Page 1 of A Court of Fire and Frost

PartOne

Chapter1

Get Up

NATHANIEL

"I'm never doing shots with Marie again." The slightly slurred words slip from my lips, sounding like drums to my alcohol-addled brain. I bury my face into the pillow and ignore the spinning world around me.

It's an impossible task.

The same series of vibrations that pulled me from sleep sound from under the pillow. They gently reverberate through the feathers and buzz against my cheek as if they aren't committing a heinous crime by shaking my already fragile head. Gods, the hangover is no longer imminent. It is here. Dragging myself from the depths of sleep is like a ghost trying to reanimate a dead body—a nightmare in more ways than one.

My eyes slide open.

The red light on my alarm clock sears my retinas, and I groan. Forget never doing shots again. At this rate, I'm never going to drink again. I've barely been asleep for two hours. Why am I awake?

I'm about to give in to the call of sleep when a sudden and overwhelming sensation of dread washes over me. It's oddly in time with my still-buzzing phone.

Which is... bad. It finally hits me that my phone shouldn't be ringing at this ungodly hour.

Frustration is a pulsing, throbbing ache as I push my head away from the pillow. I fling back the forest-green coverlet, and the matching pillow quickly follows it. They fall on the floor with a softthud. I claw at my FaePhone just as the screen dims.

Shit, shit, shit.

The word is in a continuous loop as I pick up my phone and unlock it clumsily through squinted eyes. My room is still bathed in jet-black shadow, and the only detail I can see is the too-bright rectangle three inches from my face. It is 3:04 a.m., and there are… twelve missed calls?

Boss Akron

“Damn it all to Lethe,” I exhale. One tap on the screen, and I move the phone to my ear.

The ringing tone blasts against my ear, and I cringe. A marching band is making a home in my head.

“Sprigg, thank the gods you’re finally awake,”Boss says. Irritation and sarcasm bleed into every syllable as he continues,“There’s a barge coming in.Right. Now. You needed to be here ten minutes ago to receive them.”

“Can’t Marie bring them in? It’s my day off,” I slur, scrubbing the sleep from my eyes. Though I’m slowly dying, she’s probably fine. Vampires have a much better alcohol tolerance.

“You’re the new guy. You gotta do your time and hope someone else quits and gives you more privileges."He laughs, the sound like a hammer to my skull. Like my pounding headache is a joke.

I don't say anything. My brain hurts trying to process what he's saying. I've barely slept for three hours, and now he wants me to come in to work?

“Sprigg,” he seethes. I can just see him clenching and unclenching his fists. “Get. Here. Now.”

He doesn't even wait for a reply. He shouts at someone else and hangs up.

I stare at the phone. "Bastard."

No one would ever say my employer is kind. Working at the docks was the first opportunity to present itself to me in Port City. I'm not planning to stay forever. It's a stepping stone to other things, a way out of the Summer Court.

"Just a stepping stone," I repeat to myself as I slide out of bed and stick my head through the neck of a thick, beige sweater. My limbs are shaking, both from the hangover and lack of sleep.

A shooting pain runs through my ear. I curse some more. The chunky wool knit is snagged on one of the six golden rings threaded through the point of my right ear’s cartilage. After extricating myself, I shove my arms into the sleeves.

“Flora, lights,” I call out.

No response.

Right. I'm too poor for AI systems. I smack the light switch near my bed. A flicker of pale gold light bathes my shitty apartment from my singular lightbulb.

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