The Demon Lover by Dark Juliet

Author:Dark, Juliet [Dark, Juliet]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780345510082
Publisher: Ballantine
Published: 2011-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

“Come on, you’d better get home before you turn into one of those ice maidens in Nicky Ballard’s poems.”

We turned and walked briskly to the southeast gate, our arms no longer linked. “I’ve only read a few of them,” I said, desperate to cover my embarrassment at leaning into an imaginary kiss. Had he noticed? “They’re quite good, aren’t they?”

“They’re brilliant! She’s invented a whole mythology of these frozen women who live inside the walls of an ice palace. In order for the intrepid heroine to free herself she has to listen to the story of each one of the ice wardens. Telling their stories makes them thaw, but each story forms an ice crystal in the heroine’s heart. The question is whether she can free herself before her heart freezes.”

“Brrr.” I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. “It makes me cold just thinking about it. Poor Nicky. She shouldn’t have to deal with this at her age.”

“Deal with what?” Liam asked as we passed through the southeast gate.

Too late I realized I couldn’t tell him about the curse. I could, however, tell him about Nicky’s family. We stopped in the middle of the road—equidistant between my house and the inn. Glancing behind him at the gaily decorated Hart Brake Inn—Diana had gone all out with colored lights, swags of holly and pine, and an entire team of illuminated reindeer—I felt a pang that I’d condemned him to spending Christmas in Toyland.

“It’s a long story. Would you like to come in for a drink?” I asked, trying to make my voice sound casual. “Perhaps something not cocoa- or nog-based?”

He laughed. “Yes, I’d like that very much.” And then, leaning close enough that I could feel his warm breath tickling my frozen earlobe, he whispered conspiratorially, “But you have to promise not to serve any cookies or brownies with it. I’m beginning to feel like Hansel being fattened for the oven by the Wicked Witch.”

I laughingly promised not to serve any baked goods and then assured him that Diana, at least, was not a witch. I didn’t tell him that after my first successful spell I was wondering whether I was.

TWENTY-THREE

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