House of Lies and Sorrow (Fae of Rewyth #1)(34)

They laughed again.

The power building in my body was almost enough to become tangible. They knew who they were messing with. They knew what the consequences would be. I snarled at him before my father held up a hand. “Enough, Malachi,” he said, sounding bored as ever. Was he serious? They talk about my wife, the princess of Rewyth that way, and he takes their side? “I’m tired of these immature games you all play. We’ll see you this evening for the court meeting. We can discuss the politics of this arrangement then.”

He didn’t look at us again as he walked by, sauntering out of the hallway with his posse of princes in trail.

Jade exhaled loudly as soon as we were alone in the hallway. “Shit,” she mumbled, crossing her arms over her body once more. “No offense, but your family is a bunch of assholes.”

I smiled quickly before the realization of the situation hit me.

Jade had actually survived her first few nights Rewyth. And now she was going to have to survive a court meeting. This might be an even more difficult task than the first.

“Let’s go,” I said, guiding her back down the hallway toward my room. “Things are about to get very interesting.”

“Because they were so boring already,” she mumbled under her breath.

I clenched my fists. “You realize fae can hear every dumb thing you mumble under your breath, right?”

Jade just smiled and flipped her wet hair over her shoulder. “Good, you were meant to.”

She strutted past me and continued walking to my bedroom.

Our bedroom.

Did she not understand how serious this was? Did she not know the dangers of the situation she was about to be in?

I followed her in and shut the door behind me. Jade just perched herself on the sofa, completely ignoring the fact that her hair was still dripping water.

“We need to talk,” I said, pacing past her and examining. “I need you to do everything I tell you to do tonight.”

Jade tensed, but kept her calm expression. “For the court meeting?”

“Yep.”

“Do you think someone there wants me dead?”

Her face was blank.

“I don’t know.”

Silence.

It was only a couple seconds but it felt like hours.

“Okay,” she said finally. “What do you need me to do?”

I did a double take, definitely did not expect her to say that. But I was relieved nonetheless.

I leaned against the wall as I gathered my thoughts. What did I need her to do? Saints, I had no idea. The wedding was bad enough, and we had barely survived that. This was something different. The public eye wasn’t here to keep my family’s behavior in line. These court meetings got ugly, and few of them ended without any bloodshed.

Whether it’s from my idiot brothers punching each other or worse.

“First, you’ll need new clothes. Court clothes. I’ll have Adeline bring some for you.”

She nodded.

“And you’ll have to stay quiet. Actually quiet this time. My brothers will…. They’ll try to start something. They always do. There’s no telling what they have in mind, considering there’s never been a wife at any of these meetings.”

“None of your brothers are married?”

“Nope. Apparently I’m the only one my father hates enough for that.”

She cringed at my words, and I immediately wanted to take them back.

But Jade just lifted her chin and said, “I guess that makes two of us, then.”

I met her eyes from across the room. Jade had been a surprise, indeed. The fact that she hated the fae so much, but still wanted to defend Adeline, said everything I needed to know about her. Jade had a soft spot underneath her badass, rock solid demeanor.

But in Rewyth, that was as good as a death sentence.

Show no weakness. Yield no mercy.

“You know how to use that thing, right?” I asked her regarding her knife. I assumed she could wield a weapon, but in the two times she had been attacked here in Rewyth, she hadn’t used it.

Something dark hardened her expression.

“I’ve used it before,” she said. I fought the urge to ask her when.

“Good,” I said, pulling an iron knife of my own from my hip. “Because fae are strong. Much stronger than any human. And you’ve seen the animals in the jungle now. That tiger was the least of your worries out there. You have to be ready.”

“For what, exactly? For your father to try and kill me? Sorry, but I’m not sure I’d have any chance against that. Dagger or not.”

“Let me show you,” I said as I pushed myself away from the wall. I didn’t think, just acted.

She stood up slowly, but fear crept into her features. I know she was thinking about how I held the knife to her throat, and probably how the assassin had done the same hours earlier.

“Relax,” I said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She snapped her gaze to me. “Great, it’s so nice to know my husband isn’t going to kill me, despite how much he likes threatening everyone else.”

My breath stalled.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” I said. I wasn’t sure which incident I was even talking about.

She simply nodded. “This is my new life, isn’t it? Fight to survive?”