Page 7 of Winter Gods & Serpents

He turned the empty cup over. “Nia will kill me if she knows I let you drink.”

“You will die a solemn death. She will bury you pretty to honour that face you love staring in the mirror for twenty-three hours of a day. Her wraths of daisies are unmatched.”

“What about the other hour?”

“The body of course, any new dents of muscle on these past twenty-four hours?”

He wrapped his arm around my neck tight and rubbed his fist on the crown of my head making me yelp from the burn. “I’ll let you know tomorrow if that exercise worked.”

“You fool,” I accused straightening my hair. “Nia will really kill you for ruining her work.”

He brushed his fingers through my hair in attempt to help. “You tell her I did that, I tell Alaric you broke his precious ebony cane while play pretending to be him in front of a whole tavern.”

My mouth twitched in a grimace. “You have yourself a deal,” I said extending my hand and he shook it in agreement.

“The man,” I asked cautiously. “Did he give away?”

He shook his head. “No. As you said torturing an Isjordian is pointless. Alaric is there trying his feat now.”

I knew it would have been fruitless, but I was ruining the mood already, today was a celebration, one that could help drag our heads out of my father’s mess. Standing, I extended my hand to him. “Now, shall we see how we can entertain you for the rest of this miserable night? Men and women are lining up for you as per usual, all the staring is annoying me. I don’t get the simple mind of man.” The side prying eyes were really beginning to irk me. Men and women equally fancied Cai all around, no one could blame them, but he fancied no one except himself. Great at self-love, terrible and very unintuitive with the love of others.

“Simple, just have one look at me. It was enough for you.”

“Caiden—” I called sternly at the joking fool.

Standing, he towered over me with a smirk full of tease. “And the full name returns.”

I groaned, annoyed at having brough this up again. “I was seventeen, you were a teenage girl dream and now you are a grown woman’s cringy memory. Might I remind you since we are calling old days that you kissed me back? Several times?”

“Yes, moment of weakness,” he said in an insouciant shrug. “You never look much in the mirror, have you forgotten your face can make a man weak in the knees?”

I snorted. “So much for weak, not a day later you went out with that forger’s daughter and then the bar maid and cherry on top that merchling boy from Comnhall.” That seventeen-year-old girl had been upset, not heartbroken but upset. The twenty-three-year-old woman was understanding. I for one could not hold a flower alive let alone a romantic relationship. Nia and Cai were my family, if they had not become that we would have not become anything else.

“I am not good with matters of the heart, cakes.”

“I have noted. Could have made the point by telling me, not showing me.”

“It will be a good story, to tell your poor future husband and my nieces and nephews.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He threw an arm over my neck and we headed toward the crowd. The fire was crackling loudly only drowned by the laughter of the festival goers, the forest surrounding us was growing eerie from the shadows of the trees dancing along with the flicker of the flames from the bonfire and the noise echoing through its air corridors.

Nia spotted us by the game stalls and headed towards us. We both tensed to her reaction when she noticed what we were doing. This girl was indeed vicious. “You are not seriously going to play that?” she asked in disbelief, looking down at the knife I was holding preparing to throw at the red tree log target. “You do that every day, I brought you here to do something new.”

We did do this every day. Alaric trained all three of us religiously everyday as if we were to head to battle the next, but not very oddly I enjoyed it, and for me this was pure entertainment. Concentrating on something else besides my own head was sanctuary—safe, calming sanctuary.

“As?” Cai asked, hitting a target.

“Eat, sit by the fire, converse.”

I shook my head. “The more I talk to these people the more my love for animals grows. This is fun.” I threw the knife hitting the sweet spot of my target. “Look, fun,” I added, facing her again with a full-on grin. I could use a dagger better than a spoon.

She shook her head and looked over to Cai who was doing the same as I, his face pulled in a tight smile stretched almost ear to ear.

“I have to take her now, the chase is about to begin,” she said in one breath grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the crowd of girls waiting for the signal to rush through the forest.

I turned back, shooting a pleading look to Cai, but he only laughed and leaned to the stall crossing his arms, probably enjoying this more than he should. “Good luck cakes, you know even I can't save you from her,” he winked at me and headed to sit down.