Queen of Summer's Ice (Book 2)

Chapter 3

     Yana and I traveled to the boarder together on our own horses, only stopping when they needed to rest. When ever we spoke it was about the mission, and not much about anything else. Yana mostly kept to herself, never speaking much about her childhood, or even if she had family members. And I never pushed her on it, if one day she wants to tell me, then I'll listen. 

     One would think she would distant herself even more from my kids, but they seemed to have grown on her. Especially Dax. It began when he started following her around the castle, trying to hide in the shadows. And more when he would just watch her when she worked, like he was studying her. Since she couldn't get rid of him entirely, she took him under her wing once in a while. 

     We rode to the boarder between Summer and Winter, where the grass started to vibrate with colors, and where the air melted away the snow. I took a deep breath in and the fire hummed in my core with pleasure. When we crossed fully into summer we changed out of our winter clothes and into more comfortable Summer ones. Yana wore a wrap around cloth on her top that exposed most of her skin, she had about a weeks ride from here to the Spring boarder, and until then she'd add some color to her pale winter skin. I on the other hand wore a cloak and pulled the hood over my face, I didn't need anyone knowing I was here in Summer until I got to the castle.

     "You have one month starting now," I said to her, "Don't get caught, don't get hurt. Those are my orders."

     She nodded her head, "If I come back in less than a month then I deserve a raise."

     I smiled a little, "Fine. If you take longer than a month you get a pay cut."

     She smirked a little too. And then she started riding off for the Spring court. And I to Summer.

     The ride to Summer was easy and quick, there were hardly any stops and better yet, no disturbances. Not even when I took the short cut through the mountains where Ray, Zinnia and I were attacked on our first time. I was mostly alone during the ride, Nuri tended to go solo sometimes, but he knew where I was heading so there was no point in keeping him by my side.

     I finally made it the the Summer castle, and decided to skip out from entering through the front entrance where most of the guards were. I didn't feel like going through them, having everyone announce my presence and then see my father. I just wanted to go straight to Elis. 

     The sun was just setting over the plains of summer making the sky a soft pink with highlights of lavender, but the beauty of the day ended there. The humidity in the air was still and stiff, it made the clothes on my back stick to my skin and the cloak stick to my cheeks. All I wanted was a nice cool bath with dissolving salts and to spend the rest of my time here in my favorite pool of roses. But as I slid off my horse I knew that my relaxation time by the pool was probably not going to happen this time around, but the bath could happen by the end of the night. 

     The training area was empty, lucky for me, most of the warriors were out on patrol or changing shifts. Although this worried me, mostly because it also meant that anyone could sneak in. I'd have to assign more warriors on patrol, we wouldn't want a spy from Spring to come in the castle this easily. I left a good amount of frozen ice near the door for the horse to cool himself off with and immediately he started licking and nibbling on the cube while I went inside.

     I thought about heading to Elis' bedroom to find him this late in the day, but knowing him - and how we were at the brink of war - checking his studies would probably be a better bet. I didn't even bother knocking on the door, I just pushed it open with a gust of snow and found him sitting in his red chair with his head down in a book. Just like I didn't bother to knock, he didn't bother to look up.