A Crown of Snow and Ice: A Retelling of The Snow Queen (Beyond the Four Kingdoms Book 3) by Melanie Cellier

Author:Melanie Cellier [Cellier, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Luminant Publications
Published: 2018-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

The sky had soon become a solid wall of gray, hiding the sun from view. I itched to light up my hands—just so I could clearly see the path ahead of me—but I carefully refrained, keeping a tight hold on my inner fire.

But as the temperature plummeted, I found myself fueling that inner warmth more and more just to stay warm. It had become an exercise in self-control as I pushed the heat down my arms to warm my fingers, holding it just short of bursting out into the open.

The effort held so much of my attention, that I had stopped watching the weather. So it took me by surprise when the first snowflakes fell. They were soon joined by others, however, and ignoring the heavy flurry became impossible.

Now that I had returned my attention to the others, I could see that they looked almost deathly cold. The tiny sections of exposed skin on their faces shone red, and Giselle’s body periodically shook with deep shivers. Oliver kept throwing her concerned looks, but in truth he didn’t look much warmer himself.

When we stopped for a brief rest, I approached Giselle, slipping off my glove once her body blocked me from Sterling’s sight. Biting my lip in concentration, I slipped my fingers up her closest sleeve until I reached her skin just above her wrist.

“Oh,” she gasped, her eyes flying to mine. She lowered her voice. “You’re so warm!”

“And you’re freezing,” I whispered back, equally quiet.

Oliver positioned himself between us and Sterling, glancing my way, his eyes holding equal parts concern and hope. After my efforts all morning, I was confident I could do this. But I understood his concern. And shared it. I would have to walk a very fine line.

Slowly—painfully slowly—I pushed heat up through my arms and out my palm. I felt a gentle warmth radiate out against Giselle’s skin as a soft puff of hot air pushed its way up her sleeve, briefly ballooning out her jacket before it found its way out the other openings.

“Ohhh…” She closed her eyes for a brief moment, a grateful smile on her face. “It’s so warm!”

I grinned triumphantly across at Oliver who smiled gratefully back.

“Your control is getting better,” Giselle whispered, and I shrugged.

“I’ve had a lot of practice this trip. I’m fairly certain I would have frozen to death already without…” I gestured toward my middle wordlessly.

“I wish my godmother had given me—” Giselle cut off her words at my warning look. For all we were talking quietly, the less said the better.

I waited a minute before carefully sending another rush of hot air up her sleeve. Then another minute and another burst of heat. Slipping my hand out, I moved to stand casually next to Oliver. Sterling continued to show no interest in us, his eyes focused on the ominous sky, the flurries of snow, and the path ahead of us. I didn’t like his frown.

Holding out my hand, I hovered just above Oliver’s sleeve, my eyes asking him a silent question.

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