Crown of Frost Read online

  “There will not,” Simon told her tiredly. “Or if there is, I shall be no part of it.”

  The Lady’s eyes narrowed. “…for now, at least,” she acknowledged, “Lord Blackfrost has acted with grace. I depart peacefully, with that in mind.”

  “How courteous of you,” Liam said sardonically. His blue eyes focused on Simon. “I should make you regret your presence here, Lady. But your warlock has pleaded clemency, and I believe that he has done me a favor this day.”

  He glanced at Elaine wryly, where she still knelt, holding onto Valentine. “Besides, I have more important things to deal with at the moment.”

  Simon let out a breath. The sound was heavy with relief. “That’s very kind of you,” he said. “I know the weight of that.” He put his arm around the Lady’s shoulders. She shrank oddly beneath his touch. The great height and power she had displayed caved back in upon her, melting away into the small, delicate form that Elaine had seen before; she looked much smaller once again, a tiny thing of leaves and lavender. “I will see us home,” he said.

  The Drowned Lord turned abruptly. In a few short steps, he had melted away into the dark water beneath his feet.

  “Yes,” the Lady whispered. She shot one last longing look at Elaine, but did not address her. Slowly, she turned back toward the Hedge with Simon. “Let us go home.”

  “You’re here,” Liam said.

  Elaine looked up at him from the ground, where she still held Valentine. She smiled helplessly. “Yes,” she said. “I suppose we rather skipped that part. But…” She glanced down at Valentine, still shivering in her lap.

  Liam closed his eyes briefly. Elaine felt a shiver run through the connection that they shared — a moment later, a pale, rail-thin creature in tattered black rags coalesced from the shadows. Though she was vaguely shaped like a woman, her black eyes and predatory, sharpened teeth suggested she was nothing like a human being.

  “Help Pallid Valentine to Caisleán Scáth, and take her somewhere she can recover,” Liam ordered the faerie creature. “If anything else tries to nibble on her, you eat them first.”

  The strange spectre smiled broadly, her lips curved into an unnaturally wide rictus grin. “Yesss, lord,” she hissed. She moved for Elaine and Valentine with unnatural grace, kneeling down to reach one long, thin arm behind the warlock’s back. She lifted Valentine fully into her arms, with a truly unnatural strength that belied her frame.

  “Er,” Elaine said worriedly. “Liam—”

  “She’s a snow maiden,” he said, by way of reassuring her. “They only eat men.” He paused. “Unfaithful men. There’s something special about the flavor of their hearts, apparently. I try not to ask too many questions — everyone here is very excited to give me long and detailed answers.”

  “Eats unfaithful men?” Valentine said in a cracked voice. “I suspect I’ll enjoy her company, then.” Elaine glanced at her sharply. The ex-warlock was still in a frightful state, but there was an expression of such rare bliss on her face that Elaine suspected the pain barely fazed her. “Do I dare ask why I’m not your warlock yet? You bought my contract. You’ve the right to bind me to your will.”

  Liam arched an eyebrow. “Do you want to be a warlock again?” he asked her.

  Valentine let her head fall against the snow maiden. “No,” she said hoarsely. “But I’ve given you nothing in return for being freed. I would not grudge you the service, or plot against you, if that’s what you fear.”

  Liam shook his head slightly. “You’re as free as you want to be,” he said. “Though I suggest you stay and recover as long as possible, given that the Drowned Lord will seek vengeance on you. If you intend to face that danger without my magic, that is your own business.”

  Valentine was silent for a long moment.

  “I can’t see you, Lord Blackfrost,” she said finally. “An’ I don’t dare open my Witchsight to glimpse you. But I know what you’ve done for me today.”

  Liam watched her for a long moment. His cold eyes were unreadable. “I did it for myself,” he said. “To prove that I could… among other things.”

  “The Drowned Lord is nearly as terrible an enemy as he is a patron,” Valentine said. “But if he comes for you, you have my word that I will use everything I know of him in the service of his destruction.”

  Elaine saw a glint of humor in Liam’s eyes now. “I have no doubt,” he said. “I expect you would happily do so whether he comes for me or not. But I suspect I will have need of your offer, and I will keep it in mind.”

  “And you—” Valentine turned sightless eyes toward Elaine. “Thank you.”

  The words were short and clipped. But Elaine knew just how heavy they were.

  “Go get some rest,” Elaine told her quietly.

  “I think I will,” Valentine murmured.

  The snow maiden bowed her head toward Liam, and turned to carry Valentine into the darkness of Blackfrost.

  Liam stared at Elaine for a long moment. There was a suggestion in his eyes that he thought she might disappear.

  “I’ve said all manner of things today,” he told her uncomfortably. “About… what you are. But I said them mostly to protect you. I can still break the pact. You can still leave.”

  Elaine threw her arms around him, and buried her face in his shoulder.

  He held onto her tightly, threading his fingers through her hair. So close to Blackfrost, the scent of him had a cold snap to it — but hints of sandalwood and evergreen still underlaid it. Elaine breathed him in, desperate to take in everything that he was. He’s still here. There’s hope.

  “I’m not leaving you here again,” Elaine told him. “I remember everything. You… moron.” She thumped his shoulder with an embarrassing sniffle. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

  “You didn’t have any memories,” Liam reminded her. “And you were quite insistent that you were willing to kill another Lord Blackfrost. Forgive me if I didn’t want to find out what it’s like to be on the receiving end this time.” He pressed his cheek lightly against her hair. “I don’t know what it is you did, El. But I’m… myself, more or less. I haven’t felt this clearheaded in years.” He swallowed. “What you saw… the way I was…”

  “Was terrifying,” she admitted quietly. “But that’s not really who you are, Liam. And I’m going to make sure you never become that way again.”

  He held her for a very long time, there on the edge of Blackfrost. The surrealness of the situation slowly crept in upon Elaine. So close to the place that had haunted her nightmares for years, she had still never felt more at peace in her life.

  “…I’m worried to step foot back inside again,” Liam said softly. “This might be some kind of temporary reprieve. I could lose my mind again once it has hold of me.”

  “That’s not going to happen.” Elaine shifted in his arms. She leaned up on her toes, and pressed her lips gently to his.

  His lips were warm, familiar. As he pulled her closer, the longing ache that had plagued her for so long slowly receded; the scars in her heart knitted together just that much more.

  Liam brushed his thumb along her cheek, tracing down the line of her jaw. Elaine closed her eyes, light-headed and delirious. This is real, she thought. Not a dream. And neither of us has to disappear.

  Slowly, Liam pressed his forehead against hers. “…everything seems simpler with you here,” he whispered. “I never thought you would come back. You shouldn’t have come back. You hate this place.”

  The relief in his eyes made her want to cry. It wasn’t so different from the expression that Pallid Valentine had worn, when she’d realized she was free.

  “None of this should have happened to either of us,” Elaine told him. “But I won’t let you take on all this weight yourself.” She pulled back from him, and slid her hand into his, turning to face Blackfrost. “We’ll defeat this place together.”

  Liam tightened his fingers on hers. “I think we might,” he murmured.

  Slowly, they
stepped back into Blackfrost together.

  Chapter 15

  The cold failed to chill her. The darkness didn’t blind her. The cruelty of Blackfrost bowed away from her with every step, while frost flowers hummed with memory beneath the surface of the snow.

  As Liam walked beside her, his majesty deepened. The crown of shadows upon his brow was almost painful to look upon. He carried with him a cold, sinister beauty, wrapped in flickering shadow. The world here knew him less as a lord, Elaine realized, and more as a small, elemental god.

  Mine. The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning, hungry and demanding. It was a deep, grasping possessiveness… but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

  Liam had owned her for years, without ever laying a finger on her. But now she knew beyond a doubt that she owned him too. The lord of wicked Blackfrost had ceded part of his authority to her, and Blackfrost itself would not let her forget. Conquer, it whispered in her ear. Demand. Take what is yours.

  Blackfrost burned in her veins, wild and alive. The power was intoxicating.

  Elaine breathed in deeply, steadying herself against the feeling. She grounded herself into the roots of her flowers, steadying herself against the feeling of Liam that infused them.

  Freshly-fallen snow. The comfort of night. Silence, in the middle of winter.

  Half of Liam’s power had come from Blackfrost. But it was softer, and far more forgiving. Blackfrost could be more like him, instead of the opposite. If she was right, then she’d already started that process… though it might well take years more of work before the greatest changes would start to show.

  The howling wind around them quieted slowly. The snow lightened, falling down around them with a gentler touch.

  Liam’s face flickered with relief again. “It’s never been this calm before,” he murmured. “Never.”

  “It’s not perfect,” Elaine told him, with a squeeze of his hand. “But it’s progress.”

  Up ahead, Elaine began to discern the outline of a tall castle, enclosed by towering walls of smooth black ice. Echoes of familiarity tugged at her. She remembered leaving the Lifeless Garden; Liam, leading her back through those twisting walls, and back out toward freedom at the border.

  “Caisleán Scáth,” said Liam, bringing the castle’s name back to her memory. He paused just in sight of the grand, open archway that led into the courtyard. Faerie lords often modeled their homes after mortal structures which took their fancy, with no heed to the real purpose of those structures; some Lord Blackfrost had probably loved the imposition of a grand castle, but considered the actual gate to be superfluous and annoying. It wasn’t as though most faerie lords worried about armies knocking at the heart of their domain, after all.

  Liam turned to hold Elaine’s eyes. His hand tightened on hers. “Are you all right to walk inside?” he asked.

  He didn’t ask the other question, the one that Elaine knew had to be lurking at the forefront of his mind. Do you trust me?

  Elaine felt the curling sprawl of vines that climbed every inch of the castle’s icy walls. As she reached out to touch them with her mind, her roses welcomed her home, like children eager to see their mother.

  A long-held weight lifted off her chest, and she smiled. In one very important way, this was already unlike the Blackfrost she had left. With her roses surrounding her everywhere she went, she would never be powerless again. “I’m fine,” she said softly. On a whim, she brushed her power over the frost roses again — slowly, they began to blossom, a tangle of icy petals unfurling to the world. The scent of roses drifted toward them, even over the bitter wind. It was sharper than normal, though — a cleaner, tangier smell that cut through the air with purpose.

  Liam watched with a strange look in his piercing blue eyes. Elaine knew that he’d felt the brush of power in a personal way. His fingers closed on hers. “I’ve never really been able to control those,” he said softly. “All I could do was leave them alone and let them grow.”

  Elaine gave him a questioning look. “I could prune them a bit,” she said, with a hesitant laugh. “They do seem to have grown a bit, ah… wild.”

  He shook his head. “No. I like them. They can grow as they like. Or… as you like, rather.”

  Liam tugged her very gently through the grand archway, into the courtyard. When Elaine had first fled through this way, it had been utterly barren — but now, icy blooms scattered across the walls and the ground, shimmering in the false moonlight. As they entered the hallways of the inner keep, made of a slate grey stone, Elaine expected the roses to retreat — but they wove even more thickly inside, even across the ceilings.

  Liam was taking her by a strangely circuitous path, she realized — weaving them around, so that they wouldn’t walk through the center of the castle. She stopped in her track, and he turned to look back at her.

  “I can deal with it,” Elaine told him quietly. “I want to see the Lifeless Garden.”

  Liam took a long breath. “You don’t need to see it right now,” he said. “You should take your own advice to Pallid Valentine. Get some rest.”

  Elaine shook her head slowly. “No,” she said. “I think… I need to do this, Liam. Now. I have to get it out of my head, or I won’t be able to rest.”

  His face turned grim… but he turned them gently around. “If you’re sure,” he said quietly. “I’ll be there with you.”

  Elaine smiled faintly. “You always were,” she said softly.

  The first thing she saw was the outline of a tall, icy willow tree.

  The sight of it clenched at her stomach, digging into her soul. Fear reared up from beneath the cold power in her veins. Blackfrost dug more deeply into her, rushing to numb the fear — but she fought it back, gritting her teeth.

  This is mine, she thought. This fear is real. I’ll face it as myself.

  Liam tightened his grip on her hand. A thousand memories of borrowed warmth and whispered conversations swam up from the bottom of her mind to steady her.

  He’s here. He was always here. In the end… he kept his promise. He helped me leave.

  The hallway opened out into another, inner courtyard — something that once would have been called the Lifeless Garden. The name no longer seemed entirely appropriate, however. The tall, suffocating stone walls had crumbled down to almost nothing. The entirety of the place had been opened up to the rest of the castle, glimmering in silver light. No longer lifeless, the garden had been overrun with frost roses; some of them had even climbed the willow tree, snaking around its trunk and over its branches to hang their flowers within its leaves.

  A statue of ice slept beneath the willow tree, eternally peaceful. It had her features — but they were too perfect, too beautiful. A work of love.

  Elaine took a long, deep breath, taking it in. Liam looked away.

  “I tore down the worst of it,” he said. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t bring myself to destroy the rest. I know you have terrible memories of it, but… the few good memories I have here happened beneath that tree. I needed to remind myself, sometimes, who I really was.”

  Elaine trembled for a few moments as she looked at the remnants of the garden. The ghosts of old fears flooded her veins, chilling her momentarily in spite of the power she now wielded. Tears pricked at her eyes, as that fear was followed by a strange, bittersweet feeling.

  This was all he had.

  Elaine wiped at her eyes carefully. The frost roses curled around the willow tree beckoned her, calling for her touch. She felt Liam next to her, standing very still. She forced herself to remember the kinder memories — the ones that he had been clinging to for so long.

  A warm cloak, warm arms, a touch of gentle concern.

  Soft words beneath a dark, endless sky.

  Once, she had begged him not to make her leave without him. The idea of being without Liam had been… unthinkable.

  Elaine took a hesitant step into the Lifeless Garden. After a pause, when no crushing terror threatened, she took another. Her
roses called again, beckoning her forward, and she let out a long breath. She turned to look at Liam; in that moment, he looked nothing like the lord of ice and shadow that he had since become. He was the lost, uncertain young man who had given her his cloak.

  She reached out to take his hand, tugging him into the garden with her. Slowly, she led him toward the willow tree, ducking through the icy, tinkling leaves. When finally they stood beneath the willow, in that same fateful spot she remembered so well, Elaine tucked herself into his arms, pressing her cheek against his chest, where his heart currently beat a frantic, rabbit pace.

  “I would go through all of it, all over again, just to be with you,” she told him softly. And just as she said it, she knew that it was true.

  She leaned up to kiss him beneath the icy willow tree, chasing away the dread that gripped at her heart.

  Liam returned the kiss carefully — as though worried she might vanish from his arms if he pressed too hard. His fingers caressed her cheek; his arm wound back around her waist, holding her close. She reveled in the feel of him, the promise that the things they had both lost would come back… that things could be better than before, now that they had the power to change them.

  And then, he took her into his arms beneath the willow tree, underneath the endless sky in a ruined, vibrant garden.

  When Elaine awoke, it took her a moment to remember where she was. She blinked a few times, rubbing at her eyes; as she did, she caught sight of the now-tattered, faded grey sleeve of her cardigan. “Oh,” she murmured sleepily.

  She dimly remembered having fallen asleep in Liam’s arms. That had never happened before, in the Lifeless Garden; something about the place had stilled her hunger and her need for sleep, even as it turned her slowly to ice. But Liam must have broken down the garden’s spells, along with its walls… and even if he hadn’t, the power he’d given her would have protected her against such magic this time.