Page 80 of Kiss of Ice

“You talked about a monster. A beast. I thought perhaps you were having a nightmare. But…” she took a breath. “The name you mentioned the most was a woman. At least Ithinkit was a woman. It could be a guy’s name too I guess, but something about the way you said it was… Kam, who’s Nat?”

He closed his eyes, releasing the breath that he’d been holding.Fuck.

“Kam?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Is it…” she spoke softly, hesitantly. “Is it to do with where you were for those fifty years?” Kam rubbed his face wearily. She reached out and touched his hand. “You don’t have to tell me. It’s none of my business.”

“Unfortunately, it kind ofisyour business.”

“I don’t understand.”

He paused.

“Only a handful of people know what happened to me, Ren. My closest friends. And your father.”

“Myfather?” Ren gazed at him, forehead creased in confusion. “What has my father got to do with it?”

Kam was torn. If he told her the truth, everything would change. She’d not only learn what he’d become and what he’d been capable of, but she’d also finally see her father for what he was.

A ruthless, murderous, power-crazed traitor.

Was it fair to tell her? Or would it be selfish? Did he just want her to stop thinking he’d run away like a craven cur for all those years?

“Kam, if my father’s involved, I want to know.”

“Do you?” He couldn’t help the bitterness which crept into his tone. “You were quick to believe him when he told you – toldeveryone– that I was fleeing the duties of the Crown. That I’d hidden myself away in some orgy-fest.”

Her eyes flashed with anger.

“And why do you think everyone believed it? You were renowned for being reckless and irresponsible, Kam. It was no secret that your father despaired of you when he was alive. All that drinking, carousing…”

“STOP!” Kam yelled at her, incensed beyond belief. “You’re right, okay? I was a jerk when I was the heir. But I didn’t run away! I wouldneverrun away!”

“Then what?” she blazed back. “What happened to you? Tell me!”

“Your father put a fucking curse on me, that’s what!”

She blinked.

“Say that again?”

Kam took a breath, trying to regain his equilibrium. He couldn’t just blurt this out. None of this was her fault. When he spoke again, his voice was calm.

“Your father conspired to lure me to the Forbidden Zone in Feyir. I thought I was going there to hunt, but it turns out thatIwas the prey. I was ambushed and put under a spell by a dark sorcerer working for your father. The sorcerer’s name was Mortaine.”

Ren had gone very still.

“I don’t believe you,” she said faintly. Kam pressed on.

“Everyone was told I’d died in an accident. But in fact I was transformed into a beast. A beast with no memory of my past. Cursed to roam the forest as a monster. And that’s where I was for half a century.”

“If that’s true, then how did you escape?”

“I was saved. By a slayer. Her name was Nat.”

“How did she break the curse?”

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