Page 106 of Frost and Death
My uncertainty about his abilities has drifted into my thoughts more often than I would care to admit, and this is the perfect opportunity to learn if he is a threat or a really good liar.
His eyes lock on mine, and a crooked grin appears, sending heat to blossom within my chest.
My body’s internal temperature shoots up, and a bead of sweat forms along my brow. Despite the inferno in my body, I study him intently, knowing I need this information.
I will stare him down until he fesses up about his abilities.
If I know who I am up against, it will make or break the notion of returning home.
I grip the sides of my armchair, desperate to fan myself to cool down. It feels as if my blood could drain out of every pore in my body.
I plead for my gifts to surface, if only to grant me a reprieve from my veins feeling as if they were on fire. But my magic is silent, nothing flickering in my chest.
My internal battle fights on while I stare at Jerrick, his grin growing wider.
He cocks his head. “Feeling warm over there, Frostbite?”
“That’s none of your concern,” I grind out, ignoring his quip and that stupid,stupid, question.
Jerrick leans away, breaking our stare, and I slump from its state of fire, feeling weighed down from the sudden shift. He flicks his wrist around, and I watch in confusion.
He examines his fingernails. “It seems it would be my concern, being as I was the one that caused it.”
My mouth slackens. I think through the stories of my ancestor’s abilities. None of them matched up with the gut feeling I had about the Maker who granted Jerrick his power.
It has never happened before.
“That’s impossible.”
Jerrick’s haunted eyes I saw mere moments ago are gone, replaced by a cunning, vicious grin.
“I can manipulate your blood, Frostbite.”
22
Against Wills or Walls?
No heir in Axidoria had ever been blessed by Yeva or Letum. The Deities of Life and Death were the most powerful of the Makers, the cognizance and oblivion of all things. Aiyana, the Deity of Nature, created all four seasons with the presence of Leander, the Deity of Beasts, controlling all creatures. Anwir, the Deity of Illusion, constituted a government of monarchy, while Alora, the Deity of Divination, established religion and justice to allow there to be a balance.
Terror clutches my soul as I sit in front of a monarch that could lead to the destruction of us all if provoked.
I force out, shaking my head in disbelief, “Y-You can’t—”
Warning bells alert every muscle in my body, and I want to run and hide. I lean back, gripping the armchair now for support as the King of Palaena leans forward, knowing I have caught on to his little game of show-and-tell.
The temperature drops around me as those blue eyes pierce my soul. Goose bumps prickle along my flesh, turning icy and frigid, sending me into a shivering frenzy.
Is this his doing?
Or is this my own doing?
My lungs inhale as he closes the gap between us, lowering to his knee. I try to scoot away, fighting the nudge of winter crawling up my chest.
The glimmer of power awakens at last, and I find myself seeking to cling onto something,anything, in desperation for an escape from this—fromhim.
Magic is explosive in my blood and along my skin, fear shaking through me for the unknown of what these gifts will do to me.
Will I ever see home again? Niko? Betina? My family?
