"Thank you, your majesty—Winter! You are stunning too," I said, a little taken aback by her sudden compliment, trying to shake off the initial surprise. I hadn't expected to be hit with such an immediate flattery, especially not from someone like her.
"I know I am, honey," Winter responded with a sharp, confident grin that made it clear she was no stranger to compliments. Her voice dripped with a sort of self-assurance that seemed to exude from every pore. It was contagious, almost. Then, the realization hit me like a ton of bricks: now I understood exactly where Kai had inherited his over-the-top, unshakable confidence from. It was clearly genetic, passed down from mother to son.
"Did Kai inherit anything from his dad?" I couldn't help but ask, trying to make sense of the whirlwind of emotions and revelations that were spiraling through my mind in that moment. It was impossible to ignore how much of his personality had to come from his mother.
Winter's response was immediate and unexpected. She burst into laughter, as though I'd just cracked the most ridiculous and funniest joke in the world. It was so loud, so carefree, that it seemed to reverberate off the walls, leaving me uncertain about how to handle her amusement. It felt like I had just been caught in the middle of something I didn't fully understand.
"Oh, honey, I hear that all the time. We're similar, aren't we?" she said, her laughter gradually dying down as she tried to regain her composure. She gave me a look then—one of those looks that made you wonder if she could see straight through to your soul. "And yeah, he's reckless, just like his father. Not just reckless, though, mind you. He's sarcastic, childish—always pushing the boundaries, always testing his limits. He gets that from Chad. But," she paused for effect, her smile widening. "His ego? Thank the gods, that came from me."
I swallowed hard, feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer openness of her words. She was laying it all out, more than I'd ever expected. I wasn't sure how to process the personal, almost intimate details she was revealing. I had barely gotten to know her, yet she was talking like we were old friends.
"So, did you want to talk to me or something?" I tried to redirect the conversation, my mind spinning and my stomach doing flips at all the things she had just shared. I wasn't sure how much of it I wanted to hear.
Winter didn't rush to answer. Instead, she simply stared at me, her piercing green eyes locking onto mine. There was something unsettling about the way she looked at me, a calculating intensity in her gaze that made me feel like she could read every single thought swirling in my head. Those eyes… they were so similar to Kai's that it shocked me, sending a shiver down my spine that I couldn't ignore. It wasn't the comforting, motherly gaze I had hoped for—it was sharp, almost predatory.
"I wanted to meet you in person, honey," Winter said finally, breaking the tension. Her voice softened, though there was still an edge to it. "You're here with my babies now, and I needed to know if you were a good person and all." Babies? The word felt foreign coming from her, and I couldn't help but think about how strange it was to hear her talk about Kai and the others like that.
"Do you consider the whole inner circle part of your family then?" she asked, her expression changing just slightly, as though she was warming up to me.
"Oh, I do," Winter said, her voice filled with warmth. "Except for Sammie, who's much older than me. But the others? They're like my children." I wasn't sure how to feel about her saying that—how could she be so sweet, so affectionate? Why was she making me feel like this? I didn't want to like her. I really didn't. But everything about her was making that incredibly difficult. "All of them liked you, even my son, who is always cautious around strangers. He liked you."
Cautious around strangers? I felt a deep sense of confusion. Was she serious? I was the cautious one when I met Kai. I was the one holding back, unsure of how to proceed, analyzing every word and action. Kai had come off as confident, casual, almost too comfortable. But now she was saying he was cautious? It didn't make sense to me. But I bit my tongue, not willing to challenge her.
"I hope this is a good thing," I said, trying to play it off casually, though inside I was growing more and more uneasy.
Winter didn't change her gaze, though a thin, almost sly smile curled up on her lips, one that made me feel like she knew more than she was letting on. "That's my line, honey," she said with a knowing tone, her smile only widening. "'Cause I do hope this is a good thing too. But well, at first sight, they were right about you. You have the air of a good person, sure. But on the other hand, we can't read your thoughts or control your mind, can we?"
Her words struck me like a bolt of lightning, sending a chill running through my spine. The warning in her tone was unmistakable, and I realized then just how much danger I might have been walking into. Winter wasn't just friendly—she was assessing, calculating.
"So you're more prone to lying than any of us. And that, honey, is the dangerous fact of your presence here. Do you understand?" Her voice dropped just slightly, darkening with an edge that left me no room to misinterpret her meaning. It felt like she was pushing me to make a decision, to show my cards, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that.
"I do," I said, my voice steady despite the growing anxiety in my chest. "But I can't do anything about it. I was born this way."
Winter's gaze softened ever so slightly, her expression shifting to one of understanding. She let out a sigh. "I know, honey. Sammie already told me that," she replied, her voice quieter now, more contemplative. "But now I'm curious—curious to see how my son and the inner circle will break the spell your parents cast on you."
"So you know about that too…" I muttered, my breath catching in my throat. The spell. She knew. The knowledge seemed to hang in the air between us, heavy and ominous.
"I do," Winter confirmed, nodding with an air of finality. "It was very interesting to hear about, actually. See, I met your parents, you know… on the battlefield."
I froze, every muscle in my body tensing as my mind raced with the implications. On the battlefield? What did she mean by that? What did she know?
"Samantha," Winter continued, her voice lowering, thick with meaning, "fought by my side—and she had a crush on your father."
What. The. Hell.
I stood there, frozen in place, struggling to process what she had just said.