Shards of Ice: An MM Retelling of 'The Snow Queen' (Grim and Sinister Delights Book 9) by R. Phoenix

Author:R. Phoenix [Phoenix, R.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Kai

It was, of course, a palace.

If he’d expected anything else, Kai would have been wrong, but he hadn’t realized Avery was a true prince of the fae until they’d come to this realm. It honored him as much as it terrified him that fae nobility would take an interest in him.

Who was Kai, after all, but someone who had been robbed and left to die in the snow?

No wonder Avery expected to be treated as a prince now that they were here in his world, where he’d taken control more swiftly than Kai would’ve thought possible. It wasn’t like the quiet, deferential — had he ever really been deferential? Or had the silence only misled him? — the man he’d come to know was easily mistaken for royalty.

His mind reeled at the thought. Tristan had tried to tell him, but it had seemed impossible. The plant had to have been a trick. Magic didn’t exist, and if magic didn’t exist, fairies sure as hell didn’t either.

But he’d stepped from a nightmare of a blizzard into this place, where everything was crafted from high quality gems and metals he didn’t even recognize alongside furnishings of ice. Lights blazed in the walls, but they didn’t give off the same quality as a light bulb might. They were more intense in some places, softer in others, and—

“Are you paying attention to me?” Avery’s voice was quiet but crisp, making it clear he demanded the entirety of Kai’s focus. “I’m telling you important things, things you need to know if you’re going to survive here, Kai.”

“Survive?” Like this palace was dangerous somehow, like Avery was…

Those impossibly warm hands delving into his wound, healing him from the inside and leaving him warm and freezing all at once.

“You’re not in the mortal realm any longer, my Kai,” Avery said, smoothing a few blond hairs out of Kai’s face. “It’s dangerous here. You’re safe as long as you stay within my home, but if you should leave…”

The words were warning enough. He wasn’t supposed to leave — and was there anything out there for him if he did?

“I don’t believe you,” he said hoarsely. “Magic doesn’t exist. Fairies don’t exist. This is just a bad dream.”

Avery canted his head to the side, and this time Kai noticed the odd angle. It certainly didn’t seem… human. “This is reality, and denying it won’t make that any different,” he said matter-of-factly. “I’m not going to coddle you, my Kai. You’re here to serve me, not the other way around.”

“So all the sweetness and kindness… What? Is that gone now?” A chill that had nothing to do with the warmth of the house ran down his spine.

“Not as long as you serve your purpose.” Avery tenderly touched his cheek, and Kai had to fight not to pull away from the touch. “It won’t be difficult. I’m not a demanding master. And you’re…” He sighed. “You’re perfect. I don’t know how I found someone like you.”

“Because I was bleeding to death,” Kai said, his voice rougher than he’d intended it to be.

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