Page 35 of Winter's Fate

“Not I,” he said. “It will be a palace for me.” She opened her mouth to respond, but he held up a finger to stop her. “But I shouldn’t want to tear down even a single tree. Livestock means tearing down trees.”

“So do palaces, I hear.”

“And yet, it must be a palace. Nothing less.”

She looked at him, eyebrows raised. “Then how?—”

“I would build among the branches themselves, I think. After securing the trees’ permission, of course. I’d bring the wood in from elsewhere.”

“By what road?” She laughed, and somehow he thought it was something she didn’t do very often. Not half as often as she deserved. If he had his way, he’d hear that sound again and again. “You must tear down trees to make a road,” Laena said.

“Not I. I should sail the materials in by the sea.”

“Why, Callum Farrow,” she said, still laughing. “I didn’t think you had any whimsy in you.”

Neither had he. She unearthed it in him, apparently. “And how long has it been,” he said, holding a branch aside so she could pass unhindered, “since you allowed yourself such an indulgence?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Her smile faded, though it didn’t disappear entirely; it merely shifted to a rueful curve, her brow crinkled as if in conflict with itself.

Should he ever meet that stablehand, he’d shake the man. Hard.

“What do you think, Captain?” she asked. “Does Etra have a chance of gaining an alliance with Aglye?”

“Callum,” he said, without thinking. He didn’t wish to hear his former rank from her anymore. “If you’re Laena, then I’m Callum.”

“Very well. Callum. Same question.”

He was not privy to the king’s political plans, but logic said Hawk would not have sent the delegation to Etra without some hope of gaining an alliance. It was an odd choice, though; like his father before him, Hawk stayed largely aloof, preferring distance between Aglye and the other nations.

Yet the borders had been more active lately. Perhaps he did fear attack out of Silerith, a more direct attack than secret assassins. Perhaps Hawk’s spies knew more of the Ruthless King’s plans.

Instead of answering, Callum stalled. “You’re helping your sister, despite how badly she treats you. Why?”

Laena frowned, clearly cataloging his sidestep. He would have to answer her question eventually. For now, however, she allowed it to pass. “I’m here to help Etra, not only my sister. Katrina is… difficult at times, it’s true. But she’ll be an excellent queen.”

“As you would have been.” It wasn’t his place to say, but he didn’t regret it. Someone had to say it, and it was more than clear that no one in Etra planned to do so.

Despite the epic ballads and swirl of romantic gossip around her flight from the palace, Callum could not help but feel that there was more to Laena’s abdication than love for a commoner. Especially since that commoner had left her—presumably after realizing he would never be king, nor would he live in a palace.

Though perhaps that was unfair. Perhaps they had merely found their differences too great to overcome. Or that they were not as well matched as they’d initially believed.

But still, it felt as if there was something more. As ifrelinquishing the crown had been a great sacrifice, one Laena had not wanted to make. Perhaps it was more about Katrina than it was about the stablehand, though Laena must have cared for the man. Again, a spark of anger heated his stomach at the fact that the horse’s ass had left her, after all she’d sacrificed for him. And the spark of anger only grew stronger when he thought of the way Katrina treated her. The way she clearly hungered for the throne.

And yet… there was something more to the story. He could feel it.

“Katrina wanted it more,” Laena said, after a time. “I believe that will help her to rule.”

Callum knew from experience that wanting to rule did not always translate to ruling more effectively. It might be a cynical thought, but he sometimes felt as if the opposite were true. But this was obviously a story Laena was telling herself, and he wasn’t sure how hard he should push against it.

He had no desire to anger her. Whatever he’d done to provoke her anger after their first meeting—and there was no doubt he must have donesomething—she seemed to have forgiven him. For now.

So on they walked, in companionable silence, until the sun once again began to sink toward the horizon.

CHAPTER 14

All day, as they walked, Laena felt the knot of power expanding in her core. How something so cold could expand, or why her body did not shiver in response to its presence, she didn’t know. Only that it seemed to be growing back stronger after her encounter with the wraith, like a muscle worked into greater strength.

She’d so missed the comfort of that power, having become accustomed to its presence. She hadn’t realized how hollow she’d felt without it until the knot of frost reawakened. Or regrew. Or whatever it was doing in there. She wasn’t even sure it wasin thereat all, if it was a physical part of her body or merely a sensation. There was far too much she didn’t know.

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