Tenser still when she finally swept into a curtsey and said, “Hello, Aunt Eleni.”
???
“I thought kings were meant to be smart?”
Kai turned away from the open trunk on his bed and flung his discarded shirt at Alun, who leaned neatly aside and continued to sip his wine, unfazed. It soared past his head and caught in the branch of a nearby tree, swinging gently in the sea breeze. Al grinned gamely from where he sat on the small balcony that opened out from Kai’s quarters. Like the rest of the manor, the room was vast and airy with large windows and open arches sealed by nothing but gossamer curtains that danced in the salty air. Alun was at ease wherever you placed him, but Kai had to admit that even Os seemed content here, in just a few short weeks. They looked like little human lordlings in their bright, embroidered tunics, basking side by side in the setting sun and sipping fragrant wine from fine bronze goblets.
Kai narrowed his eyes at Al, suppressing the laughter that swelled at his friend’s smug and inflated expression.
“How long haveyouknown, then?”
“Since we arrived in Dhalias and the Empress enquired after her brother.”
Kai scoffed. “It hardly counts if she told you. Os?”
Os blinked slightly at being addressed; it was the first word Kai had said to him directly since he’d arrived, and that realisation made his chest twinge uncomfortably, just for a moment. His cousin recovered and swilled his cup, wafting a tangy, floral scent from across the room.
“The Duke’s surname is Vanjir, Kai.”
Al barked out a laugh, and Kai reached into his trunk for something else to chuck at his friend, but just as his hand curledaround a rolled-up pair of socks, a clanging sound from the hallway stilled him, muscles tensed.
“It’s the door,” Al called.
“Thereisno door,” said Kai.
“Exactly.”
“Helpful.”
Grumbling to himself, Kai rounded the bed and crossed to the large archway that led from his room to the open-air hall beyond. He lifted the curtain to find Simon waiting, his hand curled around a large bronze knocker fixed to the outside wall. Over his other arm, he had draped swaths of deep-green cloth, glimpses of gold embroidery shimmering beneath its folds.
“A gift from Her Imperial Highness,” said Simon, to Kai’s questioning brow. “She asked that you wear it to dinner. To acclimatise, as I understand it.”
Kai glanced at the boy’s own tunic, the colour of warm sand with a simple blue embroidery around the cuffs and collar. It seemed Eleni was eager to shred any trace of Eisalaan they happened to carry over the Crossing. He recalled now that she had been less than fond of the Silver Kingdom.Very clean, she’d called it, as she wrinkled her nose with distaste. Not that he disagreed in the slightest, but adult man that he was, Kai had grown rather used to dressing himself.
He took the clothes from the valet, all the same.
When he turned inside with his new clothing, Al spread his arms wide, goblet held aloft as he displayed his own tunic with a theatrical wink.
“Well!I didn’t take you for the envious type, Your Majesty.”
“And I didn’t take you for a fan of such vivid orange.”
“This isapricot,” said Al, earning a derisive snort from Os.
Kai pulled the tunic over his head, emerging just in time to watch his cousin teeter dangerously in his chair, scowling with his goblet held high as he dodged Alun’s swiping arm.
“You’ve been happy here,” said Kai. They stopped shoving at one another and looked up in unison. “Both of you.”
Os shrugged, then nodded, which for Os might mean,Isuppose,orThis is the happiest I’ve felt in my entire life.
“We have,” said Al simply.
“And the others—”
“Everyoneis happy, Kai. Everyone is safe. Eda’s been singing about her joints for weeks; apparently, they’re no longer “stiff with cold.” Though I’m fairly certain the fountains of wine have helped, too.”
Kai could not help but smile at that—it was not a euphemism.
