Page 179 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

Mal sighed with feigned disappointment. “I’m afraid so. But this was the loveliest time I’ve spent in a while.”

“Do visit again,” Arun said as he and Eleonor walked us to the boat docked at the private bay facing the house. “If this alliance persists, we are to see one another more often. Perhaps, share more than our fancy of architecture. A trade or two?”

“Definitely,” Mal said, tapping his shoulder again and bowing to Eleonor shortly before leaving toward the boat.

I bowed my head to the two of them. “I thank you for your invitation and hospitality.”

My brother paced back and forth on the deck, stopping in his tracks when he saw me. “Tell me all.”

“Let’s go get my wife.”

Chapter twenty-seven

Opacus

Snowlin

Ever since we’d departed the Islines, the air had shifted. A zap of pinching electricity hovered thickly in the air constantly raising my hackles. There was something wrong with the way Demir regarded me, the way his movements felt more calculated and guarded, the spurious tight smiles he gave me from time to time and the last calculating look he greeted me goodbye with. It almost had me convinced that he knew of what happened and that I had the sceptre piece. If Cai were here, he’d tell me I was overthinking it, but he was not and there was a fat chance I wasn’t bordering on paranoia.

A couple of days had passed since father had sent Reuben gods knew where. But that had been the same number of days since I’d last left the castle grounds. Not once had I felt the beast's presence, not anywhere I’d looked. Nissa had told me that Moregan’s troops had travelled back north, and I was starting to believe the general might be closely related to the beast—perhaps was the beast itself. I’d met Melanthe here and there in passing, no words had been spoken but she regarded me rather curiously now.

An hour ago, Nissa had dropped off my dress for father’s eightieth anniversary ball that was to take place tonight. Eighty years of a plagued realm.

“The unblessed arrived last night, Your Highness. The three island Princes and an emissary from Comnhall,” Nissa murmured while she secured my corset. “The servants say your father met the Princes privately right after they’d settled. Alone. With no other court members in presence.”

“It is odd, the unblessed have never been invited to such gatherings before. My father would have rather chewed his foot.”

“Many were surprised, too,” she said quietly, helping me fit myself into the murky sapphire dress that was made for the body of a fourteen-year-old and washed my complexion. This was my role now, the devoted daughter and Winter Princess. Couldn’t say it was my best played act, but I was managing.

Nissa combed my hair, pinning a few dazzling diamonds here and there to match the colour of the fabric. I squared my shoulders even though the corset dug into my ribs each time I did so and huffed out a sigh. Demir—he was my primary target tonight. I had to get him to speak.

“Any news on where they have taken the half breed?”

She leaned in a little. “Kitchen staff were saying that the fishermen had seen him being loaded up on a ship going toward the unblessed Isles. It is thought that the king has sent the consort back to her ex-husband’s family. Perhaps he has sent your half-brother there, too.”

That made me smile. “Perhaps. Perhaps unfortunate weather will find his way and his ship won't make it there at all.” I stood, facing Nissa. “Perhaps it will be a tragedy.”

She blinked, seemingly confused.

Quickly, I scribbled a note and placed it inside an envelope before giving it to her. “Make sure to hand this to the Lord of Kirkwall or Lord of Brogmere. They will know what to do. They will also help you leave Isjord.”

The servant nodded, looking afraid. “Thank you for everything, Your Highness. I wish you well.”

“Goodbye, Nissa,” I said. “I hope you find luck with the future you are chasing.”

Two guards trailed behind me as usual as I made my way to the ballroom. The string music floating down the corridors was pinning me with a headache already. Maybe I should have just returned with him.

“Unusually tense, are we today?” Demir’s sleek voice came right over my shoulder, and I froze. How had I not felt him get that close to me?

Plastering a calm face, I turned to him. “Let's switch attires, it ought to loosen me up a bit,” I said, trailing a finger over his jacket embroidery. Somehow the Isjordian garments never seemed to be fitting to him, they rather fit him as costumes. “Besides, Isjordian attire never fitted you. They must wear less imperious clothing wherever you truly come from.”

His eyes twitched just the slightest, yet it was enough of a reaction.

My fingers stopped over his chest. Utter silence. No echo. No noise. No movement. No…beat.

He grabbed my wrist hard at first and then loosening as though he had caught himself a moment too late. “A village boy that never had much to eat, less to wear will never find these wools comfortable.”

“Village boy, you say?” I raised a brow and stepped closer to him, his cloudy green eyes narrowing down on me. “Tell me, Demir, from what village do boys without a heartbeat come from? I only know one and Celesteel would feel rather offended if I regarded the Otherworld as a village.”