Page 48 of Blood Beneath the Snow

Keeping time was impossible withinthe prison, but I assumed several hours had passed. And I’d spent all of them wandering, hoping to find a shred of evidence the Hellbringer had been lying, and there was a way to escape. I’d come upon several doors, many of which appeared to lead outside, but they wouldn’t budge. Many of them were melted along the edges, the frames indeed welded shut.

Only one door had seemed usable in any way. I made a mental note to come back with tools to try picking the lock. Assuming I could find tools, of course.

I clutched my arms around myself. My teeth had been chattering long enough my jaw hurt, but I wasn’t going back to him. I couldn’t. I would rather die here in the dark and the cold than face the Hellbringer again.

Because then I’d have to admit I needed him to save me.

The lantern light danced in front of me as I forced step after step into the gray darkness. Shivers overtook my every movement. Occasionally the metal was dulled and dented where something heavy had swung into the walls. The prison told a visual story, like scars on skin.

If I could escape, then it wouldn’t matter if no one was coming to find me. I would save myself. The way I always had before.

Step after step I continued walking, finding several dead ends and turning back around to locate the next available path. I knew I was hopelessly lost, but the moment I admitted it to myself, fear would come creeping in. So instead I kept walking.

That is, until the cold sank far enough into my bones that my knees groaned and gave out.

I let out a grunt as I fell. The lantern’s delicate glass covering shattered into pieces as it hit the ground again, and I felt a shard sink into my palm. My tongue was numb from the frigidity, so I couldn’t swear.

Darkness. It soothed me. I faded in and out, in and out of consciousness.

I was dying.

The fear I’d expected didn’t come. Instead, a sigh of relief covered me like a blanket, and my body relaxed.Finally.

I slipped into the dark.

13

Thousands of needles punctured myskin.

My mouth was frozen shut, making releasing a string of curses impossible. A whimper escaped me, and I scowled. The godforsaken princess didn’twhimper.

I opened my eyes, only to be blinded, so I slammed them shut again. Every part of me ached.

Memory of my last moments of consciousness came flooding back, and shock pulled my jaw open. “Why aren’t I dead?”

I opened my eyes again and put a frigid hand over my mouth. The sound that had emerged was not my own voice. It sounded like it belonged to a creature from someone’s nightmares.

When my eyes finally adjusted, I saw the tall figure in black moving around the room. “That would be my fault,” the Hellbringer confirmed. “Did you think you weren’t being followed?”

There was no anger left in me, only cold. And resignation. I swallowed, trying to wet my dry throat, but only succeeded in launching myself into a fit of coughing that made my lungs hurt.

The Hellbringer came over to me and held out my gloves. Reluctant as I was to accept his favors, he’d put them by the fire, so theywere warm. I pulled them on and then took the mug he offered me, filled with steaming-hot tea.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“You’re an idiot,” he replied. “And I should have let you die.”

I scowled. “Why didn’t you? I’d rather be dead than used as a bargaining chip.” The first sip of tea burned my lips, but I forced myself to swallow it. I felt it travel all the way down my throat.

The Hellbringer sat at the table and gazed at the fire for several minutes while I continued to sip the tea. Soon enough, the pins and needles began to fade from my skin and I sighed, grateful to be warm again.

Finally he spoke. “We made a bargain,” he said. “And you fulfilled your end of the deal. So now I’ll tell you why you’re here.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and set the mug on the bed next to me.

“I told you my queen is looking to secure a truce,” he began. “This is true. But she does not want to broach the matter with your father. That would be a fool’s errand. Instead, she hopes to sign a treaty with you.”

It startled me enough that I sat up. “Withme?” I frowned. “For that to work, I would have to be…”

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