Not likely. He locked his knees and swung the spear across his body, partly to make sure the tip wasn’t pointing at her—no sense angering a reigning monarch, after all—and partly to aim the pistol more discreetly.
But he couldn’t run, not without Adelyn. He wouldn’t let her walk away without knowing if he was the only one to feel...
But the Queen had him in her sights now. The blackness of her eyes cracked with fissures of scarlet like the coals in a hot forge. “What have we here?”
Shit. Even the giant cat with its mouth full of blood hadn’t wanted to toy with him like this. He wished he hadn’t whispered Adelyn’s name aloud as he stepped through the fairy ring, but his heart had been in his throat—pushing her name to his lips—as he longed for her.
Too late. “I am...” Standing in this chamber of beautiful horror, he felt less than nothing. But he had let too many he loved walk away without a word. This time he would speak. He straightened, locking his elbow so the spear filled the space between them. “I am a prince from the land of Oregon, and I have come to reclaim my love.”
With a hushed gasp, the crowd drew back another step, even farther than the iron had pushed them.
The Queen did not flinch though. “How tiresome that your love left you behind. Not even your iron could keep her in place.”
He didn’t flinch either, but he knew she’d seen something of the remembered pain in his face because she smiled. He pictured the mountain lion’s bloody fangs when it snarled at him.
He straightened. “In truth, she might not have known how I felt when she left.”
“Ah, truth.” The Queen swept a hand to encompass the room. “Then by all means, proclaim yourself now, and let her step forward if she feels the same.”
The way the Queen said feels raised his hackles, and Josh shook his head. “And have you kill her where she stands? No. I’ll find her myself.”
He took a step forward and the crowd fell back again. His heart thudded hard. Would Adelyn be willing to come through the pain and the exposure of having her glamour stripped away by the iron? Should he even ask it of her?