Page 56 of A Bride for the Winter King
“I don’t want to hear it. Make sure she goeshomethis time. Before something worse happens.”
Sara grumbles an almost unintelligible and completely insolent, “at your command, my liege” before crossing her armsover her chest. “Did you see how Freya stared at her? She clearly had never seen her before today, but she didn’t ask to speak with her, either.”
“If she’d asked, she would have had to admit publicly that she didn’t know why a carbon-copy of her niece was walking around Faerie. She’s probably waiting for Lori to be eliminated before she sends her cupids to drag her and Seth to the Secret Springs by the ears…” I shake my head, trying to quell the unpleasant twinge in my stomach at the thought of letting Freya interrogate Lori. It beats dying in the mountains, but not by much.
“Kiro’s waiting. I have to go.” I toss a tired glance at Seth and the other sponsors, silently pleading with Sara to keep an eye on them, too.
She nods and motions for me to go on with my day. “Don’t worry. I won’t let Seth out of my sight.”
“At ease, servant,” I say, retaliating for her earlier sarcasm with a wink. Her annoyed eye-roll coaxes a smile from me. “Oh, I almost forgot. Please arrange for Thera to get a fruit basket. Quietly.”
Sara raises a pointed brow, fully aware of what I actually meant. “Alright.”
I plaster my platinum mask over my face and walk through the mirror.
The Ice City is easily accessible through the sceawere to those who know the special runes marking its location and carry enough frost in their veins. Kiro is already waiting for me in the battlement’s war room at the foot of the fortress, and I shrug off the brunch’s flashy and overly chic apparel in favor of a lightweight and supple windbreaker. “Are you ready?” I ask.
“Yes, my king. I brought five newly anointed but capable soldiers along to back us up. They’re all looking forward to catching a glimpse of Mistress, if we’re lucky,” he says.
A wide smile pierces my scowl. “She’s been sleeping since summer. She’s bound to wake up soon.” Just the thought of seeing Mistress sends a jolt of excitement up my spine.
My boots crunch in the heavy snow as I lead the small squadron out of the Ice City battlements and up toward the coldest, wildest, and most beautiful mountains in the realm. The sceawere cannot reach such primeval places, so we breed wolves to pull us up on sleighs.
The hours-long ride up to the mines is the perfect outlet for all my pent-up frustrations, and the weather is perfect for it. Out west, the sun burns on the horizon, the short day almost over.
Kiro sticks close to my side as we reach the top of the extinct volcano’s rim, the lights of the Ice City shining at our backs.
In spite of myself, I wonder how Sara will carry out my orders. The baring, incensed gaze Lori threw my way over the brunch table still heats my chest, and I pick up the pace.
The brides’ challenge starts close to the volcano’s caldera, so I could cross paths with her on my way back…I shake my head at the intrusive thought, trying to push all notion of Lori or the Yule pageant out of my mind.
The storm that curses the Frost Peaks mines with the most inclement weather in centuries needs to be dealt with. My expedition has nothing to do with Lori, I remind myself.
I’ll never see her again, so I better concentrate on the task ahead, and the prospect of seeing Mistress again.
Chapter 22
Made to be Broken
LORI
Phantasms push and pull at my soul until I float into another nugget of the past. I am right back at the Yule brunch, but this time, I’m sitting beside Elio as his future queen. The big fat diamond on my ring finger paints a clear picture.
Iris had attended the Yule brunch as Elio’s fiancée—not some piece of meat to be paraded around—and my Lori consciousness hisses and snarls at the knowledge.
My manicured nails click along the body of a crystal flute as the guests stream in. Garlands of white roses and irises sag above our heads, braided and weaved, and the guests wear old-fashioned gowns. But otherwise, the Snowhaven Tavern looks about the same.
The Shadow King’s full-face golden mask confirms my suspicions that this is a true vision, and not merely a half-assed fabrication of my overactive brain.
To my left, Elio leans in so close that I can count his eyelashes. “Ugh. My father sent my brother in his place.”
I take a sip of wine, Iris’s body completely unperturbed by the Winter King’s closeness when I’m simply burning inside. “I thought you’d be thrilled not to see him,” I say.
“I am. I’m just…” Elio shoots me a sideways glance. “Have you seen Ezra since the academy?”
I hold his ice-blue gaze. “No? Why?”
“Never mind.”
