Winter
Aoes motioned after the girl’s quick movements. “Isn’t that―?”
Where has she been that she would be out in the streets at dusk?
He trailed Kira’s journey home with a keen eye, his chest lightening when she disappeared into the house.
Aoes was correct regarding the latter, but those secrets had nothing to do with the girls or their activities.
Winter shrugged. “Couldn’t say for certain, but I suspect she is at the house.”
The two males stood at the street corner, Camilla’s home a few buildings away. They’d come from the surprisingly active pub where Winter had made good on his promise to visit, talk, and drink.
A healthy number of patrons had filled the many pub seats, something Winter would need to give deeper consideration after Raven recovered.
Winter had hoped to run into Raven’s associate Mr. Aldine, wishing to witness the old gent’s transformation for himself.
However, the male had been out, apparently, tracking down any information he could find regarding the other two members of his team—Raven and Chace.
Raven’s whereabouts had almost slipped from Winter’s lips, but he’d stopped himself before uttering a single word.
Chace had yet to return, and Winter feared the male had indeed gone missing.
Foul play could not be ruled out, and if that were the case, Raven’s location was best kept a secret… even from Aoes.
Nevertheless, the fact that Mr. Aldine was up and not just moving around but out and about was a great sign.
Based on what Winter had learned regarding the gent’s improvement, Winter hoped some sort of solution could be found for his afflicted citizens.
He prayed that solution would present itself sooner rather than later.
The stroke of luck for which Winter had begged over the last century from the gods might have arrived with Raven and her associates.
Winter rubbed his chest, blinked away his ruminations, and swung his gaze from Camilla’s home to the friend standing beside him. Aoes had his hands shoved deep in his pockets and his arms pressed tight at his side.
“So,” Winter began, continuing their earlier conversation. “You really haven’t seen Valen? He hasn’t visited your boarder?”
“Nope.” Aoes rocked on his heels.
A flash of irritation raced from the center of Winter’s chest to the tip of his head. Valen had committed to checking on the old gent. What was the medicine magician’s word worth if he couldn’t follow through on something so simple?
Aoes shivered as the sun dipped below the horizon, burning the sky with streaks of gold and amber, giving way to the descending midnight blue. A soft breeze set a string of nearby pennants fluttering. An exceptionally chilly fall had begun to test the citadel’s resilience.
Tucking his annoyance with Valen to the back of his mind, Winter smiled at his old friend. “You should probably get going.”
Aoes rubbed his arms and frowned. “How come you’re never cold?”
Winter laughed. He felt the temperature drop, but his internal magic shielded him from the cooler seasonal elements. “Oh, I’m cold. I’m just too cool to let my discomfort show.”
Aoes rolled his eyes.
Winter shrugged, even as his grin kicked higher. “I should probably go check on the girls and remind them about their curfew.”
“You do that. Go play daddy to the twins and Camilla.”
Winter’s back snapped straight. “What are you trying to imply?” Again. “Camilla and I have never…never…been like that. She’s the mother to my brother’s children.”
One of the mothers, to one set of August’s many possible offspring.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Aoes retorted. “But I know you, Winter. You’re a whore when it comes to every living, breathing female…and plenty of males, might I add…except where Camilla is concerned. Why do you suppose that is?”
“She’s family.” Winter’s head jerked back. “And she’s in love with August.”
Aoes shook his head. “They never married. The kids may be family by blood, but Camilla… And even if she did love August once―which I sometimes question―do you honestly believe she’s still pining away for him after all this time?”
Winter’s jaw loosened. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was Aoes trying to mess with his head? Or simply steer his thoughts away from Raven?
Winter pressed a tight fist to his stomach.
A messy knot took up residency in his gut, and he suspected he might be experiencing…
what, indigestion? Maybe something other?
Something he couldn’t…or wouldn’t…put a name to?
The foreign flutter in his chest carried the weight of insecurity and vulnerability.
“Anyway…” Aoes clasped his hand on Winter’s shoulder. “I need to get to the seamstress to retrieve my britches before she bolts the door for the night.”
Aoes worked with Camilla’s competition, putting money in another’s pocket, other than helping the twins and their mother. Not that Winter could blame his friend. Aoes had worked with the other seamstress long before Camilla lost her palace contract and had to expand her local clientele.
Choosing to drop the subject of his dynamics with Camilla and the twins, Winter snorted, mollifying the mood. “Please do that. No one wants to see you running about without trousers.”
Aoes grinned and wagged his eyebrows. “I know a few who differ in opinion.”
“If you say so, lothario.” Winter slapped Aoes on the back. “But for the rest of us trapped in the citadel with you, please go collect your britches.”
Because Aoes did not fall into the and-plenty-males category mentioned.
The two parted ways, and Winter’s core hummed with what he took to be confusion as he crossed the distance to Camilla’s front door.
He needed to check that emotion at the stoop.
It had no place in Camilla’s home nor in her presence.
It also worked to undermine the lightness of conversation and the lifting of the spirits he’d experienced at the pub.
Ever since Raven had collapsed in his arms, bloody and broken, a heavy burden had pressed upon his shoulders and chest. Upon his thoughts and emotions. And the reprieve the visit to the pub had offered felt too short and too shallow.
Stepping up to the residence, he rapped softly on the wood of the door. Within, a scrambling of footsteps and the shifting of furniture sounded. A few moments later, Kira threw open the entrance and stared up at him.
“Hey!” She leaped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. “I was hoping you’d come by tonight.”
“Haven’t I visited every night this week?” He stepped inside, closed the door with a heel shove, carried Kira to the table, and set her upon the surface.
Myla sat in one of the chairs, scribbling on a piece of paper. She didn’t look at what she drew. Instead, her glazed-over stare followed Winter into the room.
Kira leaned forward until her lips hovered close to his ear. “She’s looking much better. I think there’s a chance of her waking up tonight…and staying that way. Maybe soon.”
Winter gently squeezed the girl’s upper arms and stepped back, beaming at her, then at her sister. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I showed up.”
Winter lacked knowledge on the full extent of Kira’s magic, but he had long suspected it had something to do with healing.
When the girl had touched Raven on the temple the day prior, Raven had almost immediately slumped into a deep slumber.
Many might have considered the reaction unnatural, but Winter had sensed the sincerity in the girl’s words when she’d told him not to worry and that Raven slept to get better.
So he had waited. Did his best not to worry.
He chose to focus his attention on discovering what he could about Mr. Aldine and Chace so that he would have something to share with Raven when she eventually did awake.
Unfortunately, what he was able to learn wasn’t much, and it wasn’t likely to satisfy her.
Half of the information was worrisome and not the kind of thing a person in recovery should have to face.
Kira curled her little fingers, motioning Winter closer. “I saw another one.”
“Another what?” He glanced from Kira to Myla, but the quieter twin showed no indication she knew what her sister was talking about.
In fact, Myla presently showed no indication she was aware of anyone else in the room. Her hands kept moving and moving, drawing senseless squiggles. Her gaze seemed to peer straight through her room companions.
Kira glanced upward and raised her finger to the ceiling, possibly to Raven’s room above. “I saw another that looks like her. Same sort of silvery skin. Only he had a different color in his black hair, and his shine was a little different.”
Chace? Had Kira seen Raven’s missing associate?
“Was the hair color a sheen of purplish blue?” Winter asked, choosing to ignore her comment about silver skin.
Clearly, she saw them differently, because he’d never detected any silver hue to either of their skin.
She nodded.
All hint of humor slipped from his expression, and he leaned close, staring hard into her young face. “Where did you see him?”
She glanced at her sister then dropped her gaze to her lap. “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that.”
“Of course you can.”
He couldn’t imagine where she’d run into Chace. Most likely someplace where she never should have been, but Winter couldn’t think of a single thing she should be afraid to tell him.
She shook her head.
“Where did you see him, Kira?”
She shook her head again, this time more adamant.
“What’s going on? What secret are you keeping?”
A clatter sounded from the room above, followed by Camilla’s yelp.
“I think she’s awake.” Kira slipped from her seat on the table and jogged toward the stairs.
Winter had no plans of allowing Kira to drop the conversation so easily, but he would allow a pause, for now, if Raven had truly awakened.
He started to turn to follow Kira to the upper level, but Myla pushed away from the table, her chair scratching across the floor with a loud, harsh screech.
She slammed her palms against the wooden surface, causing Winter to stop.
She tapped two fingers to her scribbled drawing, then she spun the paper and slid it toward him.
He stared down at the heavy lines of black. So much black, with just a hint of white. The creation oddly resembled a tunnel covered in shadow.
He rubbed his jaw.
Bars blocked the end of that narrow tunnel.
“What is this?” He glanced from the picture to Myla.
Her white-eyed stare turned slowly from him to the stairwell.
“Kira,” she said and tapped the picture. “Kira here.”