Frost (Frost and Nectar #1)(38)

“What do you think the princesses are doing now?” she asked.

“Hot bath, maybe. And some champagne. Celebrating their wins.”

“And that’s what we’ll do after your next win,” she said brightly.

There was a note of false cheer in her voice, and I appreciated her effort. I could tell she was worried about where this would all go, but she was doing her best not to show it.

Between the dark trunks, warm light flickered. As we drew closer, I glanced at the ribbons and baubles decorating the tree branches. I stopped to look at one of the glittering charms swinging in the breeze. A small golden frame encircled a portrait of a beautiful woman in a dress with a high collar.

Jewels, trinkets, and skeleton keys swayed at the ends of silk ribbons, and little spheres held tiny toys. Children’s faces adorned some of the little portraits. I wasn’t sure what all this meant, but a shudder rippled up my spine.

I paused again to look at one of the little oval portraits that twisted in the wind. On the back, someone had inscribed the words,

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world’s more full of weeping

than you can understand.

The sadness of the words coiled deep inside me, and it took me a moment to realize I’d seen them before—in a Yeats poem called “The Stolen Child.”

“Is it just me,” I whispered, “or is this place creepy?”

“Not just you,” Shalini whispered back. “A forest full of children’s pictures hanging from trees is unquestionably creepy as fuck.”

“Ava…” Torin’s low voice floated on the wind, making my heart speed up.

I followed the flickering lights, until we crossed into a clearing. Crooked tombstones jutted from the snowy earth like monstrous teeth. When I looked closer, I saw the death’s head carvings above the text.

All around the clearing, ribbons and trinkets hung from the trees, some of them tinkling together in the wind. In the shadows of an oak, Torin stood next to Aeron.

He stepped forward, and I caught a glimpse of two rapiers in his hands.

I hugged my cloak like a shield. “What are we doing out here?”

He held up one of the rapiers, then tossed it to me. It arced through the air, and I darted forward to catch it by the hilt, surprised to find it was much heavier than what I was used to. Now this was a real sword, not the modern kind I’d practiced with.

“Not really into fencing safety protocols, are you?” I said.

Torin marched through the snow, stepping over a tiny tombstone that looked disturbingly like it might belong to a small child. He crossed into an open area, a cleared snowy circle within the tombstones. Once, maybe a temple or church had stood there.

The corner of his mouth curled. “I know you are a fencing champion, but that was among humans.

I need to see how you compete at the fae level.”

I stopped myself from arguing that of course I was good, because the truth was, humans were not as fast, strong, or dexterous as the fae. Perhaps he had a point.

“Why are we in a cemetery in the woods?” I asked. “What is this place?”

“We’re here because no one ever comes here.” Torin prowled closer in the cleared circle, graceful as a cat. When he was only a few feet from me, he stopped and looked around, as if noticing the strangeness for the first time. “It’s the old burying ground for the curiosities from long ago.”

“The curiosities?” Shalini asked. “What does that mean?”

“It’s what we used to call humans we brought here. Long ago, wealthy fae would bring young human curiosities to our realm and raise them.” He shrugged. “It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago.” He glanced at me. “You were raised among humans.”

“You two would both be considered curiosities,” added Aeron. “Exotic creatures from another world. Even if one of you is technically fae.”

“No,” said Torin, his eyes locked on me. “Ava is a changeling, of course.”

“Hang on,” I said. “So, the fae…kidnapped human children?”

Torin sighed. “They were very well looked after.” His gaze slid over a row of tiny gravestones.

“At least, attempts were made to look after them. Humans are so fragile that it’s confusing to us. They really die very easily.”

“It was a different time,” added Aeron with a shrug.

Torin nodded. “And the fae who took the curiosities usually left behind a fae changeling with the human parents. The changelings were usually demented, wild fae who served no purpose here in Faerie. But they were glamoured to look like human babies, so the families never knew.” He cocked his head as he looked at me. “Like you, Ava.”

“Okay, that’s really not what I am,” I snapped. Fuck. It wasn’t, was it?

Torin lifted his blade and inspected it in the moonlight. “Honestly, it was a real improvement on fae–human relations from a thousand years ago, when we used to cut out the eyes and tongues of any humans who spotted us in the forest.”

“Perfectly reasonable, then.” This fucking place… “Can we just get on with the fencing?”

He nodded and pointed a few feet away from him. “Start there.” He glanced at Shalini and Aeron.