I laughed at that one. “I have been told that on occasion. Not growing up in the magical realm has its perks, I suppose.”
I sighed and glanced up at him.
Some days, I wasn’t sure if I was mad at my mother from keeping me away from all the things the magical realm could have offered me growing up, or if I should be grateful to her forever, for sparing me the damage that may have been done. It all depended on my mood, and it changed constantly.
“You have taken the half-breed as your lover,” the King said, rather abruptly. It was a statement rather than a question, especially considering he already knew Tavlor and I were together.
I bit my lip to stop myself from lashing out.
“I want you to know that I hate that term,” I said, trying to keep my patience. He was a king, after all. I still needed to be respectful.
The Fae King shrugged. “It is a simple fact.”
I glanced up at him. Surely, ever as pure Fae, he knew better than that. “I suppose it is, as is the fact I am technically a bastard, but you must know that such terms have insults attached to them.”
He snorted with arrogance. “Fae do not shy away from the truth. We embrace it. We do not allow mere words, derogatory or not, to control our emotions. What a funny thing, a word having such power over someone.”
I sighed. He was probably right. I would have to get used to such terminology.
“I will accept that... and to answer your rhetorical question,” I said. “Yes, I have. I love Tavlor.”
He patted my hand, almost as though he was pitying me. “I can tell, and I’m jealous.”
I giggled. I didn’t actually plan to respond like that. I guess I was just shocked by his bluntness.
“Yes, you said as much,” I said. We were veering off subject and I needed to get that under control or else I was going to lose it completely. “But back to the point. Are you going to tell me why your people appear to live as though they have no magic?”
Surely, they had some. Or was I wrong in assuming all Fae were born with magical skills? I very well could be, considering I wasn’t properly educated on the matter.
His hand gripped mine, and it was no longer gentle.
“The Council took away the powers of my people,” he said with a sneer. His entire body tensed up. I knew he wasn’t angry with me, but he was angry, and if what he said was true, I could not blame him.
I stopped walking and turned the king towards me, staring up into his face where I now saw the ancient years in his eyes.
“They... what?” I said. How was that possible?
He frowned, his lips thinning. “A long time ago, many hundreds of years in fact, we were a strong people. A warring people. Something the Council did not agree with because they knew our powers made theirs look like tiny grains of sand, completely harmless. They gave us an ultimatum, to stop our natural ways, or lose our powers. I... did not agree with their conditions, for there were many and I did not trust them to keep their word on much of what was promised, which wasn’t much at all...”
I frowned. “I can imagine.” I knew exactly what sort of squiggly bullshit the Council would have tried to put into that contract. “But if you’re more powerful than they are, how were they able to take your power from you?”
“So, within a week of not signing their contracts, a plague hit my people, making them sick. Feeble. Robbing them of their magic. I could not prepare for it. I assumed we would be going to war. I had weapons made, provided intense training to my people. I did not expect illness and destitution.”
I stared at him, shocked. The Council had made his people sick? On purpose. “That’s... terrible. Surely there must have been another way for them to stop you?”
One which didn’t involve practically maiming the innocent people in a town?
He smiled sadly. “I’m sure there was, but not one the Council decided to employ. So, the Council got what they wanted. They stopped us from travelling, from warring with neighboring kingdoms. Too weak to fight back, we are now, as you can see.”
He spread his arm out to encompass his people.
“But... your throne room...” I started to say. There was still magic here, if not everywhere.
“It’s all we have left,” he answered my question before I could ask it. “I managed to maintain most of my powers, how, I am not entirely sure, and protected that one single room. But once upon a time, that was how my whole kingdom looked. We were strong, probably too strong for the Council to handle. And you know how they deal with people they think are too strong.”
He stared at me knowingly.
I swallowed hard, nodding once. I couldn’t be sure that the king wasn’t leading me into some sort of trap, but I didn’t believe that was the case. I thought there was a good chance I might be able to trust him.