Allegiance (36 page)

‘What can I say? I made a mistake. One I will forever pay the highest price for. But please, let me go on with my story.’

King Telophy gave a nod, but his mouth was a tight line and his eyes cold as ice.

‘I went on so—thoughtlessly indulging in this lifestyle. Then one morning, I came home to find Ayana missing. My whole world came crashing around me. In a single moment, everything was put into perspective. I saw clearly the person I had become: lazy, greedy, covetous—disgraceful. But none of it mattered, nothing mattered except for Ayana. I loved her; only her. The human women I’d had meant nothing. I was sickened by all that I had done and what I’d lost because of it. And who could I confide in? Not my father, nor my son. They would never understand. What I had become was so abysmal, so utterly base. I became angry with my Most High for introducing me to this world of filth and deception. I took my allegiance from them, leaving them unprotected. But I did not care. I cared for nothing and no one but Ayana. I called and called to her, but there was no answer. I knew my betrothed had died at the hands of the Shadow Fae, and it was all of my own doing. I began to sink into sorrow.

‘And then one night I found a note on my pillow. It was written in her hand. “The Shadow Fae have me, Mirren. They will call upon you after nightfall. They say if you harm them, I will die.” The Shadow Fae were completely out of hiding by this stage and for some time I’d had no way of responding to all the terrible pleas I heard from my subjects. In fact they only served to drive me more often to the human world. But when I found that note, I experienced such terrible hope. My Ayana was alive.

‘Now please, Telophy, I implore, before you judge me for what I did next, think of what you would do to save the life of your own betrothed.’

There was a moment of utter silence around the table during which time all eyes were on King Telophy as he stared coldly at
Mirren. ‘You forget, Mirren,’ he said finally, his voice laced with venom.

Mirren looked confused for a moment before his face flooded with colour.

‘
Oh
, forgive me, Grandson! How clumsy of me!’

‘Indeed,’ King Telophy said. ‘But please, go on with your story.’

‘Yes. Yes, of course… The Shadow Fae came to me that night, six of them in all. I was shocked. You see, they looked so… Fae. Aside from a strange intensity in their eyes and a slight elongation of limb, there was little difference to see. Their bodies were so full of sun that, had I not known what they were, I might have thought them merely bony and ill-muscled Fae.

‘At once, one of them came forth and said, “We have your wife. At present she is well, but unless you do exactly as we command, she will die. And her death,” this loathsome creature told me, “will be neither quick nor easy.” I wanted to tear out his soul, experience the way his neck filled my hand in the moment before I ended his life. I wished to watch the stolen blood spill from his body. But my heart was so swollen with fear and yearning for Ayana that I managed to still myself. For the first time since I dishonoured her, I considered all that she was to me—my love, my life, my heart. I needed her beside me, wanted her in the safety of my arms. And so I told this despicable being that, providing he could give me proof my beloved was still alive, I would give anything—do anything.

‘The creatures left and the following night, Ayana called to me. She sounded weak and addled, and try as I might I could not decipher her location. But she was alive and I was ecstatic. She had only time to tell me the Shadow Fae had been keeping her in a strange state of delirium, and then her voice was gone again. I wondered what magic they used to keep her so and
what price the purchase. When the creatures came later that night, they told me they required a king. I told them to take me; I would gladly trade my life for Ayana’s. But the Shadow Fae wanted me to create a king. Their
own
king. One told me his daughter had just reached her immortality and would mother the child—that once I had impregnated her, my betrothed would be returned to me.

‘I imagined how it would feel to kill him right then, take his skull and crush it in my hands. Instead I just looked him in the eye and agreed.

‘But the horror! It confronted me the moment they were gone. I knew I was about to do the most heinous thing. I knew I would be causing the most atrocious problems for my kingdom. But what could I do?’ Mirren looked at Leif, his eyes pleading. ‘What would you have done, Grandson, were it your betrothed?’

Leif was silent.

What would you do?
I asked him.

I would do anything,
he answered simply.
But I would not get into that mess in the first place.

I’m willing to bet your grandfather would have said the same thing when he was young.

Yes, but he allowed himself to become corrupted. I would not.

Mirren continued—silencing our private conversation. ‘They brought the girl to me—a tall, bony creature with none of the softness of a Fae woman,
or
a human woman for that matter. You don’t need details, but know this—it was the most abhorrent penance to lie with her. I had to fill my mind with images of my beloved for it to be done. And it was not soon over. Each night she was brought to me until her father was certain she had conceived.

‘More than four months it took for the deed to be done. But finally the night came where, instead of a visit from this Shadow Fae and his daughter, I heard Ayana’s call.

‘They’d left her in the forest. She was in reasonable physical health. But her spirit was drained along with her blood and she was utterly heartbroken—her faith in me decimated. She left me for our son’s kingdom the moment she was well enough… I would give anything to win her back.’

‘Anything but give up your
lifestyle
,’ King Telophy said.

‘Ayana only need say the word and I would relinquish all I have to be with her. I tell her so every day.’

‘And what is it you
have
exactly? A life of excess and debauchery? Why would she return to you when she knows how you spend your days?’

Mirren’s eyes narrowed. ‘You are in no position to judge me, Grandson. I know your history. I know the choices you’ve made, how you…’

‘Desist,’ King Telophy said, holding a hand up to cut him off.

Mirren laughed. ‘Are you ashamed, Telophy? Are you worried your son will learn of your past?’ He spread his arms open. ‘But surely your son knows as well as the rest of us the pleasure you took from your father’s female subjects. There are no secrets amongst kings.’

I glanced at Leif. He was flushing ruby red, but before I had time to ask him what Mirren was talking about, a crashing sound drew my attention back to King Telophy. I turned just in time to see him hurling himself across the table, wings flashing, as he sent his chair flying back and everyone scuttling from the table. The next moment his fist landed in the middle of his grandfather’s face with a great cracking sound.

I cried out along with Hilary as King Mirren’s flesh split open and blood burst from his mouth in a great gush. He had no time to compose himself because a twin fist came flying into his temple, this one sending him crashing to the floor. Leif was
with them in a heartbeat, hollering for his father to stop as he attempted to tear him off Mirren.

But King Telophy was an unstoppable thunderstorm, raining punches into Mirren’s body. Leif did his best to break them apart, catching a fist in the head as he roared for his father to remember his vow. But the king was hailing punches and tumbling across the floor. With one almighty heave, Leif pulled his father to his feet and managed to plant his hands on his father’s chest and bellow, ‘Your vow to Ayana!’

Miraculously, King Telophy stopped, chest heaving, face a mask of rage and pain. He stared at Leif for a moment longer, then he turned, picked up his seat and dropped into it.

Mirren rose and dusted himself deliberately before taking a seat as far from King Telophy as possible. ‘What would my queen have to say about this? You vowed me unharmed did you not?’ He touched his face and held his blood to the king.

‘
Your
queen no longer,’ King Telophy spat, scowling. ‘And whatever the price, it was worth it.’

There was a moment of silence as Mirren lifted the hem of his shirt and used it to mop his blood. When he looked up again, he caught King Telophy’s gaze and said, ‘Ayana may be my queen no longer, but she did give
me
the right to issue the penalty.’

‘Then tell it to me and be done,’ Leif’s father said, unable to hide a hint of anxiety in his voice.

Mirren leaned back in his seat attempting to tidy his hair with his fingers. ‘I
could
make the penalty severe—I don’t recall any caveats to the vow.’

‘I have a kingdom to protect! There are people depending—’

‘Come to me, Grandson,’ Mirren interrupted.

King Telophy rose and went to his many times great grandfather.

‘Kneel.’

A lump came to my throat as I watched Leif’s mighty father drop to his knees before the repulsive Mirren and bow his head.

‘You don’t know how sorry I am for my mistakes, Telophy,’ Mirren said quietly. ‘If I could take them back I would… And I apologise for provoking you—God knows your temper is legendary, rumour of it has even reached me here.’ He rolled his eyes a little bit before continuing. ‘And although harming me was a breach of your vow, I deserved what you gave me and so I intend to release you from the consequences of breaking it.’

King Telophy began to rise but stayed where he was when his grandfather placed a hand on his head, continuing, ‘
But
before I do, hear this; you too have made mistakes—probably due to your vile temper. So apologise to everyone in this room for your loss of control today and promise me that you will at least
try
to contain yourself in future.’

King Telophy did what he was asked, then returned to his seat. Mirren sighed. ‘I know I cannot undo my past, Grandson, but please, permit me to return with you to your kingdom—allow me to help with your Shadow Fae problem. My life here is meaningless and I yearn to return to the work I was born for.’

King Telophy sounded tired when he said, ‘You cannot return with me, Mirren. You would not be well received. Too many of my subjects have lost loved ones due to your choices.’

Mirren seemed to slump forward a little when quietly he said, ‘I see your point, Grandson.’

We left soon after that, the four women who’d knocked at the door earlier slinking in as we walked out. I heard the deep rumble of Mirren’s voice and the answering giggles from the women as we strode down the hall.

‘I’m sorry you had to see all that,’ I told Hilary after we arrived back in Telophy. I lay on her bed while she investigated her new room—all glittering jewels and sunstones.

She traced a finger along the foot of the bed, the smooth wood following the shape of the branch it was created from. ‘It
was
hard to watch but it was actually quite… revealing.’

‘Certainly revealed how much testosterone Fae men have.’

‘It revealed a lot more than that.’

I was intrigued. ‘Such as?’

She sat on the bed and went to bounce, but sank into the soft bark instead, smiling at the sensation I’d always imagined must be close to being embraced by a cloud.

‘Well, how passionate King Telophy is for a start.’

‘Don’t you mean brutal?’

‘But there’s passion behind that. He feels things deeply. You only had to see what happened with his—what are they called again? Most High?’

I nodded. ‘They’re his personal guard—not that he
needs
guarding. I think they’re more his advisors and confidantes.’

‘His friends?’

I tipped my head to the side as I considered this. I’d never thought of King Telophy as having
friends.
‘Yeah, probably—and I think Sefton was closest to him.’

‘His best friend.’

I shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

‘Well, that’s why King Telophy took it so hard. Sefton betrayed his trust in a big way… How awful for him.’

‘I’ll say. It must have been agony.’

‘I meant how awful for King Telophy.’

‘Oh.’

‘You could see there was
so
much going on under that stony expression. I think he’s been hurt quite a bit in the past.’

I knew enough of King Telophy by now to know it was so, and once more I found myself wondering about my Fae mother’s role in that hurt. Would I ever know? Was she even alive to one day tell me? Or had the mighty king murdered both her and my father in a fit of temper? The thought brought the hate rushing to the surface of my mind. After a long silence I said, ‘There’s no excuse for that kind of violence.’

‘But I wonder if he even knows another way,’ Hilary said softly.

Now that he had confirmed the Shadow King’s existence, King Telophy formed a council to put a stop to him. The first meeting took place in his assembly room the very next day. Jack and Hilary were already present when I arrived with Leif, as were the three remaining members of the Most High. Everyone stood as King Telophy swept into the room, two kings trailing behind him, the air humming with their combined power.