If we’d have a High Priestess do some odious ceremony, as Ianthe had done the year before-Ī year. I was still new enough to being High Lady that I had no idea what my formal role was to be. “It’ll be nice to have a white Solstice,” she said, voice lilting and yet hushed.

Nuala laid the ornate lattice crust atop the pie and began pinching the edges together, her shadowy fingers making quick, deft work of it. Elain had already readied the garden for winter, veiling the more delicate bushes and beds with burlap. “It’s still snowing,” I observed rather pointlessly, peering out the kitchen window at the garden beyond as I rinsed off the plate, fork, and cup. Certainly not when they worked-spied-for both Rhys and Azriel. A female of few words, though neither twin could be considered shy. Up to the elbows in making some sort of meat pie, the half-wraith gave me a grateful smile and let me do it.

“I can wash them,” I said by way of greeting. Nuala was already preparing for lunch at the worktable, no sign of her twin, Cerridwen, but I waved her off as she made to take my dishes. I scooped up my plate, draining my tea to the dregs, and padded toward the kitchen. When my own work allowed it, I often joined him. Also not unusual-he’d been visiting our war allies these months to solidify our relationships, build trade, and keep tabs on their post-wall intentions. Likely not even within the borders of the Night Court. A sure sign that Rhys was nowhere near Velaris. It seemed Winter now wanted to play.įinally awake enough to be coherent, I lowered the shield of black adamant guarding my mind and cast a thought down the soul-bridge between me and Rhys. I was High Lady of the Night Court, yes, but also one blessed with the gifts of all the courts. The snow fell, thick clumps plopping onto the dried grass of the tiny front lawn, crusting the spikes and arches of the decorative fence beyond it.ĭeep inside me, rising with every swirling flake, a sparkling, crisp power stirred. A long, brutal winter that had made me desperate enough to kill a wolf, that had eventually led me here-to this life, this … happiness. Once, I had dreaded that first snow, had lived in terror of long, brutal winters.īut it had been a long, brutal winter that had brought me so deep into the woods that day nearly two years ago.

Seated at the long cherrywood dining table at the town house, I frowned at the whirling snow beyond the leaded glass windows. Nothing unusual, as we were both busy to the point of exhaustion these days. He hadn’t been in bed when I’d awoken, the mattress on his side already cold. The ground had finally frozen solid last week, and by the time I’d finished devouring my breakfast of toast and bacon, washed down with a heady cup of tea, the pale cobblestones were dusted with fine, white powder. The first snow of winter had begun whipping through Velaris an hour earlier.

A court of thorns and roses in order