{A Wattpad Featured Book}
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Her heart or her people. Only she can decide.
Hated, cursed, outcasted. It was Eleena Asterin's life ever since she was blamed to have betrayed her village. So when she is offered a task to earn back her honour and prid...
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My blood froze as a creeping, unearthly cold lurched by. I knew I couldn't see anything beneath my eyelids yet there was a vague shimmering in the corners of my vision. Never coming into focus, always lurking on the edges watching, waiting. My horse stiffened beneath me as I schooled my face into blankness. Even the rustling of the leaves seemed to recoil, to wither and freeze.
The cold thing whispered past, circling. I could see nothing, but I could feel it. This ancient freezing mass that circled us again and again.
"Interesting," a raspy, hollow voice whispered, "A human girl."
I tried not to jolt as the thing laughed, the sound like nails raking across stone.
"It's been a while since I have met one of your kind," it murmured, "Skin as thin as paper and bones that are too easy to grind between my claws. How your ancestors would scream when I drink their marrow and feast on their flesh. How I would lick their bones clean."
I tried to block out that horrible voice, thinking about anything, anything but the frosty mob that kept circling. A starry, unclouded night sky, peaceful and glittering and endless. Summer sunrise. A refreshing bath in a forest pool. Meetings with Aslan, losing myself for an hour or two in his body, in our shared breaths.
"You desire to be with that mortal boy. To start a life with him, raise a family of your own," it said, whispering past my ear, "Yet you are here, with the fate of Asteria resting on your shoulders. A mortal girl whose two kills could end the lives of all faeries. A puppet master playing with its puppets." It laughed again, almost incredulously.
"So young yet already a deadly weapon herself."
A fresh swell of rage rose in my chest but I harnessed it on a tight, tight leash as I said, "You know nothing about me."
The thing hissed as it stopped it's circling.
"I know all your secrets girl," the creature wheezed, "I know your plans to bring Asteria to its knees and your plans to assassinate the Imperial-"
"Stop," I said but the creature just chuckled, sending waves of cold air hinted with the smell of decay towards me. I shivered. It was so cold that my teeth chattered.
"I can also see your fate girl, you are destined for great things," the creature said resuming its circling, "It's too bad I will have to devour Asteria's salvation ... or downfall." The creature paused and I could feel it smirking at me. "Too bad indeed."
And with those words, my eyes flew open as I jumped off my horse, landing into a roll. I had my bow drawn in an instant aiming towards the direction of the attack. I spared a quick glance at my once beautiful mare, now lying limp in her pool of blood. Three long gashes marked her flank, deep enough to reveal her bones and internal organs. I had no doubt I would join her if I had not dodged. Bile rose in my throat as I forced my gaze ahead, to where the creature appeared.
