Page 72 of On Silver Winds
They headed first to the kitchens, where the air was thick and sweet, warmed by a day spent baking in preparation for the Mid-Winter Faire. Marie greeted them amiably, which struck Adeline as rather odd, but she didn’t complain as the cook threw together a large package of spiced rum, fresh tartlets and salted honey almonds. She pressed the package directly into Kai’s arms, beaming at him with her round cheeks glowing in a very un-Marie-like manner.
“A little feast, Your Majesty, to welcome your lovely guest. Please, enjoy.”
Kai thanked her, apparently unaware that a giddy impostor seemed to be running Marie’s kitchen. He turned for the door, and as Adeline passed the Cook, Marie nodded in Kai’s direction and gave her a knowing wink. She snorted, a surprised and irrepressible laugh.
Ceri and Kai turned to her with identical, quizzical brows as she followed them into the hallway, and she walked a little ways down the hall, beckoning them to follow.
“I think His Majesty has an admirer,” she confided teasingly.
Ceri laughed, but Kai frowned, glancing around as though searching for his supposed admirer. The Merrow woman rolled her eyes.
“She’s talking about the Cook, you dolt.”
Adeline fought the twitch of her lips. On the one hand, she still desperately wished she hadn’t managed to insert herself into this visit, but on the other - it was strangelyniceto hear someone speak to Kai like this, like he was not just a King but a person. Not just the Drowned Prince, but someone with friends, and a life beyond his legendary tragedy. A little glimpse into the world he had pulled up alongside him through the ice.
And if Ceri’s familiarity bothered him, it didn’t show. Kai either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Of course not,” he said, not sounding altogether too certain. “She was just being kind. Not everyone has an ulterior motive, Ceriwyn.”
“You’ll have to forgive him, Adeline,” Ceri said in a stage-whisper, leaning in close over Adeline’s shoulder. “He has very little experience with the fairer sex.”
“Shutup,Ceriwyn.”
Adeline bit down to keep from laughing aloud. It had finally dawned on her just who Ceriwyn must be to him, and she could kick herself for not guessing it sooner. The goading, the uncannily matched expressions, the coal black hair and towering height. And the way Kai looked at Ceri was all too familiar to her; she looked at Iseult just the same.
When they entered the East library, Ceriwyn shed actual tears of joy. It was a little alarming, but she didn’t even seem to notice them streaming down her face as she hurried halfway down the central hall and spun slowly on the spot, mouth hanging open.
Seeing it all through Ceriwyn’s eyes was a nostalgic sort of magic. Adeline had always thought the library to be the most beautiful room in the whole of the Silver Palace. It wasn’t sparkling white or cold marble, for one. The floors were carpeted in soft, deep red and the polished wooden shelves branched off from a centre hall in long aisles, each lined with a thousand colourful leatherbound spines. A narrow balconette ringed the soaring walls with yet more shelves nestled under an arched ceiling, and at the end of each aisle was tucked an alcove with a plump armchair and a shaded wall torch for reading. Each set of shelves was guarded by a shimmering frosted bust in the likeness of various royal ancestors, each of whom Adeline had given fantastical life stories and prettier names than the ones dug up by historians.
When Ceriwyn spoke, it was in a reverent hush.
“I don’t even know where to begin.”
Adeline grinned. She knew the feeling.
“Some of my all time favourites are over there,” she said, pointing past the bust of Evangeline the Bold. “If you like adventure and romance?”
Ceri’s answering squeal was pitched so high, Adeline wasn’t entirely sure what she said as she raced away.
“I think we’re going to be good friends,” Adeline laughed, but the smile on her face flickered and died as she turned to Kai.
Apart from retorts levelled at Ceri, he had been strangely quiet since the courtyard, even for him. Walking the halls, he had glanced around skittishly when anyone passed them by. Even now in the empty library, he held himself still and tense.
The queasiness came rushing back to Adeline’s stomach. She really shouldnt be here, should she? The air was taut between them, stretched thinner than it had been even on the floor of the training room. It dawned on her, slow and creeping, that the tension between them was not what she’d thought it was. She’d felt it as a crackling, building heat, but – what if it was the opposite? A cold and awkward silence, just like this one.
Oh, all the fucking Daughters, ofcourseit was. Was she really so arrogant? His star-crossed love story was woven into the very fabric of her world. She’d grown up on stories about it. He was eternally devoted to another woman, and she’d gone ahead and straddled him, leaned into his touch,gaspedfor wanting him–
Adeline shuddered at herself, and the flicker of movement seemed to draw Kai back to himself. Still, he turned only slightly toward her.
“Thank you,” he said distantly, still staring into the stacks where Ceri had disappeared. “You’ve made her very happy.”
???
As the sun touched the highest windows of the tall library walls, Kai withdrew even further.
“Come, Ceri,” he said finally, stalking up the aisle to interrupt her spirited delivery of a passage from one of Adeline’s favourite romance novels.
Her performance was sincere and melodic, but when it came to the dialogue, Ceri affected the most ridiculous, theatrical voices. Adeline laughed so hard she could barely breathe, and she’d almost forgotten about Kai skulking around the mouth of the aisle. Now, the laughter shrivelled in her lungs.
