Page 118 of Fated to the Frost King

The monster whirled around just as Wynnie used her mana to hurl the furniture across the room, pelting the Tharnok againand again as she raced forward and slammed a broken chair over its face.

It roared as she scrambled backward to grab another, screaming curses at it with each breath.

“Shards damn it, Wynnie, I had it under control!”

With its attention on her now, there was no more time to hold back. I leapt onto the monster’s back, trying to avoid the sharpened spines that stuck out of its skin like obsidian blades, before driving my dagger into the Tharnok.

“Yes, I’m sure you had a flawless solution that didn’t involve getting eaten,” my sister quipped as she hurled more furniture through the air.

The monster roared again, flailing. One of its spines sliced across my side, but there wasn’t time to register the pain, or the warmth pooling down my dress. I screamed and yanked the blade free and stabbed again. And again.

It bucked, shrieking loud enough to split the air. The chandelier came crashing down. And the glass doors and windows shattered.

“Balcony!” I screamed.

Wynnie was already moving. She shoved the doors the rest of the way open. The wind and snow from the storm within the manor colliding with the one outside.

The Tharnok howled. Slashing out with its claws, but it was slower now.

Wynnie didn’t hesitate. She rammed into it with everything she had. It tumbled backward, limbs flailing, and went over the railing with a horrible scream.

Then… silence.

My muscles twitched involuntarily. I could feel the shock beginning to settle in. Could see it in my sister’s face now that the immediate danger was gone.

We didn’t speak. Just threw ourselves into each other’s bloody arms.

“Draven,” I rasped out his name. “We have to get to him.”

My sister’s eyes widened, and she gave a slow, unsteady nod of her head.

Footsteps thundered in the hallway, ones that were heavy and with claws that scraped against wood.

Wynnie grabbed my hand. “This way.”

She pulled me toward a panel in her wall. We ducked into the narrow stone hall of the servant’s passage just as another Tharnok rounded the corner into her bedroom. It slid across the floors, screeching in fury before its glowing amber eyes locked onto us.

Wynnie slammed the hidden wall closed, sealing the door just as the monster crashed into it from the other side.

We stumbled back as a frenzy of claws angrily scraping against stone echoed through the passage. It was so loud, too loud, and I didn’t know how long her seal would hold.

My sister snapped her fingers, and four orbs of fae light appeared above our heads.

“They will lead us out,” she shouted over the snarling and scraping, pointing to the dancing lights.

I nodded and followed her lead as we raced through the passageways, putting as much distance between ourselves and the Tharnok as possible.

My ring went cold. Ice bit into my skin as sharp as a blade, and it refused to let up.

The truth sank in like a dagger between my ribs as I finally understood what it had been trying to tell me all this time. The ice flared again, like a warning bell.

Danger.

Draven was in danger.

My steps were fueled with even more urgency than before as we raced around corners and down stairs until we found ourselves at the dining hall. Impatience buzzed along my skin like a hoard of angry ice-wasps as Wynnie and I listened at the door, waiting until it was safe to ease it open.

But the door wouldn’t budge. I pushed against it, harder this time, going low to dislodge whatever weight was blocking it. When it eventually gave way, I stumbled to the ground and a dark shadow slid on top of me. It wasn’t the pressure of a monster, and it wasn’t moving to attack.

---