Page 57 of Jilted By Jack Frost

Gabriel sits cross-legged on the floor, his back against the stone wall. The formal attire he always wears is wrinkled and stained. His usual smirk is gone, replaced by something darker.

“Come to gloat,brother?” The last word drips with venom.

My fingers curl intofists. “I want answers.”

“About what? How I deceived you? How I hid things from you?” He stands, moving closer to the barrier. “Or perhaps about our dear father?”

The temperature plummets several degrees, frost creeping across the stone floor between us. “All of it.”

“Did you know our father had a taste for fae women?” Gabriel’s gray eyes flash with a dangerous light. “My mother was a noble in his court. When she became pregnant, he cast her out of his kingdom and into the mortal realm to die like a dog in the streets.”

Like father, like son. The thought makes bile rise in my throat, acid burning the back of my tongue. How many fucking times had I pushed Violet away, terrified she would destroy everything I’d built? That she would shatter the careful control I’d maintained for centuries?

“She survived long enough to birth me and raise me for a while, but being away from the magical realm killed her slowly, painfully.”

I watch Gabriel stalk back and forth in his prison. His steps remind me of a wild animal—dangerous and ready to strike at any moment.

“I grew up alone in the mortal world.” He frowns. “Learning to control powers I didn’t understand. When I finally found my way back to this realm, I arrived at court with my most charming smile and polished manners.”

His hands clench at the memory, frost crackling across his knuckles. “Father took me in, gave me his time and wisdom without knowing who I truly was.”

I remember the day Gabriel first appeared at court, charming and polite, playing the role of an eager noble seeking patronage. No one suspected his true identity then. He ingratiated himself with the courtiers, learnedour customs, and caught our father’s eye with his quick wit and natural affinity for winter magic.

“The lies tasted bitter on my tongue each time I bowed, each time I played the role of an ambitious noble seeking his favor.” He paces the length of the room, his footsteps leaving patches of ice in their wake and the temperature drops several degrees. “But I needed to know him, to understand the man who had abandoned my mother.”

A bitter laugh escapes him. “Then it happened—his eyes went wide as he finally saw it. My mother’s fae features staring back at him from my face. The woman he’d fucked and thrown away like garbage.”

His fingers curl into fists. “The truth poured out between us, toxic and raw. He kept me at court, sure. Gave me a fancy title and tasks to occupy my time.”

The temperature plummets as rage burns cold in his eyes. “But his words fucking gutted me worse than any knife could: ‘Jack remains my only true heir.’ Because that’s all I’d ever be to him—the bastard son who could never measure up to his precious legitimate prince.”

Perhaps that’s when the seeds of hatred took root. I watch my half-brother pace, remembering how Father grew increasingly unstable in those final years, jumping at shadows and muttering about prophecies.

His paranoia poisoned everything, including whatever fragile bond might have formed between Gabriel and me. Now I wonder if Father saw something coming that the rest of us missed.

“You could have told me the truth from the beginning,” I say, my voice hard as ice. “We might have been brothers in more than just blood.”

“And risk you rejecting me like our father rejected my mother?” He laughs, the sound brittle as breaking ice. “No, I needed to earn my place first. To prove I was worthy of the throne he wanted to deny me by birthright.”

The words hit me like shards of ice straight to the chest. How many times had I done the same to Violet? Pushed her away because I deemed her unworthy of my position, my power, my cursed bloodline?

“Your mate showed me an uncomfortable truth,” Gabriel says, his mouth twisting in disgust. “That wallowing in misery and revenge isn’t the only fucking option. Though I still want to watch this entire realm burn.”

Violet. My chest constricts with the memory of her forgiveness, her stubborn willingness to see past my coldness and fear, to reach the man buried beneath centuries of ice.

“She forgave me,” I say quietly, the words barely more than a whisper. “Even after everything I did to push her away.”

“How fortunate for you.” Gabriel’s voice drips with bitterness like poison. “Some of us weren’t blessed with such understanding souls in our lives.”

“You could be.” The words surprise even me as they leave my mouth. “If you’re willing to let go of the past that haunts you.”

Gabriel stares at me, searching my face with an intensity that burns. “You sound like her now. All that talk of redemption and second chances.”

“Because she showed me there’s strength in forgiveness, not weakness.” I place my hand against the magical barrier separating us, feeling its energy hum againstmy palm. “You’re my brother, Gabriel. Despite everything you’ve done, that truth hasn’t changed.”

For a moment, something flickers in his expression, a crack in his carefully constructed walls of hatred and revenge.

“It’s too late for that,brother.“ Ice crystals form around his fingers. “I’ve spent centuries planning my revenge. I won’t let your newfound enlightenment stop me.”

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