Frost (Frost and Nectar #1)(36)

And now I understood exactly what he meant.

I WOKE ON SOFT, CLEAN SHEETS AND TOOK A DEEP BREATH. A COOL BREEZE WHISPERED OVER MY SKIN.

Shalini sat slumped in a silky arm chair, sunlight washing over her.

She looked up at me, and her eyes lit. She slammed the book in her hands shut. “You’re awake!”

I touched my chest, my gaze roaming over the books lining the small room. I’d been brought back to the chamber where I’d slept last night. I inhaled deeply, relieved to find the pain was almost gone, then winced a little, feeling bruised around my ribs. “I think I’m better.

She rose. “Hang on a second. You can speak to the medical expert.” She crossed to the door and beckoned to someone.

A moment later, Torin was crossing into the room, and his piercing gaze landed on me.

I swallowed hard. “You didn’t tell me yet if I made the cut.”

“Just barely,” he said. “Two broken ribs and a punctured lung. It had nearly collapsed by the time you crossed the finish line. You could have suffocated or bled to death.” He quirked an eyebrow.

“Last one to make the cut. You barely got over the line in time, but you did it.”

I let out a long, slow breath. “Oh, thank the gods.”

Torin sat next to me on the bed, and I felt the mattress depress with his weight. “Tell me if anything hurts when I touch it.”

Oh, gods. There goes my restraint. “Okay…” I said slowly, not sure if it would send me into some kind of unwanted lust spiral. I started to push up on my elbows, but he raised a hand, signaling for me to stay down.

Torin pulled back the sheets, and I glanced down at my sweat-dampened shirt. He traced his fingertips over my ribs on my right side. A line formed between his eyebrows as he concentrated.

“Does this hurt? You didn’t let me finish healing you for reasons I’d frankly love to examine.”

I wouldn’t.

“That does,” I said wincing as he touched my ribs below my breast. He was trying to be gentle, but I still felt a stab through my chest. “Are you training to be a doctor or something?”

“Here in Faerie, the one with the strongest magic is the best doctor, and I have the most powerful magic of any fae in this realm. You must have felt it.”

“What about the women with the severed limbs?” I asked.

“They did not make it over the line in time, so they will be recovering in whatever common fae towns they hail from.”

My eyebrows shot up. Ice cold. As soon as I got my money, I would be out of this place. I’d always been suspicious of other fae, but never before had I fully understood how terrifying they were.

He paused, a wicked glint smoldered in his eyes. “Unless there’s some reason, Ava, that you are afraid of me being near you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I just don’t need someone fussing over me.” It was my prim and proper voice again, one that I’d never before used in my life. I was now a deeply repressed Victorian governess.

He cupped my side, and his magic slid into me. A flash of heat flared in my core, and I sucked in a sharp breath. A soothing sensation washed over me, like warm water trickling down my skin, making my muscles relax. Then his magic slipped into me, making my body feel full and ripe with his essence, his primordial power…

It was a divine feeling that made my limbs feel languorous and supple, and despite what the Victorian governess was saying out loud, the real me didn’t want it to end.

“You should be fully healed now.” He gave me a half-smile, then pulled that delicious magic from me. “I’m impressed that you dragged yourself over the finish line.”

I nodded, and a dark image unfurled in my mind—the two women with severed legs, screaming in pools of their own blood. “A good day for both of us, then. I could still win the money, and you have a potential queen, with no messy emotional involvement.”

His expression was unreadable. “Exactly the way it should be for a king.”

“That whole thing was brutal today,” I said. “Have you ever considered banning mutilations and murder attempts during the trials?”

He pulled his gaze away, staring out the window. “That is not the fae way, Ava. Do not try to change us just because you lived a few years among insipid humans, with all the comfort their culture entails. We are creatures of the Wild Hunt, and we could never be anything else. If you feel we go too far, it’s only because you are living a lie about your true nature.” The corner of his mouth curled.

“Because underneath it all, you are as vicious as the rest of us.”

And with that, he stood and crossed to the door. I shot Shalini a nervous look, and for the first time, I saw her looking unnerved as well. She gave me a casual shrug, but by the furrow of her brow, I could tell she was wondering if we’d made a bad decision in coming here.

Torin paused at the door to look back at me. “I’ll return for you later. We must prepare. Because if you thought the competition today was brutal, I don’t know if you’ll survive what comes later.”

A fog of cold dread wrapped around me, and I clutched at my blankets.

At least I wasn’t thinking about Andrew anymore.





17

A VA

W hen I awoke, it was late in the day. The afternoon sun poured in through the window, filling the room with a honey-hued light. It bathed the old book spines and the black fur blanket in gold, and cast long, deep blue shadows across the stone floor. Here, even the light seemed enchanted—richer, more vibrant.