Nylah opened the door, and we stepped into the room.
Like all the other rooms in the palace, this one was large, with high ceilings. A French window stretched from floor to ceiling on the one side of the room, and full-length bookcases covered the opposite wall. A large desk was front and center in the room, not unlike the desk Nylah had been sitting behind.
King Rainier stood in front of the tall windows, looking out, his hands clasped at his back.
“Nylah,” he said when he turned, and there was an easygoing kindness in his voice. When his blue eyes fell on me, the kindness disappeared. “What news?”
“I found little, but what I found might help you decide what to do with our guest.”
Nylah didn’t refer to me as a prisoner. That was nice of her.
“Okay,” the King said. “Show me.”
Nylah walked to him and kneeled before him, showing respect before she stood and took his hand, her right to his, so that it looked like they were shaking on something. She closed her eyes, and the power she possessed filled the room. It spilled into the corner of the office. A moment later, the King’s power joined hers. It was so strong, the room threatened to burst open at the seams. I struggled to breathe.
They said King Rainier was one of the most powerful Fae to ever exist. I’d always thought the people who said it had some kind of power envy or were starstruck. But now that I felt what he could do, I was convinced they were right.
Nylah and the King stood locked together for some time. I watched them, but I was uncomfortable, like I was witnessing a private moment. I walked to the tall windows, careful not to make a sound.
The view was beautiful. The windows overlooked a valley with trees and a river lazily winding along the path the foot of the mountain provided. Everything was lush and alive. Along the river, I noticed beautiful houses dotted between the trees. They belonged to Fae, with humans for servants who had it hard even when they lived between lush trees.
“All right,” the King finally said, and the power subsided. When I turned to look at them again, they’d let go of each other’s hands. “And you think she’ll be an asset?”
He asked Nylah the question as if in response to something she’d already said, although neither of them had spoken a word since they’d taken hands.
“I do. Her warrior-like abilities will come in handy,” Nylah said.
Of course, she’d had that vision. I’d seen it, too. She’d seen me slay the beast.
King Rainier nodded and turned to me.
“You have a choice, Eleanor,” he said.
“Ellie, please.” Being called Eleanor made me feel small—it was the name my parents had chosen for me, or at least that was what I’d been told. Those parents had abandoned me, so I didn’t like using my formal name.
“Ellie…” He walked toward me, and when he came closer, Ifelthim. Up close, without the hostility of thinking I was a killer and sentencing me to death, I was even more aware of how incredibly handsome he was. His features were celestial. It was the only way to describe it. He was like a god, and I suddenly wondered what his skin would feel like beneath my fingertips.
“What?” I asked, clearing my throat, willing him to say something—anything—so that I could stop thinking things I had no business thinking about a Fae King.
“If you wish, I will allow you to go back to the life you lived before. You will leave here a pardoned woman, with no mark to your name. I’ll forget this nasty business, and you will be free.”
“What’s the other option?” I asked carefully.
“You can stay here at the palace—I will give you quarters of your own—and you will train to become a warrior in my elite guard.”
“You want me to fight for you?” I asked, surprised. “I’m just a human.”
It was well known that the few humans who had the chance to work for the royal family did nothing that mattered. Important jobs were reserved for the Fae, and that included the warriors. How could powerless humans fight against the Fae when it came to war?
“You’re right,” King Rainier said. “But your skills are impressive. No one has killed the Farynx the way you did—not even the Fae.”
I assumed the Farynx was the creature I’d killed.
“I believe you’ll be an asset to my team, but I won’t force you to stay against your will.”
He would let me go if that was what I wanted. I blinked at the King, trying to bring the hostile male from earlier together with this reasonable monarch. Maybe Nylah’s vision had done more than show him the truth. It had softened him, too.
The High Priestess seemed to have that effect on those around her.