OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER THREE: OF THE RING, THE CHAIN, AND THE COFFEE CRISIS

"Because he's been grinning up there like a love-struck idiot."

"I was not!"

"She was. I can hear her heartbeat." Saichel grinned.

I just rolled my eyes.

KD hadn't returned to his usual polished look after the assembly. Still in his post-suspension phase, refined but different. His frosted midnight navy blazer stayed sharp, steel-gray trim and silver lapels intact. The silver-lined SAA crest said it all: he's back, untouchable. Frost-pattern embroidery shimmered faintly in the light, hidden like everything else about him.

When I asked last night if he'd go back to being the "Prim and Propper Ice President," he just smirked:

"Let them think I've melted. Let them believe the suspension changed me. It's still me. Just... winter, disguised in summer."

And somehow, that was colder.

Everyone is still not used to him being like that. How can they be? They've always seen him in his Ice President look. Always pristine. Always polished. Hair was never messy. Eyes are always unreadable. Never smile. Never laugh.

And yet here he is, looking the exact opposite.

My phone buzzed again.

KD: Stop staring, girlfriend.

And I saw him grinned.

I glared at him and replied.

ME: I'm not.

KD: You are. Don't deny. I'll kiss you later.

His last message made me roll my eyes again.

And the annoying Ice President? He laughed when he saw that. His soft and warm laugh echoes the whole Commons.

Everyone froze.

Who wouldn't? The untouchable, emotionless President is casually laughing right now.

And then, Lyle and Keryn arrived. Lyle is calm, unreadable while Keryn is dramatic as ever, clinging to him like a shadow with purpose.

Lyle wore a double-breasted obsidian blazer, high-collared and sharp, crimson-lined cuffs marked with gold-stitched rank. His crimson vest caught faint glints of digital threadwork beneath. Polished shoes, tailored pants, and a signet ring that wasn't just for show. Somewhere under all that precision was Ares, his Orichalcum weapon, tucked into inner holsters like secrets waiting to be dealt.

Keryn was in contrast in motion. Her blazer soft-draped with layered flaps, a mock turtleneck peeking beneath. Her modular pants held tools hidden in the seams, and her boots were sleek, flat, and silent. Her magnetic ring set glinted on her fingers, already syncing to the terrain. One tap, and she could map the world beneath us.

When Lyle looked up at KD across the second-floor terrace, they exchanged a single nod.

Quiet. Final. Like kings passing the crown between breaths.

But it wasn't silence for long.

"So you've stopped pretending you're not one of them?"

Of course. Bianchi Madriaga. And her High Chamber entourage, crowding near.

"Never said I wasn't," I shrugged.

"Besides I was introduced in the assembly yesterday, you were there too. So you knew I was one of them."

I smirked at her. "Their Princess, remember?"

The Ardent Court present here didn't even move.

They just watched.