The Rebel Queen (Outlaw 1)

“I’m the other one?”

I looked up and realized I should have stayed in bed. Declan was frowning at the table of Fae, though he’d kept his voice low enough they didn’t seem to have heard.

“Do they not realize I shall be their king one day?” Declan huffed and sat down on the bench across from me, the table between us.

This dining area was outside, a grouping of benches sitting on the greenest of grass, the sunlight soft across the town. There was a warm wind despite the fact that I knew outside the mountain it was winter. This was Fae magic at its finest, and I realized how much I’d missed Faery despite the man sitting in front of me.

I leaned back so the trolls could hear me. I could answer some of their questions. “You can tell His Grace and His Assholiness apart the minute they open their mouths. Also, for a few days you’ll be able to tell them apart because the future King of Faery will be walking bowlegged because I kicked him in the balls.”

The biggest of the trolls laughed heartily and slapped at the table. “Ah, ’tis a good one, Your Grace.”

“They do not show enough respect.” Declan seemed particularly broody this morning.

“And I don’t think you’re the royal who’s looked after them all these years.” If there was one thing my brother-in-law did consistently and with great talent it was to fail to read the room. Any room, really.

Declan shrugged. “Yes, I have noted that they treat Rhys with great respect. I suppose they’ll come to love Devinshea as well. He was always beloved by the outliers.”

“Probably because he doesn’t refer to them as outliers.”

“Well, it’s what they are. The earthbound Fae have always been on the outside. They’re more than welcome to join their brethren in our sitheins, but they stubbornly cling to the old ways.”

I stared at him because he wasn’t a man who should ever chide someone for clinging to the old ways. “Your mother has been queen for like three hundred years.”

He nodded as though I’d made his point. “Yes, she is a very modern monarch, and she has trouble dragging some into the new world.”

How do you argue with immortals? Their version of time is different from ours. “I think they’re happy in this one. And I know the Earth plane is grateful for the continued blessings of the Fae here.”

The trolls had gotten up, and they bowed my way.

“And we are happy to have a Green Man and his goddess counted amongst our people,” the leader of the group said. “It was always told to us that the royal triad wasn’t fussy like the other Seelies we knew.”

“We’ve heard the stories for years,” a slender troll explained. “They told your tale around our campfires and under our bridges. When times got rough, there was even talk of some who went looking for you. But we always knew you would return, and when our young Green Man saw Arkan Sonney, we knew you would be home soon and there would be no more need to look for you.”

“Arkan Sonney?” Declan asked.

The trolls all huffed as though the future king had displeased them by not knowing local lore. Though in this case I rather thought the creature was Manx and not Icelandic. The northern European Fae lore wove in and out. Declan hadn’t been forced to sit through Devinshea’s very long and detailed course on Faery creatures of the Earth plane.

I’d had to sit through it twice when he realized I’d hidden a Sarah J. Maas book behind the text he’d given me.

But luckily I knew this one. “She’s talking about a faery creature. It’s a pretty white pig that’s oddly enough actually a hedgehog. But when the hedgehog takes on the form of a white pig, it brings luck and fortune to the one who sees it. Are you telling me my son went against the orders of his commander because he saw a cute little piggy?”

The largest troll nodded. “Aye, a wise one is our Rhys. Good day, Your Grace.”

Declan watched them stride away. “They did not even wish me well.”

“I don’t either.” I stood because it looked like I wasn’t going to eat breakfast at all.

Declan put on his pouty, woe-is-me face. “Zoey, please. I know you cannot forgive me, but I need to talk to you.”

I no longer fell for anything my brother-in-law tried. My anger with him was tied to the fact that we’d gotten to a good place before Danny, Dev, and I had gone missing. He’d spent time at the Council building. He’d allowed his son, Sean, to be a part of our family. I thought we were good, and I’d been incredibly wrong. “Whatever you have to say, you can say to Dev. I’m not involved in any kind of political moves you want to make. And don’t expect him to come to Faery anytime soon.”