Page 208 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

We’d not been restricted in White Bridge, but I had not seen much despite the little freedom we’d been given. Places like taverns were not what most deemed lady-like so I’d avoided them even there. This would be my first time. Would they think me too much of a prude if they knew that?

Bodies jumped in the air in a strange unison, not the same as that in ballrooms. The music, too, was not soft and coordinated, but bouncy and almost cheerful. A faint smell of alcohol and fresh bread circled the air and made my stomach growl with hunger. Olympian food was suiting my taste buds well.

Alaric had sat along with a few court members I’d met yesterday and a woman I could not recognise. She had a sweet smile and honey eyes, it seemed like her and Alaric went along well. All the men along with a severely stoic woman were already seated at a far end table by the corner of the tavern, all deep in conversation.

First thing I noticed was Kilian’s reaction to my sister. His normal expression was so grave and cold that it was the most noticeable, like someone lit a candle in a very dim room. And when she took a seat beside him, his hand slid under the table to hold hers. And my sister did not push it off.

I didn’t not understand this little agreement between them no matter how much Snow had explained it to me.

Nia exchanged kisses with the woman who now I knew was Moriko, the queen of Hanai and her lover. The stern queen whispered something in Nia’s ear and she suddenly looked unaware of the world surrounding us as she blew in a bubbly laughter, her cheeks flushing red and eyes twinkling. The two stood and disappeared between the dancing bodies.

Everyone looked…happy. And it made me all too aware of my own self. My skin felt uncomfortable, the seat under me was too hard, the world too noisy.

Our table was suddenly surrounded by a bunch of ladies, all flushed red from liquor and dancing. They pried my brother first, then Caiden and Malik, luring them to the dance floor. Kilian politely waved them off one after the other, clutching to Snow for dear life so no one would take him to dance. The two were whispering and glaring at one another, their expressions going from liquid warm to cold as ice and then soft like clouds. So difficult to understand.

Once the three of us were left alone, he lifted Snow to his lap, making me choke on a sip of my drink.

Snow immediately went mother wolf as she’d always been, extending a tissue across the table. “Are you well?”

I waved her off. “Wrong pipe.”

She nodded and leaned onto Kilian, the move so minute no one would have taken much note of it. But I did. Because I knew my sister leaned on no one. She never let anyone feel like they were needed. Snow had tried to teach that to me, too—how to exist in a world where we couldn’t rely on anyone, not even our own mother.

A hand grabbed Snow and snatched her from Kilian’s lap—the younger brother, Malik. He steered Snow on the dance floor, swirling her round and about, jumping and laughing with one another. And Kilian was still looking at her the same.

“I think I like that,” I said out loud before I even realised the sound was my own voice.

The king raised a dark brow, it made him look entirely too handsome and slightly less terrifying. “What is that?”

“How you look at my sister.”

He glanced at Snow, his eyes doing that thing where they softened to molten silver. “How do I look at her?”

Just like that. Like she makes your world shine. “Like she is the sun and you’ve only ever seen night.”

His mouth parted a little. “That is correct.”

“She can be rain sometimes, though.”

“I like that, too.”

“With big, angry, grey clouds and loud thunderstorms.”

He chuckled and I realised then, when he took another peek at her, that the Night King was in love with my sister. “My favourite sort.”

The Night King was in love with my sister.

Kilian was in love with Snow.

He leaned back on his seat, levelling an examining look on me and it suddenly felt too clustered around me, like I was in a box. Was he trying to read my shadows like Empaths did? “What worries you, Thora?”

“Much,” I said, sipping on my drink. The ale was sweet here, it smelled of honey.

He cocked his head to the side. “You’re good at that.”

“At what?”

“Giving people the answer they want. Shrinking. Getting rid of their attention on you.”