Page 67 of The Broken Elf King
I felt it then, shame. It burned through Raife fast and hot and over to me.
“When we were seventeen, Lucien asked me to visit him so that I could meet his girlfriend. He was head over heels in love with her, said he was going to marry her. I caught her flirting with my Bow Men and I didn’t trust her. I told Lucien to dump her, that she would be bad for him.”
Dread sank like a stone in my gut. I swallowed hard.
Raife’s energy descended into depression then. “The next night she brought a friend… we all drank elf wine and… Lucien caught me in bed with the love of his life.”
I gasped and then smacked his leg. “Raife!”
“I know, okay? I know. I was drunk and I wanted to prove she wasn’t loyal to him.” Raife hung his head in shame and I sighed.
Standing, I shimmied to where I could sit next to him and placed my hand on his thigh. “We all make mistakes. It sounds like you did indeed save him from a horrible marriage.”
Raife cast me a long side look. “I haven’t seen him since. He said if I ever showed my face in Thorngate, he would kill me.”
I grinned, understanding now why he was dressed for war. “Well, then, going to see him was a great idea.”
Raife smirked, chuckling a little. “I’m hoping he won’t kill me in front of you. I really need his help with the Nightfall queen. His Winter soldiers are arguably the most powerful in the land.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek, now wondering if coming along was a good idea. He wouldn’t really kill Raife, would he? That was years ago. It would start a war, and they used to be friends. Surely he would remember that.
“Approaching the entrance of Thorngate, sir,” one of Raife’s Bow Men said from the window of our carriage.
Raife swallowed hard and nodded.
As we slowed, I heard the fae guards ask what we were doing.
“I have King Raife Lightstone and his new wife, Kailani Dulane, to see King Lucien Thorne,” the Bow Men said formally.
“Wait here. I’ll send a messenger,” was the curt reply.
We waited. And waited. And waited. Over two hours we waited, snacking and getting out to stretch our feet, when finally a fae on horseback rode up to the wrought iron gates.
The guard at the gate spoke to him briefly and then nodded to the lead Bow Men. “Your king and his wife may enter. You may not,” he told the Bow Men.
They all growled, staring at Raife for instruction, and I wasn’t prepared for it when he looked to me. As if asking my opinion. Go into possible enemy territory without a royal guard? But why would we bring an armed guard unless we didn’t trust Lucien? We needed to extend the first hand of peace.
I nodded once to Raife, telling him I was okay with it.
“Grab your cloak. It gets cold,” was all Raife said to me.
I dug into the carriage and pulled out my white fur cloak, fastening it to my shoulders. After being helped up onto Raife’s horse, I rode sidesaddle as I clung to him and we passed through the entrance of Thorngate.
I’d never been into the fae territory. All I knew was that it was split up into four regions. Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter. Each region had a prince or princess, but the winter king ruled over them all with an iron first. By the looks of the orange- and yellow-leafed trees and the gust of wind blowing through the fields, I would have guessed we’d just ridden into Fall lands. The king’s messenger rode alongside us, watching us carefully. I noticed he didn’t have a weapon on him, and wondered if that meant he had a magical power that was more harmful than a sword. He wore the steely black uniform of winter, and thick gray fur boots.
Over the next hour we passed two small towns and a palace trimmed in red brick, but were told to keep going. A visit with the royalty of Fall was not on our agenda.
As we came up and over a small hill, I gasped at the stark difference in the two lands. Thick snow demarcated a line between the two courts. Mountains and trees were covered in the white fluff, and I quickly pulled my fur hood up, clinging to Raife tighter as he plunged us into Winter.
The path had been almost magically cleared of any snow or ice, the cobblestones completely dry. It was eerie, unnatural. I peered all around, taking in the wonderous sight. Every tree, every rooftop, every mountain, was coated in white. But it was magical, cold, and yet one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.
The houses had gardens where the snow had melted off, giving way to a small pumpkin patch or squash vines. I wondered if they could control where the snow fell and where it didn’t, and was instantly fascinated.
I looked at the messenger and noticed his uniform was quite thin and yet he didn’t look the slightest bit cold. The deeper into the realm we went, the colder it got. By the time we peered over the ridge and at the white castle of Winter, my lungs felt frozen in my chest.
“It’s beautiful,” I said through chattering teeth.
Raife growled. “And not normallythiscold. He’s doing this to make us uncomfortable.”
