Page 30 of Fated to the Frost King

In the endless list of colorful words or phrases I could use to describe the male at my side, husband was the last one I would choose, but it felt childish to shy away from it when he didn’t.

The male in question walked beside me without a word, frost blooming along the walls and webbing across the floor with each step. His hands were fisted at his sides, and that muscle kept ticking in his jaw, tightening, releasing, tightening again with every few strides.

Power rolled off him in steady, glacial waves, weaving around my ankles and whispering up my spine, infusing the air with the infuriating scent of juniper and freshly fallen snow.

When the silence was pulled taut to the point of breaking, I lost my war with my self control.

“What happened tonight?” I asked, before I could stop myself.

The courtiers and the emissary might have fanned the flames of his ire, but it had begun the moment he left the room.

He kept walking, footsteps echoing louder with every step like the castle itself was holding its breath.

Suppressing a sigh, I tried again. “With the Lord General, I mean. What was important enough to call you both away in the middle of dinner?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

I blinked, inhaling a slow breath for patience. What the arrogant tyrant had failed to realize was that a threat to the palace or the realm was, in fact, very much my concern, especially when what was left of my family was out there and potentially at risk.

But I didn’t tell him that, or bring up my sister, since I hoped very much he would forget her existence entirely. It was an unreasonable wish since she was a high-ranking lady now, but I avoided the subject of her all the same, trying a different tactic instead.

“So they’reourpeople when I need to smile for them, but yours when anything important happens?” I infused my tone with righteous indignation that turned more genuine as Iwent on. “If you didn’t want me to be concerned, perhaps you shouldn’t have forced me to be Queen.”

So much for keeping my temper.

King Draven stiffened as we passed the guards outside of our shared hall. Only when the door shut behind us and the wolves had settled into their positions as sentries did he turn toward me, pinning me under the full weight of his gaze.

“If you want to be a queen in more than title, you might start by displaying a single quality worthy of the position.”

I shouldn’t have cared about censure from a male who had committed the atrocities of the Frostgrave King, but still, I had to wonder what inadequacies he was referring to. Not enough pretense? Not enough ruthlessness?

Not enough.

“Apologies that I object to casual maiming at the dinner table,” I gritted out. “I had thought there were redeeming qualities to be found in diplomacy, but I can see I have it all wrong.”

He stalked forward until I was trapped against the wall, then braced a hand on the stone beside my head, as if that might steady him. A powerful wave of mana tore from him, washing over the stone and coating it with ice.

Snow and juniper assaulted me, sending a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with the ice at my back.

“Once again,” his voice was low and dark, “you put your ignorance on display with every word,Wife.”His tone tried for mockery, but something primordial crept into the single word. “There is nothing casual about keeping the kingdom in line.”

I tilted my chin up to face him, ignoring the contradiction of heat emanating from his body to mine along with his insult, even as my nails bit into my palms. “If you’re so opposed to my ignorance, why are you insistent on keeping me in the dark?”

“Because you’ve already proven unequal to the task of ruling,” he shot back, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Of course not. The illustrious king had spoken, and thusly, his judgment was true.

My blood boiled at his dismissal, even as I reminded myself that I had no interest in being Queen. That one way or another, I wouldn’t be here long enough to reign over anything.

“So it’s nothing the Court will find out?” My tone was thick with sarcasm as I hurled the only thing he gave a damn about back in his face. His pride. “Surely they won’t mock me for knowing less than they do about my own kingdom. Or are you secretly hoping for that so you can disfigure more of your citizens over lunch?”

Another wave of his mana washed over me. This wasn’t the same fury I had seen from him before, the kind that cracked like lightning and burned everything in its path.

No, this was worse.

It was quiet and contained, a precarious rage poised to shatter.

My fingers curled tighter inside the fur muff, brushing against soft, silken warmth where the baby bat shifted sleepily, a tiny reminder that the world hadn’t completely frozen over.

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