Page 34 of A Touch of Poison
Suns and clouds took over the iconography, together with shades of soft pink, blue, and lavender. The change was so stark, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed before.
More gazes followed us, but here the eyes narrowed. Just a little, almost unnoticeably, but enough that I caught it. Conversations stopped. Folk turned.
I fought to keep my expression neutral.
Never reveal your heart. That included not letting them see I was affected.
We tried another jeweller. This one gave us a stiff smile as we entered, yet her eyes gleamed as she no doubt detected a great opportunity to overcharge Bastian’s account. But she shook her head when I asked about the necklace. “I haven’t seen it before. Though, I could make something to match.”
“Thank you, but I want it made by the same person.”
Her stiff smile remained in place, but the skin around her eyes tensed as though inwardly she glowered.
Shedidn’twish us a good day.
“It’s probably going to take a few days to get to all the shops.” Rose spread her hands as we left. “And we have your appointment soon, so we should…”
I didn’t hear her next words, because amongst all the blond, green, and brown hair, a flash of auburn at the end of the road caught my eye. Tall, lithe, back to me as they moved through the city like they knew it well. Was that the fae I’d seen in Lunden? The one I’d seen at the race?
Pace increasing, I steered that way, but a crowd crossed my path. I tried to peer over them, but at my height it was a doomed effort.
Blinding sunlight flashed off pure, pure white armour, and a low hubbub of murmurs spread through the street.
“Kingsguard,” Rose muttered.
It was only when I gave up searching for another glimpse of fox-coloured hair that I registered what everyone was looking at—or rather,who.
Resplendent in gold-green iridescent silk, the man working his way through the crowd with a sunburst crown atop his head could only be the Day King. His long, pale hair caught the sun, transforming into gilded lengths so beautiful I couldn’t look away.
“The Dawn royals do this from time to time,” Rose murmured as we stood back for the growing crowd. “Come and talk to ‘the little people,’ giving gifts, winning hearts—that sort of thing.”
He shook a woman’s hand, nodding as she spoke and the man beside her beamed.
“I suppose the Night Queen does the same after sunset.”
“Or… never. I don’t think she leaves the palace—or at least I’ve never seen it.”
As though he felt my attention, the king looked up from pressing a wrapped gift into the man’s hand and met my gaze.
His eyes.His eyes.
They weren’t just sky blue—theywerethe bright sky overhead, with no pupils. Cocking his head, he surveyed me briefly and said a few words to the woman before turning this way.
The guards hung back as a path cleared for him, and I stood rooted to the spot.
A king—a fae fucking king was walking towards me.
Despite the sun, a chill fled down my spine.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t flee with it.
Instead, I stood and waited, taking in every detail I could to help me work out the safest way to respond. Was I in trouble? Or just a curiosity?
The slight lines bracketing his mouth and lingering between his brows suggested he frowned as often as he smiled, and made him look older than Bastian and Asher. He seemed to be in his forties.
But he’d allied with the Night Queen in the Wars of Succession a thousand years ago—like many things about fae, nothing was as it seemed.
Beyond him, a woman with hair the colour of summer oak leaves glanced after him, her crown a smaller version of his. His wife, Meredine. A queen, but one without a throne.
