Page 20 of Reaper’s Curse

Her fingers grazed his cheek, and a millisecond later, her palm pressed flat to the edge of his jaw. Her magic made all the necessary communication. A whispered wind showed all Her Highness chose to share. Instilling Winter with a sharp image of her planting a kiss upon his brow, then tugging him into a snug embrace, before sending him on his way with warm words of affirmation.

When the vision stilled, faded into nothing, she pulled away and patted her fingers to his chest, right over his hammering heart. The pat, pat, pat of her fingers instilled the words, I love you.

Cloaked against the dreary weather, Winter made straight for the pub’s front entrance, his brother’s birthday celebration announcement clutched in his right hand.

For the first few years after his older brother’s disappearance, the palace had thrown extravagant parties on the special day, in hopes August would choose to appear. As time stretched forever onward, such hopes dwindled, and yet the celebrations of his birthday only grew in excess.

Veritas’s citizens looked forward to the date. A day and night to forget the plight that otherwise plagued their everyday lives. The chance to hide behind a mask, release your inhibitions, and pretend to be something other than yourself, should you so desire.

The event was quickly approaching, and this year, Winter would see the lovely Raven on his arm, fashioned in one of Camilla’s brilliant creations. Assuming Raven accepted his invitation. Although, with her now staying at the castle, he could see no reason why she wouldn’t.

Early for his meeting with Camilla, and earlier yet for any lunchtime patrons to have converged on the establishment, Winter shoved the heavy door open, expecting to find the place empty, aside from Aoes and Earl. Instead, his gaze immediately drew to Camilla, her girls, Aoes, and…Chace?

Chace was here? Alive and well?

Considering him “well” might have slanted too far towards kind. Not only was Raven’s coworker days past overdue for a shave, but dark shadows also clung beneath his eyes.

Regardless of his condition, he’d joined the other four around one of the tables, a collection of Myla’s drawings scattered across the surface between them.

All heads turned toward Winter’s arrival.

“Where’s Raven?” Camilla asked at the same time Chace bolted to his feet.

Winter swept a scrutinizing gaze over Raven’s coworker. For one who had been missing for days and allegedly held in a cage of sorts, Chace appeared mobile enough. And irritated as ever, with his scowl tight, his lips thin.

Something dark flickered in Chace’s glare. “Tell me that the last time I saw you, it wasn’t her blood you were covered in?”

Winter blinked, recalling the confrontation in the upper hallway. The day Raven was injured, shot really, and he had come to the pub in search of information she possessed regarding Valen. He had failed to gather anything useful, but he’d run into Aoes and Chace…and had told them both nothing regarding Raven’s condition.

Winter shouldn’t be surprised Chace chose to bring that day up. It was, after all, literally the last time the two males had seen each other.

“Remember?” Chace jabbed a finger toward the ceiling, indicating where their confrontation had taken place.

The guy’s glare burned a hole between Winter’s eyes.

His magic reacted, chilling his temperature and the surrounding air. His heart and blood thrummed.

Since the onset of the curse, and before Raven had pulled him from his frosty coma the day prior, Winter had only a small fraction of magic available to him. Too small. He had forgotten how thrilling the mystical side of himself could be, even if he was nowhere near what he once was.

He couldn’t keep the smile from creeping across his lips.

No one else seemed to notice the temperature drop, but Winter didn’t mind. He knew. Due to yesterday’s events, Winter’s magic pool had increased. Another thing for which to thank Raven…although maybe indirectly. She didn’t need to know the extent of the forces coursing through his veins.

Aoes and Camilla glanced back and forth between them.

“What is he talking about?” Aoes asked.

In silent answer to Aoes’s question, Chace held up a drawing, clearly belonging to one of the girls. Camilla bit her lip as the smile slipped from Winter’s lips. The female portrayed in the picture was obviously Raven. The fact that she had many bloody wounds…

He sighed, and his shoulders sagged.

Myla’s picture had captured the day Winter had arrived on Camilla’s doorstep with the wounded female in his arms. The day the twins first met Raven.

Camilla’s gaze fluttered to the table’s surface in an act of avoidance that didn’t go unnoticed by Chace. The guy’s eyes narrowed on her then shot back to Winter, who returned Chace’s glare with an icy stare of his own.

Between Camilla’s reaction and the twins’ artwork, there was no point in denying anything with regard to Raven’s injuries. Not any longer. Not when Raven had recovered and was now healthy and safe in the castle.

“You knew,” Chace said and glanced between him and Camilla. “You both knew and said nothing.”