Mab had retreated from the full court for the day, settling into the study that held the mirror that was the twin of the one she had given Alec. It could have been a premonition quiet easily. The nights were growing longer and Summer was dying as Winter rose. Rising power danced under her skin, made everything different and her eyes flicker white or black too easily. So the gentle sound like a muffled bell being tolled that warned Alec was about to address her came as little surprise. The face was.

He looked so much older with those golden eyes. For the first time she could see that he truly was a king, not just some youngling to be guided through things. Part of her mourned that, for it meant they would war some coming day. No small part of her was breathless as she looked upon him then, the mantel settled easily on his shoulders. Always Mab had felt the physical reaction to how Winter and Summer were drawn to each other even as they hated each other more strongly than Auberon. She had a suspicion that did not change with Alec now wearing the crown. It was an arousal that warmed and pulled her to him. But the past months of pregnancy had been a crash course in self denial that left no outward sign of what he could now do to her.

"It seems time, does it not?"