Page 61

Kaspar

I paced the space that would be Sav’s room. The ceiling was too low. The walls too close. Sav would feel like a caged animal here.

I shoved the bedpost hard enough to splinter it.

I could expand her rooms, make more breathable areas for her.

Scowling, I turned. Nothing I did to my castle would make it livable for a creature who craved adventure.

“Sire.”

“Yes?” I looked up as Memphe entered.

“I have a missive from your uncle.”

I beckoned him forward and he came, pressing through the air bubble into the room. He handed me a silver tube and bowed.

Dismissing him, I slid the parchment free and unrolled it, scanning my uncle’s neat handwriting.

My jaw clenched as I read the last line. The autumn princess had accepted his proposal and the date was set. Not only would he beat me at my own game, he would do it before me.

I rolled the scroll between my fingers, resisting the urge to crumple it in my fist.

I jammed it back in the tube.

Perhaps I had been too hasty in choosing Sav. I could have denied the bargain and chosen someone else to align with. If I had, she would be wed to the prince of summer now.

He wouldn’t give her the freedom I would. He would trap her; force himself upon her and use her to build a stronger alliance with Spring. She would spend the rest of her long life under the thumb of very powerful people.

Still, my uncle was making his move and the winter court heiress had been more than amenable to an alliance.

She was an adequate lover and her blood was pure.

Aligning with the winter court would be prudent if my uncle brought war upon us.

They had the numbers and their hostile environment, even with Mab gone, made invasion unlikely.

But if the folk of my court sought shelter, whether as Faerie continued to shrink or when my uncle struck, Winter would be a harsh refuge.

Moves and countermoves were all I had. There was no room in my life for anything more when my uncle had centuries on me to set the board for his long game. I squeezed the slender tube in my hand, crushing metal in my fist. I wasn’t playing, though, and this wasn’t a game.

With access to Autumn blocked—by my uncle no doubt—I was blind to his intentions toward us and beginning to believe he had bigger aspirations than I’d ever dreamed.

Whatever he had planned, he wouldn’t make his move before his wedding.

There was still time for me to secure my alliance and learn the truth of what was happening in Faerie.