Page 35 of Bound to the Shadow Queen (Frostbound Court #2)
Draven
I felt her before I saw her.
I had already leapt to my feet after yet another puncture against the wards, when the pull between us grew even more taut than usual. Then the door swung open on its hinges, and she stood in its frame.
Her navy hair was piled on top of her hair in a haphazard style I was certain Mirelda hadn’t approved. Several waves sprung free to frame her delicate features.
She must have been bundled in her blankets—warm—because she hadn’t thrown a dressing gown over her silky nightgown. But she wasn’t warm anymore, evident by the hardened peaks straining the thin silver fabric.
A rush of heat cut through the cold that coursed through my veins, sharp and unwelcome.
She followed my gaze before she hurriedly crossed her arms over her chest, a pale pink blush spreading across her cheeks.
She stepped inside, shutting the door behind her with her hip. Then she turned to face me, silhouetted by the river of green and teal lights shining from the night sky.
“I need you to take me to my father’s estate.”
Of course she came here to throw everything to hells, right as I finally had word that the Archmage would arrive tomorrow.
All at once, I saw her standing in the hall between our rooms.
We have to get to Thistlerun Keep. You have to take me there now.
She wasn’t panicked now like she had been then, but there was a subtle desperation coming through all the same that I didn’t begin to trust.
“No.” I told her what I should have said the first time, if I hadn’t been too distracted by her tears and the emotions rolling off of her.
Or more accurately, if I hadn’t been distracted by the fact that I cared about those things, the unsettling awareness that my wife had the power to make me act against every sense of reason.
I knew better now.
She tilted her chin in the obstinate way that meant she was about to push back, and I cut her off, crossing my arms.
“Need I remind you what happened the last time you begged me to icewalk you somewhere?”
Her lips parted, and she stood to her full, yet still insubstantial, height. “No, you don’t need to remind me of my capture and subsequent torture, though I do appreciate the offer.”
Sarcasm coated her tone like snow on a broken window, obscuring the jagged edges of her words.
A muscle worked in my jaw at the reminder that she had been hurt there.
The air came to life around us, swirling in a menacing icy arc that dislodged several more wavy strands of hair from Everly’s messy bun.
I forced myself to take a breath, to remember that whatever else had happened to her, she had told me more than once that she would rather be there.
That she wasn’t above working toward that end.
“Let’s not forget the interim where you were apparently so happy and free that you’d like to return,” I reminded her, stepping closer on instinct.
Frustration rolled off of her in waves.
She pushed a lock of hair out of her face, inadvertently exposing her chest again. I kept my eyes glued to her face. She and the many feelings radiating from her were distraction enough without her assets on display.
“I don’t have some deep, nefarious plan, Draven,” she gritted out. “I just need to get something from my house.”
No. Deep, nefarious plans weren’t exactly her style, but quietly hiding one motive in another was.
“Spoken like someone who doesn’t remember that she’s an untrusted captive for a reason.”
She dropped her arms “It’s for your people, you frost twat, and you can stay by my side the whole time.”
It wasn’t the first time she had called them my people, but it was the first time I put together the reason: that even if they were technically half her people, that wasn’t what she had been raised to think of them as.
Still, the words prickled along my chest, an uncomfortable reminder that she was not, and would never be, the queen she had vowed to be.
“What could you possibly need for my people at your estate?”
Her cheeks flushed again. “A compendium, on monsters.”
“There is no comprehensive compendium on monsters.” I would know, I had looked for one when they first began to overrun my kingdom.
She looked away. “Yes, I’m aware. Which is why I was trying to piece one together. I know that I’ve read something about monsters and wards, and if I’ve read it, it should be in there.”
For days, I had been getting random glimpses of pages turning with increasing frustration.
“Why would you work so hard to help my people if you don’t claim them?”
“My sister is here, too. And it’s not like there’s anything else I can do.”
Whether she meant because she was locked up or because she had no mana, a brief flicker of hurt flared to life around her.
A short, bitter breath escaped her. “For all that you say you’re willing to do whatever it takes, up to torturing and killing and maiming and running yourself ragged all the shards-damned-hells over your kingdom, I can’t imagine why you would balk at a five minute trip to my house.”
Because the last time I agreed to take you anywhere, you hurled yourself directly into danger.
But she wasn’t wrong. We needed all of the information we could get. I had hunted this thing every spare moment for days and it evaded me at every turn.
I took a breath, already knowing that I would agree. But this wouldn’t be like the estate.
I was prepared, and I would damn well make sure no one took her anywhere this time.