Aspen mustered a grin. “Rest easy. You still wear it better.”
“Who said I was worried?”
“You didn’t have to say it, Papa,” Nicu quipped.
The jester nudged his son. “Cheeky offspring.”
“I learn from the best.”
“I’m sorry I’m late,” Aspen professed with the utmost sincerity, weathering Jeryn’s arctic stare with more endurance than every warrior on this continent. “I don’t have an excuse. But I do have a reason.”
“Do I look like I want either?” the Winter King inquired.
“She’s on time more often than us,”Flare pointed out, a teasing light in her eyes that accomplished what no other mortal could with this monarch.
Jeryn’s gaze simmered on Flare. “Only because you distract me.”
“You like the distraction,”she hinted.“And you like how long it lasts.”
“Alas,” Poet couldn’t resist. “Not long enough for him to miss the roundtables entirely.”
Irritated, Winter chopped the indifferent jester to cubes with his eyes.
Used to this sort of exchange, Aspen soldiered on. “My reason is valid. Do you want the short or long version?”
“How about the honest one?” I griped. “If you can manage that.”
Her body tensed, going as rigid as a pole. The reaction went to my head like a prohibited stimulant, unforgivable anticipation overwhelming any shred of decorum. I armed myself as the female wrenched her gaze in my direction, those eyes flashing like a pair of anise stars.
Weathering her stare, I found myself plagued by an agitating form of unrest. One I had never felt in her company. More confounding, an indefensible itch crawled up my fingers—the urge to rip that hood from her face and view those irises up close.
My request must have hit a fragile nerve. Because for some reason, she winced.
Not what I had expected from this audacious female. Yet before I had a chance to atone for my ill-bred outburst, she bridled her reaction.
In its place, rivalry thickened the woman’s voice like syrup. “Oh, apologies,” she demurred. “I didn’t see you standing there. It must have been the invisible high horse that got in the way.”
My nostrils flared. “Curb your tongue in the presence of Royalty.”
“Sorry to break this to you, but my tongue does what it wants.”
“In which case, I have a mind to cut out that appendage. Once and for all.”
“And end all these stimulating conversations?”
I fisted the back of a chair, exerting enough pressure to crack the mahogany. But when the fuck had I moved toward the furnishing in the first place? And when had I forgotten the other occupants of the room?
Our company fell silent. Poet and Jeryn narrowed their perceptive eyes. Briar and Flare whipped their heads from me to Aspen, their gazes equally discerning while Nicu’s pupils bloated in surprise.
I could not blame them, for I sneered and picked fights as often as I verbalized obscenities. Yet on all accounts, I’d been demonstrating the opposite since the moment I set foot back in this castle.
“Do you want the short or long version?”
“How about the honest one?”
Seasons. I regretted those reprehensible words the instant they barked out of my mouth. I hadn’t meant to sound harsh, much less condescending, elitist, or superior. True, this woman twisted lies as expertly as Flare twisted knots of Summer rope. And while that hardly warranted the vitriol stalking across my tongue, I couldn’t stop picturing her sparring with that unqualified soldier. Again, however much I relished seeing my brethren celebrate Aspen, her pubescent companion was another matter. All mouth and no muscle, the braggart could not hold a candle to her prowess. But for some atrocious reason, she favored that upstart’s company.
Before this duel progressed, Briar stepped between us. “Never mind,” she buffered. “You’re here now.”
