“I see,” said Aubrey, but Tiago was sure he didn’t yet. The man might be smart and well-placed in the Dark Fae government, but he was not as quick on the uptake on a few things like his wife was. His wife had taken one look at Tiago and Niniane and had gotten it. “Your highness, even if people believed that Tiago really has quit, they’re not—”
“Aubrey,” Niniane interrupted. Her voice, like her face, was calm, her eyes clear. “I’m not asking for permission or what people’s opinion will be on this issue. Either Tiago is coming with me, or I’m not going. The last thing on my agenda for this talk is to see if we can come to an understanding with you on this. I want you to back me up. I want you to be my supporter. I want to talk to you, confide in you, and ask your opinions about things. I have to start developing relationships with someone, and to start trusting somewhere. Frankly, if we can’t get you to accept this, I don’t see any reason in crossing over. We might as well stay here and the Dark Fae can find some other person to try to put on the throne. You’re some second or third cousin by marriage. Maybe that would be you.”
“Please.” Aubrey put up both hands, his face and scent flaring with deeper alarm. “Don’t say another word like that. My family connection is distant, and in any case, you are the real heir.”
“Then back me up,” Niniane said. “If you support this, other people may grumble at first, and they may not like it, but eventually they will accept it. Tiago is my—”
“Chief of security,” Tiago said.
She turned to him, surprised. “Is that what you are?”
Now that he had verbalized it, he tested it out in his head. There was no point in freaking out the faeries any further with talk of Wyr mating. What happened between him and Niniane was none of their business, and Niniane needed him to protect her, which was going to be a much more sophisticated and complex job than simply watching her back as her bodyguard. He said, “Yes.”
She regarded him, her expression concerned. “That will be a difficult position to be in as a foreigner.”
“I like a challenge,” he told her. “And it’s where I need to be, and it’s where you need me to be.” He added telepathically, And I’ll be hellacious good at it.
Her gaze searched his. He gave her a nod.
She looked at Aubrey, who stared into the middle distance while he wore a deep frown. “If you truly believe that I am the real heir, then you also have to recognize that change is here to stay for the Dark Fae,” she said. “I don’t think any of you have fully accepted that yet. Some of Urien’s old supporters are going to have a problem too, but there’s no use in trying to resist it. This is Urien’s legacy every bit as much as the laws he passed or the way he tried to cloister Adriyel from the outside world. Because of what he did, I had to escape and go somewhere else to survive.”
Aubrey looked at her with pain in his eyes. “If I had known you were alive, I would never have stopped searching for you.”
Her face softened. It was clear she believed him. There was so much sincerity in his voice, even Tiago almost believed him. She said in a gentle voice, “I appreciate you saying that more than you can know, but that’s all water under the bridge now. The point I’m trying to make is, because of what happened, I became someone I wouldn’t have otherwise become. I’m young for a faerie and I’m trendy, and the Dark Fae aren’t used to that in a ruler. I like American pop culture, cheese pizza, reading romance novels, and shopping in Milan. Also, thanks to Dragos, I have independent relationships with every Elder demesne in the continental United States. Now I can compromise on a lot of things. I can take advice and bring change in carefully and gently, but I will not compromise on this. I trust Tiago with my life in a way I can’t trust anyone else right now, not even you.”
Aubrey rubbed his forehead and looked under his hand from her to Tiago. After a moment he said to Tiago, “I will withdraw my support at the first hint that you are really working for the Wyr.”
“I would expect nothing else,” Tiago said.
Aubrey pressed. “She is the last direct descendant of the Lorelle line, and the only thing left of her father. You must always act with Niniane’s best interests at heart, and do everything in your power to keep her safe.”
“That,” Tiago told him with perfect honesty, “is not going to be a problem.”
Aubrey said to Niniane, “Very well then. I will support you.”
Niniane’s face lit up. She slipped out of the armchair and went to Aubrey to put her arms around his neck and hug him. Tiago tensed, hating her close contact to the other male but suffering through the moment, recognizing it as important to the other two, perhaps even necessary. Still, he watched Aubrey with jealous attention, noting the exact placement of the other male’s hands and arms as Aubrey hugged Niniane back. He could only relax when the Dark Fae male and Niniane separated.