Page 96 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

Quickly, a lithe curly haired blonde ran in the room, a face I’d seen in Snow’s council, and lifted the child off from my dramatic wife. The little girl squirmed and giggled in her mother’s arms. “Auntie Snow didn’t come to see me.”

“Auntie Snow?” I asked, helping Snow stand and straightening my shirt that fit like a bed sheet on her.

She huffed. “Don’t even start.” More than displeased, she turned to them and asked, “Who told you I was here?”

Another woman came into the room. Tall, almost as tall as I, with short white hair and a grand pair of white wings behind her. “We were dining with Alaric when a guard notified us that they had spotted you in the southern chambers. Lila wanted to see you.” She crossed her muscular arms across her chest. “I thought you were to spend your nights in Adriata?”

Visha sighed and stepped between us. “Out. Everyone out. Get the child out.”

“Pleasure as always to see you, Visha,” Leanna said with a deep courtesy before giggling and heading out of the room.

The second we were out in the corridors Visha smacked the doors shut and then bolted it with a thud.

“Your Majesty,” the winged woman said, bowing her head to me. “We have not been introduced yet. My name is Tristin, I’m the leader of the Skye warriors and this is my wife, Leanna, leader of Llyn, and our daughter Lila.”

“Lila!” the little girl shouted, throwing her hands in the air in a hoorah. “Are you Lila’s uncle?” she shyly asked, ducking her head in her mother’s hair. “Ma says you and auntie Snow are married.”

With a nod, I said, “We are.”

She perked up and jumped off her mother’s arms, coming to stand before me. “Up. Uncle should hold Lila.”

Snow stepped before me and picked the girl up herself. “Uncle is hurt, he can’t get you up, you rude ball of fuss.”

She giggled and threw her arm around Snow’s neck holding her tight. “Lila is sorry.”

“Hurt?” Leanna quietly asked, wrapping a hand on her wife’s arm.

“The beast in Hanai,” Snow explained, cradling the little girl tightly to her and I was suddenly even more enamoured—like she hadn’t spelled me enough already.

The tribe leader’s eyes sparkled and she jumped in excitement making Snow startle upright. “Llyn has the best weeping bane in the continent. It is the best tea for pain. Nia says so, too. We farm it on our rocks. Let us all go for a hot cup.”

“It is late,” Tristin said, “perhaps they are tired.”

“We are,” Snow said at the same time as I said, “That sounds great.”

Leanna jumped, clapping her hands together and I could now see where her daughter got her bubbly personality from. She turned to her wife. “Take us, honey.”

Like Cai, Tristin had craft inked on her hands and efficiently portaled us before a two-story house right in the middle of a busy alley bustling with vendors of all sorts preparing for the sale of the next morning.

Their house was exactly what one thought their house could be. Leanna’s personality was everywhere, from the colourful paintings, the rose walls, the violet dyed furs, red pillows to the delicately painted pearl cups of tea. A little perfect home for what looked like a perfect family.

Almost immediately after we’d entered the house, Lila had dragged Snow upstairs to her room, while the couple served me tea and stared silently while I drank it. Tristin was curious and somewhat distrusting, but her wife emitted colourful clouds of excitement.

“Your daughter is fond of Snow,” I said to break the silence. This was odd in every sense to me. I’d never been invited for…tea before. What did one say in this sort of situation?

Leanna nodded. “Snow has been there since I was pregnant, when Lila was born and every day since.” My brows rose and she giggled. “Don’t be fooled, she likes children.” Her eyes went wide and she jumped a little from her seat. “Not to eat, of course. It was a terrible rumour.”

“I gather you two are close?”

She shrugged. “Not exactly, but she sort of killed Lila’s father and then both my parents and two brothers. She has tied another one to the Valley. We visit him from time to time.”

The sip of tea suddenly found the wrong path and I coughed. Leanna shot to her feet, dabbing a handkerchief to my shirt. “Apologies, Your Majesty. It normally doesn’t shock anyone anymore.”

“Call me Kilian, please,” I said, taking the handkerchief from her. “You certainly hold a massive grudge.”

Tristin laughed lightly. “Did us all a favour.”

“She certainly did,” Leanna said, sitting back beside her wife. “Mother and father forced me to marry the tribe’s bailiff when I was only a girl. When he would beat me, I went to my brothers who beat me more for daring to object to my husband’s beatings and rules.” She took a sip of her tea and gave me a smile. “Snow found out through Tristin who’d found me in one of her Fogling patrols in the mountains where my brothers had left me. Snow cut all their heads in front of the whole Olympia, issued a warning and created a safe line of women who could secretly report if something similar happened to them. Right after, I was made the leader of our tribe.” She waved a quick hand. “Enough about me. Tell us, how did you fall in love with our Snow?”