My father. I’d almost forgotten about him. Not that it was hard. I only found out who he was ten months ago, and he hadn’t been around much since. First he’d volunteered to help lay siege on the border with Bathune and then hosted the peace talks inside the Leavenwald. We’d only seen each other a few times since the day I’d banished the Fate Maker into the Bleak, trapping him in the space between worlds, a gray nothingness where monsters stalked the landscape and there was no escape.
My mother had been in a coma since a car accident on my thirteenth birthday, and I’d thought finding my father would give me a chance to have a parent again. A family. Stupid me. Turns out my father was happier keeping his distance. And if that was how he wanted it, then fine, I’d been on my own long enough—I didn’t need him anyway.
“And what about John of Leavenwald?” I asked quietly anyway. “Is he coming to the treaty signing?”
“He showed up this morning,” Winston said. “He went to rest and clean himself up.”
“And you just happened to see him when he got here?” I asked.
“No.” Winston swallowed, looking guilty.
“He met with me and your Prince Consort here”—Rhys pointed a thumb at Winston—“at the aerie. He wanted to discuss the palace’s security plans before the Empress Bavasama arrived.”
“Her Ladyship Bavasama,” I corrected. We’d all specifically agreed not to refer to my aunt by her royal title while she was here. She had lost the war against us, and that meant while she was here she was just another noblewoman. Second in line for my throne. The would-be queen of Nerissette.
“Right,” Rhys agreed. “Sir John wanted to make sure that all of our security was in place, in case the Lady Bavasama decided to try something. Like murdering you and then climbing over your body to take the Rose Throne for herself.”
“I’d like to see her try,” I said, looking pointedly around the room at the soldiers in their red coats, positioned shoulder to shoulder around the ballroom.
“I’d rather not,” Winston said. I looked up to see him staring down at me grimly. “If she moves fast enough, she could kill you before any of those soldiers get to you. They’ll kill her, but you’d still be dead so we’ve won the battle but lost the war. Lost you.”
“Not going to happen. We’ve already won the battle, and I’m still here. That’s why my aunt is being forced to ride in the back of a hay wagon all the way to my palace so she can apologize for invading us.”
“And the people of Neris have all turned out to scream at her,” Rhys added. “We had to put a guard around her for her own safety.”
“Really?” I asked.
“People are still angry,” Rhys said. “The army she and the Fate Maker built burned the city of Neris, left the residents without homes. Not to mention all the people they killed trying to overthrow you. The people of Neris want to see her hurt—or dead.”
“I don’t blame them,” I said as I thought about all the people we’d lost, all the people who had been injured, both physically and otherwise, because of my aunt’s greed.
“They were throwing rotting fruit,” Rhys said. “One wrong move and it would have turned into a riot. They’d have killed her before she ever made it here to sign the peace treaty.”
“I’m not sure that would’ve been a bad thing,” I said. “If she died, I’m next in line for her throne, and I wouldn’t need to sign a peace treaty with myself.”
“No,” Winston said. “We’d just have to fight a hundred wizards to win you that throne, and if this falls apart, there’s no way we’ll be able to fight them into a truce. You’ll have to burn Bathune to the ground to conquer it.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing, too,” I muttered.
“Because those of us who actually have to set things on fire for you do think it’s a bad thing,” Winston snapped.
“And that’s why we’re signing a peace treaty. Because some people have lost the will to fight,” I argued bitterly. I’d agreed to the peace treaty because we didn’t have the resources to keep the siege going, but I knew that my aunt wouldn’t honor it and then more people would get hurt, more people would die, and it would be because I hadn’t kept them safe. Again.
“Anyway,” Rhys tried to cut in.
“I’m not—” Winston started.
There was a sharp rap on the floor, and everyone around us fell silent as we turned to stare at Kilvari, the goblin who had taken over as butler and head of the palace household after Timbago had died during battle with the Fate Maker.
Kilvari brought his heavy staff down again, the crack of its wood hitting the marble floor echoing through the quiet ballroom. “Your Majesty,” the tiny goblin announced, his long, green nose quivering and the rings in his trembling beagle ears clinking together like tiny bells. “Sir John, Head Woodsmen of the Leavenwald.”
I clenched my fingers against the arms of my throne as my heart started to pound. The father who had told me we had sixteen years to make up for and then had taken off on me. Sure, he’d been securing my position as queen and then hammering out the peace agreement that would keep me on the throne, but you’d think he could manage to come for at least one father-daughter visit in ten months. Even if it was just for one day.
Kilvari stepped aside, and I watched John step into the doorway. He was tall and lanky, his shoulders ramrod straight, and his chin lifted as he stepped into the ballroom and started toward the throne. He looked straight at me the entire time, not even glancing at the other nobles who filled the ballroom.
“Your Majesty,” he said. He reached the stairs that led to the dais my throne was on and knelt down on one knee, his hands on his sword.
What was I supposed to call him? Sir John? That seemed a bit too formal considering I was talking to my dad. Then again, we barely knew each other, and I wasn’t even ready to call him dad. I didn’t think he was ready to hear it, either.
“John.” I nodded as he stood and came forward, taking my hand and pressing a kiss across the back of it.
“Allie.” He smiled up at me. “You look tired.”
“Yeah,” I said bitterly. “It’s been a rough year. I’m sure you know that, though.”
He swallowed and didn’t meet my eyes. “Thankfully, all that will be over soon. Once this treaty has been signed, we’ll finally be at peace. All of this behind us.”
“And then what?” I asked.
“Your Majesty?” He looked at me, confused.
“Will you be going back to the Leavenwald once the treaty has been signed?” Will you be leaving me again? was what I really wanted to ask. Bailing out again. Just like he had my whole life.
“I was going to stay at the palace, actually,” John whispered. “If that pleases you, Your Majesty… So we could get to know each other better.”
“Sure,” I said quietly. “I’d like that.”
Sad as it was, it was the truth. The man hadn’t been there my entire life, and then in one day I’d found out that I had a father and a half brother, and then seen that same brother double-cross me and get himself killed. John had taken off the next day to mourn, and I’d barely spent any time with him since. But even with all that, I still wanted to get to know him. To have him in my life.
“I’ve also brought you a gift,” John added softly. He reached inside his coat and then pulled out a small, dark-green package. “To celebrate your birthday.”
“Thank you.” I took the gift from him and put it in my lap, staring at it for a moment before I pulled its brown ribbon free and slowly unwrapped it. Inside lay two small, wooden hair combs with delicate butterflies carved into each of them. “They’re beautiful.”