“You weren’t?”
She shook her head. “He started doing this last year and once took three weeks to consider how best to end a land dispute over a very large oak tree. When he did not send us all away, I knew he had a solution already.”
That sounded like Flurry had been improving as a leader for a while already. Was the curse taking notice?
Curiosity had me asking, “What did he do about the oak tree?”
“He declared it sentient and gave it twenty acres from each party.”
I wasn’t sure if she was serious.
“I’m serious,” she said with a laugh. “I’m also fairlycertain he did it because they angered him with their petty squabbling over who owned a tree.” She held up a finger as I started laughing. “But, he did give it his full attention and came up with a solution.”
I already knew he was a little shit sometimes, but Flurry was also willing to piss off his people to protect a tree? I liked him a hell of a lot more knowing that. Add to it that he’d just united a family for the sake of their child and, well, it was becoming more than like.
Five people came into the throne room then, and something about them had me staring in suspicion. Sure, they were all frowning and looked ready for a fight—the previous party had, too—but there was something more menacing about these folks. Two women, three men, they looked better off than Miss Fraser had but not to fancy as Adelaide’s parents. They never looked anywhere except right at Flurry.
I wasn’t the only one feeling off about them, though, because members of his guard stopped standing against the walls and started standing in front of the observers around the room. One even came up to stand right beside the throne. They didn’t seem to blink either.
“Who are they?” I whispered to Giselle.
She had a hand at her throat and seemed to be noticing the tension as much as I was. “I don’t know them.”
“Your name?” Flurry asked with his head cocked.
“Lorne Featherwick,” the man in the middle said in a biting tone.
Flurry leaned forward, knees on his elbows. “Yourapplication said you wished to discuss the current situation, but you refused to elaborate.”
“Wanted to say it to your face, and have you say it to mine.” Well, ol’ Lorne was definitely pissed. About what though?
Flurry sat back, arms on the rests and legs spread, taking up every inch of his throne. He had on a fur-edged gown in dark gray that made him seem even paler. And I knew he had on leggings underneath the skirt because I’d helped him step into them this morning.
“Say it then.”
The man’s arm shot out, his finger pointing at…me?
“He’s come through the barrier three times now and yet here you sit doingnothing. Your lords and ladies say they’re doing all they can,” Lon said with a sneer at the row of advisors, “so what exactly are you doing, your princliness?”
I was starting to feel less like these people were a threat to Flurry and more like he was going to become one to them. He might respect his people, but that could vanish in a heartbeat if they disrespected him.
And while I didn’t feel like I had any right to get involved in court matters, this one was about me.
“Lorne? Excuse me,” I said with a smile as I stepped forward. “I’m not sure what information you have, but maybe I can tell you what’s happened from my own perspective.”
The older man beside him said something quietly, and Lorne gave me a curt nod.
“Okay, so first, I fell through a ring in the human realm without knowing those were real or that this placeeven existed.” For some reason I did jazz hands before mentally rolling my eyes at myself and clasping my hands behind my back. “Um, so, once I understood how unusual that was, I thought maybe I could be of use by trying to pass through the barriers into the other courts. Find out what they know about the curse, what they’ve tried to do to break it, that sort of thing.”
“And?”
Okay, I got it that people might be upset that nothing had come of my attempts to leave, but his attitude needed work.
“And when I went through the barrier into Spring, a force tried to drown me. Literally grabbed my ankle and pulled me down underwater.”
Lorne crossed his arms over his chest and looked me up and down. “Yet here you are.”
“Yes, because the prince saved me. He threw a weighted rope out to me and pulled me back. Folks on the Spring side were prevented from getting to me by a wave. So, I have gone through a barrier three times—once through the ring and twice through the barrier to Spring—but the only thing we’ve learned is that I can’t leave Winter any more than the rest of you can.”
