Page 13 of Chorus of Ashes
“Listen to you,” Bianca gushed. “You sound so regal. But … doesn’t that feel a little bit yucky? When you phrase it that way? My thoughts aren’t about forming an alliance with Rian. That sounds so … clinical. What I mean is that, since you’re already on the path to love, why not help it along?”
“I’m not on the path to…” Terra trailed off as her heart warmed in her chest when she thought about Rian’s kiss once again. Right, so perhaps it had meant more to her than she’d realized. “Hmm. Maybe I am? It’s hard to say…”
“You don’t have to have all the answers right now. I do think if he is already your fated mate, why not nudge him along on the path toward discovering his love for you? In that way, you can hopefully fall for each other and become a united front in helping the Earth Fae. I don’t see it as a tool of battle, so much as a circumstance that could be used to benefit a greater cause.”
“It’s worth a try.” Terra worried that her heart would hurt, dearly, if he rejected her, but at least she’d be able to say she’d tried. “What’s your plan?”
“Okay, I think this is going to be fun. Well, as much as we can have while we’re stuck here. Let’s think about this. What are some of the basic things that men fall for all the time?” Bianca grabbed another biscuit and munched on it as she thought.
“Being naked usually works,” Terra offered.
“Ah yes, the most basic of male attention grabs,” Bianca said. “Effective, but we might need something more subtle to start. What else?”
“I think he needs someone to care for him. He’s been shoved out of our society and left alone. I can imagine that’s, well, lonely.”
“Excellent observation. He’s lonely, angry, and you say he claims he’s innocent. Do you believe him to be?”
“In some respects, I don’t actually want to believe him.” Terra plopped her head on her hands on the table. “But I might have to.”
“Why don’t you want to believe him?”
“Because then I have to find out who actually cheated with my brother’s fated mate. And whoactuallyhas caused so much pain for my family. I tried gathering more information, I really did. But I was just met with so much resistance, and his wife refuses to speak of it. My brother was so grateful to have answers, and though his relationship with his wife still struggles, it’s much better now.”
“I didn’t know it was your brother.” Bianca’s mouth dropped open. “No wonder this is tricky for you. What else did you find out? Also, why is cheating a crime for your people?”
“Cheating isn’t a crime necessarily. Cheating with a royal fated mate? One who has a claimed bond? That’s a crime. I understand it doesn’t make sense, but it’s really important for the Fae to uphold the sanctity of the bond. Once a fated mate couple claims each other, their magick doubles, if not triples, in power. Because of that, we’ve had instances where Fae have tried to fake claims or arranged fated unions in order to gain more magick. It never works, as the Fates always find a way of dealing with imposters, but the Fae are particularly severe in this respect.”
“And here I thought the Fae were all … party all night and free love with everyone. I swear, it felt like Woodstock or something the night of the celebration for the Queen’s life.”
“Oh, we absolutely believe in free and natural love with all. It’s a Fae’s right to choose. See, if a Fae never pursues her fated mate, she can still find contentment with many partners. It’s not an issue for us if a Fae chooses to stay single, or if they just enjoy a constant rotation of partners. It only becomes a problem when a Fae chooses to accept and claim their fated mate. Then there are different rules.”
“Fascinating.” Bianca pursed her lips, interest dancing in her eyes. “I’ve been keeping up with my research, but I still have so much to learn. So basically, you all are like, sure and let’s sleep with anyone under the sun, but once you’ve made your claim, it’s time to be a prude.”
“Not a prude, no, as you’ll make love with your fated mate,” Terra said. “It’s because of the extra magicks you get when you combine your union. The Fae are protective of that. Maybe it’s not the best rule, and perhaps exile is a bit extreme. It wouldn’t hurt for the royals to look at revising some of their punishments.”
“I’d say.” Bianca shook her head. “It’s a very dramatic response. Plus, how come the wife wasn’t exiled but the lover is?”
“Also a good question that I cannot answer,” Terra agreed with Bianca. It had always rankled her a bit that Eoghan’s wife got to stay in the Fae Realm while Rian had to walk away. Rian hadn’t been the one to make vows.
“What if we align ourselves with Rian first? If we say we believe him … wouldn’t that help us to sway him to our side? He’d feel like he has allies already?” Bianca asked.
Terra leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. She cast her mind back to Rian’s trial, and the subsequent turmoil that resulted from his prosecution. It was the look in his eyes before he’d been dragged away that had caused her to try and investigate further. At the time, Terra hadn’t known that Rian was her fated mate. That information had only been revealed to her later after she’d heard her heartsong on the wind for the first time. It had taken her several attempts, but finally her powerful magick combined with her scrying stream had revealed Rian to be her mate. But before then? She’d already been investigating his crime further, a part of her suspecting there was more to the story than had been revealed.
Her brother had been furious.
Their ugly encounter had fractured their family, with the majority taking sides with Eoghan and his fury over Terra’s line of questioning. When she’d refused to drop it, continuing to investigate further even after Eoghan had ordered her to stop, he’d stopped speaking to her. Cormac, her other brother, had sided with Eoghan, telling Terra that her power as leader of the Earth Fae had gone to her head, while her parents had done their best to remain neutral even though Terra could sense their disapproval. Unfortunately, as a leader, Terra didn’t get the luxury of only making decisions that she felt comfortable with. Eventually, her queries had met with enough dead ends that she’d had to abandon the cause as greater issues had demanded her attention.
Like the Domnua trying to overthrow their power.
“I don’t know whether I believe him or not,” Terra said, returning to the conversation. “But I did search for more information after he was exiled, and I think he might be telling the truth. There was something in his eyes on the day he was exiled that made me want to look further for more information. I didn’t find any, which, I suppose is inconclusive on whether Rian is innocent or not. And, well, I spent a lot of time with his mother after he was exiled. She had nobody else, and her health was failing. From what she’d said of Rian, from every appearance, he was a really lovely man. It about broke her heart that he’d been exiled. I did my best to be a comfort to her in her last days. But, that being said, I’m not sure I’m capable of pretending something if I don’t know if it is true or not. I mean, people are capable of anything, aren’t they? I guess … your plan could be tricky for me. Not to mention it’s a really upsetting subject matter for him. Look how far he’s already gone to seek revenge on us. It feels like kicking a wasp’s nest, no?”
“That’s a good point. You’re more than likely to just infuriate the man further. Right, so we’re back to a good old-fashioned wooing. Here’s what we do… you use your feminine wiles, your nurturing aspect, and your sweet nature to draw him in. He needs someone to be vulnerable with as he’s hurting. That person has to be you.”
“And if we accomplish this? And he falls in love with me? How will he feel if he finds out we planned it?” Terra looked out the window where the sun dipped to the horizon.
“Will it matter? If you both love each other and you’re happy? You could tell him you did it for his own good because you could see what he needed in his life.”
Oh.Right.