Page 91 of Lady Knight and the Thief

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He sighed. “Why don’t you come sit, and I’ll explain.” Torren held his arm out for her to slip her hand into the crook of his elbow.

Cypress supposed it was only the years of training, of learning how to act like a lady, like nobility, that had her doing just that. Cypress slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and let Torren lead her toward a stone bench that had more flowers and creatures of Faerie carved into the backrest.

“My mother is Rosalind Lefay, heir to Faerie before she married Caelith. My grandfather still ruled Faerie at this point, and was not entirely thrilled about the match, but it was for the good of the realm,” Torren started.

Torren let Cypress pick her seat first, then sat with his body angled toward hers.

“What’s good for the realm is rarely good for the woman in question,” Cypress said under her breath.

He nodded in agreement. “Because of my grandfather, Thyodas’s reservations about Caelith, he put in a significant amount of time and resources in order to find out more about him. Yes, there were the obvious things, like Caelith’s temper, but Thyodas wanted more. My grandfather wanted to know if there were any skeletons living amongst Caelith’s pedigree and accomplishments.”

“And I imagine, because Caelith had Rosalind killed, there were?”

“Thyodas discovered that Caelith is entirely human, and his family was lying about it. Ever since the first kings, there has always been a union between Faerie and Grethnah to symbolize our commitment to helping one another.”

Cypress nodded; it was tradition. But, she hadn’t ever heard of anyone dissenting from the fact that Cade was human, either.

“The only problem is, how do you have anentirelyhuman heir to Grethnah, with generations of marriages between our people?” Torren asked.

The question halted Cypress’s train of thought entirely.

“You… Can’t.”

“Right. Which meant one of two things,” Torren said with his hands out as he explained the options. “On one hand, it could be that human blood is stronger, overridingevery single pairing, thus keeping the Human royal line pure.”

Even with Cypress’s limited knowledge of the sciences, that didn’t sound right.

“Or, on the other hand, there is a very large conspiracy to swap children of the union with children born from human mistresses that has been going on for who knows how long.”

“But you survived?”

“I was not born at the Keep likeevery otherheir.”

Cypress scrunched her brows together. “You can’t be sure of that.”

“You can look up the records yourself if you don’t believe me. But all other Queens were restricted to bed rest for the months approaching their labors. Why else would you do that if you did not want complete control of the situation?”

“How did your mother avoid the same fate?”

“Thyodas sent a guard with her from Faerie. Rosalind could go anywhere she wanted without the approval of Caelith because he couldn’t deny her a guard.”

“So you were born where?”

Torren grinned. “The Wylds.”

Cypress blinked. “Naturally,” she said, then took a few moments to arrange her thoughts.

“So, if what you’re saying is true, then the entire alliance between our peoples has been a deception?”

Torren nodded. “Yes, it does appear that way, but that's not the worst of it.”

Cypress closed her eyes. “What is then?”

“My mother was ‘exiled’ for heresy. The true reason? She discovered Caelith’s schemes. He’d been quietly buying properties and businesses from the Fair Folk in Grethnah, then arranged for their so-called safe passage to the Wylds, coin purses fat and heavy with gold.

“But then, he’d send his Crown Raiders in, butcher everyone, and then the raiders would split the spoils amongst themselves.”