Slaying the Frost King (Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers) by Candace Robinson & Elle Beaumont

Author:Candace Robinson & Elle Beaumont [Robinson, Candace & Beaumont, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

16

EIRAH

Eirah peered up at the star-freckled sky. The torches around the village burned brightly through the darkness, not to give off light but protection from creatures that she now knew were created by Morozko’s vicious mother. Changelings.

As for Eirah saving Frosteria? Bah! She couldn’t bring a lick of magic to her fingertips at the moment, even though it churned within her. Could only will herself to shift into an owl, but what would that do? Get herself put into a cage and become a meal for someone? The one time magic had shot out of her previously may have just been a faulty occurrence.

A hoot echoed above her, and she glanced up at the sky once more, finding Adair circling her. “I didn’t mean you would end up in a cage. Me.”

He gave another hoot, following her as she hurried back to Saren’s home, the snow crunching beneath her boots. Morozko was staying in an abandoned cottage alone, and he’d denied her offer to linger inside with him. The king had wanted her company, but he hadn’t spoken the words aloud, only inside his head. He was a grown male, and she wouldn’t treat him as a babe by asking him a second time.

Morozko had finally confessed the truth to her, making her understand why he’d chosen her as his sacrifice, given her his blood, and made her practice shifting. But it didn’t make any of those things right. And she felt foolish, so incredibly foolish, and so should her village, even though it was their ancestors’ fault for not passing the story down the generations. They had known why a sacrifice had needed to be performed… Yet they’d either forgotten or had chosen not to believe it anymore. If she had known, she would’ve been the first to bring a blade to one of the livestock, even if that would’ve meant less food on the village’s table. It would’ve saved so many lives. But now, sacrificing an animal wouldn’t do any good.

At some point, she may still need to sacrifice herself, but not yet, not until Morozko learned more from his visions… For her family, if it came down to it, she would still make the choice, just as she had chosen to go with Morozko when he’d first picked her at the ceremony.

Even then, a bit of anger boiled inside her, beating with each thump of her heart, that Morozko could’ve reminded her village why the ceremony needed to be carried out. If the village had known, they would’ve sacrificed a thousand horses.

“Eirah, we don’t even have a thousand horses anymore,” she muttered. “All right, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but we would’ve sacrificed one on the precise day.” Because there was no sacrifice, the changelings had broken through their seal, her father had been wounded, her cottage destroyed, Petre was dead, and now Saren and the village had to suffer.

And yet, she blamed her village more than Morozko.

“I need what’s left of my village to be saved,” Eirah whispered.

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