Page 1 of The King of Frost and Shadows

PROLOGUE

The lantern in my hand flickered as I tiptoed through the castle’s dark secret passageway. I’d learned that Tavish, the Unseelie prince and my friend, was doing poorly, and I needed to see him. I didn’t understand why Father wanted to hide this from me, and I didn’t know where Tavish’s parents were, but he shouldn’t be alone.

He’d do the same for me if our roles were reversed.

When Father hadn’t come to wish me good night with Mother, my pulse had started racing. The last time he hadn’t shown, I’d learned the next day I’d been betrothed to the dragon prince, Pyralis, and that the Unseelie were no longer our acquaintances.

Yet again, none of it made sense to me, but I supposed that was to be expected. I was only ten years old.

I’d always assumed I’d be promised to Tavish. My parents and I and the Unseelie royals met twice a year so the ruling fae families could spend time together. Though the relationship between the two kingdoms had always been uneasy, it was nothing compared to our fraught relationship with the dragons.

When I pressed her for answers, Mother had let it slip that Tavish was here in the holding cells. Then she’d asked me not to let Father know she’d told me. He didn’t want me to know, likely because he knew I’d do this.

Cobwebs hung in the corners of the stone walls, and I tried to control my breathing. I hated how dusty it smelled in here, and I avoided glancing at the floor. I’d walked the corridor twice a year since I’d turned four, learning its twists and turns in case something ever happened and I needed to escape. Father’s intent hadn’t been for me to use it to sneak around behind his wings.

An animal scurried by my feet, and my heart hammered, pounding against my ribs. I closed my eyes and tried not to scream. Maybe I should’ve waited until morning to visit Tavish, but the weird expression on Mother’s face and the way her vibrant red wings had hugged her body had my chest feeling tight, like I couldn’t breathe. I’d never seen her forehead with lines before. Between that and Tavish being in a holding cell, I’d realized things in the Seelie Court were worse than Father had let on … bad enough that he’d promised me to adragon.

When the creature had scurried far enough away, I took two more steps and turned right where the door would be. I lifted the lantern higher, my arm shaking with fatigue from how long I’d been carrying it around. The holding cells were as far away as you could get from the royal bedrooms and a place that an attacker would least expect us to flee to. That was one reason the holding cells were rarely used, and only for a partial day when they were—to keep the cells free each night in case the dragons decided to attack. The last we’d heard, their kingdom’s resources were strained, so they were searching for another land to move to.

Gritty stone rubbed against myfingertips. I’d never opened the door before—Father always handled it—but I’d watched him closely enough to find the lever in the bottom corner.

I squatted, my pale-blue silk nightgown brushing the smooth floor, and then flinched, realizing I’d need to change when this was over, or someone would notice the dirt. Exhaling, my aqua wings fluttered behind me, revealing my nerves. Luckily, I was alone, though I could still hear my father’s voice echoing in my head.Lira, as the future Seelie queen, you can’t let others see your emotions. You must always be confident and strong.

Easy for him to say. He’d been nine hundred years old when they’d finally been blessed with an heir.

My finger reached a divot, and something sharp pricked my finger. I jerked back and stuck my finger into my mouth. The sweet honey taste of my blood hit my tongue as I tried to ease the sting … and the stone wall faintly creaked open.

A groan sounded from the darkened room, and I edged inside, allowing the lantern to cast a warm glow.

I froze.

The boy I remembered from not too long ago couldn’t possibly be the fourteen-year-old before me.

His face was paler than normal—which spoke volumes for the Prince of Darkness, Frost, and Nightmares—reminding me of the snow I’d seen a handful of times when we’d traveled to the Unseelie castle. His onyx wings enveloped him like a barrier, and I noticed a large pool of black blood underneath his right side.

I rushed to him, forgetting to be quiet. This broken figure was a shell of the boy from my memories, a boy who used to chase me through the woods and clouds. I dropped beside him, making sure I didn’t kneel in his blood and placed the lantern next to me. I took in the sizable wound inhis side and gasped. The skin looked jagged as if torn by a dagger, and I could see tissue between the rushes of blood trickling from him.

He grimaced like the light bothered him, which it probably did since he wielded darkness.

I had so many questions, but that didn’t matter. In his state, he couldn’t respond. I scanned him, noting no signs of herbs or bandages. Why hadn’t a healer come, and why didn’t he at least have a cot to sleep on? It was as if Father didn’t care that he could die.

I took his hand in mine. It felt like ice … colder than I remembered. The contrast between my sun-kissed skin and his snowy complexion reminded me again of how different we were.

One thing was certain, he could die.

At the thought, something inside me sparked—a magic that felt different from the cool, refreshing kind I used when wielding water. This sensation felt warm and comforting, and it pulsed from the spot inside me next to my water magic.

My skin buzzed where we touched, and the warm magic funneled toward our connection, my power flowing into him.

I tensed. Unless a fae was an experienced healer, we only shared magic if we found our mate. If my parents learned what I’d done, I’d be in more trouble than I could comprehend. Sharing a piece of myself like this would make me vulnerable, but before I could pull away, his wound began to shrink.

Head tilting back, I didn’t understand what was happening. Impossibly, Iwashealing him. The last fae who could heal injuries through touch had lived thousands of years ago, and there hadn’t been one since. We now reliedon healers with earth magic to know which herbs and plants would help people heal faster.

Yet, I couldn’t deny what was happening in front of my eyes as the wound stopped bleeding and closed completely.

Something heavy weighed on my body.

His eyelids fluttered but remained closed. I had to believe that if I continued to use this new magic, I’d heal him all the way. Yet, the magic inside me weakened, and my head lolled sideways as fatigue settled over me.

---