Page 22 of Wings of Snow
We reached the barn a few minutes later, and shook the snow from our boots before entering. A sense of déjà vu filled me when the door banged open. This was where I’d first met my mate. I crossed the threshold, my heart squeezing at the memory of seeing Ilara seated upon a wooden bench with her head bowed and a scarf covering her hair.
The two cooks twirled toward us when our presence filled the room. Evis squeaked and immediately dipped into a deep curtsy. Her entire frame wobbled as the scent of fear rose from her.
Whereas Krisil nearly dropped the ladle she was using to transfer broth between pots. “Ock. What a surprise...err, Your Highness.” She also curtsied.
Both females kept their attention on me as Haxil, Ryder, Nish, and Sandus spanned out on my sides. The cooks stayed dipped in submissive positions. Sour scents rose from them as their terror grew. I could practically hear the questions screaming from their minds.What’s happened now? Is he here to take another one of us away?
I suppressed an irritated snarl and wished my mother was here. If she was, and her affinities weren’t being suppressed, she could tell me exactly what they were thinking.
“Stand,” I said in a clipped tone. “You have nothing to fear.”
Krisil and Evis bumped into one another in their effort to move upright.
“Are you both well?” I asked.
Their eyes widened, and I had a feeling the last thing they expected was for me to ask of their well-being.
Krisil bobbed her head, as did Evis, but their lips remained pressed into tight lines.
“You needn’t fear our visit. Truly.” I offered a reassuring smile.
Evis tugged at her apron, then began balling it in her fist. “My prince, may I ask where Ilara is?”
Krisil kicked her in the shin, but Evis merely scoffed in return. “He’s here without her, Krisil,” she hissed to the other cook. “You’re telling me that’s not cause for concern?”
“Actually, the fact that Ilara isn’t with me is why we’re here,” I cut in. “We need your help.”
“Oh?” Krisil’s eyes widened, and curiosity puffed from her scent in stringent waves, overriding her previous fear.
I tucked my hands into my trousers’ pockets. “I come because Ilara has fled the continent, and what I’m going to ask of you could determine her fate.”
Krisil dropped her ladle in the pot, then took a step around the stove. “What’s happened, my prince?”
As quickly as I could, I told them what Ilara had become during her time at the Court of Winter. Her affinities, the Trial, the magic that had suppressed her power, and the king’s plan to wed her off to a disgusting pedophile.
Evis’s nose scrunched up when I revealed that. “Truly, my prince? That’s absolutely ghastly.”
“Indeed, especially considering Ilara’s my mate.”
Krisil’s mouth dropped open so far that Nish snickered behind me.
Evis cleared her throat. “Come again, my prince?”
“You heard me. Ilara is my mate. The gods chose her for me and me for her.”
They shared a wide-eyed look, and the excitement that grew on their faces told me that Ilara had been right about them. With this kind of information, they would be dying to share it with anyone who would listen.
“Which brings me to the point of my visit,” I said before either of them could completely forget themselves and scurry off to the first fairy they could find. “My father doesn’t approve of me marrying Ilara.”
Krisil brought a hand to her chest, her expression stewing with indignation. “Ilara isn’t good enough? Dear, sweet Ilara, who has given everything she’s had to our village, never once complained, and still worked as hard as she could despite everything that’s happened to her family in the past year?”
As if realizing thatIwas what had happened to her family, Krisil drew up short.
They both seemed to reach the conclusion that Ilara was mated to the murderer of her family at the same time—well, they thought I’d murdered her family. Neither of them knew the Seary family still lived in my hidden village on the Cliffs of Sarum.
Complexions paling, the cooks backed up, horror descending upon their features.
I locked my jaw. “There is much you don’t know nor understand, but please believe me when I say that I would die for Ilara and would never harm her. Ever.”