Page 3 of The Winter Prince

Kienna’s steps slowed, her heart dropping. She hadn’t seen such behavior from him since Mama’s death. Had he lost someone on his mission? She scanned him for injuries, but while he looked travel weary, he didn’t look like he’d sustained any life-threatening injuries of his own. But any manner of accidents could happen on a patrolling mission into the mountains beyond Makaria. She swallowed her worry and closed the gap between them, clasping his hands in her own, giving him a warm smile.

“Welcome home, Papa.”

His hand squeezed around hers, and he drew her into a hug, crushing her to his chest. “I missed you, my flower.” There was an odd catch to his voice, almost as if he was fighting back emotion. Fighting back tears.

Kienna pulled away and searched his face. “Papa, what’s wrong? What happened on your patrol?”

He tensed, giving her a smile that was entirely built of lies. “Nothing, my flower. All’s well.”

“No, it’s not.” She was entirely certain it wasnotall well. A sick feeling twisted up in her, a mimic of how she’d felt when the news of Mama had first reached them years before. But Papa stood before her, whole and hale. He wasn’t lost on the road like Mama had been. So why did she feel like she was about to lose him the way they’d lost Mama? The discordance of it stabbed into her. “Please, Papa. Don’t lie to me. Whatever this is, don’t try to bear it alone.”

Her plea broke through his resistance, and with it, his mask crumbled away, leaving his grief on full display in the lines of his face. “Oh, my flower, I’m so, so sorry.”

Her fingers tightened on his arms. “What are you sorry for?” Whatever she’d expected him to say, that wasn’t it.

“You asked me for the most interesting flower I could find while on my patrol.”

“Yes?” She glanced around, unsure why he would bring that up. “How could a flower cause such grief?”

He choked back a humorless laugh. “I found you the rarest flower imaginable, and it cost a life.”

She jerked back, eyes widening. “What... Did you lose someone on your journey?” Her gaze slipped over him again. “Are you hurt? Are you poisoned?” Maybe she’d just missed the signs.

He squeezed his eyes shut against her barrage of questions. “Let me finish, my flower.” He turned and reached into the saddlebag on his horse, the last one the servants hadn’t taken yet. He withdrew a rose, and it was unlike any she had ever seen.

It was the size of man’s fist, which was twice that of any of the roses that ever grew in her own garden, and it looked untouched, as pristine as if it had just been plucked from a bush, not pulled from a saddlebag after days of travel. But instead of being red, or pink, or even a normal white rose, it was a brilliant sheen of silver that shimmered, looking at turns blindingly white and blue and even as clear as crystal when it turned in the light. Her breath caught in her throat, and she reached trembling fingers out to it.

At her movement, her father’s fingers tightened on the stem. She looked up at him. “Where did you get this?”

“We stumbled on some elven-like people in the mountains,” he said, his voice tight. “The Elyri. The Lorili elves call them fae. At first I thought it was an abandoned castle, and when I saw this rose, I thought of you and I picked it, but as soon as I did, a man appeared… and then a horrible beast—a frostcat larger than I’ve ever seen before. The beast claimed we’d invaded his Court. He demanded either my life or the lives of my men.”

Kienna flinched. She gripped his hand. “But you’re here. And so are your men.” She gestured at his soldiers unloading behind him. “How did you get away? Did you slay the beast?”

“No.” He avoided her gaze. “No, I’ve only come to say goodbye.”

Her heart was crushing. This was a horrible, awful nightmare. “That makes no sense. Why would he let you leave if you’re just to return and die? There has to be another way.”

Something flickered across his expression, igniting hope in Kienna’s chest. “Thereis. Tell me, Papa.”

Agony twisted Papa’s face. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. The sight caught Kienna’s breath. She had only seen Papa cry once, right after Mama’s disappearance—when they first learned she had died, that there was no finding her and saving her.

“Let me help,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I won’t take that path. I won’t offer you or any other—” He cut himself off abruptly and swore before shooting a dark glare at her. “It doesn’t matter.”

But he couldn’t take back his slip. Kienna latched onto it like her only anchor in a flood. “Offer me how? Other what?”

He tugged his hand from hers and started pacing, his grip flexing on his sword hilt. “No.”

“Papa.” The word was half-plea, half-steel. Sheneededto know what he refused to say.

“His third option, the only one where no one need die—or so he claimed”—he scoffed, making it clear how much he trusted such a claim—“he asked for a woman, unmarried and beautiful. He promised she’d be unharmed, so long as she stayed for a year and a day.”

Kienna swallowed a breath, and then another; it felt like she wasn’t getting enough air.

He continued, “I contacted Cuimal, spoke with the elven ambassador and the mages there. The elves know of the fae. They’re distant cousins, apparently, sequestered in the mountains, but their relationship with their magic has… changed over the years. The elves claim the fae cannot speak a lie, but they deal in bargains and revel in deception nonetheless. And once a bargain is made with a fae, you must meet the conditions, or you suffer an even worse fate.” He looked away, his voice gravelly. “I only returned to say goodbye. I won’t send you to your death for my own folly, you or any other young woman. But I didn’t want to go to mine without seeing you one last time.”

Her heartbeat rang in her ears. “What?” she whispered. “Papa, no. You said yourself if I go, they won’t harm me.” Her thoughts rolled from her lips before she’d even fully formed them, had a chance to reflect on them, but she meant every word. It wasn’t even a question. “I will give a year of my life so you can have the rest of yours.”

---