Page 78 of Wicked Prince of Frost

When I don’t attack, they grow braver. The center one prowls closer, reaching out to claw at my skirt.

I kick at them. They recoil, only to realize just how helpless I am a second later.

Cruel smiles spread over the three skull-like faces.

I try to call Joon’s name, but all that comes out is a harsh rasp.

The first demon coils their body, muscles bunching over elongated limbs, ready to pounce. The two others follow the cue. A horrible rumbling builds in their throats.

With a howl, they shift their weight, then leap.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

VIOLET

The world shiftsall around me as the door at my back opens and I fall. Blinding light flares, consuming the dark. The victorious howls quickly transform into piercing screeches of agony. Then there is only silence.

In one seamless move, two strong hands catch me before I hit the ground and drag me inside, letting the door snap shut.

Joon’s endless blue eyes hover above, searching my face. Imugi hovers behind his shoulder, dipping in and out of view.

Familiar tendrils of magic weave through me, easing the vice-like grip around my heart.

Pressure builds behind my eyes with prickling heat. “I hate this. I—I thought I was going to die—I couldn’t do anything to stop it.” Years of pent-up emotions I buried surge forward all at once, spilling over in rivulets of hot tears. “I’m so tired of being afraid and weak.”

After days of rest, I thought I was fine, but that day in the alley, a crack formed in the dam I created to hide it all, until the pressure became too much.

Joon holds me to him as fear and anger pour out. Most ofwhat I manage to say is barely intelligible, but it hardly matters. He listens silently and waits until I take shuddering breaths, completely spent.

“Yourbodymay have a weakness, but that doesn’t makeyouweak.” Joon strokes my hair. “This… condition is only a small part of you. There is so much more to you than this. It does not define you. Look at me, Violet.” He pulls back and pins me with his gaze. “It takes more strength and courage to keep going and fight for your life every single day than most could ever hope to possess, and when you thought it was over, you faced it with bravery.”

I sniffle pathetically and offer him a thin, half-hearted smile.

These feelings have been building for years. They are not about to change after a few kind words from a prince. It will take time to be rid of them—time I don’t have.

It’s not that I don’t believe him. For so long, I have lived trying to get the world to seemeand not my broken heart. Pretending I could live a life as normal, as long as anyone else’s.

Though perhaps he, more than anyone, is capable of understanding how I feel.

“Come,” he says. “Let us get you back to your apartments.” Supporting my forearm with his, Joon wraps an arm around my waist and helps me stand.

Happy to lean on him for support, I shuffle along, but before we can even take five steps, the rustling bush leaves sends fear spiking through my veins—there is no breeze within the enclosed garden. Nothing to logically cause that to happen.

I plant my feet and refuse to take another step.

Several leaves near the ground flutter, and from within the cluster of branches, two red eyes blink through small gaps in the foliage.

“Demon,” I squeak, stumbling back, pointing a shaking finger at the beast that somehow managed to get past the wards and inside the palace.

“How did they getinside?” Hysteria builds at the base of my throat.

Joon grips me, holding me steady. “I invited them in,” he says in a calm voice, as if giving a demon permanent access to the palace was a reasonable thing to do.

“Three demons tried to kill me a minute ago, and you invited one in?”

“They… helped me find you.”

My head snaps up and I look him in the eye, so he knows I’m aware that he’s lost his demons damned mind.