Page 3 of Midwinter Wiles & Valerian Dreams
He grunts, eyes fixed out the window. “I said we were, didn’t I?”
“Then why is your left ear higher than your right?”
Beron’s brow furrows. “What?”
“It’s your tell. When you lie, your jaw tenses unevenly. It makes your left ear creep up.”
“I do not have a tell,” he snaps, jaw locking—left ear lifting.
“Lie.”
He glares out the window, as if the fae beyond are responsible for this treachery.
Those same fae keep me in my seat, though. I may have a bad feeling in my gut, but I’ve always trusted Beron. The same can’t be said for the folk out there.
The familiar streets of Rimne end at towering city walls. Passing through the gate, we leave behind Point Fae merchants bundled in thick furs and neat shop fronts. On the other side are theothers. The Wilder Fae.
My heart skips. I rarely get to leave the palace gates, let alone Rimne’s city walls. This is the first time I’ve left unaccompanied by either my father or Taynia, and I suddenly feel younger than my years. I came of age not long before my father’s death, and that was three years ago already. Yet, since I'm not entrusted with any freedom or responsibility, I know little of the Hinterlands beyond these walls.
Even if they are technically our subjects, the Wilder Fae are much like the cold and the snow. A fact of the world, but mostly beyond our control. Strange-looking fae trudge through snowdrifts in patched cloaks, rough hands bare and red from the chill, their pale skin almost ashy in the dim light. Several sets of eyes follow the carriage with hard expressions.
I lift my chin and focus inward, because Beron is my primary concern right now.
Wild Ones crowding around the capital’s walls are a problem for another time. As long as they’re not causing unrest, the rest of us can carry on with our lives, as we always have. The palace expects any working inside the walls to stay invisible, so I rarely see them. Whatever childhood curiosity I may have harbored was long ago stamped out.
A flash of scarlet catches my eye despite myself. A boy, no older than seven or eight, watches us pass from in front of a ramshackle shelter. He clutches a threadbare red coat tight around him, his lips faintly blue against too-pale skin. His expression needles at something in my chest.
I hope he doesn’t live there. That encampment is not just an eyesore; it doesn’t look like it could possibly protect from the cold either.
I’m about to ask Beron why these folk are here, when I remember that he’s already lying to me, and I’m not exactly in his good graces at the moment. Instead, I draw the lacy curtain before I can dwell on what I saw.
Soon, the Wilder Fae vanish behind us.
Our carriage runners shudder over icy ruts as the city recedes. Trees close in, dense and dark, looming like silent witnesses as we plunge deeper into wild territory. I might be lulled by the hush, if not for Beron’s stiff form across from me.
It’s not just the woods that are dangerous.
Finally, I break the silence. “If we’re really headed to the summer palace, why this carriage? And why your men instead of a proper entourage?”
“It’s not your place to question your queen’s orders, princess.”
I scoff. Queen Taynia’s orders canneverbe questioned,especiallyby her own stepdaughter. Nothing she does should surprise me anymore, but as I take in Beron’s grim face, the way he avoids my gaze, cold realization sinks in.
Suddenly, the huntsmen make perfect sense.
“She ordered you to get rid of me, didn’t she?”
His silence is damning.
“She did!Drowning Deep, is she serious?”
When he finally speaks, his voice is low, almost regretful. “She doesn’t mean it, Talvie. She’s just…lost.”
“You mean she’s a bitter menace, angry and sour ever sinceIsädied. Like it’s my fault. Like I didn’t lose him too? We’re all miserable enough with this endless winter… All I ever wanted from her was comfort. Togetherness. Shared grief! But no,I’mthe problem. It’s all cold rules and colder looks for Talvie. By theDeep, I knew she hated me, but this…?”
Silence.
No denial.
