Kiss of Snow

29

I gasped as the flakes kissed gently against my face before melting away. “Your magic has come a long way since marrying Raith.”

She shrugged as if that shouldn’t be unexpected. “Ilidan allows magic and Raith is a wizard king. But Talador could allow magic too…” She looked at me, but anxiety flickered in my stomach at the thought of overturning Father’s laws.

Instead, I changed the subject to something else I’d been meaning to ask her about. “When you volunteered to go with Raith, did you really believe you could have love with him?” I couldn’t hide the naked curiosity in my voice.

“I…I hoped. Isn’t that all we can ever do?” She worked another rune as she spoke, this time a shimmering heart formed of frosted flakes of snow.

“Yes, I suppose so.” But I sighed. “I just can’t see myself finding love with any of these suitors Dahlia has sent.”

“If it helps, I don’t think Raith expected to find love, either.”

“But you harbored something… Your ‘hope.’” I didn’t even have that.

“Yes.” Rose nodded. “And there was certainly curiosity. And attraction, perhaps.” She blushed a little, and my lips pulled into a small smile.

That blush-inducing attraction was missing from any of my interactions so far with the seven suitors. Many of them were handsome, but that wasn’t enough. “I’m not sure I can imagine—”

But my next words were interrupted by the sitting room door being thrown open. It rebounded from the stone wall behind it as Iris barreled inside.

“There you both are!” she cried. “I half-feared you’d left me here to rot in all of this dullness and disrepair. What are you doing in this room, anyway?” She flopped down and watched us expectantly, while she picked at the fraying threads of one of cushions on the sofa.

“I was…” I hesitated. Telling Iris I was practicing magic was tantamount to admitting that I was breaking the laws of Talador.

“I was showing Iris some basic runes she can use as protection, should she ever be in a dangerous position again.” Rose’s voice was calm and measured. In that tone, practicing runes sounded nothing but sensible.

Iris nodded, her eyes wide. “Show me?”

Rose drew a perfectly crafted rune in the air. “This is the basic form,” she said. “But my finger is only proving a focus for my mind’s will.”

I admired her patience as she explained the same principles to Iris that she’d just explained to me.

“Your mind’s will?” Iris stood and went to Rose’s side, watching every movement she made, and I smiled at the intensity of Iris’s gaze.

“Yes. My intent—simply put I just have to want the result badly enough.” Rose didn’t flourish the basic rune this time but left a perfectly crafted spinning slowly in the air.

Iris reached out to touch it, but it crumbled the moment her fingers brushed against it. “Can I try?”

Rose looked to me, and I shrugged.

“It can’t do any harm,” I said. Left to her own devices, Iris would become exactly like Rose—half wild and determined to learn on her own, so it made sense for Rose to guide her if she could.

Iris bit her lip, her concentration and focus evident to anyone watching, and raised her finger, drawing a silver shape painstakingly in the air. When she’d finished, a basic snowflake remained, and she whooped with glee.

Rose patted her shoulder. “Fantastic, Iris. Did you know your magic had emerged?”

Iris shook her head, uncharacteristically speechless as she learned forward to examine her creation. My stomach fluttered again as I fought against pleasure and worry over this new development. I had enough to fret about without the emergence of Iris’s abilities too.

Nineteen

Keane

I

stood in the kitchen, glaring at a barrel of fresh apples, each of them an example of glossy red perfection. “And where did these come from?”

A young kitchen maid bobbed an awkward courtesy in front of me, a sheen of sweat on her forehead from the enormous fire that blazed away constantly at the end of the room. “If you please, captain, they’re from the apple tree in the yard.”

“Throw them out.” I issued the command tersely then immediately regretted it when she cowered away from me. Making an effort to soften my tone, I continued. “That is, we can’t guarantee the safety of any of the apples already in the kitchen, so please dispose of them immediately.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

I turned to the guards standing by the door as they approached to pick up the barrel. “Have the maid show you where to put these. Nothing should eat them.”

The cook responsible for trying to poison Lily had already been identified, but I couldn’t take the risk that she’d left other poisoned food for use by the others. The bitter herb she’d used had created residue all over her working area and tools, and the entire kitchen staff was cleaning intensively to eradicate all trace of the poison. They seemed to understand the grave danger of word getting out that a visiting dignitary from Andaria had been poisoned while in the company of our future queen. No one here wanted to be the reason for a new war with another kingdom. Satisfied everything was in hand, I left two guards to supervise and walked back to the main rooms of the castle to inform Lily of the progress I’d made. Despite the decaying grandeur of the summer palace and the ever-present mirrors, I quite liked it. It had a little of an underdog sense about it, as if it could quickly reclaim its former glory if only the right person championed it. While Grimelda was well meaning, I wasn’t sure she was the right person. However, now that Lily had visited, I suspected things would change for the better.