Crown of Frost

by Isabella August

  Pallid Valentine’s right arm jerked in a strange way. Blue frostbite crept its way up her fingers. She stumbled down to one knee, her breath rattling in her throat.

  “Perhaps I will deliver you to the Drowned Lord in the same manner, then,” he drawled. “I promise not to kill you. You may not arrive with all your limbs intact, however.”

  Elaine broke away from his grip. “Stop!” she said, forcing herself between the two of them. “She’s miserable enough, you don’t have to make it worse!”

  Those cold blue eyes flickered with surprise. A helpless chuckle slid between his lips. “Mercy for Pallid Valentine,” he murmured, with a disbelieving shake of his head. “You haven’t changed at all, El.”

  Liam. The name came to her from nowhere at all.

  “Please,” she said quietly, searching his face. “Just… stop.”

  He sighed heavily, and glanced away from the kneeling warlock. Valentine gasped, staggering to her feet. The blue tinge had gone mostly out of her arm, though it still shivered and twitched.

  “Go back to your lord,” Liam said. “And tell him that your target is under Lord Blackfrost’s protection.”

  Valentine jerked her head woodenly. The snow at her feet rippled and congealed into a black pool of water. Elaine felt a surge of alien power as a dark, wide rift yawned up toward the warlock, reaching out to swallow her whole.

  In the next instant, she was gone.

  Liam turned to face Elaine. Some inscrutable emotion burned in those bright blue eyes of his.

  “It’s been a while, El,” he said.

  Chapter 3

  “Who are you?” Elaine whispered. “Why do I know you?”

  Liam flinched.

  “You’ll forget me,” her memories whispered.

  “Of course,” he said to himself. He ran his fingers back through his hair. There was a bleak resignation to the gesture. “Do you remember… anything?”

  Elaine swallowed. A silent, steadily blinking light in the snow caught her eye. She reached down to pick up her phone, wiping it across her coat. “I remember the Lifeless Garden,” she said. “I remember killing the last Lord Blackfrost.” The words came out more harshly than she might have intended. Her jaw clenched. “Pallid Valentine said the new Lord Blackfrost is looking for me. That I have something he wants. If you work for him, you should tell him to back off. I have no compunctions against killing another faerie lord if I have to.”

  Liam shook his head slowly. “There’s been a misunderstanding,” he said. His icy manner had utterly melted away. In its place was a strange hesitation. “I’m the one who’s been looking for you. All I wanted was to ask for your help. If I’d realized word might get around, that people would get the wrong idea…” He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. The last thing I want is to disrupt your life.”

  Elaine pressed her lips together. Liam’s demeanor seemed genuinely remorseful… but the old Lord Blackfrost had seemed sympathetic too at first, before he’d stolen her away and ruined her life. Creatures of Arcadia had no real emotions, but some faeries could so expertly imitate them that it was difficult to tell the difference.

  Warlocks like Pallid Valentine were even worse. Many slowly lost their capacity for emotion over time, whether it was to the shard of faerie in their soul or to the simple crushing march of time. Faerie patrons required terrible things of their servants, and duplicity was a common talent among them.

  “Consider my life disrupted,” Elaine rasped. She glanced down at her hands. Frost spiralled up her fingers. It coated the sleeves of her coat. The sight of it sent a dizzy fear down into her stomach, though she couldn’t feel the cold. She became keenly aware of the black hunger seething inside her, crawling its way through her body.

  Elaine swallowed. “Take it back,” she said. She meant the words to be a command, but instead they held a hint of hysteria. “I don’t want this power. Take it back.”

  “It’s not something I can take, El,” Liam told her solemnly. “It’s yours.” He paused, contemplating. “I can help you control it, though.”

  He reached out slowly, closing his hand around her wrist. The heat of his fingers tingled on her skin, oddly soothing. She felt his power press against hers — it was calmer, more controlled by far. The darkness inside her responded to that touch like a well-trained hound brought to heel. It sulked away, back down to the depths of her soul. Not gone, but… dormant.

  The cold weather hit her all at once. Elaine staggered at the shock of it. Valentine’s magic had soaked every inch of her beneath the coat.

  Liam’s eyes flickered with alarm. Before she could regain herself, he had her in his arms, soaking up his heat. There was no reason he should have been so warm, none. He didn’t even have a coat of his own. But somehow, his heat burned against her, and the scent of sandalwood and evergreen surrounded her, and she knew that he had done this before.

  Strange blue eyes looked down at her, concerned, as she shivered in the darkness. Arms closed around her, so warm, the first heat to touch her in what felt like years—

  “I hate seeing you cold,” he muttered tightly. “Damn it, I hate all of this. I’m sorry, El.”

  His touch, his voice, struck a confusing chord inside her. A hundred shredded memories offered up feelings of safety and security, and no rational explanation for any of it.

  She should have pulled away. This wasn’t safe. He wasn’t safe. But some traitorous part of Elaine’s soul craved exactly this, and she couldn’t push it away now that she finally had it.

  “…why do I have this magic?” The words came more softly this time, almost meek. She hated that.

  Liam considered her carefully. “You did a service for a faerie lord,” he said. “That power is a debt acknowledged.”

  A horrible thought struck her. “Oh, god,” she said in a tremulous voice. “You mean I’m a warlock?”

  “No!” Liam tightened his grip on her, reassuring. “You didn’t give up your freedom. It’s just a debt. It’s a very large debt. But in theory, if you use it enough, you’ll eventually use it up.”

  Elaine closed her eyes. Her head still hadn’t stopped spinning. For just a moment in time, breaking up with Adam had seemed like the end of the world. But the horror of knowing she had been found, exposed, chased down, was infinitely worse. The idea of getting tangled up in webs of faerie whims all over again made her want to go home, hide in a corner, and cry.

  “I don’t want it,” she said. Her voice wavered. “Oh, god, I don’t want anything to do with Blackfrost. I can’t do this again, Liam.”

  His breathing stopped. She felt him go so utterly, carefully still that at first she thought she’d hurt him somehow.

  But when Elaine opened her eyes, she saw that Liam was looking down at her like a man who’d had the secrets of the universe revealed.

  “That’s my name,” he whispered. “My god, I’d forgotten.” A wild, desperate hope came into those cold blue eyes. “I was right. You have my name.”

  She stared back into his eyes.

  Oh.

  Oh.

  “Your… true name?” Elaine asked. She didn’t dare to ask the question any louder than a whisper. But the look on his face was answer enough.

  Names, even normal names, had power. Giving your name to a witch or a faerie made it easier for them to affect you with their magic. But to speak your name to another creature, backed fully by your magic and intent, was to give them a glimpse of your very soul — and a measure of permanent leverage over you.

  A warlock gave their true name as part of their pact with their patron. It was part of what gave faerie lords the ability to twist their servants’ nature, change them slowly.

  But if Liam really had given Elaine his true name… that meant she had the ability to touch his soul too.

  Liam closed his eyes. “Say it again, please.” He didn’t beg. She couldn’t imagine he had ever begged for anything in his life. But the anguish was so plain on his face that she couldn’t deny him. />
  “Liam,” Elaine said again, quietly. It wasn’t his full name, but it didn’t matter. She felt the shiver in his body this time — the strange tingle in the word that crossed between them.

  His fingers dug into her skin. He pressed his forehead into her shoulder. “I haven’t heard that name since you left,” he said hoarsely. “Not even normally. God, that’s my name.”

  A hundred thoughts whirled through her mind, urgently chasing one another. Five years. That means he’s gone five years not hearing his name. Maybe even more than that, given the way time runs in Arcadia.

  A deep, uncomfortable sympathy swept past her fears, pushing them momentarily to the back of her mind. For some mad reason she couldn’t remember, Liam had given her his true name. Maybe he was a warlock, like Pallid Valentine… but Liam clearly wanted his humanity back, and Elaine had the power to help him.

  Doormat, Jenna’s voice accused her.

  Elaine sighed. “I’m going to regret this,” she muttered. Slowly, she disentangled herself from Liam’s embrace. The winter wind clawed anew at her skin, sending shivers down her spine. She tugged her coat more closely around herself.

  “I’m going to freeze if I stay out here,” Elaine told him. “Come on inside. You have an invitation past my wards… but only for tonight.”

  Elaine’s wards shivered back from her guest only with great reluctance. She suspected her magic was subconsciously aware of her own misgivings on the matter.

  The inside of the shop should have been substantially warmer than the outside — but once indoors, Elaine couldn’t help but notice that Liam’s presence had a chilling effect on the air around him. In the same way that Pallid Valentine had brought the Deeps with her, Liam carried Blackfrost with him wherever he walked.

  He took in the details of the shop around him with a mercilessly keen gaze. It didn’t take long at all for Liam’s eyes to flicker toward the large rose trellis at the back, where Elaine’s prized roses were on display. She hadn’t used her magic to encourage them exactly, but roses had always been such a speciality of hers that she had to imagine some of her power had made it into them anyway.

  Elaine stepped behind the counter, and headed for the door that led upstairs to her loft. “This way,” she told Liam tiredly. “Before you wilt my flowers.”

  Liam gave the roses one last penetrating glance… but he nodded, and followed her lead.

  The loft above Elaine’s shop was not the most luxurious affair, but she had never had much of a preference for grandiose things. She had decorated the small, cozy space with comforting things. Hand-sewn quilts, airy drapes, and plenty of her favorite flowers filled its nooks and brightened the air inside. There was a bewitched feeling to the place tonight, though — moonlight spilled in across the room through a small window near the kitchen area, throwing a pale glow across it all.

  Elaine kicked off her stilettos with a minute sigh of relief. Those can go in the trash, she thought viciously. “Take a seat,” she said, gesturing toward the kitchen table. “I need to find a fresh sweater. You have a bit of an… effect… on the temperature.”

  Liam grimaced at that. He settled himself into one of the kitchen chairs accordingly, though. Out of the corner of her eye, Elaine saw him glance toward the window. That pale moonlight pooled upon him, highlighting his otherworldly qualities. For all his desperation, Liam still held himself with an effortless elegance, and the world around him seemed to go out of its way to reinforce that. As he set his chin in one hand, she couldn’t help the sudden impression that she had invited some sort of faerie tale prince into her home.

  Elaine shook her head and shed her coat onto the bed. Her teeth had already begun to chatter. As she tugged open one of her dresser drawers, searching for a cardigan, she heard Liam hiss in his breath. She turned, and found him staring at her incredulously.

  “You… you were wearing that?” he asked.

  Elaine glanced down at the little black dress she was wearing. She’d nearly forgotten she was dressed for a dinner date, given everything else that had happened. The top of the dress had slipped somewhat to reveal the very edge of an embarrassingly inviting, lacy red bra.

  Wonderful, she thought sourly. Just fantastic. This is how I always wanted to face down one of Blackfrost’s most powerful warlocks.

  Elaine snatched a cardigan from her dresser, pulling it over her head. “That’s absolutely none of your business,” she said stiffly.

  Liam raised an eyebrow. Now that he’d settled himself somewhat, that hint of hesitation in his behavior had vanished, replaced by a faint smirk. “I’d be happy to make it my business, if you wanted.”

  The arrogant, needling tone was oddly familiar. Elaine was struck with the overwhelming urge to roll her eyes. “Why do I feel like you haven’t changed a bit?” she muttered.

  Liam’s cold eyes sharpened on her abruptly. She instantly regretted the comment. “I’ve changed,” he said bluntly. “And not for the better. I wish it were otherwise.”

  Elaine peeled off her wet stockings as inconspicuously as she could manage, tossing them into an unceremonious heap in the corner. “Sorry,” she said quietly. “That was poorly thought-out.” She headed back toward the table, settling into the chair across from him, curling her legs up beneath her for extra warmth.

  “It’s not your responsibility,” Liam sighed. The chill left his voice abruptly. “I shouldn’t have come to find you. I know that. But you have what I need. And if I’m really honest, you’re the only person I trust in any world I know.” He looked up to meet her gaze. Real fear haunted his eyes. “I’m losing my grip, El. I’m becoming someone I don’t like. And I don’t know how to stop it.”

  Elaine considered that for a long moment.

  “…I don’t remember you,” she said finally. “I do, but I don’t. All my memories are well and truly shredded.”

  Liam nodded slowly. “I know,” he said. “You’re not a warlock, and you don’t have any faerie blood. You wouldn’t be able to leave any realm in Arcadia with your memories intact.”

  Elaine bit her lip. “Very little would convince me to let you in here,” she said. “If I had it my way, I’d never talk about Arcadia again, let alone involve myself in the affairs of its faerie lords.” She pressed her fingers to her forehead. “But I clearly have your true name. I’ll admit, that’s thrown me for a curve. I could hurt you very badly with that.” She hesitated. “…how do I know you, Liam?”

  The mention of his name made Liam tense his shoulders again minutely. He looked away. “I helped you escape the Lifeless Garden,” he said.

  Elaine stared at him.

  “You’ll forget me.”

  It was the barest fragment of a memory — the only piece of him she’d had for so long. But now that she examined it, that whisper of a dream carried whole worlds within it.

  “I won’t forget you. How could I?”

  She hadn’t wanted to forget Liam. She had tried so incredibly hard not to forget. All that desperate effort… and all she’d managed to take with her was one tiny shred.

  A distant ache clenched at her heart. I wanted to see him again, she thought. And now I finally have.

  “I believe you,” Elaine said. “But… why? I don’t have any memories of you before Arcadia. That’s a terrible risk to take for a total stranger.”

  Liam smiled grimly. “I was a prisoner too, El,” he said. “Maybe I had more freedom than you, but I knew I was still stuck under his thumb forever. I undermined that frigid prick every way I could, whenever I thought I could get away with it.”

  A strange pang of disappointment hit her at that. Elaine brushed it away. “I wasn’t the first person you helped,” she guessed.

  “No,” Liam told her. He looked back toward her. “You were definitely the only person to kill the bastard on your way out, though.”

  Elaine blinked slowly. “Then… I did kill him?” she said uncertainly. “I thought maybe you…”

  Liam gave her a startled look. “
Of course you did,” he said. “Where do you think you got that debt from?”

  Elaine knitted her brow. “I got a debt from Lord Blackfrost… for killing Lord Blackfrost?” she asked slowly.

  “Why not?” Liam said. He sounded bemused. “You played kingmaker, El. You handed lordship of an entire Arcadian realm over to someone else. That’s worth a favor. Besides, you already proved yourself capable of killing one Lord Blackfrost. What better way to make you reconsider killing the next one? You can’t pry debts from a dead faerie.”

  Elaine winced. “You’re not implying I really am under Lord Blackfrost’s protection? That wasn’t a lie?”

  Liam’s amusement faded. “Maybe you’re not interested in killing him,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you couldn’t be used against him. You don’t kill a faerie lord at the center of his own realm and avoid getting yourself a reputation, El. A lot of the new Lord Blackfrost’s enemies would love to know how you did that, in case it’s something they could repeat.”

  The White Rose of Blackfrost. That’s what Pallid Valentine had called her. It wasn’t some weird, momentary styling after all. People thought she held some deadly secret over Blackfrost.

  And now, by putting her under his protection, the faerie lord had all but confirmed it.

  What a bad joke, Elaine thought. Even if I did know something useful, I don’t remember it anymore, do I?

  Elaine curled in against herself a bit more closely. “I hate this,” she said. “I didn’t want any of this. All I wanted was to be left alone.”

  Some distant emotion flickered through Liam’s eyes. “…I know,” he said. “I wanted to give you that. I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I owe you something too, Liam. I should have realized I couldn’t escape a prison like that without some kind of help. If I’d been smart, I would have put it together before now.” Elaine reached out to squeeze his hand. “I don’t know what I can do to help you. But I’m willing to try.”

  Liam stared at her hand, as though her touch was a strange concept. Slowly, though, he closed his fingers around hers.