“Business?”the man repeated.He barked a laugh.“No one comes to the Iceweave Castle forbusiness.The solstice is a time of revelry!Celebration!The coven has little interest inbusiness,I assure you.”
Kieran hesitated.It occurred to him that he wasn’t going to get far around here being prim and proper.Considering that guests were already laughing with drunken mirth before the sun had set, he needed to change his approach.
“I— Well, that makes sense, I suppose.It is a party, after all.”Kieran managed a weak laugh.“In fact, if I could just speakto the head witch about the festivities planned for the next few days—”
“Ah!Well, if it’s a breakdown of the festivities you’re looking for, I can assure you that much is a surprise.”The man winked.“Until this evening, of course.The opening ceremony will begin in the grand hall just after sunset.Guests will be provided with a meal, a show, and a preview of what’s in store.I’m sure if you still need to speak to the head witch then, you’ll have your chance.Though, if I’m being honest, she likely won’t be in a state for questioning.”
“Noted.”Kieran nodded to the man.“Much appreciated.We’ll…look around, in the meantime.”
“Don’t forget to try the wine!”he called as Kieran and the others stepped away to start their exploration.“It’s enchanted!Should help you warm up!”
“Maybe I won’t turn into an icicle after all,” Briar muttered.She met the others’ eyes.“Well?Wanna get some wine?”
Kieran swallowed.As much as he knew he needed to keep his head clear for the night ahead, a single glass shouldn’t hurt.Not as much as the cold did, anyway.
He nodded.
“Let’s go.”
That night, as the sun vanished behind the Slicetooth Mountains, Kieran and the crew were swept up in the Iceweave Coven’s revelry.
After enjoying some mulled wine and feeling its warming enchantment spread across his skin, Kieran decided to socialize.Witches from all over—including outside Celdwyn—had come for the event.He learned all about their spellcasting, their covens, and even met a few familiars.Seaweed hopped off his shoulders to sniff them, seeming perplexed.When the other witches asked if she was Kieran’s familiar, he paused.
Seaweed, however, chirped happily at the title.Kieran grinned.She might not be a traditional familiar, but she was a being made of magic who helped Kieran, so she wasn’t far from one.Considering that nothing about Kieran’s relationship with magic was traditional, maybe that made the title an even better fit.
As the sky darkened, he and the others wandered deeper into the castle.It boasted a twisting maze of hallways and stairwells, and each room they discovered featured some new activity.Briar got to try her hand at a ledrith sparring match with a few witches from Esperona, while Delilah sampled pastries from a group that had come all the way from one of Kitfield’s neighboring towns.Others had games, which Ariel and Santiago immediately excused themselves to try.
Soon, Kieran, Seaweed, and Sebastian found themselves alone, the others having all found other rooms to occupy their interest until the opening ceremony.They took a left turn into a small room that appeared to be full of different enchanted tinctures.They elected to forgo those, instead taking a seat on cushions in the corner of the room, grateful for the chance to escape the crowd.
“So,” Sebastian said, taking a sip from the glass of mulled wine he’d been nursing for nearly an hour.Kieran suspected he was trying to avoid another incident like his hangover on the ship.“Any ideas on where the Crown might be?”
Kieran’s eyes flicked back over his shoulder to the hallways, and he sighed.“No idea.The only thing Verbena told me about the Crown was that the coven has it.And considering how massive this castle is, it could take weeks to find anything in here.Our best shot is trying to persuade the coven to tell us where it is.Maybe we can make some kind of trade for it.”
Sebastian shrugged.“That’s not a bad plan.Easier than stealing it.Though…that might not be impossible.”
Kieran asked, “What do you mean?”
“I suspect that if we worked together, we might be able to manage a heist.”
Kieran couldn’t stop himself from barking a laugh that nearly woke Seaweed.“Are you joking?I have the stealth of a drunk ox.Plus, it has not escaped me that underneath all these fancy rugs, the floors here are ice.I fear that the moment we start trying to move quickly, I’ll wind up on the floor with broken bones and a bruised ego to boot.”
Sebastian cracked a smile.Kieran’s heart squeezed at the sight of it.“Give yourself a bit more credit.You seem quite adept at sneaking around the ship with me at night to avoid waking up the o—”
Just then, someone said, “Well, would you look at that.Sebastian Feng in the flesh.”
Instantly, Sebastian’s entire body went stock-still.His sunny expression vanished.Kieran watched his face harden, returning to the muted mask he’d worn nonstop when they first met.He angled his body so he was in front of Kieran, and his eyes briefly flickered from brown to red.
Standing there at the entrance of the room was the personhe’d seen back in Yarrowport, arms akimbo.Instead of black, they were dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a slit down the center of their chest that went nearly all the way to their belly button.The shaved side of their head was decorated with swirling blue and silver paint that resembled the night sky.They also had a big smile on their face, which was in sharp contrast to Sebastian’s glare.Seaweed hissed at them from Kieran’s shoulders.
“Sad we didn’t have a chance to chat back in the city,” they added.“I would have loved to catch up, but you know how work is.No socializing on the job.”
Sebastian cleared his throat, voice coming out in a monotone.“Hélène.I wasn’t sure it was you back there.Guess my suspicions were correct.The new hair is a…statement.”
While Sebastian’s tone was cold, the person—Hélène—just kept smiling.They ran a hand through the long part of their hair, pushing it back behind an ear decorated with numerous silver piercings.“Thank you.My current assignment didn’t call for subtlety, so I had fun with it.”
As soon as the wordassignmentleft their mouth, Sebastian’s jaw twitched and Kieran saw the muscles in his arms tense.
“Who sent you?”Sebastian asked, maintaining his casual tone, even as Kieran saw his fingers flexing in and out of a fist.He shifted to block Kieran from view even more.“Elias, I assume?”
