The Secret Trinity: Reign (Fae-Witch Trilogy, Book 3) (14 page)

“I may have become your Guard when we met on the river, but you became my... best friend.
”  He said shyly, lowering his eyes to the floor.  It wasn’t the admission I had hoped for, but I was still touched by his words and knew he only let m
e see this softer side of him.

I crouched down and picked the tie up from the floor, slinging it over his neck.  When I was done perfecting the knot, I pulled on the tie until he was level with me and gave him a lingering kiss.  He gulped when we parted and brushed my hair past my shoulders.  Resting his hands on my hips he inspected me.  His smi
le gleamed when he took me in.

“You are th
e most beautiful
Queen we could ever have.  Are you ready?”  Clay asked, holding me a little tighter.  I nodded yes, because when Clay and I were like this together it made my heart sing and I struggled to speak.  These moments were what I lived for, why I loved him, and it reminded me of why I put myself through all this, to save him.  Clay quickly finished putting on his suit.  I looked him over and blushed, realizing I was picturing what was under the suit instead of appreciating how sexy he looked all dressed up.  I sighed regretfully that I didn’t come in here earlier, and he looked at me like he was thinking the same thing.  The redness in my cheeks deepened, and I took his hand teleporting us to the ceremony before we got caught up in the moment and missed it
altogether, so not Queen-like.

I landed us
at the entrance of the Council building.  Two
Aira
flew ten feet off the ground into the sky from surprise.  Oops, I didn’t think we would bump into anyone, but when I looked around, I saw the sidewalks were packed with
Fae
and Witches making their way inside.  My stomach flipped with nervousness as I waved politely up at the
Aira
couple I had startled.  They came back down and both gave me a sheepish smile like they were embarr
assed by their reaction to me.

Clay dipped to my ear, “Let’s go around back and stay out of sight until we begin.”  I nodded in agreement, and we began to circle to the back of the building
,
entering
the
other more discrete entrance. 
The back entrance opened up to a small hall with a few doors on either side.  We walked up to one and Clay knocked before going in.  Fiona met us on the other sid
e of the door with warm smile.

“Well hello, my
dears.  Isn’t this exciting,” s
he chimed, her smile creasing wider to expose the deep crow’s feet around her
eyes.  She looked at Clay and me
for a moment, and I couldn’t decide if she was referring to
Clay and I going public or the Crowning C
eremony about to take place.  Fiona was from a different generation, and yet she seemed very forward thinking compared to the rest of the elders in the Council and the Court.  Her eyes turned more serious as she
focused her attention on Clay.

“Did you have a chance to speak with your Mother today,” Fiona asked, and Clay’s body went stiff.  His grip on my hand clenched tight as he nodded.  I tried not to look confused
as to what that meant exactly.

Clay turned to me and sighed, “Have you prepared a statement to explain
your
...actions?”  My stomach did a dip.  William must have coerced enough signatures from the Court to have my crowning postponed, maybe indefinitely.  I had prepared a short statement before I went t
o bed
last night, but when I sat down to write it out, it didn’t seem
as inspiring as I hoped.  I nodded nervously and pulled it from between my dress and my bra, tucked over my heart. 

“Nice,” Clay said with a grin, and I shrugged.

“No pockets,” I said and turned back to Fiona.

“What happens
now?”  I asked her anxiously.

“King Bryan is very ill but he insisted on being here tonight.  Clay will open up the floor where William will present the petition to delay your crowning.  Once the majority of the Court has signed a petition such as this, it is out of our hands.  The choice goes to the rest of the Kingdom in a vote.  You will be able to make your statement before the vote is cast.  If
the Court and civilians of
Draí
ochta
find you unsuited to be crowned at this time
,
the ceremony must be postponed by law.  If this is the case, William will take the opportunity to continue with proceedings to have your family completely overthrown, which as the next in
line,
will allow him to take over the
Aira
Clan.”  Fiona’s explanation had been straight to the point, but I couldn’t wrap my br
ain around how silly this was.

“All of this
just because I k
issed my boyfriend in public,” I said with a defea
ted sigh, and Clay squeezed my hand.  Crap, did I just call him my boyfriend out loud?  I gave him a sidelong glance, and he looked at me
,
pleased by my word slip.  I shook my h
ead at him in a “not now” way.

“Aria, you have done a lot more than that.  It is true that since y
our birth many
have begun to pair up with others outside of their own kind, but unfortunately the Court does not see
that as a problem as they do with you.  With you they see
Court bloodlines which carry the most powerful magic within it, risk
ing
the possibility of disrupting that magic, and not just any bloodline, b
ut the two most powerful
bloodlines who have ruled this city since the beginning.  If your
Eartha
an
d
Aira
Clan lineages mix or change,
they fear that
Dra
íochta
will change with it.  T
here is no way of knowing the outcome because no one has ever dared try.  As you know, change is not easy and many resist it, especially when it means over three hundred years of magic and tradition is
on the line.”  Fiona had a point.  I really had not t
hought about it in that way.

“But Clay and I haven’t even...I mean there is no mixing going on here,” I said, dropping his hand, feeling extremely uncomfortable talking about sex with Fiona.  Clay went tense, not with embarrassment but in an attempt to keep from laughing, and I wanted to punch him in the arm.  Fiona smiled warmly, trying to ease my fidgety state as
I looked intent
ly at the carpet.

“Perhaps not, but you have made your relationship known.  That alone
has begun the possible shift
of a three hundred year reign.  I am sorry to be so candid, but there is no turning back now, and I want you to understand this moving forward.”  Fiona said sadly, and I wished everyone would lighten up a bit. 
This wasn’t helping my nerves.

“Thank you, Fiona.  I see what you mean, and your advice is of great help to
me.”  I said, dipping my head.

“Of course, I want nothing more than to see your families continue on as the leaders you were born to be, even if that means changing the definition a bit.  These old bones could use a little excitement to keep the ticker pumping.  Why don’t you wait in the King’s office?  I will call you when it is time.”  Clay walked over to her desk and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and I waved bef
ore he led me out of the room.

“She’s sort of like a Grandmother to you, huh?”  I said as he took my
hand and led me down the hall.

“Yeah, I guess you could
say that. 
I grew up listening to
fun
little pep talks like that.”  Clay said opening another door, guiding me through by pressing his palm to my back.  It sent an appealing buzz up my spine and I closed my eyes for a moment.  When I opened them again, C
lay was giving me a funny look.

“What?”  I asked, scrunching up my nose and looking down at my dress to smooth
it out anxiously
.  Clay tipped my chin up with his finger so I would look at him.  I couldn’t believe I was being forced to stand up in front of the entire Kingdom and justify my relationship with Clay, while they all sat there wondering if we had done it yet, messing up their precious bloodlines.  It was so twisted, not that I would, not that I had even thought about it.  My face flushed as he continued to hold my chin, and I averted my eyes to a
nywhere but him.  Oh man, I
felt like he was reading my mind.  I didn’t
really know what to say
because I couldn’t even
get up the nerve to tell him what I felt, let alone talk about
s.e.x
. 

“So, you think I’m your boyfriend now
?”  C
lay said and I pursed my lips.

“You wish,
buddy,
” I said, trying not to smile.  His fingertips left my chin and disappeared inside my open coat.  I squealed when he tickled my side just below my ribcage, and
I
grabbed his wrist trying to push him away.

“Say it.  Say I’m your b
oyfriend.  You know you want to,
” Clay said teasi
ngly, going for my other side.

I laughed and slapped his hand away.  “Get over
yourself
,” I said, r
efusing to give in.

He grabbed my wrist and whirled me around until my hea
d pressed against his
chest.  He grabbed my
other wrist and held them criss
crossed over my chest, my coat now a
straig
ht
jacket, locked in with my back
against him.  He dipped low until his breath tickled the sensitive skin on my neck.  His lips slowly brushed the length of my neck giving my collarbone a light kiss.  I had to bit my lip to keep from moaning my approval at his sultry touch. 

I could feel him smiling as he whispered in my ear, “That’s right.  I forg
ot.  You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me.”

I closed my eyes and we began to sway s
lowly back and forth.  His grip
moved from my wrists to hold my hands.  I think for the first time since this had all started, he could sense that was far from how I
truly
felt.  He held me protectively against his chest, his lips resting on the crown of my head.  He breathed calmly into my hair as we swayed to imaginary music.  I swallowed hard and suddenly stopped our movement, every hair standing on end at the thought of what I was about to say.  Clay squeezed my hands, silently asking what was wrong.  I was so thankful he couldn’t see my eyes right now.  They would surely betray me. 

“Clay, there’s something I have to tell you...”  My voice quive
red, and he let go of my hands,
wrapping his arms around my shoulders he hugged me from behind.

“Before you say anything, there is something I want to tell you first.”  Clay said, in barely a whisper.  We were both scared silent for a moment, and I held my br
eath waiting for him to speak.

Someone swung the door open and I flinched, throwing my head into Clay’s marble chest.  When I saw King Bryan in a wheelchair and Aileen steering it, Clay immediately let me go and stepped away.  We both adjusted are clothes even though we didn’t need it, like two high
schoolers
who had just been caught hooking up in a dark basement.  Clay cleared his throat and gave me a look of regret that we had been interrupted.  I, on
the other hand, was somewhat relieved.

He ran over to help his Mother with the wheelchair, and I stood there like an idiot.  I hadn’t seen King Bryan in a week.  He had been bedridden for some time, but I still had to blink several times, trying to convince my brain that this was really the King sitting before me.  I didn’t want to stare, but he had tu
rned into a skeleton
.

Bryan
was as tall as Clay
,
bu
t he looked hunched and slight
sitting in the wheelchair.  He was in his forties but now looked closer to an ill man in his eighties.  Deep wrinkles covered his face, and his skin looked ashen, sunken.  His jet black hair was now almost all white and had no luster to it, as it once did.  I took a step back and looked up at Clay, the son who shared so many of his features.  King Bryan looked like a shell of a man, withering away from the insid
e out.

Is this what happens to you if your Soul Keeper died
, and you weren’t bound
?  I reflexively put my hand up to my mouth in an attempt to cover my gasp.  I looked at Clay, and I got a flash of him looking this way.  This was the most horrifying thing I could ever imagine, and I had the most evil wretch after me.  No wonder Clay had gone to such lengths to keep me safe.  Look at what would happen to him if he didn’t.  I suddenly felt terribly guilty for playing fast and loose with my life, when I saw what it would actually do to Clay.  I should have let Liam break our
sealment
.  I should have never tried to keep my soul from him because it was the only way I could protect Clay, if I set him free.  I was visibly gawking and I quickly turned away from them.  I felt completely hopeless.