The Frost Queen's Blade (The Iceblood Duet) by Meg Smitherman

Author:Meg Smitherman [Smitherman, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rose & Moth Books
Published: 2024-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Two

Soft grey filled Elma’s vision. Cold flakes fell on her cheeks as she closed her eyes, breathing in the fresh and frigid air of the citadel courtyard at night. She reveled in the icy cut of it inside her lungs, the warm release as she exhaled. She hadn’t laid in the snow like this for years. For some time in her youth, it had been a refuge, a quiet place where the world was muffled, the harsh winds of Rothen kept out by the thick walls of snow all around her.

Despite the years that had passed since her escapes to the snow, Elma’s thoughts were much the same now as they had been the last time she lay supine in the courtyard, slowly being buried alive in the powder. Her mind was bright with fear — of being queen, her duties as a monarch, the life that lay ahead of her in Rothen. But she was also afire with new thoughts, new anxieties. Rune, chief among them. Would she survive long enough to wear the crown? And even if she did, would she wear it for long? Or would her reign be short and bitter?

There had been so much death. So much blood, for so many years. And soon, the only person who seemed to see her as she was… would be gone.

A steady crunching approached, footsteps in the snow, until Rune was standing over her.

Elma peered up at him through the snowflakes trapped in her eyelashes. He looked like a dream, a creature of the winter. Had he ever been real? Been solid? Would Rune the man ever make sense to her? Or would he disappear without explanation when the crown was on her head, such a force in her life, but for only a breath?

“Are you going to lie there until you’re dead?” Rune asked, leaning down. Snowflakes shimmered in his white hair, making him glow in the pale moonlight.

“As if you care,” said Elma. With her father gone, she supposed, only her mothers in Mekya would grieve her. And Godwin, though she knew him better than to think he’d wail and sob. He might sigh deeply, drink slowly from a goblet, and move on.

“Stop self-flagellating,” Rune said, kneeling down beside her. “You’re going to be Queen of Rothen tomorrow. You can’t very well freeze to death moments before the coronation. And I hate to admit it, but I’m not particularly fond of the idea of you dying so soon. Though I suppose you’ve guessed as much, considering Edvin’s current state.”

Elma’s heart skipped a beat. She took him in, the ice-fine features, cruelly full lips, the scar that marred his tanned face. She sat up and brushed snow from her hair. “Who was Edvin to you?” she asked, the question strangely vulnerable, hesitant.

Rune glanced away. “Someone from home.”

“A friend?”

“Not exactly.”

“But you knew him.”

“We were…” Rune sighed, still not meeting her gaze. “Colleagues, I suppose. Peers. We grew up in proximity and not by choice. I never liked him much.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.