Wicked Winter Book. 1

❅ Chapter 13 ❅

The first thing I noticed when I woke, was how cold it was. The undeniable chill seemed to seep through my clothes like water, through my pores and into my core. It was enough to make me shiver.

My eyes fluttered open, though not without difficulty; my lashes had gotten frozen together.

The world was a hazy cloud of whites and silvers, at first. Light blinded me, making it impossible to see, but once my eyes adjusted to the shine of the world, I went rigid.

I lay in the middle of a large canopy bed with silver drapes cascading down each one of the four poles. The thread that made up the shroud seemed to sparkle with a metallic intensity, as if silver had been melted down and sewn into the silk. I gaped as the cloth began to ripple like disturbed water in the breeze.

Sitting up with a groan, I swiveled my gaze. I fisted my fingers in the quilt beneath me, savoring the softness of the smooth material. The framework of the bed was made out of an opaque, frosted ice - bending and bowing to create intricate designs as delicate as a dragonflies wings. The poles that held up the heavy drapes were also cropped out of ice, reaching towards the ceiling like frosted fingers. I extended a trembling hand out, tracing a frozen curve with the tip of my finger. Surprisingly, my breath was calm, and my heart didn't race like I expected it too.

Fresh morning light poured through two open double doors to my right, bringing flurries of snow and ice with it. I wasn't in my normal black attire, but dressed in a cream lace gown that was as thin as human hair. I slipped out from beneath the quilt, setting my bare feet onto the ground. The floor itself was made out of more cloudy yet polished ice. It was beautiful, as if billows of smoke had been captured within its icy clutches, holding it there forever.

I crept across the floor towards the glass doors, mesmerized by how they reflected light in ribbons of rainbows that danced across the diamond-like walls of my room. I stared at the fractured light for a moment, in awe of its crystalline beauty, before finally turning towards the landscape outside the doors, past the balcony and beyond.

My breath seemed to be whisked away by invisible hands as I stared out at the grand display in front of me. Ranges of jagged mountains littered the region, capped with snow and blistering cold. A deep canyon ran down the side of the icy palace, so pitted the shadows seemed to swallow whatever light came in contact with it. Past the broken, uneven mountains was nothing but a sheet of white - a blanket of snow that reached as far as the horizon.

Fingers curled around my shoulders, and a soft breath whispered past my ear, rustling my hair and making me jump.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Foster asked, his fractured eyes gleaming. I hadn't even heard him come in. Sneaky faeries.

"Yeah, beautiful," I breathed back, though not because of the beauty of the land. He was so close I could feel every nerve ending on my body come alive in response to him.

He seemed to purr. "Go out onto the balcony and look down." His hands slipped from my shoulder and onto the small of my back, nudging me forward. I ignored the tendril of electricity that coiled around my spine from his touch.

I did as he said, taking a tentative step out into the open air. The howling wind tossed my loose hair around my head like a platinum halo, causing me to tuck it behind my ears in annoyance.

The balcony wasn't huge, at least not compared to the rest of the castle from what I could see. It would've been larger than the small shack I shared with the other orphans in the Village, though, but not quite as large as my tent with Sebastian in the training grounds.

Sebastian...

Was he looking for me, or did he finally come to the conclusion that I wasn't worth his time; that Danna had more to offer? My heart skipped a beat, ramming into my throat. I struggled to swallow, tears threatening to spill.