Thea smiled faintly before her gaze returned to me. She stepped down the stairs into the open air of the courtyard. Her long, straight red hair was tucked behind her ears, and the snow began to fall again, catching on the bright strands. “Well, Hannah…you’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?”
Annoyance flared through me, and I prepared for what was likely a lecture. As much as I liked her from our minimal interactions and appreciated her kindness, the last thing I needed was to be put in my place. “Maybe. Is that a problem?”
She stopped before me and shook her head. I noted she was about half a head taller than me. Her smile broadened, then pulled crooked. “Not as long as you’re the witty kind. Let’s get you inside. You look like you could use a hot meal, a hotter drink, and the hottest bath your skin can stand.”
Tears pricked my eyes again. As much as Kai had dumbfounded me, she was doing the same but in the opposite direction. “I wouldn’t say no to any of that.” A knot formed in my throat, and my voice thickened.
Her ginger hair was not quite as dark a red as Aunt Maureen’s, but something in her manner reminded me of my great-aunt, especially the way Thea had spoken just now.
She brought a hand out from where she’d tucked them in her sleeves and gestured toward the staircase. “Come along then.” She climbed the stone stairs with the easy grace of someone who had walked this path a thousand times, her long blue skirt trailing over the steps. “As soon as you were spotted on your way back, I guessed where he would want you placed, so I took the liberty of having your room prepared.”
“How did you know?” I frowned. The way she’d said it was like a hidden joke, and Ihatedbeing kept in the dark.
“Psh.” She scoffed and cut her eyes at me. “It was obvious. The guest quarters, right next to his, of course. Just as surely as he has returned to his study and to pack the same things he always does on these trips.”
I followed her, my sore legs protesting every step. The stone was slick with a thin layer of ice, and I had to focus to keep from slipping in the oversized boots. "You seem awfully confidentabout that." And very close too. A spark of jealousy flared within me.
"I've known Kai and Ashren for a long time."
As we passed through the heavy wooden doors, I decided to get to the point. “Are you involved with him?”
“Kai or Ashren?” The coy tilt of her head and arch of her brow was startlingly playful, as if she were daring me to specify who I was asking about.
My eyes narrowed before I could keep the jealousy hidden.
She giggled and shook her head. “Kai is like a brother to me. A brother who has attained great power and responsibility and now carries an even greater weight on his shoulders. Ashren is not like a brother to me inanysense. But if you would like me to tell you more of Ashren, I am happy to. Or I could discuss Kai.”
My stomach somersaulted, and a sour taste filled my mouth. I didn’t want to think about Kai right now. The bastard king was even worse than I’d imagined. Our last conversation replayed in my head, and heat filled my cheeks.
Warmth seeped through my coat and into my spine, but not enough to loosen my legs. My thighs still felt carved from wood, stiff and aching with every step I took. I rolled my shoulders once, trying to coax blood back into places that had gone half numb during the ride. “What do you think I should know, in general?”
She shrugged and glanced over her shoulder. When she noticed she was a few strides in front of me, she slowed her pace. “I’d tell you that the people here are tight-knit because we have lost so much. And there are formalities, rules, and orders because they provide structure, but under it all, there is far more. Kai clings to structure, and he likes everything to be done his way. He despises handling multiple things at once.”
Instead of continuing toward the broad central hall, she veered down a narrower corridor tucked between two pillars.The ceiling lowered slightly, making the space more intimate. Decorative metalwork traced the walls here, dark iron shaped into twisting vines and frost-petaled flowers with their edges catching the low magic-light. Deep blue and silver tapestries woven with abstract scenes of snowfields and shadowed trees at dusk in the mountains hung between sconces. The air smelled of clean linen, spicy cologne, pine, and resin.
“So he’s particular.” Nailed it. He was a stickler and had a rod shoved up his ass.
“Oh yes, very particular, even when we were young.” We reached a door, and she opened it and waved me to the staircase beyond. “This is a side staircase, and it’s the easiest and quietest route to the bedrooms from this side of the castle. Just as many stairs, but fewer interruptions, better spaced steps, and much closer than if you take the main staircase.” We continued to climb, and she glanced back with a knowing smile. “There’s another staircase like this on the other side of the castle, if you're coming from that direction. You might not be glad of the steps right now, but I bet you’ll thank me once I show you what I set up in the washroom.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Just promising me a hot bath makes me want to kiss you.”
She laughed, the sound echoing off the stone around us. When we reached the landing, she guided me through the next door. The decor on the third floor was far nicer than on the first. Carved beams arched overhead, the dark wood etched with frost motifs that shimmered as I moved. Thick, patterned rugs softened the floor, muffling our steps. Doors lined the hall. Most of them were closed, but a few were cracked.
We took a turn to the right at a junction of the halls.
Thea patted my arm. “You’re going to do fine here. I heard Kai say that you’re welcome to visit the library and the archives.You’ll enjoy them, I think. I love the library at sunset. It has the most beautiful view.”
She spoke as if she’d known me all her life. Kai had said that she was from the Day Court and had lost her people, aside from a few survivors. Something twinged inside me. I’d lost mine as well and felt out of sorts. “I look forward to it.”
Several servants bustled toward us in blue and gray uniforms, their arms laden with crumpled clothes and what looked like cleaning supplies. Their footsteps quickened as they moved away from the end of the hall where two large double doors stood open, spilling warm light into the corridor.
Thea guided me to a door on the right side of the hallway. "This is your room. I think you'll find it quite comfortable?—"
My feet carried me forward without permission, drawn toward those open double doors like iron to a lodestone. I knew with absolute certainty whose room lay beyond. It was just a gut instinct, but then again, he had said he wanted my room to be next to his.
“Hannah, that’s Kai’s room.”
“I figured.” I stepped over the threshold and stopped.
