Anwen
Kieran leans back in the chair at his desk. "To get the sort of turnout the two of you are looking for, I've scheduled the wedding for the next full moon."
I suck in a deep breath and rub the pale tattoo on my pinkie. "Three weeks?"
"I know." He shrugs. "But everyone just went home after the peace ball. They need time to tend to their own kingdoms."
"I get that." Estrella's not going to like the news, but she'll understand too. "And Snowcrest?"
Kieran bares all his teeth in something that only barely resembles a smile. "After some discussion, Floyd agreed that the job of an envoy is, in fact, to carry messages to his king. He won't be back for at least a week, two if the Moonlit Pass is already snowed over."
The only reason he's not still raking me over the coals for my disappearing act is my Floyd theory. He'll do just about anything to prove I'm right about the bastard.
I want to be right. But more than that, I want to know if Floyd did this or if he's just covering for someone else. I won't let Estrella down again.
"And his guards?" I ask hopefully.
"With him." Kieran taps a letter on his desk. "The only member of Snowcrest Canyon left within these walls is Nessa."
I grimace. I haven't told him what Estrella said about Nessa, mostly because I can't convince her it might be safer for all of us if they stopped hanging out. She says Nessa's her friend, and aren't we an example of how hurt can reshape otherwise innocent encounters? So I've decided Kieran doesn't need another thing to worry about.
"At least you don't have to pretend to marry her." He smirks.
"I was smart enough not to get blackmailed." I turn and leave his office before I lose my chance. Nessa might be the only one yet, but she used to have a whole clique of friends. It wouldn't be hard for her to at least post a guard at the door King Isai's body was kept behind.
'Meet me in the east wing,' I say to Baz through mind-link. 'We've got a room to search.'
'Be there in five.'
I can't walk through the castle without drawing eyes anymore. At least half the people I pass make sure to congratulate me on finding my mate and my upcoming wedding. Every time impatience bubbles under my skin, I remember Estrella. That's who they're talking about. And, of fucking course, they want to congratulate me. She's an absolute miracle. I don't know how I could see anyone with her and not say something.
And for the first time in ages, my bite doesn't even twinge. There's no hesitation, no worry. Just us.
Baz meets me out in front of the still slightly frost-covered door to King Isai's final chamber. "This mean Floyd's gone?"
"For a little while." I roll up my sleeves. "But Nessa's still around. Anyone see you?"
"Couple people." He shrugs. "I wasn't exactly sneaking."
Neither was I. She'll either know or she won't. I can't resist the lure of what Floyd might've been hiding.
"We should move quickly and take anything we find." I pull out two pairs of leather gloves and hand one to Baz. "Just in case anything's too cold to handle."
"Any idea what we're looking for?" He tugs them on.
"Anything." I push open the door.
A blast of cold air and a dribble of meltwater greets me. Floyd doesn't seem to have bothered to defrost the place properly before leaving, but without his magic to maintain it, the ice clinging to damn near every surface is slowly dissolving.
"Just another reason to move fast." I step inside.
Systematically, silently, Baz and I take the room apart. Nothing is sacred. Not the bedspread that still kind of shows a shadowed imprint of King Isai's body. Not the frozen bouquet of flowers on the nightstand. Nothing. And with every subsequent thing we turn over, I get more and more frustrated. It's like somebody already fucking did this.
No, not somebody. Floyd. Like he knew Kieran was getting rid of him on purpose, and he made sure there was nothing for us to find.
"Fuck!" I overturn the nightstand in a burst of rage.
"Chill out," Baz replies.
I drag my gaze up to him slowly. "I swear to the Goddess, if that was a pun, I'm gonna find a way to put your ass on cleaning latrines for the next month. The next fucking year."
He smirks. "You wouldn't."
"Try me," I snarl. "There's nothing here! If he wasn't trying to hide shit, wouldn't there be fucking something? Anything?"
Baz rubs his jaw and looks around. "It is weird. But I don't think furniture destruction is going to get us anywhere."
"It might," I grumble.
But the place it'll get us is having to clean the whole room back up or ask one of the staff to do it. It's the easy way.
"Fuck, all right. Where haven't we looked?" I ask.
He stares around the room for a moment. "Top of the canopy?"
"Stupid place to keep something."
Baz shimmies up the bedpost anywhere. "Clear."
I take a deep breath and try to regain myself. "Floyd's a lot of things, but he's not stupid."
"Pity." Baz grins.
I ignore him. "He wouldn't keep any evidence in his bedroom. That's why we're in here in the first place. But Estrella and her family were allowed to visit the king, so he couldn't leave it lying around in plain sight here, either. We've opened up all the usual hiding spots, and there are no secret passages in this room." My gaze lands on the fireplace. "But he was able to stabilize the ice around King Isai for the trip to Sundrop Gem, so he's more powerful than he claimed. He could've lit and snuffed a fire without anyone noticing."
Baz and I dart for the fireplace. Pokers, ashes...there! I snag the tip of the only thing in the scorched pile that isn't gray or black.
Half a brown feather, split down the middle and singed on one end, dangles from my fingers.
"This is fletching," I murmur. "From the arrow. It has to be. You see how cleanly it's split?"
Baz runs a finger down the feather's exposed spine. "So did he burn the arrow?"
"Must've." A slow grin slides over my face. "But he missed a piece. And good feathers for fletching are a bitch to find, so he wouldn't have burned this with it if it didn't mean something."
"Mean what?" Baz asks.
"I... don't know." I twist the feather, looking for any clues. There's some weird color fluctuation, I guess, but it kind of just looks brown. "I don't know anything about feathers."
Shit. The only clue Floyd left behind can't be a dead end. I can't go back to Estrella empty-handed. I just fucking can't.
An idea pops into my mind. "Raven does."
Baz raises his eyebrows. "She talks to birds; she doesn't memorize their plumage."
"But other birds do." I hop up, feather still in hand. "She'll know how to find out." And it'll be well worth whatever bullshit I have to endure to get it.
I race out of the room, leaving Baz behind. Like always at this time of day, Raven's in what used to be Mother's greenhouse. She killed all the plants she didn't approve of, and now she's tending new sprouts in the pots that used to hold poison. Stepping inside is weird, like walking back in time, but nothing can slow me down now.
Raven looks up, worry painted on her face, as I burst in. "Has something else happened?"
"Yes and no." I hold out the feather. "We found this in the room Floyd was guarding. Looks like arrow fletching to me, but I don't recognize the bird."
She takes the feather with a smile. "Thank you for coming to me."
Bravely, I don't even grimace. Maybe someday I'll ask how the hell she's so nice to everyone all the time. Maybe not.
She studies it carefully. My heart hammers in my ears. This is the only proof we have right now. It needs to lead to more.
"I'm sorry, I don't recognize it." She must see something on me face because she quickly says, "But I can find out. I'll ask the birds. Especially at this time of year, we've got a lot of migratory species. They should know."
I nod tightly. Not the answer I was hoping for but good enough. It has to be good enough.
"Seriously, Anwen." She puts a hand on my arm. "Thank you for trusting me."
Old lessons, punishments for talking to Blanca, harsh words and slammed doors, flash through my mind. I'm supposed to pull away when she touches me, remind her that she's the least of us.
Easy way, Anwen.
I pry out of her grasp slowly, trying not to hurt or offend her. "You were, uh, my first choice."
She glows with a smile. I guess I can kind of see what Kieran sees in her. But not with Estrella around.
"I gotta go." I step back slowly toward the door, leaving the feather with Raven. "Got a queen to keep up to date."
She nods. "Give her my love."
Doubtful. But I will walk through the busy corridors right to Estrella room, knock on the door, and stride inside without a care in the world who sees. Everything's been turned upside-down, but that is finally right.