Page 14 of The King of Frost and Shadows

“I should’ve killed him.” His arm tightened around me.

My mouth went dry, and I remained silent. I wasn’t sure what to say to that, but the threat didn’t bother me like it should have. A part of me almost liked it. That must be because of all the unprocessed trauma I’d gone through.

He bent and lifted me into his arms like a princess, and my body damn near imploded.

I managed to swallow around the lump in my throat. “I can walk. It might just take me a minute.”

“We have somewhere to be, and we’re already behind schedule.” He gracefully breezed through the door and turned down the hallway. His wings expanded, and soon we were flying.

The cold air of the castle blew in my face, but I kept myself turned forward, wanting to remember everything we went by and not wanting to smell him any more than I had to.

The hallway was dark, and when we passed a window, the sky looked dark and stormy, but I noticed people strolling below the castle. “What time is it?” Though I hadn’t slept well, I’d thought I’d gotten at least a couple of hours of rest. Granted, I didn’t understand how time worked here.

“It’s morning. Time works similar to Earth here.”

That was super helpful. “When does the sun come out?” I’d love to get a better idea of the land that surrounded the castle while I could.

“It doesn’t,” he replied curtly. “We live in darkness and snow.”

My lungs seized. To never have sunlight or warmthsounded like a horrible existence. Further proof that I wasn’t meant to live here.

The dark castle was gorgeous, though simple. There weren’t a ton of items decorating the place, giving it a sterile but clean feel. He flew me by a few doors and stopped at one on the right. He landed but didn’t put me down, then opened the door.

The room was massive, with a gorgeous dark chandelier hanging from the middle of the high ceiling.

A loud, threatening growl forced my attention to a fae man dressed in dark armor with what appeared to be the biggest wolf in existence next to him. It was the size of a cow. The wolf seemed to have black fur, but even in the darkness, the ends glinted a dark green. Its eyes glowed green, reminding me of a traffic light. The fur on its neck rose, and its eyes locked with mine while it bared its teeth and drooled.

“If this is what being a female prisoner is like around here,” a man sitting on a nearby couch said, “I need to find one like her that I can carry around.” The man wore a gray tunic, and his ash-blond hair hung in his face. The sides were cut short, revealing his pointed ears with dark earrings looped in both.

“Now’s not the time, Finnian,” Tavish rasped as he folded his wings behind him. He strolled over to the wolf and guard. “Let’s get this over with.”

Fear clawed at my chest, and I couldn’t turn my gaze away from the angry animal.

The closer we came, the more the wolf drooled and snarled. Its green eyes glowed brighter as it edged forward toward me.

Tavish lifted a hand. “Not yet, Nightbane.”

The creature stopped, but the snarls morphed into a deep rumble.

When we were a few feet away, Tavish lowered me to the floor.

Every ounce of me wanted to cling to him and beg him not to. I didn’t know what the plan was, but I was certain I didn’t want to be near the scary wolf. My heart hammered against my ribs like it wanted to escape.

“Don’t worry,” Tavish said in a cold voice. “This won’t take long.”

He disappeared from my side and commanded, “Nightbane, come.”

The creature hunkered down and snapped as it moved toward me.

5

LIRA

Each step closer Nightbane took had more dread pooling in my stomach. I stumbled toward Tavish before I could stop myself, and my ankle gave out.

He’d saved me a few times now, and my instinct told me to stay close to him. But he was also the reason I was in this mess.

Bastard.

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