Page 108 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

They all snapped to attention, returning to their spots and bowing in unison. “Your Majesty.”

Somewhere in the distance, over a flat rock on a mountain cliff connected to the castle by one of the bridges, a grand cloud of dust had risen in the air, enshrouding the training courts in a veil of beige.

“It is the queen,” one of the men said. “They returned from Kilerth this morning after a Fogling attack.” He shot a careful glance to his companion. “Soldiers say she caused a lot of damage near the tribe. Lost control. Alaric is issuing his…punishment.”

“Punishment?”

He nodded. “It is usually not this extreme.”

Immediately, I rushed to the bridge connecting the castle to the training grounds and faded behind a grand crowd that had clustered around what was happening. When I managed to push through, Snow knelt on the rocky ground of the massive training space, breathing hard and tired while Alaric stood before her, his mouth moving quickly before he shouted, “Up!”

On wobbly legs, Snow got to her feet, her shoulders bunched while she clutched her side. There was no sign of pain on her face. There was nothing there actually. Her look was cold and blank. Empty.

When I went to interrupt whatever was happening, two hands wrapped around my wrists. Caiden and Nia both held me back.

“Not a good idea, shadow boy,” Caiden said sternly.

Nia nodded quickly. “Not a good idea at all.”

At that moment, there was a blast in the direction of Snow and dust rose in the air from the strength of the wind emitted. The air chilled and ice crawled beneath our feet. She had blocked Alaric's attack with a tall wall of ice. Not how the Snow I knew would deal with an attack. Evade and counterattack—that was always her strategy.

“Come on, kid,” Alaric called loudly. “Show me all that attitude you took to Kilerth this morning. You want to go to a fight angry, ey? Show me angry.”

Yet she didn’t even lift a finger when he blasted another wave of wind enough to have her crashing against the wall of the valley. As if pain was unknown to her, she peeled her body from the rock and stood up again, walking to him.

She uses my son as a boundary between good and bad.

Is this what it was?

“Bet is that she will roll her eyes and he will be angrier than she was this morning,” Nia murmured to her friend's side.

He scoffed. “Bet is that she won’t make a single move to make him angry and the old man will take her to one of them knitting classes.”

Nia shook her head, bringing a bunch of wrapped carrot slices from her pocket and handing one to Caiden. “The head of the class is on holiday to see her pregnant daughter. Snow had a servant gift her a massive bag of prunes after she heard that pregnant women get constipated easily.”

“Have you two lost your minds?” I asked, stunned at these two while my wife stood there receiving blow after blow without doing anything about it.

Nia offered me a carrot slice. “No, Snow did. Almost wiping out half of Kilerth this morning because she thought a Fogling looked at her strangely.”

Snow waddled to us, bloodied and limping. “I swear that thing looked right through my black soul.” She swallowed hard at the sight of the carrots, but her nose crinkled in a cringe. “Got anything else?”

Caiden shook his head. “Ate the chestnuts when you were getting your arse beaten.”

She shrugged. “Could have been the knitting lady. Thank Nubil I sent her a week early on holiday.”

The Zephyr general sighed and handed Nia a few silvery coins.

These two had to be insane.

Alaric strutted to us wearing a deep scowl. “Take your bride away, son. Before she tries to lift another city up from the roots.”

Snow frowned at him. “Kicking me away without food?”

“They have plenty of newborn babes to feed you in Adriata, kid.”

“Let her eat, Ric,” Caiden said. “If she is hungry, her next target might be Amaris and she swore a bloody oath.”

The Regent turned to me. “Have dinner with us tonight?” He side-eyed his daughter and said, “We have no serpent flesh and venom to serve you, but her vile mouth will fill your appetite plenty.”