“You should just be happy I graced you with my presence.” Thyra strode my way, tossing her words over her shoulder as she went.
“I always am, love.” Another sly grin spread across his face. “Especially when you wish to be so clandestine about our meetings. Ilovea secret romance!”
“By the dead gods, I never should have saved him from that spider,” Thyra muttered as we left the sanctuary and joined our escort, a butler who, since our initial meeting in the training room, had introduced himself as Valintin.
Knowing how one’s mate could scatter their thoughts, I allowed my twin a few moments to pull herself together andenjoyed taking in the sights of the castle. Before our arrival, Vale had said that Ramshold was beautiful, and he was not mistaken.
Beautiful art lined each corridor. Many of the paintings and tapestries showcased the mountainside in which Myrr rested or fae who, judging by their appearance, had to be of House Balik. We’d passed through a domed intersection of six hallways with a chandelier made of gold and dripping emeralds when Thyra broke our silence.
“What do you think he’ll say?”
No need to question who ‘he’ was. In this instance, there was only one fae who mattered.
“I don’t know.” I dropped my voice. Valintin walked five paces ahead. But I didn’t want him listening in. “Vale’s certain Lord Balik will side with us, but I don’t think he expected to have to wait so long. That makes me question things.”
Less than a day, but it felt longer. Felt more dire. Life or death, which for my twin and me and so many others who were loyal to us, it was.
“What if he denies us? Do we flee?”
I swallowed. If we left Myrr, where would we go? To Lord Riis’s estate in Bitra?
Not an option I wished to consider. I wasn’t sure I could ever trust Lord Riis again and the city where he ruled, Bitra, posed an issue. It was too close to Avaldenn, and the Riis army, the dwarves of Dergia, and the rebels combined, would not be enough to protect Bitra if King Magnus struck with the combined force of multiple armies. Waiting and planning in the far south was preferable.
“One step at a time,” I replied, to which Thyra frowned.
We climbed a winding set of stairs to a part of Ramshold I had not seen yet. At the top, the vast corridor was stunningly quiet. No servants swept through the area, busy and barely taking notice of Thyra and me. We had to be in a private wing.
My suspicion was proven correct when the escort stopped before a door with two guards posted outside and knocked.
“Enter,” a voice called from inside.
One guard opened the door, and the butler entered.
“You found them, Valintin?” the Warden of the South asked from where he sat behind a desk.
“We did,” Valintin replied. “Would you like me to wait here?”
“Outside.”
With his topmost right arm, Valintin waved us inside, and the door shut behind us.
“Princesses, please sit.” Lord Balik sat behind a vast desk, papers stacked on one side, taking up a quarter of his space. The rest of the study was neat as a sewing pin, with not a book out of place, despite the fact that hundreds of books lined three of the four walls.
We sank into hunter green chairs as one, and before I’d had time to situate myself, Thyra struck.
“So? What’s your answer?”
Lord Balik let out a soft chuckle.
“You’ve waited twenty turns to reclaim the Throne of Winter. What are you in such a hurry for?”
“Nearly twenty-one turns,” Thyra corrected him.
My lips parted. She was right. Our twenty-fourth namedays were fast approaching. From one of my mother’s old writings, I’d recently learned that the exact date of my birth was the twenty-first day of the twelfth moon. Winter Solstice.
“Clearly you felt every single turn.” He stared at my sister. “For Isolde, things must be going fast.”
Six moons ago, I’d been a blood slave to vampires. I had known nothing about my past. Now, I fought to avenge my family, save a kingdom from a tyrant, and had friends and family members whom I loved.
