“You want anything?” Seth was in his small kitchen area, putting some sort of rice dish in his microwave. “Ash needs to eat.”
“I’m fine.” She blushed.
“Did you eat yet today?” Seth waited briefly, and when she didn’t answer he turned back to his cupboards and began getting out dishes.
Keenan’s positive opinion of Seth increased.
“I’m, umm, going to do it. The queen thing,” Aislinn said in a shy voice. She sat down on one end of the sofa.
“Figured that when you brought him.” Seth tossed a bottle of water to Aislinn and looked expectantly at Keenan.
He held a hand out and caught the water Seth tossed to him.
The microwave dinged. No one spoke for a moment while Seth gathered the food.
Then he asked, “So what’s that mean for us?”
“Nothing, I don’t think.” Aislinn glanced at Keenan. “It was one of my terms for taking the job.”
Keenan settled on one of the garish chairs and waited.
“School?” Seth handed her a bowl of food as he sat beside her. Some slight tension left him as Aislinn put her legs up and leaned back against him.
“That’s good too,” she said.
Seth was handling the situation with considerable aplomb, but Keenan didn’t miss the mortal’s possessive gestures—the casual touches that announced a physical connection to Aislinn.
Once he’d given Aislinn her meal, Seth turned to Keenan. “So now what happens?”
“Aislinn comes with me to see Donia and becomes a queen.” Keenan kept his irritation at being questioned under control. They both wanted the same thing—Aislinn’s well-being.
Seth looked truly ill at ease. “Will it hurt her?”
Aislinn seemed startled by the question, fork full of food held in midair.
“No,” Keenan said. “And afterward, there’s not much in your world or mine that can seriously hurt her.”
“What about the other one, the Winter Queen?” Seth had entangled his hand in Aislinn’s hair, stroking it absently while he spoke.
“She still can. Monarchs can wound or kill one another.”
“Monarchs like you,” Seth prompted. “You can hurt her.”
“I will not.” Keenan looked at Aislinn, curled up against Seth, seeming happy. It was what he wanted for her, happiness. There was little she could ask that he’d deny—even if that meant she would be in another’s arms for now. “I gave her my vow.”
They sat there then, in silence as Aislinn ate, until finally she asked, “Can Seth come with us?”
“No. No mortals, not at the test. It would not be safe for him,” Keenan answered carefully, resisting the urge to cringe at the danger of a mortal there. Even without the Sight, the glare would be blinding when his power was unbound, when Aislinn’s power slid into her.
Aislinn put her bowl aside and moved into Seth’s lap.
Keenan didn’t miss the tension around her eyes. He took a steadying breath and added, “Afterward, though, you could bring him to the Rath with us. He can join us to celebrate.”
“What about seeing them…us”—she corrected herself before Keenan could—“giving him the Sight so it’s easier.”
“A monarch can authorize that.” Keenan smiled at her attention to detail. She truly would make a wonderful q
ueen.