Anwen
Kieran and I walk through the castle side-by-side, talking about the wedding. There's nothing else to talk about anymore. I swear to the Goddess, I heard a couple of maids chattering about it when I walked by the other day.
"Remember, there are still two weeks left," he says. "This likely isn't a full list."
"But I'd still rather know." I run a hand through my hair. "I want to know who thinks they can agree to attend a royal wedding with less than three weeks' notice, for one."
Kieran chuckles. "Fair. So, I've heard back from-"
He rattles off a dozen kingdoms. I recognize most of the names from my investigation after the peace ball. A few, I don't.
"And those are all coming?"
"They're all sending representatives." He shakes his head. "I've got all the furniture-makers in the city flat out trying to get enough places to seat them all in chairs that will be dignified for each of them."
"It's more than last time," I say. "Seems like, even with the assassination, the invitations have been accepted more than expected."
His answering smile is tired. For the first time, I wonder just how much turning around a proper royal wedding in less than a month is taking out of him.
'You look like shit,' I tell him through mind-link.
That surprises a real laugh out of him. "And this is why I don't come to you for confidence."
"What are brothers for?" I smirk. "But seriously, what the hell's going on?"
"What isn't?" he says wryly. "Raven is still struggling with morning sickness, but she's trying to push through to chase down that fucking feather. More kingdoms are showing up to a party after my reign has a death toll than after." He glances around and lowers his voice. "There's still the note-"
I shake my head subtly then pull him into a hidden passageway behind a tapestry.
He stares around in awe. "I didn't even know this was here."
"It's not on any maps but mine." I shrug. "Not the point. We can talk in here without being overhead. There's a little old magic on the tapestry which is sound-dampening."
He nods. "The short version is that it's hard to sleep at night knowing someone very effectively framed me for murder."
"I never thought you did it," I say.
"Really?"
"Really." I look up at the jagged rock that comprises the roof of the passageway. "You know, I found this one when you were on that table-topping kick."
He laughs, then grimaces. "Sorry about that. Taner was too damn good at setting himself up behind people."
"Right, blame the Beta." I offer him a sarcastic smile. I've got too many memories of Fleming's noxious headache treatment after he shoved me over his kneeling best friend's back to forget after such a shitty apology.
"Fine, fine, it was my idea." He holds up his hands. "At the time, I thought seeing people go ass-over-teakettle was about the funniest thing possible."
"That was very clear." I shake my head. I really hadn't even been looking for this one, but I could hear teenage Kieran's mocking laughter echoing off the walls behind me, and I knew he was smart enough to open all the regular doors. It just seemed like the safest bet to check all the most common ways of hiding passages, and I stumbled on this dead-end hallway. "I figured out it was sound dampening when you and Taner barreled past, and I couldn't stop myself from yelling that you were assholes. You didn't even hear me."
He chuckles. "Fuck, we were holy terrors."
"You can say that again." I shake my head. "Not that I was much better."
"None of us were." He sets a hand on my shoulder.
I raise an eyebrow. "Ingrid?"
"Okay, Ingrid was pretty good." He smiles. "Is pretty good."
I nod, and silence falls between us. In just two weeks, I'm going to be leaving all of this behind. The current plan is that Estrella, her family, and I leave for Sundrop Gem the day after the wedding. Her people have been without their queen for too long. No more turning a corner and being confronted with the door Father used to slam in my face or the corners I hid from Kieran in.
No more finding the place I taught Finn how to spar, though, either. Or where Baz and I finally got our ale-pulley to work, for all of about five minutes before Father shut us down. I might be leaving all my worst memories behind, but I'm leaving the best ones too.
"Still with me?" Kieran asks.
I blink. "Yeah, of course. You didn't mention Snowcrest. I know Floyd got back a couple days ago, but I'm avoiding him like the fucking plague until this is done. My hold on my temper isn't reliable enough yet."
"Alpha King Andri said he would attend with his family and a small retinue." Kieran peers at me. "But that's not what you were thinking about. Getting cold feet already?"
"No fucking way," I spit. The only good thing about any of this is how it's forcing Estrella and I together. Sure, there's a bunch of political crap to wade through, but at the end of it all, I get to spend my life with her. If we could have the wedding without any of the scheming, I'd do that in a heartbeat.
"What, then?" He leans back against the wall and crosses his arms.
I know him well enough. He thinks I'm hiding something from him.
"Nothing about the case," I say quickly.
His posture relaxes slightly.
"It's just...." I sigh. "A lot's changing. Fast. And in ways I never really expected it to-for me."
My mind drifts immediately to Father's empty grave. When the Haze descended, I was so sure I didn't-couldn't-meet anyone because that image loomed too large in my mind. Now, I not only have to leave the empty grave behind but the battlefield where I lost him. I don't want to be the man he wanted me to be, but I don't quite know how not to be his son yet.
"You really never expected this?" Kieran asks.
I raise an eyebrow.
"Becoming Alpha," he says simply.
He doesn't need to spell out the rest. He's asking if I didn't think I was going to kill him for the throne someday. A refusal springs to my lips. It's dark in this passageway. He'd barely be able to read my face, probably never know I was lying.
But that's taking the easy way. Fuck.
"I guess I did expect that." I wrap my hands around my belt and stare at the floor.
"I expected it too."
I look up at my brother and find him smiling. "You're a freak."
"Guilty as charged." He lifts his hands. "I was already auditioning secret food tasters. I figured you'd go poison, when you did. It's what Father would've done."
The "when" stings until I register the past tense. "Not anymore?"
"Should I still be?" He meets my gaze and holds it.
All of us inherited Father's ice-blue eyes. Mother's are blue, certainly, but much truer. Father and my siblings are the only people I've ever met with this exact color. Even when Kieran's trying to reach out to me, to give me a chance to be someone new, I still see coldness in his eyes. Is that what Estrella sees when she looks at me? Can I ever really outrun it? Or is the ice Father raised us with something I'll have to fight for the rest of my life?
Estrella's soft, gray gaze appears in my mind's eye. If it's a permanent fight, it's worth it. For her. Just like leaving behind my home.
"Nah." I try to sound casual. "Raven ripped up all of Mother's best plants."
Kieran laughs, and the tension between us shatters. Just like he didn't have to say he thought I was going to kill him, I don't have to say that I can't imagine doing that anymore. He just claps me on the shoulder, and all is understood.
"I'm not worried about allying with Sundrop Gem anymore either," he says. "Now, can we rejoin the land of the living, or are we gonna die in here?"
"It's a tapestry, dickhead. Just pull." I grab the edge.
'I found it!' Raven shouts through the mind-link. 'Coming down from the dovecote. Where are you?'
Kieran sighs. "Seems like we'll have to give dying in here a shot. It's much closer than my office."
I laugh as he mind-links directions to Raven. A few minutes later, the tapestry pulls back tentatively. She stands in the opening, her hair tumbling out of a messy bun and her cheeks flushed.
"Get inside!" I hiss.
She crowds in with Kieran and I. "Sort of cramped, isn't it?"
"We were already talking." I shake my head, my heart hammering. "It doesn't matter. You found it? The feather?"
She nods so enthusiastically a few more hairs come loose. "It comes from a collared tern."
"O...kay?" I exchange a confused look with Kieran.
Raven huffs a sigh. "Terns are mountain birds, almost never seen outside of Snowcrest Canyon or what used to be Starfall Mountain."
My stomach sinks. "So it doesn't tell us anything."
"Collared terns are more specific." She grins. "They only like a couple of peaks, especially this time of year. And all those mountains are within walking distance of the Winters' manor."
Something warm expands slowly in my chest. "Tell me Winters isn't just a common name in Snowcrest."
"Not common enough!" She shoves some hair out of her face. "We're talking about Floyd's ancestral home."
I laugh, loud and long. We've got him. We've fucking got him!
Now, I just need to make sure no one else in Snowcrest was involved.