Page 103 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Five

The ride is exhilarating and slightly terrifying. I don’t know how fast a normal horse runs, but it feels like the fae mare could outrun the Bimmer. Or maybe it’s just the illusion of speed, with the forest hugging closely, the darkness closer still.

When the forest breaks, we emerge on an overgrown field, and there, in the distance, is a many-spired palace, and rising up, sharp behind it, is a mountain edged in snow and moonlight.

Even though the heat is still present, summer still retreating, goosebumps rise on my arms and down my neck.

I don’t want to cry, but…

“It’s beautiful,” I say on a breath.

Bran coaxes the mare forward and she navigates the overgrown field nimbly until her horseshoes clomp on cobblestones that poke through the moss.

We pass a dry fountain, a figure of stone in the center. And just past the fountain is what remains of a wide road lined with tall, overgrown evergreen trees. There are more stone statues here, some covered in moss and ivy.

“It’s so quiet.” Even my voice sounds loud in the liminal space.

Bran slips down from the mare and then helps me off. “Stay,” he tells her and she turns to the overgrowth, finding herself a snack.

“This is…weird.” I take a few tentative steps toward the palace. It’s more of a castle in contrast to the Summer Palace. The Winter Palace is made of solid, dark stone, with sharp spires and large, rectangular windows.

Bran goes up the front steps and stops with his hand on the curved iron handle of the giant front door. The dark wood is strapped in iron and dotted with iron tacks. “Are you ready, princess?”

I swallow.

I’m not sure I am, but when will I ever be? Probably never. I don’t think a girl can ever be ready to become a queen when just a year ago she was a barista trying to escape a life she never felt like she fit.

“I like Mouse better,” I tell him.

“Very well.” He presses the handle and the latch clanks open. “Are you ready, little mouse?”

And then he gives the door a nudge and the Winter Palace beckons me in.