Page 102 of Frost and Death
He flicks a few strands of hair from his face before crossing his arms, his posture relaxed. “With both of us researching and finding how to break my curse first.”
I roll my eyes. “Youcan’tbe serious.”
“I am.”
Jerrick glowers as I huff in amusement and disbelief.
But I can’t prevent myself from laughing. I giggle and snort, each one growing more loud and more hysterical, the winding well of my thoughts finally reaching their tipping point.
I am truly fucked.
This manneverhad any intention of training me, and somehow, I find it hilarious.
“Oh, alright,Your Majesty. Let me see if I hear you correctly.” I play along with this web of lies he has spun. “First, you come into my kingdom, threaten to kill those I care about, thenkidnap me and almost cost me my life. Thankfully, I live and awake in a foreign kingdom, only to be told my mother had brokered a marriage agreement between us.”
“Yes.”
“Butnow, in the midst of it all, there is a curse?”
“Precisely,” he confirms, not budging from his story.
I shake my head. This is unbelievable. Why am I even laughing?
Probably because you most definitely are going to Oblivion now, Tove.
I hold my stomach, my own thoughts running me into delirium.
Jerrick stands, grabbing a piece of parchment and extending it to me.
My chuckles stop when he shakes it. Suspiciously, I examine it, reluctant to reach for it. But curiosity has me grabbing it and scanning the contents. I make it past the first two sentences of the document before I stop.
Annoyance returns at the harsh reminder of our marriage arrangement. “I’ve already seen this,” I tell him, vexed he is bringing this upagain.
“Did you read itall,though?”
The decree itself is heavily detailed, lined with intricacies that were established between my mother and Jerrick’s father.
I shake my head, rest the parchment on the table, and fold my arms, looking at Jerrick.
He points at the document. “That marriage decree was originally meant for your mother and my father, but when she came here to sign the agreement, our names were glamoured to replace theirs, along with a curse your mother cast to take effect after she killed herself.”
Shock colder than winter prickles across my skin. A shooting pain erupts over my heart, sharper than any arrow or dagger piercing me.
Mother… killed herself? No. I refuse to believe it. She couldn’t. Shewouldn’t.
“You’re lying,” I shake out, denying she would do that to herself—to me.
“I saw the entire thing happen.”
Our gazes meet.
I can’t stop the doubt in my mind from my own beliefs versus his story. This man has lied repeatedly, and as his eyes roam over me, I get the feeling he is still hiding something.
I can’t stand it, and I look away. I bite the inside of my cheek, thinking over his words, unsure if this is something my mother would do.
Magic was always tricky, and abilities varied based on the skill of the user. Mother gained her powers when she was younger than Runa and me, allowing her plenty of time to learn the ups and downs of her gifts. But she didn’t use it often. Iknowshe didn’t.
Jerrick explains, “When she signed the agreement, she broke something off of her necklace, drank it down, and collapsed in front of my father and me. It happened faster than we could react, and I held him back from going to her out of fear for his safety. But when my father ran to her—that was when my vision turned red.”
