We stand in a semicircle around them. My stomach twists. Rosalina appears almost nervous, glancing over my shoulder, keeping a watchful eye on them.
“What are you thinking?” I whisper.
She tucks a curl behind her ear. “I’m meeting your family for the first time. It’s a big deal.”
I give her a smile I can’t feel. Nothing seems real right now. My little brothers are assassins. My realm is preparing for a war on Winter. And all the while, the briars twist deeper into Castletree.
Dayton smacks the boys on the shoulders and grins. “All that way only to get your asses handed to you! Come on, lads. When this pesky misunderstanding is cleared up, I’ll teach you how real warriors fight. Give you moves that will even take down the great Protector of the Realms.” His cocky smile gives no hint that Kel had completely defeated all three of us only yesterday.
Dom and Billy gaze up at Dayton with adoration, eyes wide and shining. My stomach twists, remembering all the times our families got together in the past, how Dayton used to wrestle with them, how all three would prank me and then laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world.
It was a simpler time, even if our relationship had been no less complicated.
Ezryn steps forward, hands on his hips. “You realize that an assassination attempt on a High Prince is punishable by execution.”
The twins’ faces, so warm and light looking at Dayton, both swivel to Ez. “Then kill us,” Dominic growls. “War is coming between Autumn and Winter, anyway. The murder of Autumn’s princes will only quicken the act.”
“No one’s murdering anyone. Right?” Rosalina looks between all of us. “Right?!”
Kel gives an exasperated growl. “Tell me of this frost.”
“It started two full moons ago,” Billy says. “Initially, we only saw signs of it in the borderlands, between Autumn and Winter. A crawling blue rime. First, it took out the maple groves east of the Rucklewood. Then it took the potato and pumpkin crops in Appleclove Valley.”
Dom sets his jaw. “Originally, we thought it was just taking our vegetation. But then the frost kept growing. It reached the villages.”
“Hundreds of people,” Billy says quietly, “turned still as statues. Frozen in these terrible poses, mouths still gaping in fear.”
It’s like the frost has caught me too. I feel it creeping up my legs, weaving through my lungs, making it harder to breathe. “How come no one sent word to me?”
Dom and Billy look down.
I grab their shirts and pull, my voice frantic. “How come no one sent word?”
“Mother did not think you could be of assistance,” Dom says finally. “She said it should be handled by people who spend more time in the Autumn Realm than with the Winter Prince.”
I stagger back. My mother was High Princess before she passed the rule to me. I’d left her as steward for the last twenty-five years.She doesn’t trust me. She has no faith.
An awkward silence passes over the entrance hall. The other princes don’t look at me, and it’s almost worse than their stares.
“Well, it’s simple, isn’t it?” Rosalina says, hands on her hips. “Obviously, Keldarion isn’t causing the frost, so there’s no need for a war.”
Keldarion has turned away, knuckles white as he grips the banister. “So, the steward of Autumn didn’t think to send word to Winter before she sent her youngest sons to assassinate the High Prince?”
“She sent word to Winter,” Billy sneers. “Every letter unanswered.”
“Perth would have received those letters,” Kel breathes. “He should have brought it to my attention.”
The name sends shivers up my spine. Perth Quellos, Keldarion’s vizier and steward of the Winter Realm. Rosie stiffens at his mention, and Ezryn quirks his head toward her.
“That guy’s got the deepest icicle up his ass,” Dayton drawls.
Kel ignores the remark. “I will send for him at once. Surely, he has some idea of what’s going on.”
Dom and Billy exchange a glance.
“What?” I whisper.
“It’s too late,” they say in unison. Then Dom stares me straight in the eye. “Mother’s amassing the army. Unless you can stop this frost now, there will be a full-out realm war. And she won’t stop until Keldarion answers for the lives his magic has taken.”
