Seraiah found the room where the council meeting was being held with help from Wisteria.

“Don’t look so worried,” Wisteria told her as they stood outside the door. “I’m sure it will be fine. It’s not like they will sentence you to execution or anything.”

“They can do that?”

Wisteria smiled as she backed away. “Best of luck. I have to get to my other duties now.” Then she turned on her heel and fled, leaving Seraiah standing in the hallway alone.

“Right,” Seraiah mumbled, taking a breath and squaring her shoulders. “We can do this.”

She knocked.

“Come in,” a voice called. A very familiar voice.

When Seraiah opened the door, she found Kai sitting at the far end of a large oval table. It appeared no one else had arrived yet.

He looked up from the papers he was studying and offered her a small smile.

Her eyes locked on his mouth, and her heart stopped.

Suddenly, she remembered with excruciating clarity what had happened the night before.

First she’d confessed her possible feelings for him and jealousy over his interaction with Virelai to Kestrel, and then, when left alone with him, she’d kissed him.

But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that prior to throwing herself at him, she had told him she didn’t think he was awful.

Seraiah wished the floor would open up and swallow her.

“Have a seat,” Kai said, indicating the chair on his left.

She made her way around the table even though she wanted nothing more than to flee the room and possibly never see Kai again. What was she supposed to say to him? Did she apologize?

The chair scraped loudly against the floor in the silence as she pulled it from the table and sat. They were close enough to bump elbows, and she could feel the heat of his body.

Or maybe that was her imagination.

She knit her fingers together in her lap to resist touching them to her mouth as she remembered the heat of his lips and the way . . .

No. She could not do this right now.

“Did you have a good night?” Kai asked.

“I-um, yes,” she squeaked. Her cheeks burned. Now might be the time to apologize, or perhaps she could pretend she didn’t remember anything. Yes, that might be for the best. Then things could go back to the way they were, and they could both forget about how she had embarrassed herself.

“The court celebration was nice,” Seraiah said, “and then Kestrel took me to a party on the beach. Unfortunately, I think I may have had too much to drink because I don’t remember much after that until Wisteria woke me up for this meeting.”

“Yes, that tends to happen around Kestrel. When I spoke to her this morning, she was also feeling the effects of the nectar.”

There, Seraiah thought, I’ve fixed things. As long as Kai doesn’t say anything, we can put this behind us.

“The council should be here in a few minutes,” Kai warned her as he flipped through pages. “Be prepared to be questioned. They will want to know everything, including about your seer abilities.”

“Should I tell them everything?” she asked. The nerves from earlier came flooding back.

Kai nodded. “It’s time they know that their Queen still lives, and that my mother lied about her death. The future of this kingdom depends on getting her back.”

“Do I need to be worried—” Seraiah paused a moment, gripping the arms of her chair, “for myself? They won’t want to execute me, right?”

Kai looked at her sharply. “Who told you that?”

“Oh, um, no one.” She traced a finger over the tabletop. The nervous energy was making it impossible for her to sit still. “I was just thinking what with everyone’s reaction to me . . .”

Kai placed a hand over hers, stilling her movement. “Seraiah.” He waited until she looked up to continue. “You will be safe here. You have my word. I will do everything in my power to make sure of it.”

At that moment, Kestrel arrived. Her eyes went straight to their hands.

“Am I interrupting something?” she asked with a knowing smile. “I can go if you’d like.”

Kai sat back, withdrawing his hand. “We were just discussing what to tell the council.”

“Uh-huh,” Kestrel said, coming around the table. She pulled out the empty chair on Seraiah’s left and took a seat.

“You remember what we spoke about this morning?” Kai asked.

“Of course. How would I forget? By the way, how are you feeling, Seraiah? Sorry about last night.”

“I’m fine. Only a little tired. Wisteria gave me a tea to help with my headache,” as she spoke, she glanced back at Kai, who for some reason was glaring at Kestrel. She was clearly missing something, but she was too afraid to ask what.

“So you made it to bed all right then?” Kestrel placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands.

“Kes.” There was a warning in Kai’s tone.

Had Kai told Kestrel about their kiss? Was that what this was about?

“Yes, Kai?”

Before he could respond, the door opened, and several newcomers joined them.

Three older male elves Seraiah didn’t recognize filed in, taking seats around the table. Gavaran brought up the rear, selecting the seat directly across from Kai.

His eyes moved straight to her. “Good afternoon, Seraiah,” Gavaran said pleasantly, reaching for the water glass placed in front of each of the seats. “Did you enjoy the Eostre celebration?” he asked, over the rim of his glass. He kept his eyes on her as he took a sip of water and set the glass back on the table.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“It was lovely,” she responded, forcing a smile. She was not at all prepared for this.

Gavaran looked like he was about to say something else, but Kai spoke up first.

“We can start this meeting as soon as the others arrive,” he said, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “I am sure you are all eager to hear my news.”

The other council members nodded, though they hardly looked eager. All three of them kept a perfectly blank face, mirroring Gavaran.

“Yes, Kaimana.” Gavaran sat back in his seat, steepling his fingers, keeping his eyes locked on her. “We are all eager to hear about your—” he paused a moment as though trying to think of a proper word, “adventures.”

Seraiah looked down at the table, uncomfortable under his gaze as the room fell into silence.

Finally, the last three members of the council appeared and took their seats.

Kai introduced the six council members she had yet to formally meet. Their names went in one ear and out the other.

She couldn’t help thinking how odd it was that in a kingdom ruled by a queen, the council was made up entirely of males.

“We are here today because I have important news to discuss that affects the entire kingdom,” Kai began. “Kestrel and I have been away for some time because we had reason to believe my sister is alive.”

Seraiah covertly watched the council’s faces and saw their surprise at Kai’s revelation. Gavaran, however, appeared unaffected by this news.

“What makes you think your sister, who was declared dead by the Queen some fifteen or so years ago, is still out there?” one of the councilmen asked.

“I have suspected for years based on comments from Neorah and things my mother has mentioned. After a lot a searching, it seems I was correct. We found her.”

“Send someone for Neorah, and we will ask her for ourselves,” Gavaran said. The council member on his right stood to do his bidding. “Please, continue, Your Highness,” Gavaran said, once the other elf had returned to his seat.

“As I was saying, I found her. I tracked the princess and Jensira to the city of Ratha in the human lands.”

“And now you are trying to pass off this human,” the councilman who had spoken earlier, gestured to Seraiah, “as your sister.”

“Hardly, Councilman Harloth. I think it’s quite obvious to everyone that Seraiah isn’t the missing queen. Seraiah is a seer who grew up as the queen’s older sister, while Jensira acted as a mother to her.”

Gavaran raised one eyebrow at this pronouncement. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. She once again had the sense that Gavaran had more power here than Kai, though she didn’t understand how.

“I see, and if it’s as you say,” Gavaran said, slowly, “then where are Jensira and the princess now? You return to us with this human, but neither of the two missing elves. How are we to know if what this girl says is true?”

Seraiah did not care for the implication that she was a liar. “Jensira is dead, and Sterling was kidnapped. I am sure you are well-aware of my seer abilities. I know you felt it when you took my hand last night.”

The other council members murmured amongst themselves, but Gavaran didn’t bat an eye. He held up his hand and silence immediately fell.

“Please tell us how this came to happen then, Seraiah.” He all but sneered her name.

She opened her mouth to tell her story when a knock sounded on the door.

“Enter,” Gavaran called.

The door opened to reveal an older female elf. She stepped inside and curtsied to Kai.

“You summoned me?” she asked.

“Yes, Neorah.” It was Gavaran who answered her. She turned her eyes to him. “We have a few questions for you regarding the princess.”

Seraiah noticed Gavaran never referred to Sterling as their queen.

“The princess, sir?”

“I’m sure you remember her, Neorah. You delivered her, and if I recall correctly, you were present when the Queen announced her death.”

“Yes, sir, I was.”

“Prince Kaimana has suggested to the council that the princess may not be dead after all, and you were the one who told him this.”

Neorah’s eyes flicked to Kai and then back to Gavaran.

“It’s all right, Neorah. You can tell them what you told me,” Kai reassured her.

She took a visible breath. “What Prince Kaimana says is true. The princess did not die as the Queen proclaimed.”

“Is there anything else you can share with us?” Gavaran asked her.

“No, sir,” Neorah answered, her gaze turning to the floor.

“You don’t know what happened to the princess, or why the Queen decided to declare the heir dead when she was, in fact, not?”

“No, sir,” she said again.

“Thank you for your time, Neorah,” Kai said.

She curtsied again and fled the room.

“There you have it,” Kai said, gesturing to the door Neorah had just exited.

“Yes,” Gavaran said, leaning forward to place his hands on the table. “Now we know that at some point the princess was alive, but that doesn’t mean she still is. Why would Jensira flee with her to the human lands to raise her with this?” He indicated Seraiah.

“Why don’t you let her tell her story, Gavaran?” Kestrel cut in.

From the corner of her eye, Seraiah could see that Kestrel was gripping the edge of the table so hard her knuckles were turning white. “That is what we are here for, after all, isn’t it?”

“Fine. Speak up, girl.”

So, Seraiah told them. She told them every detail she could think of. From the moment she had her first dream to the moment she set foot in this city, she told them everything. As she spoke, she watched their faces, trying to gauge their reactions. Most of them seemed interested, and a few of them even appeared to believe her. When she dared a look at Gavaran, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. No sign of emotion passed over his features.

The only sound in the room after she finished speaking was the ticking of Gavaran’s nails against the table as he drummed his fingers in thought. No one seemed to know what to say.

Kai was the first to speak. “You can see how important it is that we find her. The strange weather in Ratha, the Varanem showing up in the human lands—I believe they are connected. Something is happening, and our portals are weakening. We can’t let this continue.”

Several of the council members were already nodding their heads in agreement as he spoke.

“Do you have any idea where they’ve taken her?” Gavaran asked. “We can’t be wasting our time searching for a girl who mages may or may not have taken.” He didn’t seem inclined to offer them any help.

The elf who Kai had called Harloth spoke up. “I don’t think we should bother with this at all.”

“She’s our queen,” Kestrel growled. “We can’t abandon her.”

Harloth snorted. “A human raised queen. Can you imagine?”

“No,” Kai said, answering Gavaran’s original question, “we don’t know where she was taken, but,” he directed his gaze to Harloth now, “we do know that things will become much worse if she isn’t returned, human raised or not. You have heard what Seraiah said. Her vision is a warning of things to come.”

“Well, you brought the seer here. Put her to work. She should be able to tell you where the princess is being held,” Harloth responded.

“I’m inclined to agree with Harloth,” Gavaran said. “You brought the human girl here and caused quite an uproar with the court. Use her or get rid of her.”

“He can’t.”

“Excuse me?” Gavaran asked, pinning her with that stare again.

“He can’t use me,” Seraiah said, raising her voice. “I’m not trained. I can’t control the visions. They don’t come when I will them.”

“Ah, so this is the reason you are telling us all of this now,” Gavaran said. “You’ve run into a problem you couldn’t solve.”

Kai appeared remarkably calm in the face of Gavaran’s words, while Seraiah was struggling to control her temper. She had to remind herself it would serve nothing to lash out. Gavaran was goading them, and she could not fall for it.

One of the friendlier looking council members spoke up, “If the girl can’t call the visions, then we must look elsewhere for information. We absolutely cannot ignore this issue. I’m agreeing with Prince Kaimana. Matters are only going to get worse.”

“What would you propose we do, Nilos?” Gavaran asked. He didn’t seem pleased that Nilos had spoken up.

Before Nilos could respond, Kestrel jumped in. “What about speaking to the Seelie Court?”

Gavaran frowned.

“We haven’t had contact with them in some time,” Nilos said.

“But could they not help us? They have eyes and ears both here and in the human lands. If anyone would have information, it would be them.”

“And how much are you willing to pay for the information?” Harloth countered. “They never give out anything for free.”

Another member spoke up, but Seraiah stopped listening. Instead, she stared at her hands in her lap, thinking. If it were up to her, she would pay any price that was asked if it meant getting closer to finding Sterling.

“The choice to go to the fae is up to you,” Gavaran said. “As you pointed out, there will be a price to pay, but I certainly won’t be the one footing the bill. Now, if that is all you have to say. I think we are done here.”

“Yes,” Kai said. “This meeting is over. Leave, all of you.”

The others were fast to stand and exit, sketching bows in Kai’s direction, while Gavaran took his time.

“Think about what I said.” His gaze darted to Seraiah before returning to Kai.

His words echoed in her head. Use her or get rid of her.

He hadn’t called for her execution like Wisteria had suggested, but he might as well have.

“Good day, Gavaran,” Kai said, dismissing him.

After Gavaran was gone and the door shut behind him, Kai sighed and slumped in his seat in a very unprincely manner. “Well, that went about as well as I expected.”