Page 2 of Winter's Fate

The rumble of wheels on dirt made her straighten. She shielded her eyes as she looked toward the road. A delivery for the neighbors on the next farm, perhaps. But even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew that wasn’t true. No one delivered this far down the road. It was part of the reason she chose this cottage in the first place.

Sure enough, the vehicle that emerged from behind the trees was not a delivery cart, but an unnecessarily large coach. She’d ridden in its twins more times than she could count, but it looked swollen to her eyes now, devouring the road as greedily as Brin had devoured her beetle. Laena wished she could have seen the looks on the villagers’ faces when that monstrosity rumbled its way past the shops.

And there was no doubt as to its destination; from wheel to roof, the coach bore the rose-gold paint of the royal family. The spouting-whale of the Montrose-Aboret seal glinted in the early-morning light, making it look like the whale were truly drawing in a breath.

“Damn it,” Laena muttered as Brin skittered into her hair. “My sister is here.”

Katrina sat delicatelyon the edge of the settee in the parlor. The polite smile on her lips might as well have been a twist; in fact, Laena thought she’d have preferred that. She hadn’t been in the garden for more than ten minutes, yet she felt filthy compared to her sister, whose pristine white gown practically glowed. She smelled of lilies, a scent no doubt concocted by the palace perfumers.

Laena never grew lilies in her own garden.

Kat still wore her golden hair in ringlet curls, though she was a year short of twenty and would be officially taking up the crown next year. She looked like a child.

And Laena could see through her sister’s eyes, well enough. To Kat, the cottage would seem cluttered: the butter churn in the corner, the extra gardening bucket by the door, the collection of mismatched tin plates and jugs she’d obtained from the market at great pains, the spinning wheel edged up against the settee. The wooden floors were swept but not polished, the glass windows thick and wavy.

To Kat, every point of pride for Laena—from the handwoven woolen cloak hanging by the door to the wobbly candlesticks she’d boiled herself—was nothing but an eyesore, evidence of the life Laena had abandoned. It was obvious in her frozen smile, the too-frequent blinks. And the way she kept checking to make sure her gloves were wrapped tight around her fingers, as if one touch of her skin to anything in Laena’s home might cause her to burst into flames.

Laena wasn’t sure whether to hug her sister, thereby dirtying her gown, or to sit on the opposite chair and begin with a passive-aggressive ‘how lovely to see you.’

She wasn’t even sure whether she ought to sit or wait to be invited to sit. At which point she would have to decide whether she would obey such an invitation or continue to stand.

Laena was still considering her first move when Kat opened her mouth to speak first. “Where is Ben?”

Air rushed out of Laena’s lungs before she could stop it, a painful squeeze tightening her chest. She was too long outside of court, and getting unpracticed at controlling her reactions.

WherewasBen? A question for the ages. A question that had, for several months, plagued Laena’s every thought. Where was the lover who’d swept her away from the life she knew, with promises of everlasting love and only a spark of disappointment in his eye at the fact that the laws of the land had not in fact bent for them and he would not, as she had told him from the beginning, go from stablehand to king? Where was the man who’d played house with her for months? Who’d been there one night, arms wrapped around her body, legs tangled with hers in the darkness one last time? And the next morning gone without so much as a note…

But the note would have been unnecessary. Laena had awoken to the silence of the cottage—as silent as a country cottage could be, with mice in the walls and wind in the cracks—and she’d known.

He’d left her in the depths of winter, when she had never experienced it outside the palace walls, when their garden had been new and the canning scarce. But she’d taken his bow and taught herself to aim, firing again and again with numb fingers until the arrow struck true—true enough to hunt, anyway—and then she’d traipsed through the woods chasing after deer and rabbits and barely scraping up enough food to survive.

But shehadsurvived. And she’d emerged with the skills to live out the rest of this life as she chose. Which, she reminded herself firmly, was all she’d ever truly wanted.

Where was Ben? Laena didn’t give a damn where he was, as long as he stayed away.

Yet Kat asked after him as one might ask about the weather, or the type of tea Laena had hastily brewed for them. Kat had not yet taken a sip; she cradled the chipped mug and saucer as if they were merely props.

Kat had no reason to know that Ben had left, and she did not need to know. Laena simply needed to breathe, to get through this conversation and push Kat to ask for whatever it was she wanted so Laena could say no and get back to her garden.

As Kat had taken her favorite seat in the room, Laena settled into a wooden chair she kept by the window, reaching for the well-toned muscle memory of court life. “Oh, you know,” she said, trying to match her sister’s offhand tone. “He’s off doing stablehand things.”

Kat lifted the teacup to her mouth and took a sip, then suppressed a grimace that no one else would have noticed. But no one else had the benefit of knowing Kat as well as Laena did. “He left, didn’t he?” she asked.

Of course, Kat would have given herself a reason to know. Was she here to gloat over Laena’s spectacular failure? If so, she might have come months ago. Though her sister wouldn’t realize it, Laena was faring quite well in her cottage.

She might be rusty with the games of court life, but she hadn’t forgotten how to play. She made a point of leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. Most improper, even with her skirts still covering most of her. “Yes. One will be inclined to do that when his woman throws all his earthly goods into the river.”

That had been a satisfying day. The river was nearly a mile out, but it had been worth trundling the wheelbarrow to a spot where the mud was particularly thick. Though, to be truthful, Laena had done that a monthafterBen’s disappearance.

Kat merely raised an eyebrow.

Laena waved away the unasked question, settling her gaze directly on her sister’s. “How many spies do you have watching me?”

“Enough.”

At least she didn’t bother to deny it. Anger burned in Laena’s throat, hot and bitter. Had the palace spies come near enough towatch her starve? Had they seen the villagers turn away, watched as she taught herself to survive? Had they seen her tears?

But no. Kat would not have bothered. Not until there was something she wanted. So Laena waited, keeping the smile on her face, as if Ben’s disappearance was something she had orchestrated herself. All part of the grand plan.

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