Chapter Forty-Six

The Fae Nobility Try and Guess What Crossbody Has Been Doing for Six Years

Vince

I tugged uncomfortably on my shirt collar as I followed Crossbody through the palace’s many wide, airy corridors.

I fucking hated wearing a suit.

But I hated seeing how nervous Crossbody was even more. I wished I could hold his hand to give him a bit of comfort—which was not something I had ever thought before, about anyone, ever—but I was still supposed to be ‘the butler.’

The ‘butler’ who had fucked his ‘employer’ multiple times over the course of yesterday afternoon and last night. Loudly.

That big, fancy four-poster bed really did creak a lot.

This trip had already been weird as fuck, even though nothing had really happened yet. Or maybe it was weird as fuck because nothing had happened yet. After we’d arrived yesterday, we’d been basically left completely alone, only interrupted by the staff who’d brought us the stuff we asked for.

The queen hadn’t come to see her son. The other two princes hadn’t come to see their brother for the first time in six years. It wasn’t like I wanted Crossbody to have to interact with them if he didn’t want to, but I’d started getting angry about their complete disregard for him. Especially his mother, who had forced him to come back here yet couldn’t even take two fucking minutes to come and greet him.

“It’s normal,” Crossbody had told me drowsily last night when we were in bed, having just finished fucking again. His head had been on my chest as my fingers sifted through his tangled golden hair. “We were never a remotely warm or loving family. It would have been odd if any of them had come to see me.”

“That’s messed up,” I’d muttered. “She forced you to come back here. She wants you here.”

“No, she just wanted to prove that she has complete control over me,” he’d corrected me, absently tracing patterns onto my chest with his fingertips. “None of it is about me as a person. It’s about a thing that she feels she has ownership of not doing exactly what she wants. So she had to correct it.”

“ That’s messed up.” I’d seethed quietly.

Last night, after that conversation, I’d been rabidly eager to come face to face with the queen, to hopefully get a chance to give her a piece of my fucking mind, to try and embarrass her. But now, as I followed Crossbody down the corridor, nerves began to creep in as well.

I cracked my neck, shook out my hands and shoved every hint of nerves back down. Fuck that. She wasn’t any kind of queen to me . She was just a shitty parent to the person I was in… I cared about. A normal amount.

I would’ve done this for any of my… friends, right? Taken a week off work and colluded with a bunch of reptilian mobsters to travel to another dimension while pretending to be a butler with the aim of dismantling the hierarchy of an ancient fae lineage so my professional wrestling colleague didn’t have to move back there and become a king?

My throat closed up a little as I looked at Crossbody just ahead of me. The tense set to his shoulders, the way his big, beautiful wings were pulled in tight together with nerves, the waterfall of golden hair shifting over his neck. He was wearing those formal fae clothes again, the fitted tunic and pants and soft leather boots. They made him look otherworldly and magical in a way he never had before.

I, on the other hand, was starting to sweat in this fucking suit. I was tense, already irritated despite waking Crossbody up earlier with a blowjob, and I knew I was going to be the only ghoul in this entire fucking queendom. Nothing about this was going to be remotely enjoyable, and I couldn’t fucking wait until we were back in the human world and never had to come back here again.

Okay, maybe I wouldn’t have done this for just anybody.

“Do you know if they are on their way?” Crossbody asked me in a tight, hushed voice, fiddling almost compulsively with the cuffs of his tunic as we turned the corner and began to approach a set of huge, opulent double doors.

“I’m sure they are,” I murmured, not wanting to remind him that my phone was essentially a brick here, so I had no way of contacting Freddie.

There was no one around, so I briefly took Crossbody’s hand and kissed his knuckles. I heard his breath hitch, and then he was suddenly turning to face me, clutching both my hands in his.

“Vince.” He swallowed, mauve eyes flitting over my face. “If this doesn’t work… If I have to stay, I want to tell you—”

“You won’t.” Deciding I no longer gave a fuck who saw us, I leaned in and planted a firm kiss on his mouth. “You’re not staying here. No fucking way.”

You’re not leaving me .

He exhaled a shaky breath and nodded, still clutching my hands tight. I lifted them to kiss his knuckles again, before we both quickly stepped back and away from each other when the doors abruptly opened.

The staff member blinked at us, then clasped his hands together behind his back and lifted his chin.

“Ah. Prince Elvis. Queen Galantha had just instructed me to retrieve you.” His brow quirked in what almost looked like a warning. “I’m afraid you’re late.”

“My fault,” I jumped in, giving the guy a smirk. “Couldn’t get the prince dressed in time, I’m afraid. Kept getting distracted.”

The staff member’s lips twitched. He gave us a cool nod and turned to lead us into the room.

“The staff probably despise my mother as much as the rest of us do,” Crossbody whispered to me, “but her guards are very loyal. They’re the ones in the pale leather armour. It’s best not to joke around with them.”

I nodded, discreetly sweeping my gaze over the huge room. It was some kind of formal dining room, or maybe a ballroom—I had no fucking idea what went in ballrooms—and it was already filled with people.

Like, teeming with people. Fae dressed in flowing dresses and robes and tunics lined every inch of the walls, surrounding the long table set up in the centre, already covered in food. Huge platters of steaming shellfish, about twenty legs of lamb, giant bowls of salad dotted with flowers, nuts and dried fruit, and several cakes decorated with berries and covered in pale pink and lilac marbled icing.

Okay, the food looked good. And on the surface, this all looked nice. Kind, even. But I knew that was complete bullshit. It was all just mind games aimed at Crossbody.

At the far end of the room, I finally noticed a woman sitting in a throne, with several stoic-faced fae in pale beige armour standing strategically just behind her. Unable to help myself, I stopped and openly stared.

So this was Crossbody’s mom.

He looked like her. A lot. They had the same long, shimmering golden hair. The same tall, willowy, graceful frame, although he was now thicker and toned with muscle from his years as a professional wrestler. Her eyes looked a shade or two paler than his, but they had that same hooded quality that made Crossbody look perpetually bored.

Except she didn’t look remotely bored. She looked viciously gleeful, a tiny smile on her mouth as she watched her son grow stiffer and stiffer with every step into this overstuffed room.

My jaw clenched, and I was so fucking glad that I’d come with him. She’d wanted him to turn up to this alone. We’d caught her off guard by showing up a day early, but she’d wanted him to walk into the palace for the first time in six years to this . A sea of people here to celebrate his marriage to the Summer Princess, when she knew he didn’t want it in the slightest. When she knew he was only going through with it because she’d threatened to ruin his entire life otherwise.

This was all just a bit of fucking fun to her. A way to rub it in her son’s face.

I hated her.

She was staring at Crossbody with a tiny, smug smile, before she finally seemed to notice the only ghoul in the room—me—and that I was openly scowling at her. Our eyes met. Her smirk twisted into a scowl of her own.

She didn’t like that he had someone on his side. Someone to support him. She’d been expecting him to turn up completely alone, having had to leave everything he wanted behind.

She gave me a tiny sneer before her narrowed gaze shot back to her son. Suddenly, I wanted to grab his hand and yank him out of the room and hide him somewhere. Keep him safe and away from her. I didn’t like the way she was looking at him. I knew she wasn’t going to do anything overtly bad to him while surrounded by her subjects, but I also figured that she knew just how to hit where it hurt the most in the subtlest of ways.

“My darling son.”

The room fell silent as her voice rang out. Crossbody’s shoulders hunched, wings fluttering rapidly with his discomfort, as he reluctantly turned to face her. She was rising from her throne and waiting for one of her guards to approach so they could escort her, placing her silk gloved hand in theirs.

“Welcome home,” she declared with a smug smile. All the fae in the room started to lightly and elegantly clap, turning to look at Crossbody.

He looked pale, but after a few seconds, he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. I wanted to grin with pride when that aloof and mildly smug mask—the one I’d despised for years—settled over his features.

“I—”

“Isn’t this wonderful? A party in your honour!” she said. “We are all here to celebrate your return after your long travels. Your brothers are most eager to see you.”

When she gestured to the side of the room, I looked over at two tall men who looked unnervingly similar to Crossbody. The slightly shorter one had a softer, rounder face, so I assumed he was the younger brother, Ariyon. The other—who had to be the heir apparent, Presius—looked cold and harsh, his features sharper than Crossbody’s, his face largely void of emotion.

Neither of them looked remotely eager to see Crossbody, and he didn’t look at all excited to see them. Ariyon gave him a brief nod and sipped his drink, while Presius simply frowned at Crossbody for a long moment, then looked away.

This was so. Fucking. Weird.

It was like the queen thought that by saying something, it made it true. All the people she’d gathered here could clearly tell that the brothers were not excited to see each other, but she didn’t seem to care. When I glanced around in disbelief, I noticed that everyone was unperturbed by the awkward, tense greeting anyway. They were just sipping their drinks and whispering to each other and eyeing up the food.

Was this what it was like growing up as royalty? In a palace? You were just surrounded by people who didn’t actually give a fuck about you, including your own family?

I could understand why Crossbody had wanted to leave. Why he’d been willing, even eager to give up all this wealth and opulence to actually feel like a real person for the first time in his life.

“Who is the ghoul?” Ariyon asked in a bored voice, eyeing me with a hint of curiosity.

“It seems your brother didn’t have much confidence in our beloved palace staff when he returned,” the queen said smoothly. “Seeing as he felt the need to bring his own… help.”

Crossbody stiffened beside me, his fingers flexing into tight fists behind his back. “Actually, Vince is—”

“But anyway.” Queen Galantha interrupted him again, her voice growing sly. “We are, of course, also here to celebrate your upcoming nuptials to Princess Ianthe of the Summer Court.”

There was another smattering of applause as some of the fae in attendance turned toward a group standing together to the right of the queen’s throne. They were dressed differently to all the others, wearing loose-fitting linen pants, and shirts in light, summery colours like tan and sage green and burnt orange.

At the front was a woman with a mass of curly dark hair and huge sunset-coloured wings. Ianthe. The person Crossbody was supposed to marry.

My body automatically stiffened as my brain told me to dislike her on sight for that fact. Seething jealousy tightened my gut, made me want to grab Crossbody’s nape and yank him into a hard, possessive kiss, to show her and everyone here that he was mine .

Our eyes met, hers almost as dark as mine. After a second, it seemed like realisation dawned in her gaze, which flickered from me to Crossbody, then back to me before a small smile tilted her lips and she gave me a tiny nod.

Had he told her about me? What had he said? Why was I suddenly really fucking desperate to ask her?

“Princess Ianthe, my dear, if you’d come here?” The queen smiled demurely at Ianthe, who glanced at Crossbody again before slowly making her way over. “My son, come and stand with your bride. Leave the ghoul there,” she added, curling her lip with disdain.

Crossbody turned to look at me. His fingers twitched, as if he wanted to reach out and take my hand. Instead, I gave him a discreet nod and a tiny smile when all I wanted to do was kiss him.

“Now,” Queen Galantha barked, her voice growing sharp.

I could feel the eyes of all the fae nobility in the room on us now, curious and intrigued. His throat bobbing, Crossbody finally tore his gaze from mine to turn and reluctantly walk closer to his mother.

I took a few steps back to stand by the door, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall. The fae closest eyed me warily and inched away, but I kept my gaze fixed on Crossbody as he stopped beside Ianthe, sharing a brief look with her as he turned to face the room. His wings fluttered once before spreading out wide, like he was instinctively trying to make himself look bigger as he clasped his hands together behind his back and lifted his chin.

My chest squeezed tight. I could see how nervous he was, how uncomfortable, but he still looked poised and calm on the surface. It used to rattle the shit out of me—used to infuriate me, the way he could maintain his composure even in the middle of a screaming match—but now, after seeing just how much he let himself feel below the surface, after realising why he’d had to develop such a blank mask to keep his emotions hidden, I felt only pride as I looked at him.

“Now,” Queen Galantha began, making the room fall silent. “Before the betrothed couple mingle and greet our guests, I’d like to—”

“Actually—” Crossbody interrupted her, just like she had done to him every time he’d tried to speak. His voice wobbled just the tiniest amount as he continued. “—I’ve decided not to marry Princess Ianthe.”

The room fell silent. Queen Galantha stared at him blankly, while Ianthe made a big show of pretending to be utterly shocked. She gasped, resting a hand on her chest and turning to stare at Crossbody.

“Very amusing,” the queen said, her voice sharp with an unspoken warning. “Though I don’t think the Summer King will appreciate your sense of humour, my son, when he arrives for the wedding next—”

“I’m not joking,” Crossbody said, his voice growing in strength. “There’s not going to be a wedding. I’m not marrying Ianthe.”

People in the room started murmuring. Presius, the older brother, stood up straighter with a deepening frown, glancing at his mother, but she was too busy staring Crossbody down as if she could simply will him to take back everything he’d just said. The younger brother, Ariyon, looked nonplussed, like he hadn’t even really known what was happening in the first place.

“Did I do something to offend you, Prince Elvis?” Ianthe asked in an appropriately timid voice, just like they’d planned.

We’d decided it would be better for her overall if she acted like she knew nothing about the plan. That way her father couldn’t attempt to punish her. She’d be blameless.

“No,” Crossbody said, making sure to keep his voice loud enough to be heard throughout the whole room. “I have simply created a new life for myself in the human world. I have no desire to move back here. In fact…” He glanced at me, throat bobbing, then lifted his chin. “I’m renouncing my title as prince of the Spring Court and heir presumptive to the throne.”

“Well, you can’t do that,” the queen said flatly, then let out a tinkling little laugh as if the idea was preposterous. A few of the attendees hesitantly joined in. “That’s not how it works, my dear.”

“I think it is.” Crossbody nodded around the room. “Thankfully, you’ve gathered many noble fae here to witness it.”

The queen’s jaw clenched. Eyes gleaming with furious malice, she gritted out in a threatening tone, “There will be repercussions to this, my son. As you are well aware.”

“Actually, I don’t think there will be,” Crossbody said pleasantly. “At least not for me.”

I straightened from the wall, darting a glance at the main double doors at the far end of the room, opposite the queen’s throne. Now would’ve been the perfect time for Freddie to kick off the plan and burst dramatically through those doors.

Except nothing happened. Gnawing on my lower lip, I looked at Crossbody. He glanced back at me, a question in his eyes. I tried to subtly shrug, but the queen was shooting her narrow-eyed gaze between us.

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” she eventually spat. “What exactly do you think you are doing? Embarrassing not just your own court, but the Summer Court and Princess Ianthe as well?” Lowering her voice, she hissed, “Stop being such a cowardly fool and stand next to your bride in silence. There will be nothing for you to go back to if you do this, boy, so there is absolutely no point to this embarrassing little display of rebellion at the eleventh hour.”

“No, I—” Crossbody glanced at me then the door again, some of his confidence faltering. “I’m going back to the life I’ve made for myself, and you’re not taking that away from me.”

“What life?” She barked out a mean laugh. “What I witnessed, boy, was not a life . Just a sad existence filled with depravity and—”

“What have you been doing?” Ariyon asked with mild interest, sipping his drink.

“He was travelling,” Presius hastily said, shooting his brother a threatening look. “Just travelling, finding himself—”

“I heard he went into human politics,” someone piped up from the side of the room.

“I heard it was something called pornography,” someone else called. “Where people give him money for fucking in front of them for their entertainment.”

There was a gasp from the crowd. “How scandalous!”

“Like, on a stage, or…?” someone murmured nearby.

“That’s appalling!” another fae called. “What did you call it again? What was it? Just so I make sure to never come across it when I venture to the human world…”

Crossbody flushed. “I don’t—”

“It is nothing of the sort,” the queen barked, looking furious that all these rumours had been swirling behind her back for years, when she’d been so sure she had complete control of the situation. “As Presius said, he simply spent some time travelling—”

“I don’t think so, bitch!” A new voice suddenly rang out, somehow wavering and booming at the same time, as the doors were thrown open.

Everyone turned to look, squinting against the sunlight streaming into the room. After a fairly lengthy pause, a small figure came into view, escorted by a huge, hulking guy with a bald head.

There was an awkward silence that stretched for a bit too long, which kind of ruined the big reveal, as Ethel—Freddie’s mimi, their Grand-mère Lézard and all-around elderly party animal badass—slowly shuffled into the room in her pink and purple floral dress and sensible slip-on shoes.

She finally stopped, patted her companion’s hand, and looked at the queen at the other end of the room. A wide, sinister smile stretched her wrinkly little face.

“I don’t think so, bitch,” she repeated.