Page 70 of Frost Bound

“Do you need a break with the washing? I can continue if you need to sit, my lady. You’ve been on your feet for some time.”

She shook her head and leaned back against the counter, the stone pressing against the middle of her back. “I’m alright. I was just lost in my thoughts.” She rotated her shoulder. It still ached now and then, but not too badly. “I just finished with the pots. What else can I help with?”

Loshika snorted, sitting near the fire and cutting strips of linen in a rocking chair. “Lae reilleve, you work too hard. Our king left you to heal and recuperate, not slave away like anonnaette.”

Lia pushed away from the counter and wound her way through tables of herbs and cots. She plopped into the oversized wooden chair next to Loshika, plucking a pair of scissors from her apron pocket. “I like keeping my hands busy. Did you really expect me to languish around and not help?”

Loshika cocked her head. “I thought I knew what to expect from humans, but it wasn’t you.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” she commented, taking a square of linen from the table. It was a bit of a stretch. Everything was. The house, the doors, the furniture. Everything was just a touch larger or taller. It made her feel like a tiny mouse.

Loshika scratched her pockmarked neck and shrugged. “A good thing. I’ve only experiencedsaloes’malice, greed, deception, and hate. From what I know of you,reilleve, you don’t fit that description.”

A twinge of guilt wriggled in her chest. Loshika had no idea the trickery Lia was involved in.

I’m here to spy, to murder.

She studied Loshika’s angular profile, and the marks along her neck. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did that happen?”

The giantess stopped her cutting and set her hands in her lap. “I will tell you,lae reilleve, but only if you tell me about your legs.”

My queen.

Lianna gasped. “Loshika! How dare you ask such a thing. Apologize for your presumptuousness.”

Dahlia had stiffened, holding Loshika’s gaze, but not because of overstepping. No, because her whole life she’d been taught to hide her skin. To never speak about it unless she wanted to be burned as a witch.

You’re not in Astera anymore.

She blew out a breath and nodded. “I’ll go first.” With shaking hands, she lifted the overly long skirt until it reached her knees, the meld of patchwork skin bringing a wave of shame with it.

Lia swallowed thickly. “My mother said I was born this way. It wasn’t as extensive when I was a child. It’s spread over the years.”

“Is it contagious?” Loshika asked. “Do all humans deal with something similar?”

“No. It’s just something I deal with. I’m sure there are others who have something similar, but it is kept a secret.”

“Why do you hide it?” Lianna questioned softly, moving her chair to Dahlia’s other side.

“Because it’s dangerous.”

Lianna blinked. “Why? You said it wasn’t contagious.”

“Because it makes her different,” Loshika replied, sharing a knowing look with Lia. “You know how our village used to treat me beforeNonnaetook me on as one of her apprentices. I was bullied, shunned, and beaten for my differences from the time I was a child.”

“I’m so sorry,” Dahlia whispered, feeling heat at the back of her eyes at the idea of little Loshika being beaten.

“Don’t be. It made me stronger.” A pause. “But I’m sure your experience was different than mine. Excuse me for speaking out of turn,reilleve.”

“There’s nothing to forgive, and our experiences are similar.”Be careful. Tell the truth but wrapped in a lie.“My mother is a great beauty.”Truth.“She didn’t handle it well when I was born … different.”Lie.“She tried every cure, and then eventually had me cloistered away from the court.”Truth.“People could whisper and start rumors all they wanted, but no one knew the truth.”Truth.“No one but my mother, father, and nanny.”Lie.

Lianna reached out and took Lia’s hand. “I’m so sorry. That must have been lonely.”

Dahlia squeezed her hand. “I found joy too. In my books. I always wanted to travel.”Truth. Once Cosmos had been fed andput to sleep, she’d stayed up reading, living vicariously through others.

“And here you are,” Loshika murmured. “Married to the Frost King. Queen of the Frost Throne.”

“Here I am.”Trapped. A false queen.

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