Page 44 of The Ruthless Fae King
“See you at dinner.” He left with a smile and I hated myself for what I’d just done. But spitting in his face and getting thrown in a dungeon wasn’t going to get me out of here. I was going to do whatever it took to survive this.
* * *
Dinner was boring.It was just Marcelle and I. I was hoping for some courtiers, but no, Marcelle wanted to speak about all of his achievements and things he’d done since he’d seen me last at the Midsummer Festival when I was thirteen.
“I still remember what you wore that night,” he said, and I tried not to react at the shudder that went down my spine. I had no idea he’d been pining for me this entire time.
“I remember your orange and cream outfit as well. The embroidered sunburst on the back was something,” I told him. Ididremember his outfit, because it was hideous and Piper and I spoke of it for two days.
Marcelle smiled at that, looking delighted.
This plan was working far better than I had hoped. I figured three more days and I would casually try to use my magic to lift something off the table, as if forgetting it didn’t work, and let him see my disappointment. Then he would offer to take off my cuffs. Until then, I had to play the part.
We were just tucking into the main course when one of Marcelle’s Sun Guardsmen entered the room looking panicked. He strode quickly to the king’s side.
“My Lord, I have delicate news.” He looked to me.
Marcelle glanced at me also as if weighing things in his mind. I just rolled my eyes as if I didn’t care either way and shoved a piece of bread in my mouth.
“Speak freely,” Marcelle said.
“A cold is sweeping over the land.” His news nearly made the bread lodge in my throat. “The winter king has learned of your marriage and his army rides to Spring Court, presumably to come this way.”
I froze, unable to fake any sort of response.
Marcelle stared at me. “How taken with you was he? Would he freeze the realm again knowing you might also die?”
I didn’t know what to say. “I honestly don’t know what he would do. Now that I am married to you, he must have written me off and could freeze me to spite us both.” It was an honest assessment, one I hated to admit I believed. Hecoulddo that. He would feelsobetrayed.
Marcelle nodded and then looked to his guard. “Distribute the emergency stored firewood. Ordain a curfew. No one outside after dark. If the temperature plunges, we will be ready.”
Emergency firewood? He had planned for this? Probably since the Great Freeze.
“Send the Sun Guard to Spring Court to join in their defenses. We can burn up the Winter Soldiers before they even set foot here.” Marcelle grinned.
Burn them up. My heart hammered in my chest. If Lucien was busy fighting his own people, the Nightfall queen could choose this moment to attack and take down Winter Court. I just hoped she didn’t get wind of it.
The guard ran off and then Marcelle turned to me. “His true colors are showing. After that whole speech about feeling sorry for the Great Freeze, he is about to make the same mistake.”
It hit me then that Marcelle might have hoped this would happen. That Lucien would find out Marcelle had stolen his betrothed and that Lucien would react in a way that would further divide him against the people of Summer.
“Well, for our sakes, I hope not.” I hugged my shoulders, wondering if I had imagined the sudden cool breeze that rushed into the room.
Marcelle reached out and grasped my hand, pulsing warm sunlight power into my arm. I wanted to yank my hand back but forced myself not to.
“You have nothing to fear at my side,” he promised.
He had no clue. He really didn’t know what Lucien was capable of. Could his Sun Guard burn Lucien’s Winter Soldiers? In the daytime maybe. But if Marcelle thought he could win in a battle against Lucien himself, he wassorelymistaken.
The winter king could kill Marcelle from a hundred miles away, freezing the entire Summer palace and everyone in it.
So why didn’t he?
A small part of my mind wondered if it was because Lucien didn’t want to hurt me. He knew I was here and so he didn’t want to freeze me too. But then why send a cold wave across the realm?
A chill rose on my arms because the temperature was definitely dropping. Was it a signal? To let me know he was coming?
I sighed. I could only dream of such a thing, but sometimes dreams were all we had to cling to.
