AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aire must have moved aside, because Jeryn stalked into the room with an expression hewn from stone. Unlike Rhys, whose emotions tore a burning hole in his face, the Winter Prince showed no such vulnerability. He could have walked in on us discussing the weather, plotting his death, or having an orgy, and I doubted his visage would have changed. That was his wild card, and fuck it all, but I couldn’t say I hated it at the moment.
Rhys’s tanned complexion drained like paint from his features, replaced by a wraith-like white. Whilst everyone else had the presence of mind to greet Winter, Summer merely decomposed into his chair. He shriveled quickly onto the seat and then remembered himself, rising again like a fledgling about to soil his loincloth. “Your Highness,” he stammered. “I wasn’t … I didn’t realize … you were here.”
“Am I interrupting?” Jeryn inquired, deadpan.
Basil consulted Avalea. “Is he?”
“Not at all,” the queen said, gesturing for Jeryn to come forth. “He was expected.”
That got Rhys’s unbridled attention. Winter had been anticipated for this conference, yet the hypocrite was never late. Nonetheless, I wasn’t about to complain, especially when Rhys’s visceral reaction hit its breaking point.
Since when did Winter voluntarily partake in private meetings with Autumn?
I seized advantage of Summer’s shock. “What little birdies told you about the poisoning?”
Rhys went from ashen to fuchsia. From an outsider’s perspective, he couldn’t have learned about the poisoning that fast. Not unless someone privy to that episode had sent a messenger avian to inform him, since Autumn raptors flew at breakneck speeds.
This implied unauthorized emissaries. The assassins themselves, for instance.
To say the least, Rhys hadn’t expected us to call him out. We had unmasked the Masters as spies, and he’d insinuated to Briar and me about having additional minions scattered across the continent. Unfortunately for him, the man hadn’t wagered on us exposing that and thus risking contention with Spring and Winter.
Speaking of Winter, the king’s informants must have told him about Jeryn’s presence. Whether residing inside the castle or not, the caravan of black carriages driving sleet through the lower town had been difficult to miss. That tidbit could have easily made its way into the message.
Drawing the obvious conclusion for Winter’s attendance, Rhys evidently packed his trunks within hours and traveled by ocean, using Summer’s accelerated ships to get here in record time. He must have assumed Winter healed Briar and then left. But what the fuckwit hadn’t foreseen—because no one ever would—was that Jeryn had stayed longer than necessary. That attributed to the king’s slackened jaw.
Hence. As an alternative to assassination, Rhys had planned to monopolize Briar’s recovery in front of Spring. What he hadn’t counted on was our other extended houseguest.
Debating whether to call my bluff, Summer recuperated enough to dodge the question and rationalize through his teeth, “Winter and its medicine.” He regarded Jeryn with renewed presumption, the king’s hubris slowly returning. “She’s fully healed, so I can’t fathom what keeps you in Autumn.”
The prince sauntered to the table. The chains ornamenting his pants rattled like loose bones. “Fellowship.”
Summer balked. “Excuse me?”
My tongue couldn’t resist spelling out, “F-E-L-L-O—”
Rhys’s fist hammered into the table, shaking the furnishing. “Fuck off, you diabolical shit!”
Giselle folded her lips inward, stifling her amusement. Fatima gaped, and Basil batted his eyelashes in puzzlement.
Like me, the prince hadn’t blinked. “On the contrary, Summer. Since my arrival, I’ve grown rather taken with the princess and jester.”
Taken with us. Not necessarily a lie. If one left semantics out of it.
Quickly, Briar summarized Jeryn’s visit, how he’d treated her illness and then willingly accepted Autumn’s invitation to remain for Reaper’s Fest. It went without saying that she omitted our bargain with him.
Now Rhys’s expression contorted. “You expect me to believe your courts are engaging socially with each other? Preposterous,” he vented, gesturing at Briar and me like we were a contagion. “They stand for everything Winter scorns. Were this continent left in Autumn’s hands, we would be overrun by an epidemic, with every unleashed maddened creature and simpleton in existence free to roam among normal society.”
Because silence was Winter’s weapon, the longer Jeryn remained deliberately quiet, the more Summer became the opposite. “Ordained by the almighty Seasons, it’s our duty to preserve order before Autumn’s ideals run rampant anddestroy us.”
To that predictable disclaimer, I mouthed the words along with him. Though only Briar noticed and fought to withhold a grin.
When Jeryn still said nothing, Rhys exploded. He rammed both fists into the table now, his spittle ejaculating like lava across the waxed surface. “Sire, you cannot be serious!” he clamored, from one asshole to another.
Like an impertinent bastard, I reminded him, “You do know what Season he’s from, right?”
Jeryn flattened his hands on the tabletop, the shadows cleaving his features in half. “Caution, Your Majesty. It sounds like you’re patronizing my court and postulating Winter’s judgment, both of which are unwise.”
“I would never!” Summer retracted. “What I meant—”
