Page 4 of Midwinter Wiles & Valerian Dreams
“Banishment, then? Or did she actually—” My voice catches on words too absurd to say, yet there they are, dark and looming. They come out in a hoarse whisper. “Did she order you tokillme?”
“She doesn’t hate you,” he sighs. “You remind her of him. She misses him terribly.”
So quick to forgive. So eager to find excuses.
Well, I’m not.
I cross my arms. “Careful, Beron. Your crush is showing.”
“Mind your tongue, princess,” he snaps, his gaze hard.
The weight of betrayal is a stone in my chest. He failed to answer my question.
“Where are you really taking me? Into the Frozen Forest, where no one will hear me scream?” I lean in. “You’ll hear me, Beron.You. Are you so ready to kill me just to please her? Aren’t you still loyal to my father? Or to the child you trained, whom you taught to wield ice magic? Is that all erased because you’re blinded by your feelings for the Ice Queen?”
“Enough, Talvie. It will be best if you just go along with this.”
A manic laugh bubbles up. “Best forwhom? It’ll be my neck beneath your axe, Beron. Does that mean nothing to you? What of your legendary loyalty?”
“Maybe I’m not as loyal as you thought.” His broad chest rises with tight, angry breaths.
“Oh, please. You were so loyal to my father, you buried your own desires. You knew Taynia first, but as soon as my father showed interest, you locked your feelings down so tight you nearly hadmefooled all these years.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Lie.”
“Stop that.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me?”
“If you keep asking foolish questions, yes.” This time, his ears remain level.
So that’s it, then. My life for Taynia’s twisted grief.
Like that, my own grief crashes into me like a gale. I’m so used to stuffing it down into that numb cavern that when it breaks loose, I drown in the blizzard.
Even now, after everything, ithurts.
Not just my father’s death, but the way Taynia changed.
I thought I’d turned it off—that part of me that wants to please her, to laugh with her again.
But knowing she’s gone this far, there’s a finality…
I don’t know what will hurt more: this, or the fall of the axe.
Chapter 2
Talvie
Ican barely ponder escape from my gilded cage to the terrifying wilderness beyond before a disturbance starts up outside. Voices call out, barking quick orders. Reindeer snort and pull. The carriage jerks left, then slows as huntsmen shout from the front of the caravan, one voice carrying clearly to us.
“BANDITS!”
Beron is already alert, never having dropped his guard for our tense journey, but the warning sends icy fear straight to my bones.
I jerk aside the curtain I’d pulled to hide the scary world passing us by. “What’s happening?”
