6. Winter #2
No one else seemed to notice the temperature drop, but Winter didn’t mind. He knew. Due to yesterday’s events, Winter’s magic pool had increased. Another thing for which to thank Raven…although maybe indirectly. She didn’t need to know the extent of the forces coursing through his veins.
Aoes and Camilla glanced back and forth between them.
“What is he talking about?” Aoes asked.
In silent answer to Aoes’s question, Chace held up a drawing, clearly belonging to one of the girls. Camilla bit her lip as the smile slipped from Winter’s lips. The female portrayed in the picture was obviously Raven. The fact that she had many bloody wounds…
He sighed, and his shoulders sagged.
Myla’s picture had captured the day Winter had arrived on Camilla’s doorstep with the wounded female in his arms. The day the twins first met Raven.
Camilla’s gaze fluttered to the table’s surface in an act of avoidance that didn’t go unnoticed by Chace. The guy’s eyes narrowed on her then shot back to Winter, who returned Chace’s glare with an icy stare of his own.
Between Camilla’s reaction and the twins’ artwork, there was no point in denying anything with regard to Raven’s injuries. Not any longer. Not when Raven had recovered and was now healthy and safe in the castle.
“You knew,” Chace said and glanced between him and Camilla. “You both knew and said nothing.”
Winter squared his shoulders and stepped up to the table. “It wasn’t my story to tell.”
Chace’s attention swept over the twins, who busily created more artwork, before settling on their mother, Camilla. “That’s what you meant earlier, when you questioned Winter about having told Aoes something. Something regarding Raven.”
Her lashes fluttered, her head lifting to meet his stare. “I am sorry.”
Winter shifted around the side of the table, moving closer. “Don’t put any of this on her. She was nothing other than kind enough to help a person in dire need.”
“Dire?” Chace’s voice thundered, and for a flash of a moment, Winter thought he spied dark magic enveloping the cretin.
“Careful, Ace.” Aoes patted a settling hand upon Chace’s shoulder.
Chace shrugged the touch away and lurched forward, grabbing Winter’s jacket at the collar. Winter held his gaze, attempting to show no reaction.
“How dire?” Chace’s eyes filled with black fire and promises of death.
Winter’s icy stare faltered at the memory of Raven’s condition. Despite their new acquaintance, those days had been dreadfully scary. Scary because of the fear death would claim her.
“Dire enough.”
Chace raised a shaking fist, drained of blood, and Winter waited for the blow to come.
For the guy’s fist to meet his face once more, like it had during their first altercation over a week ago.
When Raven had returned to the pub with blood running down her arm, and Winter had taken out his irritation on Chace.
But the hit didn’t come. Instead, Chace shoved Winter away with a force that caused him to stumble and fall to the floor.
Everyone in the pub stood frozen, watching, as Chace asked coldly and evenly, “What happened?”
“She has yet to give me the whole story.” Winter made no effort to stand. Not yet. He merely studied Chace’s every move. “But from what I understand, the palace guards opened fire upon her.”
“Sweet death,” Chace mumbled and turned away. Dragged a hand along his scalp.
As the following moments of silence grew, Winter picked himself up off the floor and straightened his jacket. “For whatever reason, she didn’t want you to know.”
Chace flinched but refrained from commenting.
“And she didn’t come with you?” Camilla shifted her weight to better face the prince. “I thought…”
“I know.” He softly curved his palm against her arm in what he hoped was a comforting touch.
“Change of plans. She’s working with Valen today.
Possibly tomorrow and the day after that, as well.
We’ll have to make adjustments.” He handed her August’s birthday announcement. “We’ll also need to plan for this.”
She nodded even as her eyes filled with unshed sorrow. Winter raised his free hand as if to cup her cheek, soothe her sorrow, but… He shook his head slightly and dropped his hand back at his side.
“She’s safe?” Chace asked, not turning to face them. “At the palace? And now working with Valen?”
Winter regarded Chace’s overly tense muscles and evasive stature. He supposed Chace knew all about Valen, or at least, as much as Raven did, given they were work associates, and, as Winter understood, her connection with Valen had been somewhat work related.
He considered all the times he had witnessed Raven with Chace. They clearly got on each other’s nerves, but that didn’t mean… Gods. He hoped it didn’t mean…
“Are you two involved?”
Chace’s back muscles went rigid as he appeared to startle.
A breath later, he dropped his head and huffed a strangled laugh. “No. Not in the slightest.”
Definitely the answer Winter wanted to hear, and yet his chest didn’t feel any lighter, and the muscles in his jaw felt too tight. Was his tension because he didn’t fully believe Chace?
Regardless, Raven now slept under the same roof as him, not Chace.
“She’s safe,” he said, answering the question. “She apparently struck a deal with my grandmother, the queen, and has joined forces with Valen to find a cure for the curse plaguing my city and people.”
Aoes dropped into a seat with an audible sigh. Camilla’s jaw dropped as her hand flew to her chest, and the girls’ heads snapped to Winter, their expressions unreadable.