Kai watched as the carriage disappeared into the white folds beyond the gates, then slowly turned his blank stare on Adeline. Her heart spiralled slowly into the pit of her stomach. All those mornings spent carefully drawing him out, teasing him, testing his boundaries – she had the sick feeling she’d ruined it in one awkward afternoon.
“So,” she began, when it became clear that he was going to stare at her in total silence. She thought it was the most eye contact they’d had since that first day in this very courtyard.
“So,” he echoed. He sighed so deeply that his cloak shifted over his broad chest, then dropped his gaze to the powdered earth beneath them. “I should explain.”
Adeline squinted at him, but just as she opened her mouth to ask what he meant, another voice rang out along the path from the carriage house. A familiar, hoarse voice that sent cold fingers creeping across her shoulders.
“Your Majesty. Princess Adeline.”
Captain Doran swept a shallow bow as he approached. He barely broke his stride.
Adeline felt Kai stiffen beside her and an image flashed in her head, of a dark and shivering figure pinned to the icy flagstone while the steel eyed man stared coldly on.
“Captain,” Kai nodded, folding his hands behind his back.
The King stood tall, shoulders broad and tight; he had drawn on the formal airs she recognised from their council meetings, wore them like battle armour. Adeline resisted the mad urge to grab his hand.
The Captain mirrored Kai’s stance, arms behind his back, and considered the peachy wash of the sky over the castle walls with what Adeline supposed he meant to be an appreciative air; as with everything Doran did, it came off detached and severe.
“Lovely afternoon, is it not? Uncommonlymild.”
The Captain smiled, a thin slash in his grey face. His flinty stare passed over Adeline and settled on Kai with an odd, excited gleam.
“Though I suppose that’s to be expected these days.”
“Well itisnearing Mid-Winter,” Adeline said.
Yes, she was aware the Kingdom was slowly thawing, but she didn’t think she was imagining the implication behind Doran’s words, the borderline taunt in his tone. But Captain Doran simply dismissed her with a smile, as one might a babbling toddler, and turned again to the King.
“I’m sorry to have missed your guest,” he said, looking past them to where Ceri’s carriage had vanished into the distant snow. His thin voice was too soft, almost a hiss. “It’s curious. You see, my Gards made a visit to the host households today, concerned for the welfare of your Merrow people. But each of their number was accounted for, safe and well in the homes of their noble hosts.”
He pulled his gaze from the gate and turned his sharp face to Kai. Kai didn’t move, didn’t speak, but Adeline swore she felt his tension humming beside her, like a thin wire pulled far too taut. He was fraying, threatening to snap under the cruel blade of Captain Doran’s stare.
“That couldn’t be, though, could it?” He spoke even quieter, barely a rasp. “How couldeveryMerrow be counted by my men if a Merrow woman was seen wandering the grounds of the Queen’s palace? After all, you yourself provided a full record of the surviving population.”
Adeline rather imagined she could hear Kai’s pulse skittering, or maybe it was her own. She didn’t dare look around to find out. Kai drew in the breath to speak, but Adeline got there first.
“She was my guest, actually.”
Both men snapped their attention to her, hazel eyes wide, steel eyes narrowed.
“The Marquess’s niece,” she continued, easily threading an irritated tone beneath her words. “She’s an old friend from my childhood tutoring.”
Doran shook his head once, not a dismissal but an irate tic, like he was shooing off a bothersome fly.
“I see. I had heard there was a Merrow woman here to see the King –”
“I didn’t take you for one to indulge in palace whispers, Captain,” Adeline said, tilting her head to one side. She smiled sweetly. “But I’m sure there are many more titillating rumours to be found, if you listen well enough. The kitchen maids always know the best gossip.”
The Captain’s jaw squared, but he bowed, a little deeper than before.
“I meant nothing by it, Your Highness.”
“Captain Doran,” Adeline laughed.
It was the airy, admonishing laughter she’d heard from her mother countless times before, whenever a member of her court stepped out of line. Doran seemed to recognise the sound too, by the way his shoulders stiffened.
“Of course you meant nothing by it. What could you have meant? That my mother’s guest and ally fed false information to the Queen’s Gard? A clever man like you would know better than to make such a bold accusation. And directly to the King himself, at that. Ridiculous.”
