Page 5 of Kingdom of Faewood
“And have the kingsfae been sent to search for him?” another female asked indignantly.
Lordling Neeble replied again, and memories of what he’d done to me sprang forth in my mind, but I quickly shoved them down. “Of course, they were. What do you take us for? Fools?”
A smattering of laughs and whispered comments followed, and somehow, I managed to keep following the servant, but when we passed the large receiving room that held several nobles from the ten Houses, it took everything in me to ignore them.
Lordling Neeble was in there, and just being near him made my blood turn to ice.
My legs were shaking so badly by the time we made the final turn to the king’s sitting room that I worried I would tip right over, but I didn’t have time for any nerves. The second I appeared in the king’s line of sight, his eyes flashed with eagerness.
“Ah, here she is!” The Faewood Kingdom ruler hooked both hands on the lapels of his turquoise coat. The shimmering color flowed around his large, solid frame, highlighting his protruding belly and thick legs. He wore tan slacks and had a stark white top underneath the grand coat. All of his clothing looked spun from the finest cottonum, airy yet regal, and wassuited to our warm climate. “Do come. I have some visitors who are dying to meet you.”
King Paevin’s boisterous and booming voice clouded around me. The ramifin servant bowed at the king, then closed the door behind us just after Guardian Alleron ushered me inside the sitting room. My voluminous dress swished around my legs, and I internally cursed its hindrance, but then I reminded myself that my guardian loved when I dressed so finely, and some of my annoyance dimmed.
“You certainly did make haste,” the king said to my guardian. “We couldn’t have been talking more than ten minutes ago.”
Guardian Alleron bowed. “I do aim to please, Your Majesty. When you said you had a full agenda, I wanted to ensure we didn’t impede anything.”
The king chuckled. “You always are so accommodating. I do hope you’ll stay in that new estate of yours since it makes it so easy for you to bring your lorafin by.”
My guardian’s smile grew. “Of course, Your Majesty. As always, it’s my highest honor to serve you.”
The king waved his hand, yet his lips spread even more. He always pretended not to care for flattery even though it was obvious he loved it.
My guardian and the king murmured a few more pleasantries to each other. The entire time I stood dutifully at Guardian Alleron’s side, but it was impossible to keep my gazefrom sliding to the two male siltenites behind the king. They had to be lordlings. Their clothing reeked of wealth.
I forced my expression to stay serene and aloof, the portrait of a patient lorafin—the expression my guardian preferred I wore when I performed callings—but inside, my stomach was churning. Trying to distract myself, I instead focused on a map of the Solis continent above the fireplace. Encased within an intricate golden frame, it showed all of the territories of our realm’s icy northern continent.
I frowned and couldn’t help but wonder why the king would have a map of a foreign continent in his favorite room and not a map of the Silten continent. Or even to have portraits of his children, the prince and princess of Faewood, would seem more fitting versus showcasing a far geographical location that we didn’t often interact with.
“Alas, do you want to see her?” the king asked the two males behind him, which snapped my attention back to them. “Lordlings Messepire and Himil, have a look and see what your signatures bought.” The king’s expression morphed into anticipation when he waved dramatically at me. “She’s always so beautiful. Every time I’ve seen her, she’s this stunning. Look at her curves and how she fills out that gown.” He made a satisfied sound in his throat, then addressed the lordlings again. “The ancient texts always speak of the lorafins and how breathtaking they are. It seems that time hasn’t diminished that in the slightest.”
Guardian Alleron pushed me forward, his grip tighteningon my elbow in a reminder to do whatever they asked before he let go.
I plastered a smile on my face, but with each step I took toward the king, the magic inside me crackled and clouded, nearly triggering my collar. Somehow, I managed to continue my deep breaths, but I had to curl my fingers into my palms and dig my nails into my skin to keep my magic from reacting more.
“Well, Lordling Messepire, what do you think?” the king asked the male to his left.
The shorter lordling with stocky thighs and midnight black hair that matched the color of his eyes grinned. “How fascinating. She’s certainly stunning and is just as ravishing as you’d claimed she’d be.” His brown skin glimmered in the sunlight when he clasped his hands behind his back, but while his posture was unthreatening, his gaze wasn’t. He turned his sharp eyes on my guardian. “How do you resist her?”
Guardian Alleron shrugged. “She’s been with me since she was a babe, so she’s like a daughter to me. I’ve grown immune to my lorafin’s supreme features and figure.”
“You’re a stronger male than I,” Lordling Himil, the other one, quipped. He was tall with rust-colored hair and a smattering of freckles across his nose. Startling blue eyes raked over my body when he assessed me, then halted momentarily on my cleavage. “Mouthwatering indeed.” Lordling Himil licked his lips.
My skin crawled just as Lordling Messepire asked my guardian, “Is it true that you have a device to control her?”
“Oh, do show them!” the king said with a booming laugh. “Its magic is absolutely fascinating. I’ve never seen the likes of it.”
“I would be happy to, Your Majesty.” My guardian withdrew the adaptor from his pocket and held it forward for them to see. The gem on its tip—matching the gem in my collar—flashed in the sunlight streaming into the room. With every wave of his arm as he showed it off to the king and lordlings, the gemstone sparkled, the light refracting from it and trying to connect with my collar.
My breath sucked in, my entire body going as still as stone.
My guardian did those movements so carelessly. He was obviously too distracted with impressing the males to consider what an involuntary trigger of his adaptor could do to me.
Sweat beaded at the small of my back as I stood ramrod straight. I kept my lips pressed together and focused on my breathing.This will all be over by tonight, then you can return home and soak in that luxurious bath that Lillivel will have waiting for you.
All three males studied the adaptor, their attention sliding from it, to my collar, then to my expression as my guardian explained how the device worked.
I smiled serenely, pretending to be unbothered, but at least their interest in the adaptor allowed me a second to assess their auras and try to determine what their magic was going to do tome. Lordling Himil wore colors of my kingdom—dark brown, turquoise, and white—so he likely had an elemental power, and given his pounding aura, his magic was strong.