Page 90 of Fated to the Frost King

“How did they manage to evade us with a standing order to kill them on sight?” I bit out the question.

Eryx gave a small shake of his head. “Skaldwings.”

Of shards damned course they were.

Everly froze, her hands stilling from where they were petting the skathryn.

I wasn’t surprised. She was from Eisbarrow, close enough to the border that she had probably seen an attack.

The winged Unseelie were known for their cruelty. They didn’t just kill, they took prisoners. We never got them back.

“They weren’t just passing through, were they?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

Eryx shook his head. “They’ve launched an outright attack on one of the outlying villages. We’ve increased the perimeter watch and informed Summer Court, and they’re sending soldiers tohelp secure the border.” He shifted on his feet. “But the problem is that their patterns are shifting. And we have no idea what stirred them.”

I let out a dark, bitter laugh.

They had chosen their moment well. Lying in wait while Winter splintered, just waiting for the perfect place to press their blade—right between the unraveling mana and the increasing frostbeast attacks.

I unrolled the parchment with slow fingers, forcing my hands to remain steady as my thoughts threatened to unravel. The words blurred for a breath as I stared through them.

“Shards damn it all,” I muttered, more to myself than to Eryx as I read the detailed report. My voice was flat, but my pulse had already begun to quicken. “They’re attacking now. The monsters would’ve been better news.”

The pulse of my wife’s unease rippled over my skin like a warning.

It wasn’t the first time I had read her so easily, but after her comments about my mana, I wondered how often I had attributed shifts in her emotion to her overly expressive features, or her mana. But she wasn’t expressive right now, and her mana was still locked tightly away.

My parents had been slaughtered by the Unseelie before they could impart much knowledge about a marriage bond they didn’t think I would need for years, but I could surmise this was another side effect.

I pushed away the memories of a bloody crown in the snow, focusing on the report. Unseelie attacking just as the monsters escalated. The frostbeasts hadn’t been closer to the Unseelie border so much as they were random and scattered, so how could the Skaldwings have known?

Were they getting better at hiding? Was there a spy in my court?

Or were they working with a seer?

“Which village?” My wife’s voice was razor sharp as she sliced through my thoughts, her gaze entirely focused on the Lord General.

He looked uncertainly to me, and I dipped my chin for him to answer her.

“Near Briarhollow.”

Her face went still, her lips parted slightly as if she were on the verge of saying something, then thought better of it.

I didn’t trust that silence, or the lack of snarky commentary on the Lord General’s hesitation to answer her.

“Send for the Visionary,” I ordered, turning toward the main corridor. “And prepare the war room.”

Eryx inclined his head and vanished into the hall.

I didn’t say a word as I led her through the twisting palace corridors. She kept pace beside me, quiet but alert. Her skathryn gave a small, pitiful sound as if it had sensed her turmoil, and she brought her hand up to rest on its head instead.

By the time we entered the war room, Nevara was already there. Ahead of Eryx, like she had foreseen the need to come.

Which was sometimes just an irritating quirk of hers, but in this case, didn’t bode well. She didn’t smile, confirming my assumption. She just followed me through the door without a single pointed remark.

The chamber was carved from a single sheet of dark frostglass, embedded with veins of ancient mana that pulsed faintly beneath the surface like a heartbeat. An arched window stretched along the far wall, revealing the snow-blurred landscape below. Crystal sconces flickered with pale blue light, casting long shadows across the circular table in the center.

“What can you tell me?” I asked, moving to stand in front of a sprawling map of the realm.

---