“Inform Aodhan as well,” I say.
Although I hadn’t originally been a fan of the Crow Lorcan deployed to Glace over two decades ago, not only had Aodhan proven himself loyal and serviceable, but he’d also become family.
First, to five-year old Ilya, whom he’d fly over the land and play with for hours—something that no one had been in the mood for after my father’s assassination. Then to the rest of us when?—
“Fine.” Salom’s voice cuts into my thoughts. “But do not dismiss the guards this time.”
My general—the man who raised me from boy, to prince, to king—had given me the silent treatment when I’d returned from my trip out east without the entourage he’d tasked with my security. His paltry mood had lasted days.
“The kingdom’s too unstable, Kostya,” he adds.
Even after my vow to keep the soldiers around, Salom’s mouth remains a slash of white in his square jaw.
“There’s something more than a train derailment, isn’t there?” Ilya asks, far too skilled at picking up on my mood.
“An explosive device was found at a school in West Sheva. The one that just agreed to let shifter children join. Our soldiers managed to dismantle it, but if it had gone off…” I scrape my nail along a sculpted ridge in my armrest. “Gods, what few shifters braved moving to Glace will end up flocking away.”
“You know what you need?” Ilya crosses his legs. “A stronger alliance with shifters. Marry a Crow or a Serpent. Ideally, one of the princesses. Their fathers would surely send troops to safeguard them, which would deter even the most intrepid antimorph.”
I balk at my brother’s suggestion. “Aside from the fact that I’ve no desire to marry, shifters have mates.”
“Not all of them.”
“I’m not using marriage to solve Glace’s tribulations!”
Ilya lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Suit yourself. But itwasa brilliant idea, wasn’t it, Salom?”
Unease gleams in my general’s amber stare. “I don’t know that Glacins would be ready for a shifter queen.”
“I’m better off revoking my edict…” I grumble.
“No.” My brother no longer smiles. “You’d let your detractors win. Don’t let them win.”
“My train, Salom! Get my train ready,” I growl.
“Immediately.” He dips his head in a stunted bow.
As he stalks out of my chambers, someone stalks in. Someone I’m in no mood to see at the moment. Then again, I’m rarely in the mood to see my stepmother, Milana. She isn’t a bad person; she’s just overbearing and intent on matchmaking me with her sister.
“Heading off on a trip again?” The sound of her voice amplifies my already high tension.
Though my stepmother spends the greater part of her time at her parents’ manor overlooking Voshna Moor, she travels regularly back to the palace to visit her children—and to ensure she isn’t forgotten about at court.
“Good evening, Milana. How can I help you?”
Silk swishes as she sashays nearer. “I’m here to discuss the Jubilee.”
Fuck…I’d forgotten about that.
“The invitations have gone out, as of this morning. I suspect thateveryonewill attend, so I wanted to go over sleeping arrangements with you. I was thinking about having the royals…”
My door sweeps open once more, and in pops Izolda. Yes,pops. There exists no better verb to describe my sweet, effervescent half-sister. Where Ksenia—her twin—shares my somber disposition, Izolda and Ilya are our polar opposites.
“Are you even listening to me, Kostya?” Milana chides me.
I look away from the young, grinning blonde standing next to the older, scowling one. It’s incredible how little my father’s genes seeped into my half-siblings. It’s as though he depleted his severe traits and bleak coloring on Alyona and me.
“Forgive me, Milana, but I’m afraid I’ve neither the time nor the brainpower to dwell on the Jubilee at the moment.”The one I didn’t care to host in the first place.
