Page 115 of The Frost Touched Queen

“Her.”

Atlas’s face turns to stone, just as I predicted it would.

“Swear on Katrina’s life, on the love you bear for her, and then I’ll let you out. Those are my terms.”

His light blue eyes turn into two deep black pools as I watch his hands ball into fists, little drops of blood falling down to the floor with how hard his nails pierce his flesh.

“Go on then,” I tell him, doing him the mercy of turning my back to him so that he doesn’t have an attentive audience to his defeat. “I can stay here all night, Atlas. Your choice.”

Minutes pass in awkward silence but then I hear it… Atlas finally confessing what I knew all along.

“On my heart, the one that beats only for the princess of the north, I so swear that the events of this night shall never be spoken of by me. On penalty of death, on my own soul’s torment, this I vow to you.”

I spin around, my mischievous grin plastered to my face.

“Now was that so hard?”

“Fuck you, Teodoro. Today you’ve won, but one day…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.” I wave him off before searching for the keys to his dungeon cell. Luckily, I find them quickly hanging by a nail at the entrance of the dungeon. I return back to his cell and unlock the door. Atlas is quick to rush out, hitting me in the process.

“Hey, I know you’re mad at me now, but soon you’ll understand that I had to do this.”

“Whatever,” he bites back before running out of there.

My shoulders slump at how pissed he still is at me, but it was the only way I could think of to ensure his silence. But by now, Atlas isn’t the only one who is angry at me. Katrina must be pissed too with how fast I bolted out of the gazebo after our first kiss. Not exactly the romantic setting I was going for. When I return to her garden and see that she’s not there, a little part of me dies that she didn’t wait for me like I asked her to.

I shake my head and reprimand myself for having such a selfish thought.

No.

What I need to do is find her and apologize. I won’t be able to tell her the truth, though. She loves Atlas, and if she knew that I just made him spend his whole night locked up in a cage, Katrina would be sure to have my balls.

I have to think of another excuse to give her.

What, I’m not sure yet.

I walk in the direction of the great hall, praying to every god in the heavens that by some miracle she’s there. But just as I pass the great arch entrance of the hall, I see that everyone is either sleeping off their wine or gone home for the night.

Everyone has had their fill of the festivities.

Everyone, that is, but the two people who somehow still hear music playing, enough to continue dancing, even though the band is long gone.

I stand rooted to my spot as I watch Levi twirl my girl around and then hold her in his arms. She laughs as he spins her again, before resting her head on his chest, and letting out a dreamy sigh.

My chest feels like a boulder is pressing down on it, as I watch Levi lean to her ear and whisper something that has my girl smiling like there is no tomorrow.

I’m so entrapped by this living nightmare in front of me that I don’t even register Queen Alisa suddenly appearing, until she is pulling my girl aside, putting a merciful stop to her dance with Levi.

Katrina curtsies to Levi and thanks him for the dance, letting her mother pull her off the dance floor. It’s when she turns her head over her shoulder to smile and wave at him, her silver gaze only holding room for him, that my heart cracks down the middle.

And when Levi continues to stand in the middle of the room, staring lovingly in the direction she went, my sorrow morphs into something else.

Suddenly, the rage Atlas had been consumed by makes more sense to me.

Because right now, I’m fucking blinded by it.

When Levi begins to retreat, I step onto the dance floor and begin to clap.

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