Page 2 of This Frozen Heart

“When the Snow Queen saw what became of her family, her heart broke into many shards,” Granny adds. “To survive, she carved out what remained of it and turned those shards into a weapon. But even without a heart, she misses her family. Because even though no one recallshername, she still remembers the names of those she lost.”

Smalls nods. “Me, too.”

I squeeze his arm to remind himwe’refamily now. We’re all each other has left.

“Now the Snow Queen wanders the wilderness, seeking lost souls. Then she freezes their hearts with her shards and takes them to live with her in her ice palace on top of the highest mountain in all Gaelia, where they become the worst versions of themselves, every good feeling locked beneath the ice.”

Thedummkopfraises his hand again, and for a moment I think he’s still going to tattle. But then he asks, “What happens if the Snow Queen gets you and you don’t want to be gotten?”

Granny smiles, and I shiver to see her two missing front teeth. “The only cure for a frozen heart is the one thing the Snow Queen will never understand— true love’s kiss.”

Chapter One

Gerta

Gaelia, during the first year of Emperess Elspeth’s regency . . .

Some say that the Snow Queen is the protector of Gaelia, the silent defender against all our enemies. They revere her as a living saint and make her into a symbol of our freedom.

I know the truth. She is no better than the southern invaders, who say they are our new overlords. Because when they stole our lands, she remained on her own.

The icy palace atop Schneekönigin Mountain might be a beacon of hope to others when the light gleams upon its alleged ice walls. But I see it for what it is atop the mountain no one has ever successfully climbed to the summit of— a fortress for a woman who looks down on us and does nothing to ease our suffering.

She won’t save our people, so Iwill.

“Gertie,” Smalls whispers as he crouches his massive frame beside me in the snow. “Everyone’s in position.”

“Even the caravan?”

My adopted brother smiles at the old joke between us. The Imparias pride themselves on the order they seek to subdue us under, but their perfect schedules are their greatest weakness. After all, if we know they always send the supply caravan to Ewigkeit Fortress the day before a full moon along this very route they carved betweenourmountains, is it really our fault for intercepting them?

But they will never change, and neither shall we relent, so here we are.

When I hold out my hand, Smalls hands me the looking glass. Then I adjust it so I can see the approaching dots a little more clearly.

This month’s caravan comprises of two covered wagons pulled by four horses each. There are two men wearing the teal uniforms of the Constantinium regiment. Four more men wearing those same uniforms ride on horseback, with two flanking each wagon.

Twisting my looking glass, I get a better view of the wagon in the back. I want to see if it’s sinking as low in the snow as the last caravan was.

With how desperate Ewigkeit is becoming, I know it’s only a matter of time before they start sending caravans the opposite direction. We won’t stop those, because the foreigners returning to their own homeland is all we ever wanted.

What I see on the wagon almost causes me to drop my looking glass. While another soldier in uniform is driving the wagon, the person behind him wears a gray gown.

“There is a woman among them,” I hiss.

“So what?” Smalls shrugs. “We have women among us, too. But they don’t show any chivalry toward us.”

“But the law requires a life for a life concerning the deaths of their foot soldiers. What do you think will happen if we kill one of their womenfolk?”

“We won’t.” Smalls rolls his eyes. Despite his girth, his face seems almost infantile in certain lights, making him seem perfectly innocent. “We’ve stopped half a dozen caravans causing nothing more than surface injuries to their soldiers and us. There’s nothing to fear.”

Yet I suddenly have the terrible sense that there is everything to fear today.

Biting my lip, I spy Wolf waiting for her signal on the road just by the curve. And even though I don’t see them, I know Biggs and Prince are in place just as Smalls said.

“Tread with caution,” I whisper.

Smalls widens his eyes in an attempt to display more innocence. “Don’t I always?”

---