“What is it?”
Os shook his head. He looked rather like a grumpy, overgrown puppy with his sandy hair falling into his eyes.
“I’m happy you’re happy.”
“Os, what is it?”
“It’s nothing, just – I’m nervous.” He shrugged helplessly. “I like Adeline, and I trust you, Kai, I do. I’m sure you’ve thought about this –”
“Extensively.” That hadn’t sounded how he meant it to. But while Al might have laughed or jeered at him, Os didn’t waste time with banter, good natured or otherwise. So, Kai moved on. “This wasn’t something either of us rushed into.”
Os swallowed, then met his King’s eye and said slowly; “It just feels very familiar.”
Kai went cold.
His heart plummeted like a stone tearing through shifting waters. It had been his greatest fear, the sole reason he’d held back for so long, when really he’d wanted Adeline from the moment he saw her.
And Os, who knew him so well, had dug that fear out from its shallow grave and tossed it at his feet like it was nothing.
“She isnotAvette.” He couldn’t keep the bite from the edge of his words, not when he already had to struggle to keep his voice low enough for only Os to hear. He stole a glance around them, but nobody appeared to be eavesdropping. “And I’m not the same man who went under that day.”
Os gripped the back of his neck and looked away so Kai wouldn’t see his brows arching beneath his mop of hair. A familiar gesture that he’d seen one too many times since they were young. It meant:You’re wrong, but I’ll say nothing.
Kai flexed and clenched his hands, mastering the swell of irritation that rose in him at his cousin’s gentle disdain.
“What,” Kai said again, practically hissing through his teeth now.
Os didn’t so much as flinch. This was familiar territory for them; Os had long been Kai’s most trusted confidant, his unerring voice of reason even if the King didn’t always like what he had to say.
“You walk chest-first through life, Kai, without a scrap of armour. You lead with your heart, you always have.”
Kai opened his mouth to answer – to say what, he wasn’t sure – when a bemused voice at his back beat him to it.
“Surely there are worse ways to lead.”
They turned as one, and the Queen offered a polite smile, either unaware or unconcerned that she’d interrupted a very private discussion. Kai’s heart clawed its way up his throat, and he swallowed it back down with difficulty. How much had she heard? She hadn’t been there a moment ago, he was sure - but what had she made of Os’ reprimand?
Kai couldn’t tell, for Selma turned away and gestured behind her, calling another woman to her side.
It was a wonder his eye hadn’t passed over the woman until now, dressed as she was in velvet swaths of rich plum and violet that stood in vivid contrast to the white and silver wash of the ballroom. The colours called up childhood memories of summer fruits, of laughing mouths stained with mulberry juice. He was sure he had never seen her at the Queen’s court but there was something awfully familiar about the woman. Her dark eyes and wide lips were framed by faint creases, suggestions of a youth spent smiling, leaving her forever amused. That ever-present smile nudged at something peripheral, something in a far corner of his mind.
“King Cumhaill, this is my dear friend, Empress Eleni Vanjir of Dhahlias.”
The woman bent her head, lifting her skirts as she curtseyed so that the gold lace embroidered at her hem would not touch the ground. He returned the bow and fixed a smile on his face with difficulty. His jaw was still clenched tight from his talk with Os.
“A pleasure, Empress Vanjir.” He gestured backward to Os, not ready to look him in the eye just yet. “May I introduce my cousin and advisor, Oswalt?”
She offered Os a warm enough smile and a nod, but her attention immediately shifted back to Kai.
“The pleasure is mine, Your Majesty. I’m sure you know, the story of your resurrection has gripped the world even beyond these borders.”
He hadn’t known, but he nodded politely – even if the wordresurrectionmade him cringe inside. Avette had not killed him; he had lived through the whole damned thing.
“Eleni is something of an historian.”
The Empress bowed her head humbly, but her dark eyes glittered.
“Indeed I am. If you could spare a moment, Your Majesty, I would be so grateful for a chance to discuss your memories before the Thaw.”
