Page 85 of The Princess of Nothing
Adius cleared his throat, bringing me back to what was going on. “Excuse me, Your Majesty, but I will join my men and find you shortly.”
I nodded. “Yes, of course. Sorry, Adius.”
“A queen must never apologize,” he said simply, then walked to a small group of men huddled with fur coats on.
I turned my attention back to Morgana, whose arms were hugged around her thin torso. “Are you sure there are none there?”
“Blaise has been finding the feral fae and locking them in the dungeons at Lepidus. If there are any, they’re hiding.”
“They’re at court?” My eyes bugged. “He should just kill them! He has the dagger.”
“You sound like your cousin,” she warned. “There has to be a trial, to see what is truly in their hearts. Even the fae have rules.” She looked behind us at the guards in navy suits with pointed ears and wings that were tucked away due to heavy winds.
“Enchante it is.” I brought my frozen fingers to my lips and breathed life into them. “It’s so cold. Cedric’s lucky he didn’t come.”
Morgana arched her eyebrow at me. “You told him not to.”
“He has matters to attend,” I said simply. “His family has been worried about him. Xenos suspects him in my escape. Cedric has been trying to contact the army who stayed behind to fight the king’s men off when we ran through the forest. He left everything behind, a huge mess, to follow me into this...” I looked around. “The ice tip of nowhere.”
“I agree. Although it is breathtaking, it’s virtually uninhabitable. Although, Lepidus is situated in the best spot for the weather.”
I shivered. “I miss the heat.”
“When it’s too hot, you miss the cold, and vice versa.” She smiled knowingly. “Too much of anything is bad.”
“I miss Magaelor.” I looked longingly at the mountains. Beyond them was home. It was cold there too, but it did get warmer in the summer months and was nothing compared to the freezing temperatures in Niferum. I longed for gray skies, the Gothic, tall buildings I’d become accustomed to, and the castle I’d grown up in. “I took it for granted.”
“We are all guilty of doing that.” She linked her arm with mine. “Come, let us go before we are trapped here. Many people have come.”
I looked over my shoulder. “A couple hundred at best.”
“There is at least twice that many, and it’s a lot closer than you were yesterday. I am certain many more wished to come, but it was short notice. I couldn’t get word to everyone for fear of it landing in the laps of spies. Once news travels, more will come. Of this, I am sure. Edgar eventually caught wind of what was happening, but it was already too late.”
“Have you consulted your cards?” I searched her gaze. “Please tell me.”
She grabbed the reins of her ash-gray horse, then footed the stirrup and jumped on its back. Frustration crossed her expression. “Destiny has not been showing me, which is not the worst thing, Winter.”
“How is it not?”
“Because, if I can’t see the outcome of your war, then neither can anyone else.”
***
Adius settled on thebench in front of the fire we’d lit inside an abandoned home. Part of the roof had caved in, but Morgana and I had repaired it using a banned spell I learned back home. I made a note to un-ban some once I was queen.
Flames hissed warmth through my extremities, stinging them back to life. “Thank you for coming,” I said once again.
“I came for Magaelor. You are the rightful queen, anointed by our creator and our ancestors.”
The burden weighed heavily. “I’m grateful we all managed to get out of the blizzard on time. This village isn’t much, but it has shelter. We will have food once we reach Redwinter,” I explained.
“Ah, the royal province, from the days when lunas ruled all of the land here.” He rolled his staff between his hands. The handle was black, with a dragon’s tail twisting up into a head. “It’s a shame the land was split into two kingdoms. Should have never been. Although, we did get the better half.”
“Yes. No blizzards,” I said in agreement. “Right now, we’re in Silverwater. They only have two provinces.”
His pupils shrank as he stared into the crackling fire. “I’ve studied our maps,” he said kindly. “I am surprised they’ve kept anything from the old, as they’re so...” He drummed his fingers against the splintering bench. “Untraditional.”
“Yes. But they’re also lazy. Why change things, from their perspectives.”
