Sweet Robin: The Fae of Andell: Book One by Elizabeth Coult

Author:Elizabeth Coult [Coult, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orange Daisy Publishing
Published: 2024-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The faery realm of Andell was quiet, as if the very fabric of the land was holding its breath. With the Seelie Queen and the Unseelie King away in the mortal realm, there was an indefinable tension, gathering like a storm. Robin, who usually liked to be in the thick of things in the Seelie Court, found himself preferring to remain within his own quarters, his friend Wymond for an audience instead of his usual coterie. Robin was restringing his lute while his friend lazed about on the gilt-edged sofa, twirling a sprig of holly with his nimble fingers. The breeze through the open window did not feel as gentle as it did when Queen Ailsa was in residence, and the dappled sunshine did not feel as warm. Even Wymond’s usually languid movements held a hint of agitation in them.

“So, are we going to talk about it?” Wymond asked, cutting through the growing tension.

“About what?” Robin tried to keep the terse tone from his voice. He knew exactly about what.

“I was aiming for subtlety, but I can spell it out for you if that is how you want to play this,” Wymond replied, sitting upright in a sinuous motion no one could ever mistake for a human movement. “Are we going to talk about your forbidden jaunt to the mortal realm? Or is it forbidden jaunts by now?”

Robin fixed his friend with the most level stare he could muster.

“If my queen has forbidden me from jaunting to the mortal realm, then you must know it would be impossible for me to defy her, even if I wanted to. Which, of course, I do not. She is my queen.”

Wymond flicked the holly sprig away. “You humans are all liars.”

Robin shook his head and continued with his task, tying a new fret on his lute.

Wymond threw something at him, hitting him on the side of the head. It was that strange card Jenny’s friend had given to him when he had rescued her from her fall.

“Explain that,” Wymond said.

Robin sighed. “I have never seen that before in my life.”

“More lies.”

“You know it is impossible for me to act against my queen’s compulsion spells.”

Wymond struck as fast as an adder, grabbing Robin’s hand and holding it up in the dappled sunlight that streamed in through the window.

“So what is this injury you take great pains to angle out of sight whenever you can, if not a counter curse to the queen’s compulsion spells?” Wymond ran a finger along the weal. “It positively reeks of Unseelie magic.”

“Unasked for Unseelie magic.”

“Yet you have taken full advantage of it all the same.”

Robin locked eyes with Wymond, knowing his friend would see the panic within their depths. “I gave in to temptation,” he whispered.

“Does this temptation have a name?”

Robin rolled his eyes at him, aiming for nonchalance. “Earth,” he said.

“Liar.”

The accusation came out as a hiss, and it was only his centuries of experience of living with the fae that prevented Robin from recoiling.

“It has been hundreds of years since I have lived on Earth, Wymond.

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