Claus

Seven

When the letter arrived, Cassian had gone down to the lobby and returned with a coffee and strawberry Danish for himself.

A Nymph knocked on their door, flowers braided through her long golden hair. Without saying a word, she handed them a tan envelope that green moss grew over and left.

Faryn broke the seal, moss flaking and falling to the floor.

It was a summons.

Her hands shook as she held it, her fingers ripping the flowers that had been pressed into the sheet. Chrysanthos Thales ordered their appearance at his palace within the hour. The Green Man. Had it been those Spirit Court members who had alerted him to who exactly was seeking refuge in his city?

The Green Man was part of the Narcissus Court though. A small court compared to Spirit and Winter. Of its members' loyalties, Spring the Beauty was loyal to the Winter Court as her husband and daughter were Moroz and Snow Maiden. As for every other member, that was a mystery.

Cassian took the letter, his eyes scanning it. "We should pack as if we aren't coming back."

"Are we fleeing then?"

He opened a dresser drawer and pulled out his clothes he'd worn from Eiraacia. "We'll be hard pressed to leave the city now that he knows we're here."

He changed and asked Faryn if she would store his new ones in her bag. He actually asked it rather politely—in the voice he used for those people on the plane—which meant his clothes ended up in her bag. With the addition of her new boots, her bag was swollen. He'd have to find his own soon.

To go before the Green Man, Faryn dressed for a fight. Not that her dagger would do a thing against the Spring King.

Outside white limo waited for them. The scent of Cassian's magic brewing was in the air he was ready to lash out at a moment's notice.

Their driver had pointed ears, and Faryn's nostrils flared as they sat down. Diwata, a type of Elf. She only recognized the scent because of the other Diwata she'd met. Fae and Elves and Thorine had distinct scents from one another, but other kinds of Acurials, like Alkine and Laihr, couldn't pick up on them.

A bottle of champagne chilled in a bucket of ice. Though her mouth went dry at the condensation slowly crawling down the side of the bottle, it was best if she didn't have any. Should Chrysanthos attack, she needed to be able to at least dodge a vine.

Cassian rubbed his palms over the top of his pants. His eyes flicked to the champagne and back to her.

It wasn't a smooth ride to the palace. The cobblestones jolted the limo, and Faryn didn't know how anyone was supposed to attempt to drink anything while it was in motion. She couldn't talk to Cassian, couldn't ask what he expected when they arrived. Not when the Diwata would report anything they said back to the Green Man. If they spoke too friendly, they'd be called allies, too harshly, and they'd probably say she was somehow holding Cassian prisoner. If they really thought she could bring down Claus, they could rationalize anything.

Would the Green Man turn them into the Winter Court as some sort of offering to establish an alliance?

The limo pulled in front of a gleaming white mansion, fit for a Greek god living on Mount Olympus. Stepping out of the limo, she felt swallowed up by the shadows of the columns that stretched up into the sky. Dark spring-green vines wove around the trunks of the columns as if they too could soar to the clouds.

This was a palace for giants. Though the hotel they were staying in was larger, there was something about the Green Man's palace that made Faryn inconsequential to the world.