The Frozen Crown by Greta Kelly

Author:Greta Kelly [Kelly, Greta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062956972
Google: 5mbcDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1799970906
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

21

When sleep finally came, it was tinged with troubled dreams of being chased, of cold so intense it burned my skin. They jolted me awake near dawn. The pink beginnings of daylight shimmered through windows, but I didn’t rise to meet it. Sleep still beckoned, and I obeyed. The dreams that came then were a jumble, a dizzying twirling Vishiri dance, but my partner never stayed the same. First came Iskander, his brown-black gaze filled with unmet desire. I looked away, not recognizing this man and missing my friend.

I turned in the dream, but when I turned back it was Armaan’s face that met mine. His golden eyes and sensuous lips hinted at laughter. I blushed, longing to be let in on the joke, but the dance moved on. I spun, and it was Illya who caught me next. His gray-eyed gaze caught mine, and I felt as if I were being seen, truly seen, for the first time.

The last face was a blur. I got only the faintest impression of pale skin and dark hair and features I couldn’t place. But the eyes—those eyes I would never forget. Pale, clear green, cold and hard as glacial ice. They beckoned.

A hand clamped down on my shoulder and my eyes shot open. I gasped for breath and was confronted with the stern, wrinkled face of Soma in her white servant’s dress.

“It’s about time,” Soma grunted, surveying me with crossed arms. “It’s nearly three. High time to be getting up, don’t you think?”

I sat up with a wince, feeling sore, and slightly winded, as if I’d been fighting rather than sleeping. “What are you doing here?”

“Helping you prepare for the ball, of course.” She shook her head and turned toward the bathroom. “There’s some food in the dressing room. Go eat while I fill the tub.”

I groaned, swinging my feet to the floor, and stood. My pretty white dressing gown was a mess of crisscrossing wrinkles because I hadn’t bothered to take it off before falling into bed. The memory of why I’d rushed to sleep flooded my mind.

Iskander. Illya, too, but . . .

Iskander came to my rooms last night. Alone. In my rooms after dark. I clenched my eyes closed as though I could will the past to change. Ozura was going to be livid.

And Nariko. What would Nariko think when she heard Iskander had visited in the middle of the night?

No. I’d tell her it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t invite Iskander, he just showed up. Nariko would understand.

I hoped.

“I’m ready for you, my lady,” Soma called from the bathroom.

I very nearly enjoyed the next three hours I spent under Soma’s care. By the time she was done beating my body into something like beauty, I almost felt like I’d done a complete and thorough penance for last night’s indiscretion.

As the sixth bell rang, two more middle-aged servants whisked into my room. At Soma’s direction, they pulled me from the bathroom and marched me to the vanity table. As

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