Page 14 of The Yuletide Fairy's Curse
“I would ask you to keep me around this year. Give me one more year to prove I can make the changes we need to happen.”
The request was met with silence.
“I had hope in you,” Kolfrosta started. “Back when I brought you home. I had hope that your parents were the root of the evil in your kingdom, and that Puck was using them. But when I took your parents, they showed no remorse for their actions—they couldn’t be changed. Your siblings were not much better.”
“I can be better,” Dalla protested. “I want to be.”
“Youhavebeen,” Kolfrosta conceded. “I just don’t know if it’s enough.”
CHAPTER 10
Dinner was extravagant: roasted fish; greens and root vegetables from the courtyard garden with tart, unusual undertones; fresh bread; hearty soups that warmed Dalla from the inside out.
But the room was utterly silent. Kolfrosta chose to dine with Dalla again, but she merely watched with appraising eyes. Dalla struggled to keep her hands steady as she brought the food to her lips. Every action of hers was being judged.
Any misstep could cause her to suffer the same fate as her family. This knowledge made Dalla uneasy, but it also made her bold. Shewantedto prove that she could rule more justly than the rest of her family had. She yearned for Kolfrosta to see her as someone capable of doing so.
The plates and bowls were cleared away, leaving Dalla and Kolfrosta at opposite ends of a table. Dalla ran her tongue over her teeth to clean them before she spoke.
“Have you made up your mind?”
Kolfrosta sighed, and Dalla couldn’t help but admire her elegant neck, the way the snowflakes flurried under her skin. Nighttime brought out the contrast between the snow and the midnight blue tint once more. She was like a painting—betterthan a painting, and certainly better than the one commissioned by the fairy queen that didn’t quite capture her essence.
Dalla raised her gaze to Kolfrosta’s solemn eyes.
“I have not made up my mind,” said Kolfrosta. “If I may be perfectly honest, this is much harder than it ever was with the rest of your family.”
Dalla straightened in her chair. “Why is that?”
“Everyone else was forthright. It’s easy to mete out justice against someone who has so clearly violated it. You have done nothing of the sort.”
“I have a confession as well,” Dalla said, though she hoped sharing it would not be the end of her. “I have not intentionally acted any nobler than my family. It never occurred to me to wield power the way they did. I… I think it is naivety, and not innate goodness, that has made me rule the way I have.”
Kolfrosta considered this. “You are kinder than you know,” she said. “And your understanding of your lack of knowledge indicates to me that there is room for growth. For intentionality.”
“Please allow me to prove to you that I can make a difference,” said Dalla. “Let me go home. Let me fight Puck and involve myself personally with the citizens of my kingdom. Iwillmake change—aggressively. Actively. This I promise you.”
“I want to let you go, Dalla,” Kolfrosta admitted. “I just don’t know if I’m thinking clearly these days.”
An ancient fae being, not thinking clearly? “Whatever do you mean?” asked Dalla.
Kolfrosta lowered her eyes. “I am drawn to you in ways I can’t explain.”
Dalla’s heartbeat leapt into her throat.
“I always have been. Since the first time I saw you,” Kolfrosta continued. “You were—youare—beautiful, and I did not know humans could be beautiful. And then you opened your mouth.”She laughed. “I couldn’t keep you here in good conscience back then, and I feel the same way now that you have returned.”
Dalla did not know when she had gotten up from her seat, but her feet took her to Kolfrosta’s side. Dalla lifted one shaking hand to Kolfrosta’s warm cheek.
Kolfrosta encompassed Dalla’s hand with her own.
“I am drawn to you as well,” Dalla said, blushing furiously. “Obviously.”
“Your dreams,” said Kolfrosta.
“And yours,” said Dalla.
“I don’t want something between us to cloud my judgment.” Tears shone in Kolfrosta’s eyes.
