Page 79 of Of Rime and Ruin
My heart punches in a frantic rhythm. My core clenches, and I hiss through my teeth.
Gods, this cannot be happening.
I squeeze my eyes shut, then open them again. Anything to wake myself from this nightmare. I look over my shoulder.
And there, smirking at me, is the Frost King.
I give him a finger-wiggle wave. “Your Frostiness.”
“What did you do to poor Perrin?” He takes another step, shortening the gap between us. He flexes his jaw, a quick disruption to the sharp plane of his cheek.
My stomach flips. “Is Perrin okay?”
The king cocks his head. A few more steps, and he’ll reach me. I wrench against the restraints to no use.
“Strange how I tasked him with keeping youinsideyour room. Yet, here you stand. Charming snowbears. I assume you knocked him out cold? Should I call for Lucas?”
“Nope. I took the window, like a lady.” I shrug. His gaze flicks over my shoulder, no doubt spotting my makeshift rope dangling through the broken glass.
“Don’t you have everything you need? Everything you asked me for? Tell me, what have I overlooked?” He sounds troubled, genuinely concerned.
How infuriating. How fuckingaccommodating. Where was this willingness weeks ago, when he locked me in the dungeon? He’s giving me whiplash.
He stops inches behind me, and his breath skitters on my neck. My skin cries out, every scale standing in alert. If I tilted my ass, I’d meet his lap.
I inhale sharply.No, Nahla.Attractive males always come with a catch. Every. Damn. Time. And this one? He harbors a dark secret, lying in wait to ruin me.
“You’re insufferable,” I hiss. “This sudden sweetheart routine won't work on me.”
“Is it not?” he asks, breath ghosting the top of my head. His hand hovers next to my arm, fingers stretching, then retreating. “Working, that is.”
Finally, his thumb brushes my woolen sleeve. My eyelids flutter. “Let go.”
“I can’t do that, Princess. You know the rules.” He trails up my arm, over my shoulder. His hand finds the warmth of my throat, long fingers wrapping around. His touch is cold and smooth, like frosted glass, as he strokes the length of my voice box. “Your Voice is impressive. Tell me, where did you learn such power?”
“Tell me,” I retort, “why I should reveal all my secrets when you share none of yours?” My pulse batters against him, rapid and eager.
He chuckles. “My secrets would scare you, Princess.”
“Try me.”
“All right,” he says. His finger trails lower, ghosting over the hidden marks of my gills, the rim of my collar bone. “I’m a terrible king.”
“That’s no secret,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “It doesn’t count.”
“The secret is, I prefer it that way.” His touch grows still, lingering on the hollow of my throat.
“A king who doesn’t like to rule.”
“Aethan the Terrible,” he muses. “And the princess who ran from home. What will everyone do, when they finally learn our truth?”
His icy breath tickles the side of my neck, and my scales lift. What’s left of my stubborn resolve disappears in an instant.
“I learned it from Keen, our way-maker,” I answer finally. “I can enter the minds of animals and communicate with them. Persuade them. Sway their emotions, like I did with the snowbear just now.”
He hums, the sound rumbling through his chest into my body. “Sounds useful. Better than making it snow.” The rumble strengthens, forming a low note of magic. Several snowflakes fall from thin air, dusting my face with glitter.
I laugh. “I like your snow. When it’s not trapping my ankles.”
