Page 55 of From Frost to Flame

“What do you mean?” Lex asked, holding on to him tighter as snow blew in his face. “Everyone gets cold.”

His shoulders tensed as he searched for what to say.

“Silas? Did I say something wrong?”

“No. It’s just complicated.” He picked his words carefully. “I can’t get cold. I notice the sharp ice crystals on my face and how laborious it is to stomp through the piled snow, but that’s it.”

“How have I never noticed before?”

“Orion is always warm, so it doesn’t come up. When I’ve gone to cold places, it’s been for a battle, so everyone’s too busy to take note.”

Lex lowered his voice. “Is this somehow related to you and The Ravenous One?”

“Kind of. I don’t want to get into it here. But I meant it when I said I’d explain it all someday.” He stopped in his tracks as his ears picked up a far-off cry.It must be the wind playing tricks on me.“Castor, did you hear that?” One look at his brother’s face drained of color and Silas knew he heard it, too.

“I did, but that’s not possible.”

“Hear what?” Lex asked, confused. The winds answered him—a cacophony of overlapping voices came rushing in.

“You betrayed your family!”

“You said you’d come for me!”

“You were a monster!”

“Murderer!”

Two whispers Silas recognized cut through all the chaos and made his heart stop.

“You’re a curse,”they screeched in unison, as if they were trying to cut him with words alone.

“Not possible,” Silas whispered to himself. A well of pain opened in his heart. He wondered if he would even recognize their faces in the fog or if his nightmares had contorted their features with time. Every syllable of their hateful words was a knife to his ears.

They’re dead. They aren’t here.

Lex buried his face into the crook of Silas's neck. “It’s Michael. I can’t see him. I can’t. I want to get out of here.”

“It’s going to be okay. I’m going to take care of you.” He scanned the group and realized Lex’s family wasn’t faring any better. If anything, the couple was crumbling by the second.

Mora clutched her ears. Tears rolled down her cheeks and glinted in the dark. She looked up at Julian with pained eyes. “I can’t listen to this.”

“Fuck them. They aren’t real.” Julian glared into the fog. His playful demeanor was replaced with an unwavering rage as he pulled her into his arms. “They can’t be. It’s been centuries. They aren’t real.”

They’re breaking. I have to get the vampires out of here.

Silas moved past them, to his brother who had fallen silent. “Castor?”

Castor balled his hands into fist and closed his eyes. His chest rose and fell as he took a long, shaky breath.

“Hey, look at me,” Silas said, nudging him. He knew victims of their clan’s massacre were calling to his brother from the bleak abyss. Growing up, Castor was the one who came to his side when he woke up screaming and coated in sweat. His big brother always chased the demons away in the dark, and Silas was determined to return the favor. He nudged him harder and used the same words Castor told him as a child when the tears wouldn’t stop. “Look at me. They’re gone. We’re here. It’s not fair, but it is what it is. We must keep living. We have to keep moving.”

Castor opened his eyes and blinked a few times as if broken from a trance. “You were listening to me then. I always assumed you were half asleep.”

“You were too loud to ignore, unfortunately. Now come on. We have to get the vampires out of here. I’m worried about them.”

"A curse. A plague. A mistake.”

Every word from the ghost of his parents clawed at Silas's painful memories, but he steeled himself against them. Being king and an Alpha meant breaking wasn’t an option. Everyone else’s safety came first.

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