Page 107 of Reaper's Quest

Aoes rubbed his arms and frowned. “How come you’re never cold?”

Winter laughed. He felt the temperature drop, but his internal magic shielded him from the cooler seasonal elements. “Oh, I’m cold. I’m just too cool to let my discomfort show.”

Aoes rolled his eyes.

Winter shrugged, even as his grin kicked higher. “I should probably go check on the girls and remind them about their curfew.”

“You do that. Go play daddy to the twinsandCamilla.”

Winter’s back snapped straight. “What are you trying to imply?”Again. “Camilla and I have never…never…been like that. She’s the mother to my brother’s children.”

One of the mothers, to one set of August’s many possible offspring.

“You keep telling yourself that,” Aoes retorted. “But I know you, Winter. You’re a whore when it comes to every living, breathing female…and plenty of males, might I add…except where Camilla is concerned. Why do you suppose that is?”

“She’s family.” Winter’s head jerked back. “And she’s in love with August.”

Aoes shook his head. “They never married. The kids may be family by blood, but Camilla… And even if she did love August once?which I sometimes question?do you honestly believe she’s still pining away for him after all this time?”

Winter’s jaw loosened. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was Aoes trying to mess with his head? Or simply steer his thoughts away from Raven?

Winter pressed a tight fist to his stomach. A messy knot took up residency in his gut, and he suspected he might be experiencing…what, indigestion? Maybe something other? Something he couldn’t…or wouldn’t…put a name to? The foreign flutter in his chest carried the weight of insecurity and vulnerability.

“Anyway…” Aoes clasped his hand on Winter’s shoulder. “I need to get to the seamstress to retrieve my britches before she bolts the door for the night.”

Aoes worked with Camilla’s competition, putting money in another’s pocket, other than helping the twins and their mother. Not that Winter could blame his friend. Aoes had worked with the other seamstress long before Camilla lost her palace contract and had to expand her local clientele.

Choosing to drop the subject of his dynamics with Camilla and the twins, Winter snorted, mollifying the mood. “Please do that. No one wants to see you running about without trousers.”

Aoes grinned and wagged his eyebrows. “I know a few who differ in opinion.”

“If you say so,lothario.” Winter slapped Aoes on the back. “But for the rest of us trapped in the citadel with you, please go collect your britches.”

Because Aoes did not fall into the and-plenty-males category mentioned.

The two parted ways, and Winter’s core hummed with what he took to be confusion as he crossed the distance to Camilla’s front door. He needed to check that emotion at the stoop. It had no place in Camilla’s home nor in her presence. It also worked to undermine the lightness of conversation and the lifting of the spirits he’d experienced at the pub.

Ever since Raven had collapsed in his arms, bloody and broken, a heavy burden had pressed upon his shoulders and chest. Upon his thoughts and emotions. And the reprieve the visit to the pub had offered felt too short and too shallow.

Stepping up to the residence, he rapped softly on the wood of the door. Within, a scrambling of footsteps and theshifting of furniture sounded. A few moments later, Kira threw open the entrance and stared up at him.

“Hey!” She leaped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. “I was hoping you’d come by tonight.”

“Haven’t I visited every night this week?” He stepped inside, closed the door with a heel shove, carried Kira to the table, and set her upon the surface.

Myla sat in one of the chairs, scribbling on a piece of paper. She didn’t look at what she drew. Instead, her glazed-over stare followed Winter into the room.

Kira leaned forward until her lips hovered close to his ear. “She’s looking much better. I think there’s a chance of her waking up tonight…and staying that way. Maybe soon.”

Winter gently squeezed the girl’s upper arms and stepped back, beaming at her, then at her sister. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I showed up.”

Winter lacked knowledge on the full extent of Kira’s magic, but he had long suspected it had something to do with healing. When the girl had touched Raven on the temple the day prior, Raven had almost immediately slumped into a deep slumber. Many might have considered the reaction unnatural, but Winter had sensed the sincerity in the girl’s words when she’d told him not to worry and that Raven slept to get better.

So he had waited. Did his best not to worry.

He chose to focus his attention on discovering what he could about Mr. Aldine and Chace so that he would have something to share with Raven when she eventually did awake. Unfortunately, what he was able to learn wasn’t much, and it wasn’t likely to satisfy her. Half of the informationwas worrisome and not the kind of thing a person in recovery should have to face.

Kira curled her little fingers, motioning Winter closer. “I saw another one.”