Page 112 of Frost Bound

She scowled. “How the blazes would you know that?”

“Because there is always a pair in the basket that the laundry maids collect.”

Dahlia crossed her arms and glanced away toward the windows. “I don’t know.”

“It’s just skin,” he stated bluntly.

She frowned. “No, it’s not. It’s what has separated me from everyone else for years. It’s what has made me undesirable to men, repugnant to my own queen, something to be scoffed at, and put me in danger. It’s made me into a monster, not human.”

“Like me.”

“You’re not a … monster.”

He arched a brow at her. “Am I not? By all accounts, since I look different than you, that makes me flawed.”

Lia pursed her lips and hung her head. “I just want to be free of this curse.”

“You can’t change who you are. But you can learn to accept and love it. That is the only way you will ever be free.”

“And your scars?” she volleyed back. “The ones you refuse to talk about. Are you free from them?”

He ground his back molars. She had a point.

She blew out a breath when he stayed silent. “We should probably get out of bed, no?”

Hisvalleswas shutting him out, but it was his fault.

Neve nodded. He’d let it go. And figure out how to talk about his scars somehow.

“I do have one more question for you.”

He eyed her. “What?”

“Will you pierce my ear?”

Chapter Forty

Dahlia

The topof her left ear throbbed wickedly.

Dahlia hadn’t cried, but godsteeth it hurt to have it pierced for her mum, and yet it felt right. While her mum still breathed, she died that day of the Haunt attack. Her mind and body were broken and utterly irreparable. Some days, Lia wondered if it would have been easier to lose her mum altogether that day than to watch her fade into nothing – a shell with a spirit.

Her ladies-in-waiting hadoohed over the simple amethyst stud on her ear as they dressed her for the judgment. They chose a black lace gown that hugged her curves, with lavender silk peeking out. A crown of black diamonds and amethyst was set upon her head that was so heavy it felt like it would fall off any second.

Despite the healing black eye, she looked like a proper queen.

What are you doing?

Playing queen wasn’t going to save her mother.

She needed to kill the king. Dahlia fiddled with the ring on her middle finger.

Lia placed a hand over her belly, nausea rising at the thought. Neve wasn’t good, but he wasn’t evil either. The longer she stayed in this place, the more confusing everything got.

“Nerves, my lady?” Lo asked from the couch. “I have a tonic for that.”

Dahlia shook her head and turned from the mirror. “No.”Just guilt.

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