The King's Queen

Chapter 63

I suppose he wouldn’t be used to Western names given that Sepia X members only used code names. Still, it was unnerving to think that he had been raised in such isolation by the prinarch  that he rarely knew anyone else.

***

We spent the rest of the morning introducing ourselves to Kiyoshi, who didn’t even pretend to be remotely interested in us.

Ashton, who had arrived in Crysauralia, was preparing to refute his grandfather's claims that Malekh had kidnapped me, and announce to the empire that I was safe. Hopefully, that would be enough to stop the impending war—at least, for the time being.

A smile illuminated my face as I read the text messages that Ashton had left for me. It was night in Crysauralia now. It was too risky for him to communicate with me from inside the kingdom. He’d used another phone to schedule these messages so that they’d be delivered to me after he was gone.

A mischievous duo caught my eye, and I shook my head with a light laugh, watching Sybil and Raúl, who were staring at everyone with twin Cheshire grins. Always the matchmakers, they had set their sights on Cyrena and CaVaughn, who were both minding their own businesses on opposite ends of the snow-covered garden.

Sybil’s aim was true as a snowball sailed through the air, hitting Cyrena. Cyrena’s gaze shot up from the squirrel she had been observing and her suspicious gaze landed on CaVaughn.

“How dare—” She stooped down in a huff, assembling a mound of snow and hurled it full force at him.

CaVaughn blinked in surprise at the sudden onslaught of snow. His puzzled gaze fell on Cyrena, who quirked an exultant brow, striding away with her head held high. In a moment, another snowball connected with her shoulder and she whirled around in disbelief.

CaVaughn leaned against a tree, snowball poised in his hand, and a faint smirk on his lips.

“I will not tolerate such an insult from a son of the DeLorentes.” Cyrena sniffed, launching another snowball in his direction.

CaVaughn batted it away before stepping away from the tree, bouncing the snowball against his palm.

“You were saying?”

“Oh, you’ve done it now! Prepare yourself, DeLorentes.”

With their mission accomplished, Sybil and Raúl turned to me, and I raised my hands in surrender. They decided to have mercy, and Raúl’s eyes glinted with the promise of trouble as they landed on Jun and Micah. Kiyoshi watched him warily.

Micah and Jun were near the small pond that had frozen over during the night. Jun, with his unnatural agility, gracefully stepped onto the ice, walking as normal as he would on solid ground. Micah stared at the ice for a second before following suit, only to find himself slipping on the first step. Jun’s reflexes kicked in immediately, catching him before he could fall.

It was interesting to think that apart from Sybil, the only human in our group, Micah was the closest to being human.

Jun resumed his ice-walking, and Raúl tossed the snowball, splattering Micah with snow. Only this time his plan didn’t go so well. He incurred Jun’s irritation instead.

We were under the threat of a looming war, but it was so nice to see everyone momentarily forget about their concerns and engage in light-hearted fun.

Meanwhile, Kiyoshi’s grumpy demeanor persisted. I was convinced his frosty mood had been responsible for freezing the pond last night.

His heart had been hardened by Prinarch Cole through years of solitude and suffering. Without a word, he turned around and headed indoors.