Ravanna frowned and sighed again. “The Zolotovs are a superstitious lot. The gargoyles are meant to scare away evil.”
Katrinka frowned, not liking Ravanna’s harsh tone, I guessed. “It is also quite common for the lords and ladies of the land to gift them to the king on the winter solstice. It has become somewhat of a competition between them to see who can commission the ugliest, most terrifying.”
I smiled. That was a contest I would like to see. “So they are a joke?”
Ravanna snorted a laugh as Katrinka frowned again. “Well, no, not a joke. They’re not meant to be funny. Just... a sport of sorts.”
I wanted to ask what they won, but I was afraid I would offend her again.
Finally, under the portico, footmen appeared to let down the stairs and help us onto the carpet. My legs felt wobbly beneath me as I struggled more than I would have liked to walk normally. But the long several days in the carriage had made me stiff and sore.
Katrinka bounced forward, clearly energized to be back at the home she had only just left. I scowled, worrying that this adjustment back to Elysia had been harder on her than I gave her credit for.
I had also hated leaving Heprin and the home I’d known for eight years. But I had a purpose in front of me, a reason to adapt to castle life. Katrinka was not given that same purpose, except for distantly. She did not feel the same call to power I could not deny. Nor the same sense of responsibility.
She had been happy here, anonymous.
I let out a weary sigh, not knowing what to do with that.
Inside the doors, the royal family waited to greet us in luxurious furs meant for this cold weather. King Maksim stood next to his wife, Oleska. And next to her were their children. Six princes lined up by height and battle medals.
Katrinka had shared their names shortly after we left Sarasonet, but I could not remember them now. I was surprised that some were my age and older yet had not joined Katrinka and the king and queen for the last couple of weeks of celebration.
“Welcome,” Maksim greeted us formally. “We are happy to offer you accommodations.”
They must have flown to get here before we did. Or they had only just arrived themselves. Maksim and Oleska looked utterly exhausted.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Ravanna purred, sounding more pleasant than I had ever heard her. “We’re grateful for your hospitality.” She moved to the queen, taking her hands in her own and bowing her forehead to them. “You have a lovely home, from what we’ve seen.”
The queen looked shocked at her compliment, forgetting to hide her wide-eyed look of astonishment. And then her furtive glance around the foyer at all the shadowed gargoyles watching us. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” she managed to murmur. “May I introduce you to our sons. The Crown Prince Alexi and his brothers, Prince Andretzo, Prince Anton, Prince Akim, Prince Aleksander, and Prince Ashka.”
“Does our sister need to be introduced to us?” Prince Anton asked. He seemed to be about Katrinka’s age, maybe a year or two younger than I was, with wiry curly black hair that stuck out everywhere. He wore wire-rim spectacles almost identical to Katrinka’s and a teasing smirk that endeared him to me immediately. “Has she already forgotten her family?”
“She is not our family,” his older brother, Andretzo, scolded. “She is certainly not our sister.”
“Andre,” his mother admonished, but then Katrinka was laughing, and the declaration felt less of an insult and more of something else.
“Andre has never claimed me as his sister,” Katrinka explained to Ravanna and me. “He is afraid I will taint the Zolotov line.”
Andre met my eyes and offered a shy smile. “It is because she is too beautiful to be a Zolotov. No one would believe us.”
Katrinka’s pale cheeks heated with a pretty blush. And she turned away to push her glasses up her nose.
“No,” Alexi, the Crown Prince, agreed. “Clearly, she is an Allisand.” He took my hand in an elegant way and pressed his lips to the back of it. “Their beauty is famed for good reason.”
Shiksa, cradled sleepily in my free arm, watched his gesture with her insightful gaze, and moved up my arm, toward my shoulder, farther away from the prince and his kisses.
Alexi’s compliment was kind, but I knew myself to be ragged from travel and gaunt with sleep deprivation. I pulled my hand away. “Thank you, Prince Alexi. I am not sure about our beauty, but when I look at my sister, it is my mother whose face I see most clearly.” Katrinka’s cheeks burned a brighter shade of red as if she did not quite know what to do with my compliment either. I stepped back from the Crown Prince and addressed his family, “But I must thank you all for taking such good care of my Katrinka. I can see she was in good hands while she was here.”
“It was our pleasure,” Maksim said. “She has been sunshine in our dreary kingdom since the day she arrived.”
Katrinka fidgeted next to me, and I got the distinct impression she was doing all she could not to flee this embarrassing account of her praises.
Ravanna yawned beside me. “This is all wonderful, but I wonder if we can be shown to our rooms now? Before I pass out from exhaustion and must be carried there.”
Oleska clapped her hands, and her boys stood straighter and jumped into action. “My sons will show you your rooms tonight. I know Katrinka could do it easily enough, but this feels more formal.” She smiled adoringly at my sister, who beamed back.
Katrinka seemed to have really been loved here. Their affection for her eased some of my regret and worry.
