Page 53 of Gifted to the Frost King

DOVE

The cold is what wakes me up.

Someone must’ve forgotten to stoke the fire. Opening my eyes, I forget that I’m not in my room. Then, the memories of last night come roaring back as I feel the luxurious soreness in my muscles. My face heats at the pleasure Frosty pulled from my body.

I don’t hear him breathing beside me, and the side of the bed feels too cold. Sunlight streams in from the windows. Did he go somewhere? Maybe he’s checking on Glimmer. With a start I sit up, remembering my dear friend.

Something heavy pulls against the sheets resting against my chest when I do. Glancing to the side, my whole world shatters in an instant. Denial pierces through me at what I’m seeing. No. No.No.

This can’t be right—itcan’tbe happening.

A scream rips from my lungs as I stare at Frosty’s unmoving face. His whole body is ice, like the elves we saw in town. He’s curled towards me on the bed. His hands are outstretched as if he can capture me one last time. There is such love radiating from his unseeing eyes.

“Wake up!” I yell. “Please, wake up!”

Heartbreak erupts inside me, and tears spill down my cheeks. Why didn’t I tell him I loved him? Why didn’t I try harder to break this curse sooner? Now, I have lost him—my mate. He has been stolen from me forever. If I cannot have him and our family I glimpsed at the frozen lake, then I don’t want one.

“Don’t leave me. I just found you.”

My fingers touch his icy skin as sobs wrack my body. I remember every touch and every smile. The kindness he showed me, and the remorse for the male he had been. His heart was changed—how was that not enough to spare him?

I press my forehead against his. He was so alive last night. How could he possibly have turned into?—

“He used the last of his magic to save me,” a soft voice calls from the corner of the room.

Glimmer buzzes there on her gossamer wings. Her blue skin is rich, and her eyes glow brightly. I glance down at the King and back up to my friend. Tears blur my vision.

“There has to be something—this can’t be the end. Not after we only had one night together.”

The snow fairy dims, and sadness settles over her features. In the morning light, something is different about Glimmer. Her eyes, which always seemed childlike, are more mature. They regard me with unyielding certainty.

“He would’ve had more time if he chose not to save me—he would’ve broken the curse.” Glimmer shakes her head. “After all this time, he finally found you, only for it not to matter. I never intended for it to end this way.”

My mouth goes dry.

“Glimmer?”

The snow fairy doesn’t answer. She merely buzzes towards me on her wings. She glows brightly, nearly scorching my eyes.I watch her glittering form grow and sparkle as she approaches. Magic dances in the air and swirls around me. Glimmer’s small body gives away to another form—her true form.

The light dissipates, and standing before me is a figure I’d recognize anywhere. The sorceress. Her blue eyes sparkle with knowing. She glances at the Frost King, and I want to snarl. It was her curse that made him like this—that robbed us both of our future.

“I know you must be angry with me,” she says softly. “Allow me to show you the truth before you do anything rash.”

I swallow and stay perfectly still as Glimmer—the sorceress—touches my forehead. I’m sucked down deep into the familiar depths of a memory. The glittering ball from the night the curse was laid comes into view. I stand beside the sorceress as a bound Frost King kneels at our feet. I watch her lean down and press her lips against his ear.

“You will find your mate—oh yes, I see it now,” she whispers. “She will be beautiful. Can’t you see?”

The second vision I had at the lake swirls around us. My elven self and the Frost King sit on the loveseat surrounded by our child while his hand rests on my stomach. The Frost King’s eyes flash, but the sorceress merely chuckles.

“If you succeed in making her fall in love with you, the moment she says the words, all your memories shall return. You will remember the key to setting yourself free. All she needs to do is utter your name, and my curse will be lifted. The name you have blighted with your ignorance and selfishness will be your last hope for salvation.” A cruel smile curls her lips. “But she will not be coming for some time, young king. She will be born a human and left to wither in their frozen wastes. You will search the lands for her each year. I hope for your sake that she turns up before five centuries come to pass. If the curse is not broken by then, you will join all the others in their icy prisons.”

His skin turns pale, and he sags to the floor.

My heart flops in my chest as I watch her slam the crown down on his head again. Blighting his memory and making the curse impossible to solve. I’m slammed back into my body as I lie beside a frozen Frost King on the bed. Anguish burns through me as I stare up at the sorceress.

“He had to be punished for what he did.The Crystal Eggwas not just a relic but a conduit of the snow fairies’s power. They had suffered once he became king, and as their protector, it was my job to punish him for what he did.” Her lips curl down. “But I am not cruel.”

I scoff. “You gave him an impossible task.”

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