Page 18 of The Autumn Prince

He looked around for the next thing to clean up unprompted. “I sent messengers, but they were their own citizens returning to them, so I don’t know if they delivered their missives.”

“What do you mean by their own citizens returning?”

“Hydris had been trying to lure me into joining him against Flurris, so a messenger from Spring was here. I sent that messenger back to Hydris with what I knew about the curse and when it would take effect. There were messengers from the other courts as well, so I sent them back the same information. We haven’t been able to effectively communicate since, though.”

And he’d already told me about everyone getting sorted back into their court of birth, which had really ticked me off. They’d separated families. For three years!

“Lars said the person who cast the curse was desperate and impulsive,” I told him, “but I think it was much worse than that.”

Incendis nodded. “Arrogant, self-righteous, possibly a touch maniacal.”

Wow, maybe the king should’ve taken a look in the mirror before he blamed everything on his kids. I didn’t know the other princes, but from what Incendis had said, if they were like their father, then he only had himself to blame.

“Where’s your father now?”

“Locked in amber in the center of the realm.”

I blinked at him. “Is he…alive?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugged, his head ducked so I couldn’t see his eyes. “We knew a sacrifice would be required for such a spell. He didn’t bother to know what it was ahead of time.”

Impulsive. It was entirely possible Lars had been the king’s trusted…somebody. A person who’d been there to witness what had happened but, out of loyalty to the family, had kept the secrets. Until he met me. The person who was supposed to save everyone.

Incendis held his hands out, broom in one, dustpan in the other. “There doesn’t seem to be anything left to clean up.”

I stood up and walked around, making a show of inspecting his work. Honestly, he’d done well. He might’ve needed me to demonstrate how to do something, but he’d learned quickly and, actually, he hadn’t complained once. While there was a lot less stuff around, the room was clean.

“Excellent job,” I allowed. “Now we can find out where to take the trash and put the cleaning supplies back where they go.”

I could see that he wanted to comment on that. His lip twitched and his eyes narrowed for a moment, but then he reined himself in. I smiled. He smiled back. His looked a touch snarly.

Someone knocked on the door. “Pardon me, Your Highness, but Mister Danbury has all of the castle staff members you requested in the back parlor now.”

“What excellent timing,” I said and sashayed toward the door. “What’s your name?”

“Curtis, sir.”

“Lead the way, Curtis.”

“Yes, sir.”

As we headed down the hall, I heard Incendis drop the broom and dustpan before his heels clicked on the floor while he hurried to catch up to us.

At the prospect of finally figuring out who Lars was, I felt a strange kind of excitement and dread. Like what if he was the bad guy and worming his way into my life so he could do even more damage? We’d find him now, expose him, and he’d cackle like a demon before enacting his final revenge.

It could happen. I was in a realm of the fae after all.

But when we walked into the room and saw six men standing at (sort of ) attention, I sighed and put my hands on my hips because my Lars wasn’t one of them.

And then I looked at the portrait hanging above the fireplace. My heart gave a thump because what castle anywhere would have a painting of a servant hanging on the wall?

“Who’s that?” I asked only to realize I’d interrupted Incendis and another man talking to each other. “Him,” I said, pointing, “right there.”

“We can discuss my father’s portraits after you tell me which man here is⁠—”