Forged in Frost and Fire (Book 1 in the Chronicles of Kings trilogy)

Chapter Seven

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

I came back in slow bursts. First I could smell the different herbs around me. They were stronger than before, sharper, as if someone had enhanced everything about them. I could smell the perfume on my skin from that bath I took, I could smell the blood that was on the knife that was used to slit my throat, blood that was now dripping down between the floorboards. I could hear...hear breathing. Anastasia, her breath was almost like a purr. She smelt of jasmine and some sharp scent, like cinnamon, yet sweeter.

I could hear the crackle and snapping of the fire, the sound of blood dripping onto the floor, the wind whistling outside, the crunch of leaves as boots walked across the ground. I...felt things too. The press of a blanket around my shoulders, the fibers of yarn felt a million times softer than they had before. Everything around me felt enhanced, like someone had turned up the saturation.

"Shouldn't she be waking up now?" a voice asked, smooth as honey and warm as spring evenings. Dimitri.

"Any second now. Her body needs to catch up with her mind, give her some time," this voice felt like a crescendo of birds chirping in the trees. Like nature, and balance, and ancient power. Gretchen. Gretchen was sitting furthest away from me, nearest to the fire, I could tell from the way her smell of herbs and fresh soil met my nose. Everything felt overwhelming. I wasn't used to the overstimulation.

"She's moving," Dimitri whispered. That I was. I was shifting my position, only to find that my body did not feel like my own. It felt...so, so different. It felt like strength and power and...ice. So much ice. The ice was embedded deep inside of me and if I focused I could brush a well of power deep inside of me, frigid and full of that ice, cold darkness. Power. That was what power felt like. And it was inside of me.

I awoke with a gasp. My lips opened and I sucked in air greedily. I felt like a woman who had been trapped underwater for ages. No, not underwater...trapped under ice. My eyes flickered open and I was assaulted with colors that were so vivid, more vivid than the collection of paints and ink Tellie had bought me for my seventeenth birthday. We weren't able to buy Christmas gifts because of that purchase, but Tellie and Heather didn't mind because of how happy I was with the gift. I wouldn't stop smiling for weeks.

"Ah, there she is," Anastasia purred. I glanced up to see that my head had been in her lap. I got up quickly, faster than I was used to with the newfound strength brewing inside me. I felt like I could crash my fists through brick walls, like I could run and run and never get tired.

"Easy there, tiger," Dimitri said, looking at me as if I was a rabid animal. I frowned at him, even that gesture felt different.

"Movement will feel weird for about a day since you're practically in a new body," Gretchen said. My head whipped to the right to face her. Even she seemed to flinch away from me. I didn't think the witch could feel fear. From the short time I'd known her, she always seemed to be floating on her own cloud of blissful ignorance.

"Where's my old body?" I asked. My voice had changed too, it came from somewhere deep inside of me and it sounded deeper, and it had a sharp edge undertone I hadn't missed. An undertone that promised fear and pain if I was pressed too far. But I wouldn't actually...right?

"Oh no, that is your body. It was altered though, through magic. That was why you experienced so much pain, your limbs were changing, bones were breaking, new veins and tendons were forming. That'd be painful to anyone." Gretchen took a sip of tea out of a chipped mug. I didn't miss the fact that her hand was shaking.

"You said there'd be a balance. A sacrifice in order to gain a reward," I said. I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shoulders. Under the fabric I was pretty sure I was completely naked, and while they had all probably seen me in the nude, I'd prefer not to be conscious if they were to see it again.