Shadow Frost (Shadow Frost Trilogy Book 1)
Page 38
Asterin turned to Eadric. “Eadric, this …” It all came back to her in a rush of golden light. She swallowed. “This is Elyssa Calistavyn-Faelenhart, the true Queen of Axaria.”
The woman smiled, her bony wrists sliding through the bars to cup Asterin’s cheek. She leaned into the touch, her throat catching on a tear-choked laugh.
So warm, so gentle, so loving.
So familiar.
“My mother,” Asterin whispered.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sometimes I can’t believe I wrote a book. Like, an entire book! Of words! That I wrote! Myself! When and where and how did this happen?! Then I take a moment to think about all the people that made Shadow Frost possible and it makes a lot more sense.
First, I want to thank my editor, Scott Allie. I was so nervous at the prospect of working with someone whose job was to basically roast my writing, but you only did that like, twice. Your hard work and devotion to Shadow Frost truly made it into what it is today, and I will never forget that.
A humongous thank-you to my agent, Richard Curtis, who has gone far above and beyond to support/tolerate me from the very first moment (and for letting me get two milkshakes that one time I clearly only needed one). Thank you to Marco, and David and Matthew for all your help as well! Shout out to my From the Top fam for all of your support. And of course, I definitely couldn’t have done this without my team at Blackstone—Rick, Josh, Josie, Lauren, Mandy, Jeff, Bryan, and many others. You are all absolute angels and I am so grateful for your dedication to Shadow Frost. Also, a very special shout-out to Kathryn G. English. You promised me that I would get the cover of my dreams, and you came through 110 percent with the most gorgeous creation I have ever laid eyes upon. On the note of the most gorgeous creations, colossal thank-you to my freakin’ dad, who hand-drew that freakin’ amazing map of the Mortal Realm at the beginning of the book. Yeah, that’s right. My dad drew that!!! Go look at it again, right now! No offense to you, but my dad definitely wins Best Dad.
Now, where would I be without my mentors? Ms. Clark, you ignited my passion for English. Mr. Wade, Shadow Frost literally would not have begun if not for your class. Ms. Lomp, I think you unintentionally let me write about 50 percent of Shadow Frost during your class instead of practicing the saxophone, so thank you for that. Ms. Greenspoon, I adore you. Veda “Feyda Lachinsky” Kaplinsky, you are my icon in every imaginable way. And a big thank-you to Arsha for all your love. Shout out to Jim for always cheerleading my writing from the very start. Juna, I probably would have burnt out mentally and physically a long time ago without your wisdom and guidance. Thank you to Ms. Lee, the sunshine and candy-provider on all my stormy days, to Mr. Ajerman, for always being there for me with a cup of tea and a hug, and to Christopher, for being a star and introducing me to attack badgers and la jeu de poule and always making me laugh when I needed it most or not at all (by the way, call your mother). And thank you to Professor Berry and Professor Piñango for keeping me sane during my first year at Yale. AH! There are so, so many more. I know who you are, and if you’re reading this, then you know who you are, too. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Jeez, I’ve had so many awesome teachers. Stay in school, kids.
Right then, moving on. Three years ago, I forced two of my friends to beta the first draft of Shadow Frost. You have my utmost gratitude, Angela “Moomoo” and Adam “Dadam.” Angela, you were so savage most of the time, but Shadow Frost probably would have ended with Asterin becoming a cake chef or something without your sensible suggestions. Massive thanks to Umi for being the best godmother ever to my characters, and Ysa for blazing through the whole draft in like, two days! Love you all.
Trillions of hugs to Thomas and Dorothy, the best kiddos ever, and Yi-heng and Max, the best adults ever. Lowkey, please adopt me.
Time for some more shout-outs to my squad. Amy, my homaka. Emma, a heckin’ fren. Jona, you beautiful, perfect-eyebrowed human. Catherine, who always, always wanted to read what I wrote no matter how crap it was. Tyson, the bestest buddy to ever exist and my human definition of A Canadian™. Hiroko-chan, you precious, artistic gem. Tomas, for everything. Margret, for so, so much chocolate. Elli, you deranged psychopath with more talent in one eyelash than most people have in their whole bodies. Yuja, an untouchable goddess, and Kiki and LX, who have never failed to inspire me in every possible way (except shoe choice). And Miron, who my adoration for cannot be intelligibly expressed in words. I love you guys.
My Yale fam. Mona, the most fierce team of athletes and beautiful friends anyone could ever ask for. Pianists 2018–2019. Wei-Yi and Chris and many others for definitely caring about me more than I care for myself. And to Qiancheng and Jérémie for being the best neighbours/babysitters (of me) in the history of existence.
Also, shout out to Colin Firth and Taron Egerton, who aren’t yet part of my squad, but are kings among men (did you see what I did there?!). Frankly, my writing career began with the two of you. Don’t ask. You are my true heroes.
My most sincere gratitude to Mrs. Hewitt. Your love and support helped me get to where I am today.
V. E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, Marie Lu, Sarah J. Maas, Tamsyn Muir, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Rainbow Rowell, Victoria Aveyard, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Marissa Meyer, Alexandra Bracken, Natasha Ngan, Mackenzi Lee, Rin Chupeco, Michelle Kwan, Adam Rippon … all of you have had an immense influence on me and are the unconquerable queens of my life.
AND IF YOU, YES YOU, ARE READING THIS AT ALL, thank you, thank you, thank you! Especially if you’re from Twitter, Instagram, or Goodreads. Or if we met at BookExpo America or BookCon and you loved the Shadow Frost ARC enough that you bought a copy. MANY HUGS FOR YOU.
All my thanks again to the incomparable Emanuel Ax. I could not think of a more wonderful and deserving human being to dedicate my very first book to, and I know that anyone and everyone who knows you at all would agree with me on that without hesitation. Also, you read Shadow Frost when it was just a thirty-page jumble of absolute nonsense … yet loved it (or at least pretended to, haha). The ferocity of your enthusiasm and encouragement for my writing truly motivated me to fight through every struggle until I typed out THE END. I still owe you dim-sum.
And finally … Mum and Dad, thank you for putting up with me for eighteen consecutive years, an honestly Herculean feat. Neither I nor Shadow Frost would exist without you. Literally.
PROLOGUE
down and down and down …
He couldn’t remember the light. Here, the deepest of shadows gave way to a murk that seemed only a little less menacing, a little less sinister. The sky never lightened beyond a bruised purple before it darkened to an impenetrable, inky gloom.
To think that he had reached for that gaping blackness instead of fleeing far, far away and never looking back.
… and down and down and down and down …
How many days had passed? How many hours had dragged by since that fateful moment when his heart had told his body to move, to move, you idiot, to hurl himself without hesitation into that swirling, infinite void—
… and down and down and down and down and down …
The portal had devoured him, and he had begun to fall. Ribbons of shadow entangled him, strangled him, laughing and singing and whispering to him in tongues he couldn’t understand.
Now, he wouldn’t stop falling. Couldn’t stop falling. The shadows laughed and stole the screams right from his throat. He tried to keep track of the seconds, but he never made it past one thousand before losing count. He wondered when this would end, how it would end, if it would ever end at all—
The world flared white for the briefest second, and when he came to, the ground was moist against his bare face, filling his nostrils with the scent of rain and something he did not recognize.
Orion Galashiels pressed a kiss to the land and thanked the Immortals.
Then he rolled onto his back, closing his eyes
as he sank into the wet ground, and breathed.
When he opened his eyes, he looked up into the dark heavens and thought them more beautiful than anything he had ever seen before.
With a smile, he lifted a hand toward the unfamiliar constellations scattered above as if to capture them.
The ground rumbled, low thunder in his ears. Orion had no chance to react when clods of dirt erupted skyward, slamming into his shoulder and arm, enclosing him in a death grip of mud and rocks before wrenching him down. He struggled to free himself as the ground began to swallow him. To bury him alive, one limb at a time.
Heart hammering, Orion let out a desperate cry. His fingers plunged through the roiling dirt, searching for his pocket and closing around his affinity stone. He held it aloft in triumph, but the moment he uncurled his fist, it crumbled to dust right before his eyes.
“No,” he choked out. Dirt filled his mouth and nostrils, suffocating him. No, no, no, no—
In a burst of blinding light, his magic exploded from every pore of his body. The ground shied away from his radiance, relinquishing its hold upon him at last.
Blood roared in Orion’s ears as he scrambled up the sides of the crater that had formed around him, clawing at straggly roots to haul himself out. Once clear of the crater, he ran for all hell’s worth, his skin still pulsating with magic, certain that the ground would seize him once more if he so much as faltered for a second too long. Only when he couldn’t bear the burning of his lungs did he finally slow—and thankfully, the ground didn’t try to gobble him up again.
Resisting the urge to vomit, Orion took in his surroundings. Trees of silver towered over him on all sides, glimmering with iridescent bark, their filigree leaves tinkling prettily in the breeze. Still panting for breath, he braced his hand against a trunk, but recoiled immediately. His palm came away slick, coated in an oily sap that reeked like hot tar. Upon closer inspection, he realized with horror that the sap was moving, churning and writhing in agitation along his skin, lapping up his fingers like tiny maggots.
Once more, his magic surged forth, this time with a scorching heat that sizzled the sap right off his skin and sent it skittering back up the tree trunk.
Orion stared up at the sliver of sky just visible overhead through the dense tangle of branches. Ragged exhales tore at his lungs as he tried to calm the fear coursing through his veins.
Everything was alive here. The rocks, the dirt … even his magic. It felt almost foreign in his body, as if he had suddenly sprouted a new organ. Here, his magic need not bend to his beck and call. It refused to be summoned, controlled. Gone was his loyal hound, his most reliable tool—replaced with something primal and wild.
Something powerful had always dwelled deep inside him, his skin, his blood, his soul. But now, it was free. Orion could run from the forests and the monsters within, but he couldn’t run from himself.
And that was the most terrifying thought of all.
He still tried, though. He ran until his legs gave out, until he collapsed in an exhausted heap and hit his head on something sharp. White starbursts exploded across his vision. His groping fingers came away scarlet, and wherever the droplets fell, small red blossoms sprang forth.
As the world blurred beneath his half-closed lids, the shadows began to sing anew, their voices pouring over him in honeyed waves. There was no laughter this time, only a soothing, haunting melody filling his ears as the shadows wrapped him into their satiny midnight folds.
The ground shifted beneath him, and as his consciousness faded, he heard the fwip fwip of a thousand fluttering wings.
His eyes slipped shut.
He dreamt of flying, of being carried far away by a great darkness high above a city of daggers and blood.
spells
Avslorah aveau — to summon water
Avslorah fiere — to summon fire
Haelein — to heal
Helt Avsloradovion — (non-self) to all summon
Skjyolde — to shield
Náxos — to strike
Reyunir — to unify
Lumi — to flare
Ovrire — to open
Explosa — to erupt
Astyndos — to blast
Ovdekken — to expose
the council of immortals — bloodline
Lady Siore (See-ore-ay), Goddess of Earth — House of the Stag
Lord Tidus (Tie-duhs), God of Water — House of the Serpent
Lady Fena (Fee-nuh), Goddess of Fire — House of the Fox
Lord Conrye (Con-rye), God of Ice — House of the Wolf
Lady Reyva (Ray-vuh), Goddess of Wind — House of the Stallion
Lady Audra (Ow-druh), Goddess of Sky — House of the Falcon
Lady Ilma (Ill-muh), Goddess of Air — House of the Viper
Lord Ulrik (Ool-rick), God of Light — House of the Lynx
Lord Pavon (Pah-von), God of Illusion — House of the Peacock
King Eoin (Ay-oh-in), God of Shadow — None
the royal elite guard
Captain Eadric Covington (26)
Hayley Zalis (27)
Nicole Dwyer (26)
Laurel Kuru (24)
Rose Fletcher (19)
Alicia Lormont (15)
Silas Atherton (30)
Jack Lintz (25)
Gino Satoré (23)
Casper Castille (23)
Quinlan Holloway (19)