Page 13 of Fated to the Frost King

I clenched my hands into fists to cover the motion that had already given me away. “It’s cold.”

We both knew I was lying. Well, I knew, and his exasperated blink told me he did as well.

He stepped closer, the air between us thrumming with the weight of his mana and his…disappointment. “You’re afraid.”

I let out a bitter huff of air.Yes, it must be very trying for Your Majesty to choose a bride against her will only to discover that she is, indeed, unwilling.

Maybe I should have bitten my tongue, but something in me cracked like the brittle edge of a frozen lake under a careless footstep.

“What did you expect?” I demanded, not moving closer but not backing away either. “That you would merrily murder two of your potential brides and the third one would be begging for the honor of falling at your feet?”

I let my anger cover my fear like a dusting of snow on a filthy cobblestone road.

His expression didn’t shift. Didn’t flicker. Just… shut. Like the wall of ice he had erected in the throne room, only twice as impenetrable, and twice as cold. Silence fell between us, the hum of his powers intensifying until they pricked uncomfortably along every inch of my skin.

He stalked closer, his footsteps somehow purposeful and graceful in one. I refused to move. To give him the satisfaction of cowing me.

But he didn’t try. Instead, he stepped around me, pausing once he was close enough for his shoulder to brush against mine. The charge between our bodies intensified, focusing on the single point of contact. He leaned in, his breath ghosted along the shell of my ear.

“Good,” he said, voice smooth and final. “You should be afraid of me. At least you have that much sense.”

Then he was gone through a door on the far side of the room, shutting it behind him with a whisper-soft click that felt louder than any slam. And I just stood there, spine straight, fists clenched, pretending the fear pooling in my stomach wasn’t already curdling into something far more dangerous.

Chapter 6

Everly

His departure didn’t fill me with the relief it should have.

It didn’t make sense, and I didn’t like the feeling that I was missing something, especially not when my life was on the line.

He had ordered every female in the kingdom to his palace on exactly no notice. He needed a queen, urgently, and the only notable duty of the queen was to secure an heir.

Was I even officially Queen if we hadn’t consummated our marriage?

Tendrils of dread crept along my spine. Was that why he had left? Because he knew, or sensed the truth?

Shards.

I needed to find a way out. And I needed to get my dagger back.

The furs beneath my feet muffled my steps as I crossed the room, circling along the edges like a wildcat testing the boundaries of a cage. There was a smaller door that led to a deceptively large closet, and an archway set into the far side of the room. Not hidden, exactly. Just cloaked in shadows, easy tooverlook when you were too busy worrying about being claimed against your will.

It opened to a broad hallway. I followed it, trying both doors along the way. I found a lavatory and a study with empty bookshelves before I wound up in the room I had already suspected I would find. The room I had gotten dressed in.

So that wasn’t his bedroom, it was mine. These were the queen’s chambers. More like a house unto itself than a mere set of rooms, large enough that I would never have to leave.

If I were a dutiful kept queen, that was, not a Hollow who needed to find a way the shards-damned-hells out of here.

I raced over to the dressing screen, sinking to my knees to look for my dagger hidden at the back of the small cabinet. When its familiar weight was back in my hand, I breathed a sigh of relief. I whipped the small holster over my thigh and resheathed the blade.

My ring scraped against the metal, an off-putting reminder of its presence. I moved to tug it off…but it wouldn’t come off. As hard as I pulled, I couldn’t get it to so much as wiggle from its place securely at the base of my finger.

Staving down another swell of panic, I tried another tactic, twisting it to loosen its hold.

It didn’t budge. I couldn’t get so much as the edge of my nail underneath the band that was all but branded into my skin.

Frost damn it all.

---