Page 25 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
The door banged open, and my hands twitched toward where my swords would be—if we hadn’t been forced to enter this room unarmed. No one else at the table reacted, though, aside from Korhonan’s startled eyes, which made me realize they must be used to this kind of entrance.
“Brother,” Prince Oliver called as the king entered with a face like a thundercloud.
His presence seemed to fill the room even before he did, his crown an unnecessary addition for a man with the undeniable bearing of a king.
“I was just thinking this room had gotten a bit dreary, but here you are to brighten things up.”
It was an effort to keep my expression neutral, wondering how quickly my father might order someone’s unclanning if they commented on his mood in the middle of a council meeting.
King Logan’s mouth only twitched upward before he went back to glaring at the two Socairans in the room, though I was gratified to see that at least his ire included Korhonan.
Was it prejudice against my people? Or only those…associated with his daughter?
“Rowan?” Queen Charlotte asked quietly.
He gave a gruff nod, and the room returned to silence once more. Several long minutes ticked by before Rowan finally graced us with her presence.
It was immediately evident as to why she was late. Last night, she had looked like a pampered princess. Today, she looked like aqueen, something I suspected was intentional.
She didn’t have her father’s presence, but she commanded the room all the same when she strode in wearing an aggressively crimson gown, hair and cosmetics and tiara perfectly in place.
When she had been at Bear, it had been hard to picture her as a royal, let alone a Clan Wife. There was something bittersweet about seeing her this way now, something I refused to think too deeply about.
I looked away just in time to catch the narrowed emerald eyes of the king, who I was beginning to suspect was far more observant than his gruff demeanor implied.
“Apologies for my tardiness,” Rowan said airily, not bothering to make it sound sincere.
She sank into the empty seat next to Korhonan and my jaw clenched involuntarily.
“I daresay it was worth it,” he responded, beaming at her like a child who had been presented with a new toy.
I didn’t roll my eyes, even if I was wildly tempted to do so.
Having observed the interactions between the royals, it came as a bit of a surprise when the queen opened up the meeting.
“We understand you have terms for...allowingthe alliance between Elk and Lochlann.” Whatever softness I had sensed from her was nowhere to be found when she fixed me with an irritable glare. “To be clear, we neither recognize nor condone the fact that you essentially claimed our daughter as yourpropertyfor things she had no control over.”
I wondered if she would have recognized or condoned those things if she had understood the alternatives, but that argument was out of place here, so I only nodded.
“Understood.”
She appeared to be slightly mollified by my response, going on in a gentler tone.
“However, we do recognize that we are not in a position to overturn a decision made by the Socairan ruling party. Additionally, we are conscious of the fact that you respected her decision to leave when you could have chosen not to. So, we have decided to entertain these discussionspeacefully.”
That was, frankly, more acknowledgement than I had been expecting. She was less volatile than her husband, yes, though I was realizing, no less formidable. Her approach was much less…hostile toward my mere existence.
“For now,” the king tacked on, and I gave them another dip of my chin.
That much had been understood from the outset. These negotiations were precarious, at best, for all parties involved.
“Are there any questions before we begin?” the queen asked, maintaining her control of the meeting.
“I have one,” Korhonan growled, all eyes turning to him as he glared at me. “What’s to stop your father from sending his men in to overturn this decision, as he did last time?”
In the hours I had spent pacing my floors the night before, considering the possible outcomes of this meeting, I hadprepared myself to counter any accusations toward my father’s sanity.
I hadn’t been prepared for Rowan to have kept that secret. I scanned her features to be sure, and she averted her gaze before I could read it. No one contradicted him, though, not even with their expressions.