Chapter 431: Chapter 431

After Shelby made her utterance about Prince Simon’s crankiness, she did not even bother listening to them. She could hear dissatisfaction from a lot of the Faes in the room. But for some strange reason, after coming there, she felt a bit superior to them. It was an insane thought but that was how she felt!

’So, this is the Faeland?’

Shelby thought, deciding to look around more than to waste her hearing on them. Her eyes scanned the vast hall that was only occupied to about a 50th of its capacity. She was in awe of the place, but the overwhelming feeling that she had stepped into a fairy tale was what struck Shelby the most.

’I am in a castle! I mean a real-life castle! I wish Ava was here to see this....’

At the thought of Ava, a swish of sadness passed over her and Shelby wished with all her heart that her friend was okay.

’I survived with minimal aches, so I am sure that Ava is too!’ She comforted herself as her attention was drawn to other things.

The main thing that had caught her attention was their outlook. Shelby even felt alien in herself and would have been shocked beyond words, had Ian, Murray and Currey not shown her pictures in books of typical Faes in the natural environments.

However, despite this, she had thought herself prepared for this. Shelby had secretly imagined it countless times... about how she would stride into the presence of some Faes years later, especially, meeting Ian’s dad, when they finally found him alive. And yet, as her eyes took in the warriors, she was in disbelief.

They were unlike any fighters or guards she had seen before, not that she ever had, as all her experience was what she had seen on TV and in movies. These were small, but broad-shouldered, and moved with a lethal grace that would have sent a chill skittering down her spine, but it somehow did not do that.

Their tunics, woven from fabric darker than midnight, clung to their sculpted forms, shifting between deep emerald and obsidian as though absorbing all light around them. A few wore armor so seamlessly fitted to their bodies it seemed to pulse with them, an extension of flesh rather than mere protection.

Unlike the first two, all of these ones had weapons: gilded hilts, curved blades with runes etched into its steel, small bows carved from something she could not pinpoint. However, it told her one thing: They were predators. She could see it in the way they moved, in the calculating way their molten eyes swept the space around them.

But Shelby was pulled out of this observance by Prince Simon’s words.

Unsurprisingly, none of the people in the room, knew how to react after hearing those words, yet again.

Even the guards were startled, dropping their stern looks into that of bewilderment, temporarily. Prince Simon was known to be impulsive most of the time, but this decision was the most outrageous he had ever taken. It wasn’t overly surprising when one looked at it from the point of the fact that, Simon had numerous wives and concubines.

It was even more so that he did not usually remember all of them. Of his father’s sons, he was the strongest and most powerful, but also the one with the most women around him. He had a weakness for women but never had he taken in a stranger for his wife, and from what he was insinuating, he wanted this person to be his main wife and his queen!

That was a lot and not one that the old Faes in the room would take kindly to.

So, even though he had commanded them to bow to Shelby, none of them wanted to. However, as if curious, Shelby turned to look around the room and almost instantaneously, the old men lowered their heads.

Prince Simon nodded in satisfaction at this little fact,

’Good that these old idiots are obedient!’

At the same time, the old men exchanged glances with each other wondering why the heck they were bowing to a creature that they could not place! This had never happened in their life, and they were getting more bewildered with each second that passed.

Brian, the bookkeeper seemed to have been enlightened in that moment. His creased brows and thoughtful face relaxed instantly as if whatever was bothering him now made sense.

Shelby turned back from the room observation, after successfully tucking her overwrought emotions away. This time, she took a good look at the Fae in front of her, especially when he made his pronouncement.

He had an air of command around him that the other ones in the room did not have, not even the oldest of them.

Her breath caught slightly as her gaze locked onto him. But it was gone, just as swiftly as it had come. The royal....

His robe shimmered like fluttering leaves that never touched the ground. It also had woven threads of what looked like silver and deep cosmic blue. He had tight breeches that cupped a small mound in between his legs.

This made Shelby smirk as her thoughts went to someone that she knew well enough.

’I can’t believe this idiot thinks that teeny tiny thing between his legs can do anything for me!’

Shelby had no idea where this thought had come from that it caused her to have an air of surprise. The blood rushing to her face was mistaken for bashfulness and embarrassment from the observers.

Unaware of this, Shelby continued to take him in. From the embroidered constellation-like pattens on his sleeves, to the lone collar that framed his throat and his bare chest that was nothing much to talk about in her opinion. A circlet of silvered branches adorned his glowing hair, glimmering with faintly glowing gemstones.

His face was sharp, perfect, sculpted by something beyond mere nature. His eyes, molten like the rest of them. This reminded her of when Ian’s eyes turned all white sometimes. It was strangely rich and endless. At the same time, ancient and powerful. He was, in every way, the kind of male that should have made her pause, should have made her stare in awe.

Because she had seen better.... And Shelby estimated that if he stood beside her, he would be a head shorter if not more. The thought crept in uncalled for, and Sheblby almost scoffed at herself.

This was supposedly, the highest of the Fae courts, and he was its designated ruler, it seemed. Any other woman would have been brought to her knees by the sheer presence of him.

But she wasn’t any other woman. She was Shelby Monroe and the sworn woman of Ian Thornston! No matter how striking, no matter how ’powerful’, this little Fae would never compare to her man. Never! And the sad thing was that, the idiot, did not know his place!

Her fingers twitched at her sides as she suppressed a laugh. As if this was amusing. As if she was not standing in the presence of a being that could likely end her existence with a flick of his wrist.

The thought froze her, a cold shock creeping up her spine.

’I must be mad! Ian is not here! What the heck am I doing?!’

What was she thinking? What was she feeling? She was a mere human. A mortal, standing before an immortal, whose temperament, she did not know. This was the kind of ruler that poets and novelist wrote ballads about, that warriors pledged their lives to, that others worshiped in silence.

And yet... she thought that he was beneath her?

Shelby’s heart pounded against her ribs. What kind of madness was this?

She forced her gaze away before he could notice her lingering stare, before he could look into her the way he had done to the rest of the room. But even as she tore her eyes from him, the thought remained.

And she had no idea what it meant. Shelby opened her mouth to speak, but one Fae from the crowd beat her to it.

She is taken, My Prince!

"Then how do you know that she is taken?"

"That man seems to be her protector...."

At this, the old Faes in the room took a closer look at Murray, who was still knocked out cold.

Brian turned to the guards as the back and they understood quickly,

"Yes, he seemed to only want to protect her so badly, even at the cost of his life!"

The foreboding feeling swept over the room, but Prince Simon just shrugged,

"What’s the use of a protector who lets his ward get taken?"

Actually, the main point that escaped Prince Simon was why a human-like person had a Fae protector. However, he was too lost in his lust and the charm being exhuded by Shelby to notice this....

"I am enough to protect this beauty! Besides, who but the strongest in the land deserves such as beauty?"

"Say no more, Brian. Your objections have been duly noted, but my words stand the same!"

"She really is taken!"

"Now, you are starting to get on my nerves!"

"SHE IS WITH CHILD, My Prince!"

This time, even Shelby was stunned. Her expression saying the words that her mind could not grasp,

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