Queen Mikko snickered behind her right hand, suitably demure. “Even I can admit the elf looks adorable.”
I narrowed my eyes and dropped my arms to my sides.
This was not the response I’d thought I’d receive.
King Elon squinted at my person. “Are you positive she has reached her majority, King Traevon? She looks very…small.”
“It’s the sweater,” Queen Mikko reassured, gesturing to and fro on my body with a raised hand. “It must be King Athon’s.”
My eyebrows furrowed, and I dipped my head down to my right shoulder, sniffing at the warm clothing. There was the very slightest hint of honeysuckle clinging to the fibers, only noticeable if you stuffed your face into the material like I was currently doing.
I wrinkled my nose in distaste and raised my head. “Ugh. Mayhap I will take it off.”
“He left it for anyone to steal, Princess Trixie. Do as you wish.” King Elon shrugged his broad shoulders and flipped his shamrock green, long braids off his forehead, his golden crown glimmering in the light. “All’s fair in a den of snakes.”
My gaze landed on his braids that would turn into serpents. Did I see one twitch? I mumbled absently, “There is truth in that, Your Royal Highness.”
I tore off a piece of jerky with a fang, gnashing it between my teeth. I lurched away from staring at his braids, and quickly made my way across the room. I planned to stay in the background as much as possible while—
A large form slammed into the back of my left shoulder.
“Ow!” I protested, jolting forward, nearly falling.
King Athon glanced back from his march into the room, barking, “Don’t stand in the middle of the doorway, elf.”
I fumed with resentment and flashed my fangs.
Why was this asshole my soul mate? I would love the response to that. But only the Fae could answer my question, and they could stay far, far away from here.
The King of Shifters bared his tiger fangs in return.
I. Couldn’t. Stand. Him.
But…
I snapped my mouth shut and flicked my gaze down to the sweater that I wore. I rolled up the sleeves while I ate my dried jerky—reluctantly remaining silent with my deep thoughts. His earlier words in the bathroom had been correct. I wasn’t that daft.
He had left this sweater for me.
And he’d fed me.
Perhaps I wouldn’t misbehave as I had intended. It would have been so easy, though, to point out the one thing I had withheld from him, to steal his limelight, and show that elves were far superior—even if the information I withheld only solidified what we had already discussed.
But I would behave since he had…taken care of me…in his bizarre shifter way. If we were to coexist together as unlawful soul mates, I needed to keep learning about his people and how his brutal mind worked.
So I stepped aside, away from the doorway, and stayed quiet when Queen Alora finally deigned to enter the royal conference room, her multi-hued ponytail swishing back and forth from her aggravated gait. The merfolk queen looked ready to slash out at anyone, her nostrils flared in fury and her fists clenched, barely restraining herself when she stopped next to the other rulers.
Only when the discussion began did I breathe easily in the brutal wake of her entrance—her innocent seahorse pajamas, be Fae damned.
I watched.
I observed how King Athon dominated their attention.
I studied when he allowed others to speak. And, yes, he allowed them to talk by quieting himself and genuinely listening to what they said. He controlled the beast inside himself with hardened grit, thinking clearly with a sharp and cunning mind—only King Traevon’s skills evenly matched his during their dialogue.
My brows rose on my forehead when it became evident that King Athon was the ultimate predator—and enemy. I shuddered inside his sweater and ate the last piece of my dried jerky. It was extremely fortunate that Father was still alive. I would not be able to stand toe to toe politically with the King of Shifters.
I was not at that level yet in my life.
Yes, I must continue to learn. I would be the best queen to my people that I could be. I would do right by them, and that meant I needed to be able to handle King Athon inside this powerful room. Knowledge was the key to my people’s wellbeing.
The room silenced when the shifter king finished speaking, the rulers having finally gotten to the point of why they were rudely roused from their slumber.
“Essentially, what you are saying is that we have not only the giants awakening to worry about but also another problem lurking in the shadows,” Queen Mikko deduced correctly in her soft voice. The brown mist of her eyes swirled in menacing circles, and her gaze narrowed in calculation. Her tone held no fear as she stated clearly, “It is the Fae. I think we all know this by now.”
Hmm. The caster queen was brave.
“From all that we know so far, I would agree with you.” King Athon lifted one black eyebrow. “There is something else, too.”
My pointed ears perked up. I pushed off against the glass wall, coming to attention. He hadn’t mentioned anything else to me.
He paced in front of us, left to right, his solid-black eyes holding mine for a moment too long—perceptive eyes. He stopped in the very center of the room, right in the middle of the circle of desks.
He pointed a single finger up at the ceiling, explaining gruffly, “It’s all about the castle in the middle.”
Motherfucker. He had figured it out, too.
While the other four rulers tilted their heads back to examine the ceiling, their whole focus upward, the King of Shifters flicked his gaze in my direction. He smirked in cruel delight at my aggravated glower, and ticked his lifted, pointed finger back and forth in the air, a silent reprimand for trying to hide something from him.
I was caught—Fae damned arrogant shifter.
He lowered his hand and turned his regard back to the rulers, his haughty expression erased. “As you can see, the stained glass takes the shape of the castle.”
Queen Alora griped in her high tone, “I do not see it.”
“Cross your eyes,” King Athon instructed at the same time that I mouthed, “Cross your eyes.”
Father scratched at his chin, tilting his head while he regarded the ceiling. “That is fascinating. The color shining out from the windows is blue.”
No kingdom’s color in this realm was blue.
Red, orange, yellow, green, and purple.
But no blue.
“What do you suppose that means?” King Elon hissed, his voice rolling over my flesh like snakes slithering. I cringed as he continued, “All of our kingdoms’ colors make up the outside of the castle.”
King Traevon lowered his gaze from the ceiling. “What do you think it signifies, King Athon?”
“I am not sure of that,” King Athon responded briefly, grudgingly accepting that his foe had the upper hand on this topic with his next words. “But since your soul mate is the renowned artist, I thought you might be able to tell us.”
“Hmm.” Father peered over his shoulder at me. “What do you believe she would say, my heir?”
My lips curved into a proud smile. “It means unity.”
The elves were still superior.
“Correctly so.” My king turned his head back around. “Blue means unity, King Athon.”