Page 6 of On Silver Winds
It was strange to be here; home, but not. Familiar, but with none of the life and warmth of her own apartment, even with the soaring flames in the gigantic marble fireplace. Everywhere she turned was hard white stone and palest blue silk. She often felt that walking the halls and rooms of the Silver Palace was like wandering around inside a giant snowflake; glittering and blinding. Sometimes, when she spent a little too long here, returning to the vibrant bustle of the city made her dizzy.
She hung up her cloak, the traditional white of New Winter, and when it melted into the surrounding blankness, she found herself wishing she could have worn her emerald green one – if only to see it hanging there, a dark stain marring the walls of the Silver Palace.
Smirking at the thought, Adeline turned to the drinks cart and set about pouring from a warm jug of spiceberry wine; a stick of cinnamon in her glass and a slice of orange in Mareda’s. Plenty of fragrant, steaming wine in both. Something told her they’d need the buffer tonight. She could still feel her sister’s eyes on her back as she poured; could practically feel the fretful, nervous energy rolling off her, making Adeline’s own shoulders tense.
But she’d already decided she wasn’t going to talk about this, not when she knew it would end in a quarrel. After the summons came this morning, she’d had toclawback that New Winter feeling, that warm, shimmering joy. She wasn’t ready to let it go.
“Nothing happened.”
Adeline sang the words out sweetly and turned on the spot, glasses in hand. Mareda had wandered closer, and was watching her with one golden brow arched. She reached for her glass.
“You didn’t get into a brawl with the Captain of the Queen’s Gard last night?”
At that, Adeline couldn’t help the bark of laughter that burst from her.
Abrawl?That’swhat people were saying?
“Adeline.”
She wiped at her eyes with her free hand, still quietly shaking with laughter, but at the anxious look on Mareda’s face she made an honest effort to breathe through it.
“It wasn’t anything like that! I grabbed his arm to get his attention, he threw me off without meaning to. That’s it.”
“There was no bar fight then?”
“I–” Adeline faltered. Her lip twitched up again, no matter how hard she fought it. An image had risen to her mind unbidden, Captain Doran’s grey face suddenly red and flustered as a scrawny pair of youths–far too young to evenbein the tavern–leaped upon his back and hammered their skinny fists at his head and shoulders.
Not funny, not funny.
Do. Not. Laugh.
She swallowed. “It was a misunderstanding.”
Mareda rubbed delicately at her temple beneath her long, fair hair.
“Marry, you’re making a blizzard of a flurry. He knocked me back. It was anaccident. A few onlookers took issue with him laying hands on a princess, but the rest of the Gard broke up the fight within minutes.”
Mareda stopped massaging her head, though she didn’t look entirely convinced.
“I don’t mean to needle at you.” Her teeth caught at her lip. “It’s just that Doran spoke to mother. He told her he was making an arrest on grounds of treason - and that you stopped him.”
Bollocks.
That absolute prick.
That was what the Eisalaan Gard considered treason these days, then. A drunk tourist, calling a toast to ‘the Ice Queen’. Somehow, she suspected her mother had heard a lot worse in all her years on the throne; she’d said as much to Captain Doran too, when he tried to excuse his actions. But he’d gone running off to tell tales to her mother all the same.
Adeline realised she’d stiffened at the revelation, and she forced herself to life again with an exaggerated shrug; a deep, deep sip of wine. A soft chuckle.
“Like I said,” she went on brightly, waving a hand. “Just a misunderstanding. High spirits, too much cider. You know how things can get in the Capital.”
It might have been a bit mean of her, truth be told.
She knew that Mareda had no idea how the Capital could be; she had no point of reference. It wasn’t that her sister didn’t care about life beyond the castle walls, of course she did. Mareda loved her country. Serving Eisalaan was all she’d ever dreamed of, even as a little girl. She’d just never been particularly interested inlivinga life outside the Silver Palace, never craved that distance in the way that Adeline had.
The comment took hold though, mean or not. Mareda gave a tight smile, twisting her hands together, a tangle of delicate silver rings and long pale fingers.
“I just worry about you, out there on your own.”
