Page 13 of The Winter Prince

“Where are you taking me, anyway?” she asked after a short pause, raising her voice to a normal volume.

He side-eyed her. “You’re terrible at keeping to the no questions rule.”

Her eyes widened, and then she huffed, a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. “You started asking questions first. Perhaps you’re a bad example.”

He blinked. Was she... teasing him? He shook his head and pushed away the confusion of feelings the idea raised in him. “Regardless, here we are.”

They turned the last corner in the path, coming around the towering bushes that guarded this side of his garden from view of the castle.

She gasped at the sight before them. She took a few faltering steps forward, her hand raised toward the frostroses, before she froze and shot a glance at Revi.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know you don’t like...”

He pushed down on the possessive feeling rising up in him and shrugged one shoulder. He had brought her here. It made no sense to threaten her off them now.

“Just don’t pick any,” he said in a low growl.

She nodded her head. “They’re even more beautiful in their natural environment.”

Revi gave another low growl of agreement.

The bush towered over Kienna’s head, blooms bursting from every side of it. In the sea of failing life around them, this was the one explosion of vitality. She slowly circled it, brushing her fingers across every petal they passed.

He felt oddly pleased at her wonder, her delight, as she admired the frostroses from every angle. It was like seeing them anew himself. Perhaps it was just her running her fingers across the petals; he could almost imagine he felt a phantom touch along his shoulders. Maybe he did. These were tied to him, after all. He shivered. It was far too easy for his mind to take the idea of her fingers and expand on it, on how soft her touch would be against his skin.

If he had regular skin. The thought soured it, and he shook the idea away.

When Kienna returned to his side of the bush, her brow was creased in another frown. “These are beautiful. But… how can they thrive when the rest of your Court is dying?”

Revi shifted. “These will always survive while I’m alive. They’re a manifestation of my magic. In a way, they’re an extension of me, and I of them. My magic flows from it, and into it, keeping it strong.”

Her eyes widened, and her hand froze on a rose. She looked back and forth between him and the bush. Her hand drew back slowly. “Do all fae have a special rosebush?”

“No.” He padded closer and nudged a flower with his nose. The leaves nearby tickled his whiskers. “Only Elyri from the royal family—those directly in line for the throne—have their magic manifest in a physical form. And it’s not always roses. My father has a pine, my mother moss.”

Kienna looked around, as if she expected to see those nearby.

“They’re closer to the front of the castle. But they don’t stand out as much as the frostroses.” His hide prickled at the painful reminder. “Come. I have duties to attend to.”

She nodded, grazing her fingers across a large rose one last time before they started back toward the castle.

“Thank you,” she said after a few minutes, “for showing me these. Perhaps if they can survive this strange drought thanks to you, the rest of your Court will too.”

His steps faltered as he looked up at her. She gave him a small smile, a dimple forming on one cheek, before hurrying ahead.

He watched her go, his thoughts tilting in her wake. She was just a human.

And yet he found himself encouraged by her words. By her belief in him, however superficial. He didn’t need her to fix his curse—but he wanted to get to know her better, to understand how she could give her belief and kindness so freely.

Yet she still flinched when he growled. Wisps of fear still swirled with her scent when she was reminded of his beastliness. And he couldn’t blame her. Who wouldn’t flinch? Who would want to converse with an animal? Bitterness welled in him.

If he wanted to get to know her, he’d have to do so beyond his cursed forms. And there was only one way to do that.

Chapter 9

Revi

AssoonasRevifell asleep, he reached for his magic. Dreamwalking was not a skill unique to him, but only the strongest Winter Elyri could harness their magic in such a way. Enlo had often bemoaned how difficult he found it to connect to others while they slept, much less walk through their dreams. If he were better at it, he would use it to spy on people and learn their secrets, as he did with his soulwalking. Revi had no patience for such machinations.

---