Anwen
Kieran pauses outside the door to his office and looks at me. "This part's almost done."
"What part?" I ask.
"The bullshit part." He smiles. "I know the Goddess steers us all to our true mates during the Haze, but people who claim that means you're perfectly matched from the start are fucking stupid. She knows that you can be happy together." His smile grows a little bitter. "We're just not the kind of people who can be happy right off the bat."
I laugh. "And now? With Raven puking up her guts every morning?"
"I'm happy," he says simply. "Now, game face. King Andri and Prince Hollis are... interesting to work with."
"What?"
Kieran opens the door and pushes inside without another word.
King Andri sits in the chair Kieran set up next to his desk for Raven, and Prince Hollis stands next to him.
"Good," the king says. "You are late."
"Transit delays." Kieran takes his seat.
I stumble over to stand next to him, a mirror of Prince Hollis, with half my brain still outside the door. Maybe this is the bullshit before the good part. It certainly feels like that, with Estrella on the other side of the Goddess-damned castle when all I want is to never let her out of my line of sight again. But the idea that after this, we're just going to be... happy? Forever? In all my best versions of the future, now and before Father died, I never imagined that.
King Andri harrumphs. "Your life to play games with."
Prince Hollis glances at me coldly. The first-prize medal for the archery tourney gleams proudly on his chest. He earned it, sinking three arrows into the bull's eye without breaking a sweat. But he barely talked to me the whole time, which everyone else in the castle has been tripping over themselves to do since they arrived. And it's not like he doesn't talk. I've seen him laughing with Lady Eva, chatting with other Snowcrest nobles. One night, I even found him, Candace, and Lady Eva walking the grounds together, so it's not just that he talks to Snowcrest people. I don't fucking get it.
"Anwen's and Luna Estrella's," Kieran corrects. "Let's start with the basic arrangements. You're going to get married in our temple." He gestures through the window where I can just see the spire of the temple poking above the rest of the castle. "Ayia's conducting the ceremony. You'll come in first, then Estrella. Floyd seems to want this marriage to happen, so there's no reason to worry about either of you being targeted. And he hasn't been seen since his initial disappearance."
I nod. I was pretty sure we already agreed on all of this.
"Three problems there, yes?" King Andri says. "Your temple is nearly tall enough to scrape the sky."
"In honor of the Goddess, we reach part of the way," Kieran says tightly.
I glance at him. A muscle twitches in his jaw. He's pissed. What the hell happened between him and King Andri while I was gone?
King Andri inclines his head. "Its height creates shadows a killer could hide in, and both families intend to stand at the front. Clearly visible from any of the windows on the spire."
"So we melted them shut," Kieran says. "No magic, just good, old-fashioned blacksmithing."
"What if someone tries to shoot through the glass?" I ask. "Or punch through it and then shoot?"
"That's what I said." Kieran looks at King Andri. "So we've also added a silver mesh over the windows themselves. An assassin would have to break the window, pull the glass out, then figure out how to cut through the silver without hurting themselves. We also meshed a couple of other relevant windows around the castle, just in case."
"This creates time." King Andri nods. "Any who are in danger can hide."
I grin, picturing my wedding being interrupted by the shittiest assassination attempt ever. If I were Floyd, after that, I'd leave the kingdom. Fuck revenge, I couldn't show my face again.
"Great, but I don't need to know that for it to work. There's other stuff, right?"
"My son commands the domestic army from which we gathered our guard." King Andri looks at him.
Hollis sighs. "We've added our guard to yours. Everywhere."
I nod.
He just stares at me with those eyes. They're almost too green. It makes him hard to read. That furrow in his brow could be boredom or irritation or a headache, but I can't look at his eyes long enough to tell which.
"Anything else?" I ask.
"What more do you need? If you see someone in Snowcrest green and gray, don't shoot."
I actually almost raise my eyebrows. Who the fuck does he think he is? He's in my fucking castle. I'm about to become Alpha King of Sundrop Gem. Hell, it's my fucking wedding day!
'Now, you see what I've been dealing with,' Kieran says.
'Any clue why?'
'They're not working with Floyd, if that's what you're asking.'
King Andri clears his throat loudly. "In Snowcrest Canyon, it is rude to have a private conversation in public."
"Apologies." Kieran dips his head, but I catch the scowl he's hiding. "Prince Anwen was curious about how Prince Hollis came to hold such a position of power."
I smile as surprise washes through me. Kieran hasn't lied-that I've noticed-basically since he took over from Father. But for this, he bends the rules.
Maybe he felt the same thing I did about crushing Floyd at that breakfast. Like there's times and places for the things Father taught us. And if he thinks it, fuck, maybe it's actually true.
"My father trusts me." Hollis smirks at me.
A current of irritation swallows anything else I'm feeling. He doesn't need to finish the thought-clearly, Father didn't trust me.
"It's actually too big of a job for one person in Dun's Crossing," I say. "We have four people to manage our at-home troops."
Hollis' smirk dies. Good.
"So, guards, mesh, what's the third thing?" I ask brightly.
"Your temple sits the crowd away from the altar. This is good. But the gap is not large enough." King Andri steeples his fingers. "It is nearly perfect for a wolf to jump in a single bound."
"That's actually how we measured it." I smirk at Hollis. "Is it too long for you?"
'Watch it,' Kieran warns.
I ignore the mind-link. He deserves it.
King Andri holds up a hand before Hollis can reply. "Snowcrest Canyon surrounds a series of caves, carved by a falling star, which have power the likes of which we cannot dream. We do not control this power-it is too old, too faded, too strange. But there was once a group who could, and they left behind their texts. Some of their rituals can be recreated on the eve of the full moon."
"Holy shit," I mutter. "Wordsworth was useful?"
Kieran covers a laugh with a cough. The only reason he hasn't kicked the old magician out is because Wordsworth has nowhere else to go, and Raven feels bad."
Hollis snorts. "Your man was a waste of time."
"That sounds more like him." I try turning my smile on Hollis. Maybe, if we can actually fucking agree on something, he'll soften up.
No dice. He looks back at me blandly.
"Daya has warded your temple until the full moon fades from the sky," King Andri says. "While inside, none can shift."
I blink. "None?"
"None." His voice is like a cell door slamming shut.
"This is what I needed you to know about," Kieran says. "If shit breaks bad, we're going to have to fight as humans."
I suck in a deep breath. Father made sure I could fight no matter what, but I massively prefer claws and teeth to my daggers. I'm faster as a wolf, tougher.
"What happens if you try to shift?"
King Andri shakes his head.
Shit.
"Someone has to warn Estrella," I say. "And everyone else."
"That's the problem." Kieran frowns. "The ward is only effective if Floyd doesn't know about it. King Isai's murder proves it's not hard to kill someone in human form, just harder."
"Telling anyone is telling everyone." King Andri crosses his arms.
Hollis nods. "There's a reason Lady Eva was able to cover your tracks. Gossip is the beating heart of this place."
"And here I thought your promise was just good at what she did." I smile tightly.
"Like I've been saying"-Kieran shoots me a look-"if that were true, the secret would already be out. I knew the whole time, and now so does Anwen."
"I'm telling Estrella." I stare down my nose. "Try and fucking stop me."
Hollis's lips flatten into a thin line.
King Andri grunts. "As I've told my son, the bond between man and wife is different. You ought to tell her. But no one else."
Something flashes across Hollis's face too fast for me to make sense of.
"All right, that sounds like a plan." I bow to them and smile. "If you don't mind, I actually have to go get ready for my wedding."
King Andri stands and clasps my hand in one of his massive ones. "May the Goddess smile upon you both for the rest of your lives."
I shake his hand once, firmly. He's still huge, even now that I'm an adult, but there's something in his grizzled old face. Fuck Hollis. King Andri seems intense, judgmental, and fucking stubborn, but ultimately like a good man.
Which is probably why Kieran didn't kill both of them when we left him alone with them.
King Andri releases me. I nod to Hollis-he returns it coldly-and leave. Every inch of me screams to go to the dressing room Raven set up for Estrella and all the court ladies. I rub the tattoo on my pinkie. A couple more hours, and then it will be real.
I square my shoulders and head to my bedroom.