Thorns of Frost （Fae of Snow & Ice, #2）
Krista Street
PREFACE
Thorns of Frost is book two in the four-book Fae of Snow & Ice series, which is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, fae fantasy romance. The recommended reading age is 18+.
CHAPTER 1
“You’re serious? I could be your wife?” My eyes widened even more as I gazed up at Prince Norivun Deema Melustral Achul, first son of the king, Bringer of Darkness, Death Master of the continent, son of Prinavee Territory, and crown prince and heir to the Winter Court’s throne.
The prince growled low in his throat as his sapphire irises burned brightly. Artful silver strands of hair flowed to his shoulders, and massive wings tipped with talons rose from his back. Those wings looked as lethal as the crown prince.
“That’s correct,” he said.
My sister, Cailis, threw up her hands and stormed across the room.
“Please go,” I whispered. “All of you.”
Behind the prince, his four guards waited—Haxil, Ryder, Nish, and Sandus. Instead of heeding my request, they all looked to their prince for direction.
“Very well.” The prince straightened from my bed, his aura pounding from him in waves, before he strode from the Exorbiant Chamber with his guards, Murl, and Daiseeum following.
“I shall have refreshments delivered shortly. I’m sure you’re famished,” Daiseeum called from the door before bobbing her head and dipping into a curtsy.
“Thank you, Daiseeum,” I replied automatically.
Once they all left, Cailis fumed. “This is absurd. Honestly, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You have to join the Rising Queen Trial to be his potential wife?”
I gripped the bedsheets tighter as my stomach flipped. “So I’m not dreaming?”
“I wish this was a dream. I’ve been worried sick since he took you last month, despite your letters, but this—” She shook her head. “I never imagined anything like that.”
“That makes two of us.”
I flopped back onto my pillows. Sunlight shone through my bed chambers’ glass doors. Outside, my beautiful garden glowed vibrantly in my private courtyard. The thriving orem in its soil meant our normal winter landscape didn’t affect it.
I closed my eyes as I remembered what else I needed to do. “There’s more than just the Trial, Cailis. There’s so much more that’s gone on during the past month.”
She scowled. “What else has happened?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but a knock came on my door, and then Daiseeum entered, carrying a tray of food. My stomach growled, and I sat up when she placed it beside me.
“Enjoy, m’lady.” She curtsied, her gaze darting between me and Cailis before she departed.
My sister’s eyes bulged. “So much food.”
“There always is.”
The empty tray sat between us as I leaned back, sipping my tea as I finished telling my sister everything that had happened since the prince had whisked me away from our village in Mervalee Territory over a month ago.
Her baffled expression grew, getting a frown out of me. “Did they censor all of this from my letters?” I asked.
She nodded. “I knew you were alive, but everything you just told me was blacked out.” Nibbling her lip, she said, “So, let me get this straight . . . Prince Norivun is demanding that you save our continent by using your new affinity to make the crops grow again?”
I nodded.
A slow smile spread across Cailis’s face until it turned into a wide grin. She laughed in delight. “Ilara . . . you have an affinity! Multiple affinities. You’re not a defective anymore! And you have a fire affinity, just like mother and Tormesh did. Oh, Ilara, this is joyous news!” She grabbed my hands, then pulled me into a hug.
The anxiety that had been pulsing through me halted. A soft laugh escaped me too when she squealed. Air, fire, and the ability to create life pulsed inside me. I had actual affinities now, like most Solis fae. I wasn’t a defective any longer. I’d simply bloomed late.
Yeah, like ten winters late.
“I still can’t believe it,” I whispered.
She pulled back, her smile still in place, until she said in a slightly scolding tone, “But, you also agreed to replenish all of our crops in a sealed bargain?”
I cringed, knowing her disapproval was coming next.
Sure enough, she let out a frustrated sigh. “Although I’m happy that you’ve finally bloomed, that was a very foolish decision, Ilara. How could anyone possibly fulfill that? It’s one thing to revive a small garden but another thing entirely to replenish a continent’s land mass.”
“I know.” I shook my head, still feeling sluggish from the unconsciousness I’d awoken from. “I did it in hopes that he’d be forced to let me go and leave me to live in peace.”
“Yet, it still requires you fulfilling the bargain in order for that to occur.”
I winced. “Right, well . . . in my defense, I was drunk when I did it.”
Her jaw dropped, and I wanted to smack a pillow over my head.
“If it’s any consolation,” I added in a rush, “the prince is convinced I’m capable of replenishing the continent’s orem, even though I’ve spent the past week trying to revive a field in Harrivee with nothing to show for it.”
“And if he’s wrong and you can’t, you’re bound to him indefinitely.”
This time, I did smack a pillow over my face.
“So, not only did he kill Tormesh for speaking the truth last season about the dying crops, and then our parents when they came to the court to ask what became of him, but now Prince Norivun is demanding that you fix our continent’s dying crops after finally admitting there is a problem?” She let out a disgusted sound. “What a load of hypocritical domal dung.”
I pulled the pillow from my face to see Cailis scowling. And witnessing her righteous anger stirred the flame inside me, the fire that had raged so hotly when I’d first met the crown prince of the Court of Winter over a month ago. I’d forgotten . . . no, not forgotten . . . I’d temporarily dismissed what he’d done to our family, letting him charm me over the past week, but he was a murderer.
How did I forget that?
“I’m an imbecile,” I said with a groan.
Cailis’s expression softened. “I suppose what’s done is done. We’ll have to deal with it now.” She patted my hand. “Enough of all of that, though. How are you feeling? You scared the daylights out of me last night when they brought you back to this room unconscious.”
“I’m okay. I guess.” I laid a hand on my stomach where that ever-present sensation rumbled. And to think all along what I’d been feeling were my affinities, not indigestion. “It’s a lot to take in, though. I’m still coming to terms with it.”
So much had happened since the prince’s Betrothed Ball last evening. I still couldn’t believe that I’d shared a scorching encounter with the murderer of my family on the throne room’s balcony, only to then be attacked by Vorl and be entered into the Rising Queen Trial.
I shivered when I recalled how my village’s archon had nearly choked the life from me.