To Court a Queen by H. L. Burke

Author:H. L. Burke [Burke, H. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

At the fairy queen’s approach, the felys girl leaped onto the top of the stall door and then somehow propelled herself into the beams of the ceiling. Devin gave a low whistle. She hadn’t been joking about felys being good at climbing. Realizing she didn’t want Agalea to catch them together, Devin hopped over the stall door and stood, arms crossed, waiting as the queen glided towards him.

The winged hounds parted as the queen hovered over the horse field. Behind her Olysa followed, struggling to keep up with her queen and look dignified at the same time, the quickness of her legs ill-matched with her stony expression.

“Right over here.” He bowed his head at her approach. No need to antagonize the queen if he didn’t have to.

“I’ve been searching for you.” She scowled. “What are you doing over here?”

“Just taking a walk.” He kept his gaze locked to hers. After all, he hadn’t tried to run away, and other than his connection with Sevaine, he had nothing to hide. “It’s hard for a man of action, such as myself, to spend day after day trapped in a single room. When the servant who brought my food left the door unlocked, I thought I’d take advantage of it to see some of the grounds.”

“Which servant left your door unlocked?” Olysa narrowed her eyes at him.

He shrugged. “I didn’t get her name, and to a human like me, all you fae folk look alike.”

Olysa recoiled, then sniffed. “Well, it doesn’t matter. The winged hounds would never let you run off.”

“I wasn’t trying to run off. Just stretching my legs and getting a feel for the place, like I said.”

“Alone?” Agalea’s tone could’ve chilled a flagon of mulled wine.

“Of course.” He swept his arm in an arc before him. “Do you see anyone with me?”

“Yes, well, I’ve seen how you draw company to you.” The queen stuck her nose in the air. “It doesn’t do for a suitor of mine to be so gregarious. You should be attentive to me and me alone. If not, I might begin to doubt that you have the fidelity needed for the future consort of a queen.”

Unease crept through him like a spider running down his shirt and over his spine. He licked his suddenly dry lips. “Well, I wouldn’t want to cause you doubts. As you can see, though, I’m here, alone.”

“At the moment.” She tapped a long-nailed finger against her lips. “Well, I have spent the day arranging another chance for you to prove yourself to me, either way. The next trial will be tomorrow morning, and this trial no one has ever passed, not even the cleverest of my suitors.”

His heart sank. “I … I thought I’d have more time to rest and prepare.”

“Why is that needed? If you truly desire my hand, and not the hand of any other, you should be eager to win me. To do that, you must complete all my challenges.”

He let out a long breath. Well, he’d known this was coming.

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