Chapter 23
KAELERON
The palace of the Winter Court was as vast and beautiful as I remembered, the white walls glittering like frost accented with pale blue columns and the matching pale blue marble floors inlaid with intricate patterns of purest silver.
I crossed the expanse of that marble in the great hall, the towering columns that supported the vaulted ceiling looming over me like the giant watchers they were.
Each column had been carefully carved to represent a fallen king of the Winter Court, and they stood in silent vigil over the white-haired male seated on a throne of ice on the dais ahead of me.
Rhyn’s blue eyes lifted to me, a flicker of a frown twitching his white eyebrows as I stalked like a black wraith through his glimmering kingdom of snow and ice.
He waved a dismissive hand at the five people gathered before him, each dressed in a similar pale blue tunic jacket and trousers, and darker blue boots as he wore.
He pushed to his feet as the distance between us narrowed and the members of his court filed out of the room, keeping their eyes downcast as they passed me.
“What brings you here?” Rhyn’s gaze lowered to my attire, and relief flickered in it. “Not here for war then. Not the bearer of bad news.”
I shook my head, causing the twin braids that hung behind my pointed ears to brush the sides of my throat as I regally swept my hands downwards. “As you can see.”
If I had been here about war, or bringing him news that might involve him, such as the Evening Star Court’s recent attempt to hold a portal open in the Forgotten Wastes, I would have been wearing my onyx armour rather than my usual black and silver tunic and soft cotton trousers.
“Are you here to finally accept Fallow’s offer?” Rhyn grinned, pure mischief as always—when his mood was right.
When it turned, he was as frigid as his kingdom and just as dangerous.
“Good goddess, no. I made my thoughts quite clear about that and you will not change my mind.” I halted at the steps to his dais, letting him see in my eyes that I meant what I had told him—Vyr would not wed his brother.
If I had my way, she would wed the male who stole her heart.
A male part of me had hoped she would find in the suitors who plagued her, but who I now suspected might be resident in my court.
“This does not feel like a social visit… since you are apparently not feeling very sociable right now.” Rhyn sized me up, that edge to his blue eyes revealing Oberon had already been here and had informed him I had ceased all trade.
I smiled. “It is hard to feel sociable when it feels as if it might cost me dearly.”
“Hmm.” Rhyn stepped from the dais and looked down at me, the few inches difference in our height forcing me to look up at him, something I did not like.
And he knew it.
He did so enjoy making me look up at him.
“So why are you here?” he said.
“That is something I wish to discuss in private.”
He nodded and swept his arm out to his left, towards the door there. “Come then. You shall have your private audience. You must know though… I had been wondering when you would arrive.”
I frowned as I followed him out the door and down a hallway that branched off to the right and then the left.
Rhyn grinned over his shoulder at me. “You did not think I would not notice an entire fleet passing my shores, did you? A large number of Summer Court vessels sailed into the unseelie side of this land, and yet no vessels returned.”
“They had it coming,” I growled.
“Oh, I am very certain they did.” His grin held, the paler blue in the centre of his irises gaining a faint glow.
When we passed through a large room at the centre of several hallways, he gestured towards a male who waited near the door to the right.
“No one is to set foot in my private wing of the castle.”
The male bowed his head and pressed his right hand to his chest.
Rhyn pushed the twin blue doors open and strode through them, into an area I had never visited before.
He led me up the sweeping ice-blue staircase to the first floor, and along a gallery that had a wall of windows to my right.
I glanced out at the white mountains that speared the sky and the twinkling expanse of snow that shifted colour beneath the dancing aurora.
That snowfield reached all the way from this castle in the north of the Winter Court to Rhyn’s Gate in the south, every foot of this court covered in treacherous ice or deep snow.
It had been green once. Long ago.
Before Rhyn had lost his mate.
If I had possessed his power, my court would likely have looked the same right now, my mood affecting it in a similar fashion. Instead, my power drew shadows to my court and shook the sky. I was not sure which was better. A frigid wasteland or wild storms and quakes.
“Your emissary was rather vague about your reasons for halting all exports of steel from the Shadow Court. He left me wondering what had provoked such a thing from my old friend.” Rhyn slowed his step so he matched mine. “You must know how the courts will react to this.”
He ushered me into a large drawing room, where an enormous white marble fireplace roared with flames that chased the chill from the air, and casually eased into the blue armchair near the hearth.
I relaxed into the one opposite him and rested my ankle on my knee. “I am well aware how they will react.”
“That steel is the strongest in Lucia, used in nearly every court’s weapons and armour, at least for the elite soldiers and commanders, and their kings.
We depend upon that metal to keep our armies strong…
not just against each other, but more importantly against the seelie.
” Rhyn leaned back in his seat and mimicked my pose before resting his elbows on the arms and linking his hands in front of his chest. “At the very least, I would like to know why my armies are to be compromised like this.”
“Swear you will not speak a word of what I am about to tell you to anyone and I shall explain.” I kept my tone sharp and authoritative, ensuring he knew I meant my words and would not take any breaking of his lightly.
“I swear it.” He touched the spot over his heart and swept that hand towards me.
It was good enough for me.
I told him everything and held nothing back.
About Saphira. About the high king. His expression grew increasingly grave as I went on, as I poured it all out to him, unable to hold anything back once I had started.
Goddess, it felt good to tell another soul this—another king this. One who I knew would understand me.
“I fear that Saphira will carry out my vengeance, that it is still a possibility, and I will be forced to break my agreement with the high king in order to remain with her.” I sagged back in my chair, not realising I had been leaning further and further towards him as I had spoken until I was done, and that weight had been lifted from my chest. “I halted exports so it would send a message to the courts… to the high king… that the Shadow Court had power and that anyone who stood against me would do so without the hardest steel in the land to protect and defend them.”
“Well, it certainly does send a message to Ereborne and the other courts.” Rhyn blew out his breath and reached over to his right, picking up a crystal decanter of dark amber liquid and pouring himself a hefty glass of it.
He held it out to me. I reached towards him and took it with a nod of gratitude in his direction and he poured himself another.
“I do not think any king will take this halt in trade lightly.”
“I fully expect the Shadow Court to be treated in kind by others, but I hoped perhaps I might persuade some to ally with me in exchange for a continuation of our trade.” I sipped the potent liquor, savouring the burn as I waited for him to respond.
He chuckled and saluted me with his glass. “If you expect the Nightmare Court to ally with you, you have lost your mind.”
I could not bring myself to laugh at his poor joke.
“I know very well that Kalyn will ally with Ereborne, despite his need to defend his kingdom against the Dream Court of the seelie and protect Hallow Water from the Golden Court. Kalyn would be better off allying with me, but the fool will not. He will risk losing the Waters in order to appease Elduin.”
He scoffed now. “Losing the Waters to the seelie would likely cost Kalyn his head. Which would be a terrible shame.”
That wicked grin returned, curling his lips and lighting his eyes.
I smiled at last. “Lucia would be better off without him, and I still want the bastard to pay for tampering with Saphira’s mind at the ball.”
Rhyn took a healthy swig of his liquor. “I would ally with you whether or not you reopened trade with the Winter Court. Your presence here tells me you already know that.”
“Not know so much as hoped,” I admitted and swirled the liquid in my glass, watching it catch the firelight.
A sigh escaped me. “I came here to speak of trade and alliances, and to request help with setting up new farms to support my court during this difficult time… but once I reached the Winter Court, the real reason I had come here became clear to me. I needed to talk to someone about my little wolf—someone who would understand.”
Rhyn’s smile faded. “I do understand, all too well, the challenges you face and how it can be difficult. I understand that this is not easy for you, who have spent so many years honing your hatred of the seelie, but I am sure your heart will remain constant. Love tends to conquer all.”
“It does indeed.” I lowered my glass to rest on my bent knee. “I am not fighting it, and I do not feel anything… negative… towards Saphira. Her blood means nothing to me, beyond it being an obstacle to our happiness.”
I frowned and shook my head as I thought about her, my gaze drifting to the ring on my finger and my tone softening, gaining a sombre edge as my heart grew heavy.