Frozen Fear Book. 2

❅Chapter 12❅

I had little to no items to pack, so I was ready when Nicola knocked on my door and led me into the Den's main cave, where Drake, Shae, Nxy, Genius, and Puck were all waiting along with a few extra fae whose faces I didn't know.

It was sad, I realized, that I didn't even have a small bag to pack. No trinkets to carry in hand. Not even a picture of someone special. I had nothing. I was still wearing the skin tight suit Akan had given me, the weird talon necklace dangling between my breasts, and that was it. All that was mine. The clothes I had on my back.

I fidgeted with the chain around my neck, avoiding the group's questioning gazes. I hadn't seen any of them, besides Nic, Genius and Drake since we arrived and I had no intentions in getting into conversations with them.

Just stay quiet.

Akan gave me a chilling smile, then signaled with was time to leave.

We headed out just as the sun was cresting over the jagged horizon that was the Skeldergate Mountains. The sky was a smear of pinks and oranges, lighting the snow below in a beautiful scarlet that reminded me too much of blood.

I tailed the group, trying my best to keep to myself. It worked for the most part, but Puck, the faerie with the blazing red hair and emerald green eyes kept tossing jokes my way, expecting me to take the bait. I didn't, of course. So soon enough he was keeping pace right beside me, a stupid, carefree grin plastered on his face.

"You look like you need a friend."

I scuffed, rolling my eyes. "Then you should go get your eyes checked."

Much to my distaste, his grin only widened. "Feisty. I like it." I kept my gaze looking onward, past the group and towards the looming shadow in the distance that had to be the Bairfell Palace. "So," Puck continued, "can you do anything else besides turning people into giant popsicles?"

I snorted a laugh. I tugged on my power, or my mother's power I guess, nestled deep within. The tips of my fingers twinkled with a beautiful blue hew. I brought it up to my face, flexing them before turning on Puck with a wicked grin. "Want to find out?"

His eyes went large, his pale face stretching as he smiled. He let out a low whistle. "Damn. Foster is one lucky bastard."

The blue fire that ignited my fingers died, leaving nothing but a hollow weight settled between my breast. "Being tortured by a pissed off queen that's desperate to save her own ass isn't what I'd consider lucky," I mumbled. The crack in my heart widened a little, admitting it aloud.

A flash of sympathy gleamed in Puck's eyes, his lips forming a straight line. "You know that's not what I meant. I'm sorry."

"Whether you meant it or not, you said it," I snapped. "Foster is far from lucky. He's chained up in that damned castle with a blade of iron pushed between his breast bone. He's practically blind. And the worst part? He's expecting me to save him, and I don't know if I can do it."

All sympathy washed from Puck's features. The group had gone quiet, no doubt listening in to the conversation going on behind then. Fine, whatever. Let them listen. It's nothing they haven't thought before.

"If you can't save him, what makes you think we can?"

I scoffed. "You're a pack of royal fae out to avenge your fallen kingdoms. What's more dangerous than that?"

"I know something," Nicola piped in, cutting off her conversation with Genius, falling behind so she walked in time with me. When I gave her a puzzled look, she went on: "Well, someone. You should see her... She's supposedly the daughter of the Winter Queen, and sired by Death himself. It's rumored that she can control shadow, a darkness so black it turns even the brightest of heart to its call. And she's immune to iron - one of the only things that can actually kill the Winter Queen." She gave me a wink. "I think her name is Eve."