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Noctorno and Princess Cora.
    Taking him in, I found I wished I had the
time to study Prince Noctorno more closely. But even with the brief
glance I gave him, I noted the resemblance to the man who called
himself Noc was uncanny.
    Prince Noctorno of Hawkvale had a scar on his
face that didn’t mar but instead enhanced his features, which Noc
did not have.
    But that was the only difference.
    As I came to a halt at the front of the desk,
I sensed more and looked over my shoulder.
    When I did, I felt an odd pang hit my
belly.
    Circe was sitting in an armchair (and it was
more than disconcerting, though I’d never allow it to show, the
present Ilsa looking like a dead Ilsa, two of the same Circes and
two of the same Noctornos in that room).
    Noc was standing beside her, leaning into her
chair in a way that made me question my read of the situation the
evening before.
    It seemed with the way he appeared now that
what they’d had was not a tryst.
    His position, the closeness of it, would
suggest something else.
    That odd pang came again, stronger, when I
saw he was regarding me, a look of familiarity on his face, warmth
in his eyes.
    He was the only one in the room who was
showing even a modicum of cordiality. The rest were regarding me
with unconcealed impatience (even if I had just that moment
arrived) and even (in the case of Frey and Apollo), dislike.
    It wasn’t cordiality Noc was displaying,
however.
    It was friendliness.
    It took me off guard, mostly because, outside
my friend Valeria, the only true friend I had in the Drakkar House
(or anywhere), no one looked on me with friendliness.
    “It’s good you were able to rise from your
bed. Or Sjofn’s bed, as the Winter Palace is the home of Lunwyn’s
Ice Princess.”
    Queen Aurora’s cool greeting turned my
attention back to her.
    I didn’t trouble myself with a reply.
    It was not lost on me that my behavior (in
more than being forced to turn traitor against my country, indeed
an adulthood (and then some) of behaving precisely like a Drakkar)
had earned me this kind of enmity.
    Any other person, even our queen (who rarely
showed any emotion) would be aware of all they’d lost, all they’d
suffered, all they’d known Antoine had suffered, and thus she would
deduce sleep would not have been easy.
    Indeed, by the gods, day in, day out, simply
finding the strength to throw my legs over the side of the bed and
face another day plagued with the pain was an extraordinary
endeavor.
    But I had not earned that regard.
    I had earned the frosty look in her eyes that
accompanied the chill in her voice.
    And as ever, I withstood it, but this time, I
had no venomous rejoinder.
    I just stood there silently.
    “In order to save you the energy of making
your play, Franka,” she continued. “And as we’ve all got much more
important things to move on to, we’ve discussed recompense for your
activities of yesterday and we’re seeing about doling that out
without delay.”
    I stood silent, but inside I went still.
    How much I had changed.
    Even playing my small part in saving the
world, it hadn’t occurred to me to use that happenstance to better
my circumstances. Prior to Antoine, this very thought would be the
first thing on my lips before I’d actually go to Spectre Isle to
face the three most evil, most powerful witches in our entire
hemisphere.
    I’m not slipping, Antoine, my love , I
thought in horror. I’ve lost it completely!
    Queen Aurora swept out a hand slightly to her
right, indicating the small chest on her desk.
    “Lunwyn’s Sjofn ice diamonds,” she declared,
and I felt my knees lock.
    Even that size chest, filled with Lunwyn’s
highly sought after ice diamonds, was not a small fortune.
    It was a magnificent one.
    “This from Lunwyn, as thanks,” Aurora uttered
her last word as if it was difficult for her to say. She then
gestured to the largest chest that lay in the middle of the three.
“Korwahk emeralds, rubies and sapphires.”
    By the gods!
    It took