Page 54 of The Alien's Cruel Starfrost Domain

Earlier today, I’d been certain I’d gathered my courage to kill Ivrael. I realize now I’ve been a fool.

I won’t be able to kill him.

I can’t even stop myself from kissing him.

In the kitchen, the bitter taste of failure floods my mouth, and it’s all I can do to choke back a sob. What the fuck is wrong with me? I drop down beside the fireplace and stare into the glowing embers.

But I have not survived here this long for a single setback to completely derail me.

Two setbacks, a tiny voice inside my head reminds me.You didn’t get the map, and then you made out with Ivrael.

I shove that voice down deep into the box in my mind where I have kept every agonizing moment since Roland woke me up that morning to drag me to the Trasqo Market. With a deep inhale, I give myself five minutes for self-pity and recriminations, and then I roll my shoulders back, straightening my spine and lifting up my chin.

So I failed tonight. Fine. Today wasn’t the day, wasn’tmyday.

But I’m pretty sure I still have several weeks before Izzy turns eighteen. Ivrael may think he’s been teaching me obedience, but all I’ve really learned is patience. I’ve spent almost a whole year learning how to wait. How to keep going.

I will find a time to try again.

And the next time will be different. It has to be—because if I fail again, Izzy will pay the price.

All I have to do in the meantime is ignore the way my skin still tingles where Ivrael touched me. Ignore how much I want him.

God, I hope I can learn to do all that in time to save my sister.

CHAPTER 17

IVRAEL

The knock at my bedchamber door the next morning couldn’t come at a worse time.

I’m watching through the window as Lara crosses the courtyard, her golden-red curls catching the pale sunlight. Even from here, I can see she’s shivering despite the patched cloaks she wears. My fingers itch to conjure heat around her, to pull her close to my body and warm her myself. I long to kiss her again, to leave her lips swollen and pink, to hear her moan with desire for me.

It had been all I could do to allow her to leave the gallery the night before, to convince myself not to take her back to my bedchamber. And now I find myself fighting the urge to go to her.

I do not have time to deal with whatever manor duties await me.

“Enter,” I call out, forcing my attention away from the window.

Khrint steps in and bows. “Your Lordship, Lady Uanna has arrived.”

For a moment, I’m certain I’ve misheard. “Lady Uanna? Here?”

“Yes, Your Lordship. She’s waiting in the front parlor.”

Acid burns in my throat. Of all the complications I don’t needright now, my former lover showing up uninvited sits at the very top of the list. Particularly with Baron Svalkat still in residence, watching my every move.

And especially, I realize, since I never actually bothered to inform Lady Uanna of her status as a “former” lover.

“I’ll be right there.” I wave Khrint away, then pause at my reflection in the window. I straighten my coat, ensuring the golden embroidery lies flat. The action is pure habit—I’ve never cared what Uanna thought of my appearance before.

But that was when I had slightly fewer secrets to keep.

When I move into the small parlor just off the foyer, Uanna stands in the center of the space I use as a receiving room, her white-blonde hair hanging in a smooth curtain down her back, her pale blue eyes taking in every detail of the room as if cataloging changes since her last visit. She wears her usual Ice Court finery—layers of white and silver silk that make her look like she’s been carved from the snow itself.

“Ivrael.” She moves toward me, one hand extended. “It’s been far too long.”

I take her fingers in mine and bow over them, brushing my lips across her knuckles in the proper greeting between nobles. Her eyes narrow at the formality—the last time she visited, I greeted her with considerably more enthusiasm.

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