The stylized bird with a serpent clutched in its talons flew upside down. I was about to draw his attention to it but decided against it.
Care had been taken with every aspect of his appearance. Not one hair on his head was out of place. He chose to wear his crown upside down. Why? If it was a political statement, I was better off ignorant. I gladly fisted my thin plausible deniability in a chokehold and kept my questions to myself.
Taking all this into consideration, I made the best decision with the information available.
I forced out the words. “Is there somewhere I can change?”
A pleased gleam lit his eyes, but I let it pass without comment. Silent in his triumph, he gathered the clothes and escorted me to an enormous bedroom decorated in the same requisite shades of black as the rest of the house. I squinted to make out ornate details because of the monochromatic scheme.
Jeans and a faded denim shirt covered the arm of a black damask chair by the cold hearth.
Hello, master suite.
Why not? I mean, in a residence this size, empty rooms must be so difficult to come by.
He set my clothes on the bed, his bed, sorting the individual pieces as if concerned I might skip one then pointed toward the far right corner. “The bath is there if you want to refresh yourself before you change.”
“I might take you up on that.” I was grimy, and I wanted to make a good impression.
That desire to impress had been what tipped the scales in his favor.
The consuls would look at me and measure me against my father. I wouldn’t stack up. I knew it. Right now I looked human, and fae didn’t esteem mortals. I needed their respect if I wanted them to bargain with me fairly. I had one way to get it, assuming all royal fae weren’t immune to my talent the way Raven was, but going that route meant someone had to die needlessly in order for me to make my point.
If clothes made the fae, then it was time I dressed the part.
Chapter Nineteen
Constant tickling on my throat finally made me snap. My fashion statement might have suffered, but I yanked four tail feathers from the mini epaulets attached to the leather straps on my breastplate.
Raven cut his eyes in my direction.
I pretended not to notice.
We had left his home what felt like hours ago. Though my outfit was thin, the heat-spelled lining kept me toasty. The worst damage I took trudging through the powdery snow on Raven’s heels was cracked lips and a wind-burned face. My cheeks must have glowed red and raw as much as they stung. His remained pale and smooth as always.
The farther we trekked, the more relaxed he appeared and the tenser I became. We traveled deep into the heart of his house’s holdings. The tingling in my scalp told me this was not a place I should ever have seen.
Faerie was divided into seasons that mirrored the mortal realm, except all four seasons coexisted here. This world wasn’t spherical like Earth. Faerie was more of a geographic map, and it was possible to fall off the edges. Though it was more likely you would be eaten before that happened.
Winter, with its darkly creeping longer nights, belonged to Unseelie House. Summer, with its brightly languorous days, belonged to Seelie House. Autumn and Spring were neutral ground, but Mable told me once that Autumn was in Winter’s pocket and Spring had ties to Summer. Considering their seasonal segregations, it seemed odd the Halls of Winter would handle negotiations, unless that was an admission of guilt in itself. Still, shouldn’t we head toward Autumn? It favored Unseelie, which ought to put Raven at ease, without alienating the Seelie.
The way I saw it, I was a neutral party. Autumn was neutral ground. Neutrality was what I needed in order to avoid being seen as having a preference for either side.
Arriving dressed to match with a dark fae prince to the Halls of Winter made a statement.
Freaking fae men and their games. Mom had been right to warn me about them.
“Look there.” Raven’s voice carried over the wind. “The Halls of Winter.”
I followed his line of sight to a fortress made of ice blocks, each rectangular brick taller than I was. Turrets rose in three of the four corners. In the farthest corner, an enormous platform hung suspended over a quarter of the exposed interior courtyard.
Snow hung dense in the