Page 10 of Heart of the Summer Queen

It’s a struggle to restrain my anger. “You murdered her. Like you murdered the three hundred Summer Brides before her.”

The Winter King stares down at me. His grip doesn’t relent. “Is that what you believe? That I would murder three hundred girls?”

Blood pounds in my ears. “It’s the truth.”

“With what evidence?”

I can’t help the tears which spill from my eyes, laden with frustration and grief. He has disposed of their bodies, destroyed every trace of them. The thought of my sister suffering such torment, even in death, is too much to bear.

I pull my wrist away and draw my knees to my chest, burying my face against them. All I can see is the Winter King freezing my sister and then shattering her remains. It would be easy forhim to scatter the shards across the gardens. No one would ever suspect the fragments came from a person.

“The last time I killed anyone was three centuries ago,” he grinds out.

“You may have destroyed their bodies,” I whisper, not lifting my head from my knees, “but you can’t hide from the truth, Elaric.”

He grabs my shoulders and pulls me up again so I’m forced to look at him. Too broken, I cannot resist. “I did not kill your sister.”

I shake my head. Though I so desperately want to believe him, this false hope serves only to torment me. “My sister is gone. She’s been gone for three years. You took her from me.”

He grips my chin, steadying me. “Believe what you will, but I did not kill your sister. Nor did I kill any of the other girls.”

He holds my gaze and then releases me so suddenly I stagger. He stands and whirls around, striding across the room.

I gasp, my mind struggling to process the emotions raging through me. My heart cleaves in two with the possibility that he’s telling the truth. That he didn’t kill my sister like I’ve always believed.

That she might be alive . . .

“Wait!” I blurt as he reaches the door.

He halts and looks back at me.

“If you didn’t kill my sister,” I say, hands trembling, “then where is she?”

The Winter King hesitates. I wait for him to shove open the doors and refuse to answer my question, as he always does. Not that I expect him to tell me anything other than that my sister’s remains are scattered across the gardens. That I’ve trodden over the shards countless times.

She is gone, and that’s the truth.

It has to be.

He exhales and pushes open the doors. “Come with me.”

four

On unsteady legs I haul myself from my bed and follow the Winter King out of my room. I wrap my furs tightly around me. Not as protection from the cold, but as protection from what I will find by following him.

The truth behind my sister’s disappearance after all these years.

The king walks through the winding corridors, and the sound of his boots striking the floor rings out through the high ceilings in a macabre rhythm. In contrast, my bare feet are soundless, as if I’m an apparition gliding behind him.

The path he takes us through the palace brings us to the stairs leading to his secret chamber, the one he forbade me from entering after I tried to melt it open during my second night here. While my steps have so far been unsure, now I don’t hesitate before ascending them, fearing he will change his mind. Fearing I won’t learn his terrible secrets.

We reach the top of the stairs, and he walks over to the sealed double doors. Elaborate swirls are carved into their glossy surfaces. He closes his eyes and presses his palm to their center.

Blue light sparks, spreading over the doors until they’re engulfed. A deafening crack rings through the silent palace. The doors split open, revealing darkness.

A part of me longs to dive through and uncover the truth, but another part fears facing what lies within. My feet stay glued to the floor as I stare beyond, and the ghost of my sister’s face swirls within the shadows.

The Winter King pulls a torch from the nearest wall, a translucent rod topped by flickering light, and beckons me forth.

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