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“You haven’t been here in a while?” I ask tentatively.
Einar sighs and looks around at the winter festival. Booths and snow-covered hills. Torch lights and the smiling people.
“No,” he offers after a moment.
“Why not?”
He breathes out, and the joy that I saw on his face as we were leaving the castle is shadowed by sadness and resignation.
“It felt wrong to enjoy the festival when my people could not.”
Could not?I mull over his words in my mind, but before I can ask for clarification, another man comes up to greet him.
I decide to let the subject drop for now. As much as my curiosity wants me to push the issue, I also don’t want to ruin whatever semblance of peace we’ve managed to wrangle between us.
A man comes to see to Einar’s wolves, but I intercept him before he can venture too close to Khijha. She’s trembling as it is, eyes wide, while her claws bury into the woodgrain beneath her.
I’m still coaxing her off the sled when the sound of children laughing reaches my ears. I glance up to see a group of them throwing balls of the fluffy snow at one another.
One dives for cover behind the sled near Khijha and me, sending a sheet of snow flying up into our faces.
Khijha shakes her head irritably, letting out a low growl, and I bite back a laugh at her uncharacteristic grouchiness.
“I have sorry, Lady,” the boy says, eyeing me with the same wide-eyed fear and curiosity he gives my chalyx.
His cheeks are rosy, and he’s panting from the excursion of their snow battle. The simple act of a child being a child with no strings attached both fills and breaks my heart at the same time.
A smile stretches over my mouth, one that is far more authentic than any of the others I’ve offered recently. It’s one that reaches my eyes and down to my very soul.
“It’s all right.” I lean down to help him up before wiping the icy water from my lashes and hair.
He gives me a toothy grin of his own before running off to return to his friends. I wave at them while they giggle and whisper to one another.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would suppose you were almost enjoying yourself.” Einar’s deep voice rumbles through my center as he approaches from behind.
“Well, I shan’t accuse you of ignorance in such a crowded place,” I murmur back.
I’m only half paying attention to him, my concentration flitting from snowball fights to ice sculptures. It amazes me, the way these people have found a million uses and entertainment from the one thing in their kingdom they will never be short on.
“Indeed,” he allows, and I look up to find him observing me closely. “My mistake. I see that now.”
I don’t know what to feel about what he sees on my face now, so I turn the conversation around.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d accuse you of smiling. That is, if that rabid animal on your face would move long enough for me to actually be able to tell.”
Although, I can see now how common it is. If anything, Einar’s beard is a bit shorter than those of the burly men around us. He strokes the thing protectively and feigns offense.
Before he can respond, someone calls his name from across the snowy field. They’re holding two pints and gesturing toward him with one.
“Go on. I’ll catch up with you,” I assure him.
Truthfully, I could stand a moment to collect myself. It’s a lot. This crowd, standing at the king’s side, the way he and I are almost...getting along.
He hesitates for a brief moment, his lips parting slightly. Then, he nods at a man in the crowd and back at me before walking away.
The towering man he gestured to has dark skin, and his hair is silver and pulled away from his face in a half knot. If he’s the guard Einar was referring to, I can’t help but wonder why he doesn’t have to wear a mask while the others do.
A tall woman who looks nearly identical to my guard falls in line behind Einar.He keeps a female guard? Is she more than that?
