Frozen Fear Book. 2

❅ Chapter 1 ❅

I'm a freak.

Or at least, I feel that way, given the wide-eyed stares and open-mouthed expressions being thrown my way. It's not like the soldiers of the Order's army haven't seen faeries before - hell, they just fought a battle with them that was so large it would be in history books for centuries to come. So I wasn't one hundred percent sure why seeing me with large, purplish eyes, and more angles and shadows on my face than normal was worth staring at me for. Maybe it was the freaky, pointed faerie ears.

It'd been two days since I left Gheimhridh, the palace of the Winter Court, and I was in shackles, mind you. They kept telling me I wasn't a prisoner, but I sure as hell felt like it. The Sage of Water, Akan Ford, had somehow pulled a code red - which is a freakishly huge deal, considering now almost the whole witch and human population were thrown into the mixing pot of their army, some sent off to fight, and others ordered to clean dirty socks and uniforms - just to retrieve me.

Needless to say, their raid was successful.

But they weren't just after me. Two Counts from Night had gone missing in the first raid of the Winter Court, and I mean... they did find both. But one was dead. And I was the one that killed her.

You're probably wondering how this all happened... Long story, but I'll try to make it quick.

My mother is Mab, Queen of the Winter Court. She's been ruling over the Winter Court for many millennia now by breaking an ancient faerie decree held by all four courts. Well, I wouldn't say breaking. More like finding the loophole.

The decree declares that once a monarch as an offspring, they'll die once their heir reaches maturity. It sounds terrible, but considering fae younglings take centuries to mature, its really not a bad deal. But for my mother? Centuries of her reign just wasn't enough. Instead, she found a very brilliant elf, Foster Quinn's father, and forced him to create an amulet in which she could store the souls of her daughters, allowing her to steal their bodies.

And to make matters worse, she made a deal with Foster, and blackmailed him. Faerie deals and law - they cannot be broken. She held his brother captive (she still does, actually) and forced him to marry all her daughters before she ripped their souls out of their chests and jumped into their bodies like a hermit crab changing shells.

Sebastian hobbled beside me, his long, greasy black bangs shadowing his piercing golden eyes. He'd changed into new clothes from the last time I saw him, now dressed in all black like every other witch. A thick wool sweater hung loosely on his frail from, no muscles for it to cling to, and heavy boots insulated with black fleece covered his feet, shielding them from the blistering cold.

He looked so weak, so broken and beaten, and I was the one that caused it. I wasn't the one to actually starve him, whip him, and torture him, but I might as well have been. Sebastian felt as if it was his fault that I left, the reason I fled the Academy, but it couldn't have been further from the truth. I left because I was a danger to him and everyone I'd grown to love there.

I was part fae.

But he sought me out, taking the first raid as the perfect opportunity to find me and bring me back. And now, here we are months later with me in shackles and a blood-stained party dress, and him, with absolutely no recognition on who he actually is.

All his memories, wiped away.

A knife twisted in my heart, stealing my breath away. I stumbled and tried to catch my breath, and the witch holding the chain to my shackles gave me an annoyed growl and tugged harder. "Enough fooling around. Come on," he snarled.

I regained my balance, but my stomach and mind were still rolling.

God, what did I do? Sebastian's memories, completely wiped. His brain a blank slate - everything that had ever passed between us, all his feelings and emotions... just gone. I had no right to actually want him to remember. After all, all I ever caused him was pain. I broke his heart.