Fragile Reign (Mortal Enchantment Book 2) Read Free

clear each time he refused to make eye contact with me.
    I turned to face him. “I know the fire court has no leader because their element is out of control. Their situation is even worse than our own. If we truly want to resolve these issues, we should be aligning with them.”
    “Align with them as you have with their disgraced prince?” he snickered. “His court is in turmoil, yet he hasn’t bothered to claim the throne. Perhaps he’s enjoying the destruction of his own kind.”
    My blood boiled. He knew nothing of Rowan. Of all the fire elementals, he had suffered the greatest loss. Abandoned and mutilated by his own mother, then ostracized by his court. Yet, he returned to try to make things right. Not to mention, he had saved my life more than once. The last thing Rowan would do was watch his court suffer. “Rowan is in the mortal world now, doing what he can to contain all the natural disasters.”
    “How convenient,” Samson replied, under his breath. He sat back in his chair with a proud grin. It took everything I had to not punch that smug look off his face.
    There was no point in continuing this conversation. I could ramble on for hours and they would still never see Rowan for the hero he is. The best I could hope for was for him to claim the fire throne and find a way to settle his element. Brita, the water queen, told me she had foreseen just that in his future. I had to believe she was right. But the future can always change.
    Ariel appeared on the balcony. “Princess Kalin, your father has requested to see you.”
    I had never been happier to see her. “Absolutely.” I glanced at the council. The air was thick with irritation. “I believe we can continue our conversation during the next meeting. Hopefully Dad will be able to attend.” Before anyone could comment, I hurried out of there with Ariel right behind me.
    We headed down one of the castle’s long hallways. Air inside the walkways was humid. The moment I could no longer hear voices from the council members, I stopped. Tugging at the council robes, I couldn’t wait to get them off. Those things were unbelievably scratchy. “Ariel, your timing couldn’t be better.” I said, letting go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Under my robes were my jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and sneakers.
    Ariel leaned against the wall next to me. “Things looked intense when I walked in there.”
    Intense could pretty much describe every moment of the day over the last week. I couldn’t leave my room without someone asking about Dad. Even when I was practicing my element, knights would ask for updates. For the most part, I told them nothing. Dad had asked me not to. With the elements unbalanced, the last thing we needed was for the other courts to see us as vulnerable. “They are scared. For my father, our people, and our element.”
    “He’s moving around a lot better today.” Ariel smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
    She tried to find the positive in every situation. Since Dad’s return, she rarely left his side. Dad had asked that only a few elementals be allowed to see him. People he trusted. None of the council members had been allowed. After he learned the extent of Jarrod’s betrayal, he lost trust in his own council. I couldn’t blame him. Jarrod had been a council member and the leader of his knights. But more than that, Dad considered him a friend. I doubted anyone had ever hurt him the way Jarrod had.
    “Does he really want to see me?” I asked.
    “No, but I’m sure it would be okay if you want to.” Again, always optimistic.
    What I really needed was a break. A long one. I didn’t know how much more I could take. Keeping up appearances while worrying about Dad was eating away at me. “I’ll stop by later. It would be nice to get a breather away from everyone for a while.”
    She stared at me as if I had just broken up with her. “Do you want me to go?”
    “No. I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.” Ariel perked up