Page 3 of The Midnight Blizzard

“Iwill ensure that you’re paid,” I said stubbornly. It was well known that mages were already paid poorly, if at all. Whatever Jack did for a living wouldn’t earn much, and it was my dog, not his.

Beryl shot a wink at me as he shoved a paste into Kodiak’s mouth. “It isn’t every day a lovely lady will rush to defend an ugly and grouchy old sorcerer. I’m sure Jack wouldn’t mind getting to know you better.”

Jack’s serious facial expression didn’t change. “I can’t get to know any woman in that way, Beryl, and you know it. Not all laws are as forward-thinking as Noelle here.”

“Laws can be changed.”

“Don’t you need to tell her about herdog?” Jack asked pointedly.

“Not as much as I need to tell her about you,” Beryl answered with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, then turned to me. “Your dog here will be fine. He’ll need to stay and rest for a day or two, then you can pick him up. But you may want to watch out, there might beanothersly dog in our midst…”

Jack rolled his eyes. “I think it’s time to go. Noelle has business at the castle.”

Beryl, finished with Kodiak, leaned back and looked at me. “Oh, that’s right. My daughter Peggy was wishing she was old enough to run off to the ball.”

“How old is she?” I stroked Kodiak’s head. He had lazily closed his eyes, though I wasn’t sure if it was to enjoy beingpetted, from exhaustion, or from the medications Beryl had forced into him. Likely a combination of all three, I decided.

Beryl let out a great, booming laugh. “She’s nine. She still has a long way to go before she needs to think about anything like courtship and bride competitions.”

“It isn’t acompetition,” Jack stated. “It’s a week of balls and activities designed to help the prince?—”

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve told me before. But it’s a competition and we all know it, even if the royalty pretend otherwise,” Beryl replied, rolling his eyes and laughing. “Dangle a wealthy prince as a prize and all the women come flocking. Personally, I think it’s a littlewed-iculous.”

“Wed-iculous?” I groaned. “That’s terrible.”

“See, Beryl?” Jack told him triumphantly. “I told you long ago that your puns are terrible. Noelle agrees with me.”

“Noelle’s off to compete, isn’t she? I think she’s hoping it will be hercrowning achievement.” Beryl laughed so hard that he nearly knocked over a rounded bottle on the table. “Oh, come on, Jack. That was hilarious! Are you too serious to ever laugh? Has your ice magic frozen your heart completely?”

“I have a sense of humor,” Jack protested.

“And that’ssnowjoke,” I added, fighting to keep a straight face.

Jack’s mouth twisted to hide a smile.

“Oh, you’ll laugh at her puns, but not mine? I see how it is.” Beryl looked from me to Jack, who was carefully scooping Kodiak into his arms. “How interesting. I’m going to make myself scarce now. I’ll see you two in a day or so.”

Chapter 2

Jack held the door open for me as a blustery wind bit at my exposed fingers and nose. I shivered and drew my cloak around me even tighter, acutely aware of the absence of Kodiak’s warm fur. Once outside, I hesitated. Walking away from my dog felt like leaving half of my heart behind. Since Mother’s death five years ago, Kodiak had been my constant companion. I hadn’t ever realized how isolated I would feel without him. My clothing was slightly stiff in places where streaks of Kodiak’s blood had dried during the extended time in Beryl’s shop, but as the fabric had been red to begin with, none of the blood was visible.

“So how is it that you’re so knowledgeable about mage laws?” Jack’s gaze raked my hairline for any trace of white. “You aren’t a mage.” He busied himself untying his dogs from where they were staked and detangling the harnesses.

Unsure if he expected me to get into his sled or not, I hung back. The castle wasn’t far; I would be able to walk the rest of the way by mid-morning if I needed to. Now that Kodiak was stabilized, my reservations about being alonewith an unfamiliar man surfaced. Not far down the road, I saw a line of eight bleary-eyed milkmaids traipsing along toward a barn. “My father was one of the ten lords, and he had a special interest in mage rights. He always said that withholding rights from mages was a detriment to society.”

Jack turned, the gang line in his gloved hands. “You don’t mean Lord Cedric Frost, do you?”

I nearly stumbled in the snow. “Yes. Did you know him?”

“Very well. We worked together drafting several laws; did he…did he never mention me?”

My eyes bulged. “You’rethatJack? I had no idea…Father never mentioned an age, just that he was working with one of the prince’s advisors named Jack. I assumed it was someone much older.” Giddy excitement flooded through me, tingling my fingers and toes. It was as though I was back home in front of the fireplace on those evenings when Father read off the bits of drafted laws to me and articulated how they would help the merchants to have the added support from mages and how they would help businesses grow. “I can’t believe it; you must’ve been working with him for the last ten years, but you can’t be that much older than I am. How could you get the experience?”

The little remainder of Jack’s frosty demeanor melted under my rapt attention. He leaned forward conspiratorially and jerked his eyes up toward where his shock of pure-white hair flopped into his eyes. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’ve been a mage all my life.”

I laughed, unable to feel the cold as warmth blossomed in my chest. He had known my father and had worked with him on the same issues my father and I had shared a passion for. My stepmother had always put on a grand act of paying attention anytime Father rambled on aboutmage rights, but inevitably, she would end up penning letters or engrossing herself in a book by the discussion’s end. Other than a few overexaggerated bits of flattery about how my father’s passion for advocating for suppressed populations had caught her eye from the beginning, she never contributed anything substantial to the conversations.

“Cedric said he had a daughter who founded a school for young mages, but I never thought we would meet; my duties require me to stay close to the castle, but I had always wondered…” Jack ran a hand through his hair, displacing the bits of snow that had settled there. I couldn’t tear my eyes off him, desperately curious to know what he had been thinking. “Get in. I’ll take you the rest of the way.”

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