Serpent's Claim (Serpent's Touch 2)

Kyllen just shrugged. “Don't bother. It would just confirm his suspicion that you favor me.”

I seethed. “He’s made himself way too comfortable in my palace.”

Kyllen gazed at me for another moment.

“My queen,” he said, as if testing the sound of my new title. “It was the most thrilling experience to see you upon the Throne of Lorsan and then find you here, wielding King Zeldren’s sword. You looked magnificent.”

Wieldingwas too strong a word. I barely managed to balance it without dropping it. Still, my cheeks heated at his praise.

“A sword instead of a chair. I’ve come a long way.” I smiled, stroking a sentie draped over his shoulder. He promptly wound it around my wrist.

“You really have, my love. I’m amazed, humbled, and proud of what you’ve accomplished and the person you have become. You’ve broken out of your shell and emerged as what you truly are…” He sat up and bowed his head. “My queen.”

His admiration thrilled me. Warm pleasure glowed inside me at his words.

“Well, as your queen, I order you to stay with me…” I paused before adding, “For the rest of my life.”

He took my hand in his. “Will you marry me, Amira?”

“Yes,” I said quickly, maybe way too quickly, but I didn’t care.

His grin turned rather smug, very much like the Kyllen I knew. Though, he seemed to be lost for words for a minute, just sitting there, grinning happily at me.

I placed a quick kiss on the corner of his smiling mouth. “I’ll gather an assembly and make a formal announcement first thing tomorrow morning.”

His smile dimmed. “It won’t be that easy.”

I dreaded to hear these words. Nothing had ever been easy in my life.

“For years,” Kyllen explained, “the High Lords have expected their chance to compete for the crown.”

“My showing up threw a curveball in their plans,” I added with a nod. “They aren’t happy, but they’ve been dealing with it rather well, so far.”

“Hm.” He looked skeptical. “They’re holding on to the hope that not all is lost. One of them can marry you to become the next king. If I sweep in now and take that chance from under their noses, they will not take it well.”

“They can’t tell me whom to marry,” I argued, even though I feared they very well could. A queen’s marriage was of state importance. Every High Lord and every councilor would have something to say about that.

“You canceled the tournament,” Kyllen said. “That left the lords feeling cheated out of their chance for a crown. Now, if you tell them you’re marrying me, without giving any consideration to the rest of them, they’d take that as an insult. The crown is slipping away from them for the second time, through a marriage arranged behind their backs, to someone they consider an outsider. I’ve been away for too long. I’ve made no alliances and can’t count on any of their support.”

“They will assassinate me.”His words echoed ominously through my mind.

“If I can’t marry you, I’m not going to marry at all,” I said firmly.

“Oh, it’ll be me. It can’t be anyone else.” Kyllen leaned toward me, taking my hands in his. “But I need to earn the right to marry you.”

“How?”

He straightened, squeezing my hands. “Make the tournament happen.”

“What? No!”

“Amira, please. Declare your hand in marriage as the prize. And let all of us compete for it.”

I kept shaking my head. “No. I’m not playing with your life. I just got you back. I’m not losing you again.”

“A win at the tournament, witnessed by thousands, would be the one uncontested way for me to claim you,” he insisted. “It’s one of the oldest traditions. There was a lower lord once who claimed a princess like that. They weren’t bonded mates, but they were in love. I forgot his name.”

“Lord Grelen.” I remembered reading about that in one of the books on succession laws. “He won the hand of Princess Rhelore, King Anior’s daughter, in a tournament and set a precedent that centuries later helped Lord Urick and Lord Oflyn claim their brides from two more prominent families.”

He tilted his head, regarding me with new curiosity. “You know Lorsan’s history better than I do.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of reading, especially on the Kingdom’s laws. I still have a lot to catch up on.”

“I never knew of the other two lords,” he muttered under his breath.

“Did you skip that lesson, too, as a kid?” I teased.

He shrugged with a guilty expression that made me laugh. He reached for me again, and I gladly crawled into his lap. I hated being apart from him, even if the distance was just a foot or two between us now.

He pressed a kiss on the side of my neck. “Fine, I may not be scholarly, but I’m really good at riding water serpents and winning tournaments. I’m in excellent shape, too, you know. I’ve traveled by board across the kingdom for days. Don’t discount me as the winner yet.”

I sighed, snuggling into his arms. His life was at stake. But even if he survived, taking any place other than the first, I’d be obligated to marry a stranger. The chilling dread wouldn’t leave me.

“It’s too much of a risk. The stakes are too high for me to gamble.”

Excitement sparked in his eyes. “But I’m good at gambling, remember?”

“This is not the human world,” I argued. “A tournament is not a roulette table. You can’t manipulate it in your favor.”

“There are always ways to make one’s odds higher.” He remained undeterred.

“No, Kyllen, please. There has to be another way.”

“The other way is this.” He tipped his chin at the Crown of Lorsan on the side table. “Leave it here for whoever wants to find it. Come with me to Ellohi. I can’t make you a queen, but I’ll make you my High Lady. I’ll build a fortress around my palace and fight anyone who dares come for you.”

Because they would come.

“They will hunt you…”King Zeldren had said.

They would. Now, the prize would be even greater. No longer would I be wanted just as a rare pet. As the former queen, I’d retain some claim to the throne for the rest of my life. It would also mean a death sentence to Kyllen if he stood in the way of any ambitious High Lord who wished to take me from him.

I sighed. “They won’t let us live in peace.”

“They won’t, sweet pea. You see now that the victory in the tournament is the best way for me to claim you? Fair, public, and uncontested. Besides, you’ll remain the queen.”

I wished I could dismiss that last point. But even if I said I didn’t care for the crown, it wouldn’t be true.

“You want that, don’t you?” he prompted.

I nodded. “I gave Lorsan’s people my promise, and despite what gorgonians may think, human promises are important, maybe even more important than fae’s, because nothing holds us accountable but our honor. Yes, I want to be the queen worthy of my people’s trust. I don’t want to give up.”