“Who’s that?” someone says from below, in the crowd.
“Prince Kai’s little friend,” someone answers, and I’m jolted to realize they’re talking about me.
I don’t like the loaded way they saidfriend.
I spot the two men gossiping like a pair of fishwives and glare at them. One smirks. The other studiously ignores me.
Hurt curdles in my gut. I was so excited for this day, but suddenly, it feels tarnished. I try to block the rude speaker out to better hear the king drone on about duty and loyalty to the crown.
Another cold breeze swirls menacingly through the courtyard. I might be imagining it, but the shining sun overhead sharpens into spiky rays that glint off the soldiers’ armor. My eyes water. I dash the moisture away lest those men think they made me cry. I won’t give them the satisfaction.
On the dais, Kai bends one knee. His brothers stand in a semi-circle flanking their father, the king. Three men between him and the throne. He is a prince who will never rule, and he is content with that, or so he says. Kingship is a burden. Never knowing whether one can trust friends, advisors, or anyone, really. Kai claims not to want it, and I believe him.
I want him not to desire the throne. A king could never marry a scullery maid, but there might be a chance for us if he isn’t needed for a political alliance. I’ll wait for him until he finishes his duty. I would wait for him forever if only I knew he felt the same way about me as I do him.
His father places the flat edge of a sword against each shoulder, then on his head, and bids Kai to rise. He does, fluidly despite the prison of protective metal he wears, and turns to solemnly stare out at the crowd. Abandoning any semblance of dignity, I wave vigorously. Seeing me, a wide grin breaks over his sharp features.
I would give anything to see him smile like that every day. It’s the one he saves just for me, his best friend.
My joy dims fractionally. I like being friends with Kai. He’s shared everything with me. His lessons. His secrets. But now, I want more.
A loud cheer startles me out of my reverie. Kai winks and breaks eye contact. Pushing past the guards watching the stairway—bless them for recognizing me from lurking around the training arena and giving me a good spot—I weave and elbow my way through the crowd to get to Kai. He steps down from the dais, beaming, followed by his family. People drop to their knees as the royal family passes. I don’t.
I stand there, grinning like a fool.
“Show some respect.” Someone yanks my skirt. The queen’s frosty gaze slides over me, and I drop into a deep curtsey. I forget to bend my head, though, and therefore catch the way her mouth tips up at the corners.
The king, too, appears amused. They know me, or at least of me. The royal family is close-knit, which I have always envied, having no family of my own other than Nana. They have reigned capably, too. No wars have riven the kingdom of Montrace,the land of endless summer, in a generation. Our kingdom is peaceful and prosperous with allies to the West, South, and East.
I don’t worry about Kai riding out in a display of toughness. His older brothers did the same thing in their time. Only the Northern Territories, where the fae races have been driven into isolation, hold any threat to us.
Legend has it that a powerful fae witch once possessed a mirror that reflected only the ugly parts of one’s soul, and none of the good. A troll king stole the mirror and used it to create chaos across the continent. War broke out. Many lives were lost, and the troll king ruled amidst the chaos from sea to sea.
His rule was short-lived, however. The greedy troll tried to take the mirror to the witch, with the intention of using it to make her his pawn. On his journey to her domain, his minions slipped on her lake of ice and dropped the mirror, shattering it. The queen summoned a vicious winter storm full of tiny ice knives that sliced the trolls to death as they tried to run away from the destruction they had wrought. The shards of the mirror were swept away in the wind.
I give myself a little shake. Why am I remembering this fable now?
Sunlight shafts through the clouds and falls across Kai’s tall, broad-shouldered form. He’s filled out since he started his military training. Although he’s only eighteen, a little more than a year older than me, his physique is almost as muscular as his brothers’, each of whom draws the admiring glances of every woman in the crowd.
The spell breaks when the soldiers break into an unruly banging of swords and halberds on shields and armor, a deafening clang accompanied by raucous cheering. Kai’s tall form is swallowed by his brethren. I missed most of the ceremony while cutting onions, but at least I caught the end.
I stand there rooted to the spot, delirious joy leaching from my body and wishing he would acknowledge me with more than a single smile. I’m only here to cheer him on like everyone else. But he is my friend.
My only friend.
Kai turns to me and beckons. Squirmy glee lights up my insides as I rush to him. He loops one arm over my shoulders. I am conscious of hundreds of eyes upon us as we stride into the upper bailey where a sea of tables has been set for a feast.
Nana won’t be happy, and this will only contribute to the rumors about me, but I am overjoyed to be singled out for Kai’s attention. I should go back to help with the food, but I can’t bring myself to leave him quite yet.
Chapter 2
“I thoughtyou’d missed the ceremony,” he says.
Kai sets a tankard of ale before me. I’ve tasted wine on occasion, mostly the cheap stuff that’s just shy of vinegar. Nana uses it for cooking, which is all it’s good for.
I sniff the beer cautiously.
“Go on. Try it.” The dare glinting in Kai’s blue eyes prompts me to lift the tankard to my lips and drink deeply. It is nothing like the cooking wine. Beer tastes like liquid wheat and grass. Not bad, but I’m not used to it. I thrust the tankard away, coughing.
