Page 51 of The Winter Prince

He squeezed the hand he still held. “Hold that thought. I have something I must attend to first.” He turned back to Enlo and gave him a nod.

Enlo didn’t wait for him to change his mind again. “Em Enloras krestolla presnyv y pocheska vannost tu Reviam.”

As the last syllable left Enlo’s mouth, a surge of icy energy pulsed through Revi. He sucked in a breath. He felt ready to take on a hundred enemies, which was not how he had felt the last time he’d held this magic.

“How long was I out?” he muttered.

Enlo grimaced. “A few days.”

Revi nodded. “A few days would be enough time to replenish the magic with the curse broken.”

Enlo stood and gave Revi a deep bow. “To your health, Your Highness. I’ll leave you two to discuss things.” His tone was teasing, but there was something in his eyes that Revi didn’t like.

“I’ll come find you soon,” he promised.

Enlo didn’t respond, only inclined his head and turned toward the castle. Only when the crunch of his footsteps faded under the sound of the winter breeze around them did Revi draw in a breath and look at his bride.

Hisbride. Hope rose unbidden to suffuse his entire being.

“I don’t know if Enlo told you,” he said quietly, “but the curse on our Court—we thought it had to be broken by marriage.”

Kienna nodded. “When he came to my dream, pretending to be dream-you, he did. But you managed it without me.” She paused. “What… what was the curse, exactly?”

The words flowed over Revi’s lips almost unbidden. “‘Summer shall rule in Winter’s land, while beast confines the heart of man, until the strongest of the weak a lifelong devotion does speak, and restores a Heart of Winter.’ We thought the strongest of the weak meant a human—but apparently the leader of a group of weakened Elyri sufficed.”

“And Enlo is a Heart of Winter,” Kienna supplied, “because he’s your… cousin?”

“Yes. It broke when I passed him my throne. Gave up my future to him—my life, too, because the vestiges of magic tied to the throne were all that were keeping me alive after”—Revi grimaced and glanced at the bush beside him—“he destroyed my roses and thereby my personal magic. I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did on the small ripples coming from this.” He stroked a finger down the bush’s nearest branch, and it gave a sad little shiver of magic in response.

“We didn’t talk much before I... woke you up.” She bit her lip, seeming embarrassed by her own word choice. Or, rather, probably the words shehadn’tsaid. “Why did that work?”

“In an Elyri marriage, you aren’t just promising to stay together, to love each other. You are linking your very souls, giving your spouse access to all your days, your magic, your life force. Linking it to mine was enough for my own life to latch onto it and pull back from the brink.”

Kienna grimaced.

Revi looked away. She’d saved him, but that didn’t mean shewantedhim. She hardly even knew him. “I’m sorry. There’s no way to undo it.”

“I don’t—“ Kienna stopped, and then something crossed over her expression. It solidified. “I don’t want to undo it. I didn’t marry you just to save you. Idolove you.“ She looked up at him from under her lashes, that sudden resolve morphing into something shy, uncertain. “I understand if you don’t feel the same way, but...”

Revi chuckled, though he felt little humor. “There’s that phrase again. My feelings wereneverthe problem here, Kienna. I’ve been besotted with you since the day you arrived. The day you stared me down—a beast who could rip you to shreds—despite the fear I could smell on you.“ She made a face. Revi laughed. “Yes, I could smell your fear. I could hear your heartbeat, and the fact that you were so afraid and yet so brave captivated me so much that I told my charming, handsome cousin to stay away from you because I was afraid that if you met him, you’d never look twice at me. You had noreasonto look twice at me. What woman could fall in love with a beast?“ He drew his hand back and ran it through his hair to give it something else to do.

“Well, you do have rather poor manners sometimes.” Her mouth twitched up in a teasing smile. “What with the way you eat, and with the fact that we’re still sitting in the snow, which has definitely soaked through all of my skirt layers at this point.”

Revi glanced down, chagrined, but her teasing smile caught him. She reached out gently and wrapped her fingers back around his.

“But your heart is good,” she said. “You never were cruel or purposely tried to frighten me. You acted like a man, agoodman, not a beast. Zoya sometimes told me stories of your heroics, how you saved and helped your people. And in my dreams...“ At this point she blushed, her gaze flitting across his chest and back up to his eyes. “You were only ever the gentleman. I was blind for not realizing that my dream prince wasyousooner.”

“The fangs could be a bit misleading,” he muttered, and she laughed. He loved the way her laugh lit up her face.

“A bit,” she agreed.

“I’ll still have those occasionally,” he said. “I’ve always been able to shapeshift into any animal I wanted.”

“Like a rabbit?” she asked teasingly. He made a face and cleared his throat, which only caused her to laugh again.

“It was only with the curse that I wastrappedin animal forms, a beast to reflect my inner self, according to the Summer Queen.”

“It was a good representation of your protective nature,” Kienna said. “Teeth and claws, and also warm and cuddly.”

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