Frost (Frost and Nectar #1)(76)

The enchantment of the forest.

I felt myself sinking deeper, my lungs burning. I glimpsed the clear rays of golden light piercing the water from above.

I kicked my legs, swimming up to the light, to life. My fingernails dug into the dirt, and I hoisted myself over the edge of the watery portal, onto the mossy earth. I dropped flat on my back, gasping for breath. Deliciously warm air filled my lungs, the scent of life. Amber light broke through the tree branches above me, flecking the earth with gold.

Home.

I sat up, trying to get my bearings. I’d asked the throne to take me home, and it had brought me here…

But where was I?

Thick green vines emblazoned with red blossoms curled around the bases of the towering trees.

The air was warm and intensely humid, as if I’d stepped into a sauna. It was fragrant, too, brimming with exotic perfumes and floral scents I didn’t recognize.

An enchanted forest.

The scent of the place unearthed a memory buried in the hollows of my mind, the sense that I’d been here before. Déjà vu, maybe.

Water soaked my green dress and dripped into the earth. I should be utterly panicked, but it was simply hard to get past the beauty. Before me were more shades of green than I’d ever seen in my life —emerald, lime, jade, sage, chartreuse, and olive foliage, so rich and variegated, it took my breath away.

And when I looked down at my shoulders, I found that even my hair had turned a gorgeous bluish shade of green.

I scrambled to a standing position and slowly turned, trying to work out where I was, but in every direction, thick undergrowth obscured my view.

Above me, vegetation extended hundreds of feet, twining around massive tree trunks and branches as thick as a Doric column. An enchanted, primordial forest.

I folded my arms, wondering how I’d get back to Faerie, or anywhere familiar.

A distant screech rent the air, and I saw a flash of red and blue wings in my peripheral vision.

Something large, a bird maybe, flew between tree trunks, and the forest went quiet. Then there came a distant, caterwauling shriek. The sound of an animal dying.

This is not good.

Hugging myself, I stepped away from the portal. I spotted movement on a branch maybe ten feet in front of me. It was hard to see through the foliage, but I caught a glimpse of brown fur—a spider the size of a small dog, with six glittering black eyes and a very large pair of fangs.

I took another step backward. Across from me, the spider’s fangs began to twitch excitedly.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I said under my breath. The spider mirrored my movements.

I turned, heading back for the portal. Maybe it could take me back? Or at least take me somewhere else?

But as I stood over the water, I caught a glimpse of my reflection, and my heart went still.

Because there, protruding from my green hair, was a golden pair of horns.

I couldn’t breathe.

A word knelled in the hollows of my mind as I realized why the pendant had rejected me.

Unseelie.

I’d asked to come home, and this was where the magic had brought me.

My real home—the realm of the wild beasts.

It seemed I was a changeling after all.

THANK YOU FOR READING FROST.

You might want to join the reader group to talk to other readers about that ending, and to get updates on the sequel.

Or, if you just want to stay updated about the release of Ambrosia, you can sign up to our

newsletter.

Please read on for an excerpt of one of our other books, City of Thorns.





36

S A M P L E C H A P T E R F R O M C I T Y O F T H O R N S

T he bartender slid our mojitos across the bar, and I grabbed mine instantly. I took a sip, letting the mint and lime roll over my tongue. “Please tell me about the City of Thorns. I want to hear about the demons.”

“Where do I even begin?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Do you think demons can leave the city walls?”

She shook her head. “I think so, but not for long. As far as I know, there’s some kind of magical spell from hundreds of years ago that keeps them mostly tied to one demon city or another. But occasionally, they can travel between them. Why do you ask?”

“That night my mom was murdered—”

My sentence trailed off. I could already feel the air cooling, the atmosphere growing thorny as I raised the painful subject. There was no easy way to say, One night, a demon with a glowing star on his head hunted down my mom in the woods and burned her to death. And since the horror of that night felt raw even now, it was hard to talk about it without feeling like I was drowning in loss again.

Sometimes, I thought the only thing keeping me afloat was the certainty that I’d avenge her death.

That I would get into the City of Thorns and find her killer.

But this was too dark and weird, wasn’t it? Worse than the fox pee beneath my bed.

We were sitting at the marble bar, with the night-dark sea glittering before us. I didn’t want to ruin the evening, and so I waved a hand. “I want to hear more about your daily life at the university.

What’s it like?”

I could feel the tension leave the air again. “Fucking amazing,” Shai said. “I might do another year. Any chance you can get the tuition for next year?”

“I’m working on a few ideas for getting in.” Wildly illegal ideas at this point. “What’s your dorm like?”