Crimson Kingdom (The Lochlann Feuds Book 3) by Robin D. Mahle & Elle Madison

Author:Robin D. Mahle & Elle Madison [Mahle, Robin D. & Madison, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-17T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

It was a long, sleepless night, wherein I obsessed over every word of my and Evander’s conversation the night before.

It had left me with more questions than answers.

Did he miss me after I left? If so, was it just not enough to actually do anything about it? While I was grieving and falling apart over here, was he filling his bed with a series of Fionas?

Pressing a pillow against my face, I tried hard to drown that image out.

He had feelings for me. That much was clear. Stars knew I had feelings for him.

Strong ones.

Impossible-to-ignore ones.

But I didn’t want to be all in if he still refused to be. Which put me in, as Davin would say, rather a pickle.

He had given me more than I expected him to last night, though, when I put it all together. It was something. It just...wasn’t enough.

With a sigh, I finally wrenched myself out of bed to get dressed. My barely healed wound pulsated with the movement, but it was minor compared to the feelings churning deeper inside.

Taisiya brought breakfast to my rooms and helped me dress in a light-green gown the exact shade of my eyes. She topped it off with a silver woven tiara, inlaid with pale jade stones.

It shouldn’t have surprised me that the woman always saw far more than she let on, given what her job had been in Socair. I appreciated, nonetheless, the way she seemed to understand how important today was.

And how badly I needed an extra layer of armor for what I was about to do.

Avani met me in the hallway to walk me downstairs. She didn’t say anything, didn’t ask what decision I had made, just linked her arm through mine in a show of support.

At least I could feel confident in something when I walked down several sets of stairs to the Council Room on the second floor, since there were creatures far bigger than butterflies beating angry wings in my stomach with each step.

Avani gave my arm a final squeeze before dropping it to open the Council Room door.

Evander looked up sharply when I entered, and I couldn’t help but notice that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t sleep last night.

Though he was as freshly shaven and put together as ever, his hair was just the slightest bit tousled, like he had run his hands through it one too many times, and there was a purplish tinge under his eyes.

He looked on with something like wariness when Avani took the seat Theo usually occupied, and I sank into the chair next to her.

“Should we wait for Lord Theodore to begin?” my mother asked uncertainly. Theo was never late.

“No,” I said shortly. “That won’t be necessary. I informed him of my decision last night.”

Evander’s features could have been carved from marble for all the emotion they showed... all but the barest, bitter twist of his lips.

“I’ve taken all the factors into consideration, and have decided that for the sake of our people,

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