realm. You can’t storm off!”

  “I need to breathe!” she yelled, glaring at me. “You’re not human, so what would you understand about what I need?”

  “I used to be,” I retorted. “Until one day, I woke up and found out someone made me into something else. I didn’t ask to be a werecat, but you knew you were falling in love with a king of the fae. Don’t pretend you weren’t expecting this. So, tell me, what is your problem?”

  “He’s mine,” she whispered, suddenly broken. “And they’re taking him away from me. He promised me we would be together until the day I die, but how is that supposed to work when they’re taking him away from me and putting him back on the throne? Why can’t Cassius just take it for his father, so I can have…” She sighed. “And my sons…they’re my boys. I brought them into the world. I gave them a home and education in my world, but I have no place in their father’s world. They’re going to want to follow him.”

  “You need to trust them. Brion is doing all of this because Oisin is trying to kill him. He needs to do this to keep you safe. The promise Brion made to you was none of this would interfere in your marriage to him unless your life was in danger. Right? Fiona, this is happening because Oisin—”

  “This is happening because you couldn’t keep yourself out of Alvina’s hands,” Fiona snapped. “Don’t lie and say this came out of nowhere. Brion should have known better than to help you. You betrayed us.”

  “If that’s what you want to believe,” I whispered, losing the passion I had to argue with her. I pressed on because I needed to get her back inside to the safety of her family. Heath and I could easily be overwhelmed. “But it won’t stop me from keeping you from getting killed. You just have to tolerate my presence until this is over. You’ll have to adjust to this life quickly. Your husband is going to be in a duel today. Everyone is confident he’ll win, and you’ll be the wife of a king.”

  “But never his queen,” she said sadly, turning away from me. “And my boys will never know the respect their half-brother gets because I tainted them by being their mother.”

  “I’m certain they’ll treat you like one,” I said, reaching for her, but she jerked away. “I’m sure your sons will be welcomed here, even if it takes time.” I was lying. I had no idea if they would be. Cassius and Sorcha both made it clear it could only happen if Brion was on the throne.

  “Can’t I just have a moment alone to say goodbye to the life I’m losing?” she asked desperately. “I haven’t had that chance yet. I’ve been running for months, trying to…trying to hold on, and now it’s finally…it’s finally crumbling to pieces.”

  I stepped back but kept my eyes on her. Heath came closer and leaned in.

  “There’s no one around I can see or smell—old scents of people who have been here before. I’ll continue to keep a lookout, patrolling the nearby entrances and exits. She deserves to have this moment, Jacky.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, knowing he was right. She did deserve this. I looked at it from her perspective and knew she was reeling. Her husband’s previous family was shattering the illusions of who she believed her husband was. His former friends were talking about a man she had never met. She had tried to build a life with him she could fit into, and to help her, Brion had locked away the life where they knew she couldn’t fit in.

  Now those worlds were colliding, and there would be casualties. I understood Fiona’s fear. She thought her marriage would be one of those casualties.

  I let the sun move over our heads without saying anything, finally finding some sympathy for Fiona again. She wasn’t a bad person. She was just stretched to her limits, fighting a tide she couldn’t succeed against. It had taken so long because I had been blindsided and constantly pissed off by Brion, but Fiona couldn’t make her husband behave any more than his son could. None of this was really her fault.

  I heard the footsteps of a new arrival before I saw who it was. Heath was there quickly, putting his body in front of the door just in case.

  Cassius opened the door.

  “The Tribunal has arrived, and midday is upon us. We’ve all been summoned to the King’s Courtyard. It is time.”

  “Fiona—”

  “I heard him,” she said sadly. She walked to us slowly, her eyes taking in the three of us, but Cassius drew the most of her attention. “Before this happens, would you care to explain something to me?”

  “Certainly.” Cassius fr
owned, but he held the door and waited.

  “Why is it…you are a prince, and my sons are not? Why can’t they have that protection the way you do?”

  “Both of my parents were Oberon and Titania’s direct children, their eldest son and eldest daughter. Their first and second born.”

  “Making them brother and sister. They would rather have—”

  “Don’t try to use human logic for a case that is neither logical nor human,” Cassius whispered in warning before she could continue. “Your insult is not a new one, but it is an ignorant one. Please don’t try to use it again.” He went back inside, expecting us to follow.

  “This keeps getting weirder,” I whispered to Heath after we got Fiona inside.

  “Oberon and Titania, from what I know, are practically gods. I’m sure their direct children having…relationships would be different than if humans did it.” He seemed just as freaked out as I was.

  “You would be right,” Cassius said softly, looking over Fiona’s head to us. “Every direct child of Oberon and Titania is genetically and magically unique. That’s all you need to know.”

  He said no more as we walked through the lit halls of the palace. When we reached a set of double doors, he looked back at me and Heath one last time.

  “No one has told Hasan or Callahan of your presence. Be prepared to face their reaction.” He looked at Heath directly as Leith appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Change now.”

  Heath stripped quickly and handed the clothing to the butler. We waited the agonizing minutes while Heath went through the painful Change. Once he was done, Cassius nodded appreciatively.

  “Big werewolf,” he commented.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, seeing Heath was still growing, downright massive, probably the biggest werewolf I had ever seen. Then again, I didn’t see many werewolves in their wolf forms anymore, so I had no idea if he was close to another Alpha’s size.

  “Fiona, this wolf will die for you,” Cassius said strongly, pointing at my lover and forcing Fiona to acknowledge him. “He’s in control. As an Alpha, he’s not prone to losing himself to the beast. Trust him.”