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“This is definitely the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done,” I said. “And considering I’ve been sent into a bear den to harry it out, that’s saying something.”
“There’s no other way?” Jun asked.
“Not unless someone here besides me knows someone who might know what got said in a closed-door Elder Council session last year and can make a discrete inquiry? Anyone? Now’s the time to speak up,” I asked, hoping that Cye or Jun might suddenly manifest princely pedigrees.
Jun puffed his cheeks with a sigh, and Cye shook his head.
What I was about to do was technically legal, but that only made me feel more disgusted with myself.
“I need a shower.” Actually, I was going to throw up, and I’d rather do that with a little privacy. After that, I needed to write a letter to my Aunt Spring. A carefully worded letter that would gain me an invitation to come see her and have a little chat. All without her suspecting what I was really after, or that my father was dead.
I was about to do to my aunt what my brother had done to me.
Too Close
[Mint] >> Want to have lunch before the fitting?
I smiled at my phone. Mint had perfect timing, given how shitty the previous evening had been.
Winter [Mint] >> Sure, where?
[Mint] >> Pizza?
Winter [Mint] >> Before a fitting?
[Mint] >> It’s not a runway show.
Winter [Mint] >> Please tell me that’s not in my future.
[Mint] >> Too short, small framed, wrong face, wrong presence. Nobody’s ever going to scout you. You’re safe.
Whew. Finally. Some good news.
The entire flat smelling of evergreen, candles, and spices helped too. I’d just penned a letter to my aunt Spring the previous night and dispatched it in the mail.
Dear Spring:
I need to ask you an important question. Can I come see you right away?
Winter
(Autumn’s daughter)
The New York city postmark and return address would have to stay, since trying to disguise that would brand me a flat-out liar. But I opted to refer to myself in the return address as née Haiden. The Mortcombe name was probably poison.
Technically honest was still honest, right?
And that was why people hated politicians.
Everyone else was already out for the day. Sterling had even gone into his office to sign off on the holiday gifts that his assistants, Oscar and Andre, had selected for everyone on his shopping list.
Time to get to the gym for a round of sparring before lunch.
The scent of the city assaulted me as I stepped out of the lobby onto the sidewalk.
“Ma’am?” Hamid pressed again.
“Nothing, just thought I forgot something,” I lied. I’d forgotten something. My brain, apparently. The tilting feeling under my feet didn’t disappear, so I ignored it, and the way the buildings seemed to bend down like tree branches coated in ice. One wanderer across the street. Not FryerVats.
