Black Frost Winter: The Black Seasons Book Two

by Lenai Despins

  “My whole life, I’ve had to compete with Chloe. You couldn’t imagine what it was like to look exactly like her on the outside, but differ so much on the inside. To be a lesser person. Chloe was better at everything. Smarter. More talented. Perfect in every way. But I made peace with it. I learned to live with it. Unhappy as I was, it was bearable. It was all bearable…except for you.” Renée lifted her face from her palms until her eyes, haloed red, locked on Leo’s.

  “I loved you, Leo. I loved you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. But you were hers. And I thought you would always be hers. And that, I couldn’t live with.”

  Alexia blinked and Leo was at Renée’s side, kneeling to bring himself face-to-face with her, cupping her shaking hands in his.

  “What did you do? Renée, oh Renée, I loved you too. You should have told me. You should have told me instead of doing what you did! Don’t you see? What you said just now about Chloe was all in your head. She isn’t half the person you were. She’s self-centered, arrogant. She cares nothing for anyone except herself. I only stayed with her for so long to be close to you. You were the one I really wanted. You were better than her in every way. The only person who didn’t see that was you. You were your own worst enemy. Not Chloe.”

  Tears returned to Renée’s eyes, building until they could no longer be contained. Each one that fell down her cheek was a tribute to regret.

  “All this time I’ve been waiting for something to help me move on. I thought it was revenge, but I couldn’t haunt Chloe. She couldn’t see me. I get it now. She never saw me in life, so why would she in death?” Renée turned to Alexia slowly. “I sought revenge on you instead. When I found out you were dating Leo, I couldn’t take it. I was so jealous that you got to have him, of your beauty, your talent…your vitality. For that, I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. I thought killing you would be the release I needed, and if it wasn’t, at least I would have some company in the afterlife. Now, I know. Now, I see. It was me. I confined myself to this hell. I forged the chains that bound me here. And all along, I had the key.”

  Leo nodded, his hands tightening around hers. “You needed to forgive yourself.”

  She shook her head. “No. That I’ll never be able to do. I needed to confront the truth. To know that my life was wasted because I chose that path for myself. Because of my decision. Not Chloe’s. Not yours. Not anyone else’s. I needed to hold myself accountable. And that I can do. All I have left now is my apologies. My apologies and regret. I’m sorry, Leo. I’m so sorry.”

  Leo leaned forward, his lips finding her damp cheek in a kiss of closure.

  “Rest in peace now, ma chérie.”

  Renée left the world with the breaking of a smile through her tears, dissolving into the night until Leo’s palms encircled nothing but cold air. The frost beneath his feet remained, but it had been restored to its rightful color—white as snow.

  The night enfolded them separately, smothering time with its vastness. Alexia lost track of how long they sat above the city, wrapped in their own blankets of thought and memory. A sting grew in her eyes, sorry for the love story Leo had been robbed of—the romance that would never be with the ghost of his past. Despite Alexia’s feelings for him, there was no jealousy in her heart. Only a profound sympathy.

  In time Leo came back to the present, turning to her with a languidness of someone waking up from a deep dream.

  “Are you okay?” His voice was a whisper.

  Alexia nodded, wiping the black from under her eyes.

  He came to her then, arms encircling her as if to offer protection against all the evil in the world. There was nothing to say. There never would be. The events of the night would stay locked away only in their memories.

  A gust of wind reminded them of their vitality with its icy sting. Through the flying strands of her hair, Alexia’s eyes sought Leo’s.

  “Can we please get off this roof now?”

  His exhale was the shaky beginning of a laugh. “You bet.”

  Neither of them looked back as they returned to the safety of the stairwell, and as they descended the steps back to reality, the door to Alexia’s Parisian nightmare closed forever.

  CHAPTER 17

  Alexia managed to sneak off to the bathroom before anyone saw her, fixing herself up as though nothing had happened. She found her friends exactly where she’d left them. Wearing her silence like a shield, she told them nothing. There was no need to ruin their night, or to relive what she had experienced. Instead, she reached for her glass, finally able to laugh unguardedly with the people she loved most as they counted down to the new year. The clock struck midnight, and amidst the rainbow of confetti that rained from the ceiling, she caught sight of the real Chloe. The principal dancer had pulled back from a quick kiss with Marque, turning as if ready to greet a queue of admirers wanting to wish her well in the new year. But there was no one behind her. Even from a distance, Alexia caught the disgruntled expression on Chloe’s beautiful face. Although it wasn’t beautiful anymore, at least not to Alexia. Chloe’s true nature had veiled her beauty with a mask of ugliness that could never be removed.

  An arm circled Alexia’s waist, and the touch sent an electrifying shiver down her spine. She swivelled to come face-to-face with Leo. His eyes had absorbed the gold of the room, sparkling with a lightness that she hadn’t known in them before. They sought her with a deep understanding, relishing a bond they had formed that was inexplicable to others. Their lips pressed together with something more profound than passion, and in that moment, everything was perfect.

  “Enough already!”

  Deborah pried them apart to pounce on Alexia. Carrie and Amy joined in, hugging her in a drunken stupor of happiness. Alexia smiled as bright as her hopes for the new year, eyes flashing back to Chloe only once. She was still alone, inspecting her fingernails as though she had nothing better to do. For the first time, Alexia’s heart went out to her. She glanced back at her best friends, never more thankful that they were who they were, and that they loved her for exactly who she was. Leo had said that a life without interesting friends was an uninteresting life, but she also knew that a life without true friends was a sad and lonely one. She pulled Carrie, Deborah, and Amy in tighter, letting them know just how much she loved them.

  CHAPTER 18

  On the morning of their departure, Alexia awoke in her extravagant hotel room for the last time. Leo was still asleep beside her. She reached out to stroke his arm, wanting to touch him—to be close to him while she still could. The pain in her head had subsided considerably, but her neck was sore. Careful not to make a sound, she rose from the bed and tiptoed to the bathroom. Her reflection made her cringe. Around her throat, bruises from Renée’s hands had developed to a deep purple overnight; a reminder that she had been real. Sometimes it was easy to question her sanity, to wonder if she really had the “gift” of seeing the dead, or if her mind was just unravelling at the seams. But those marks made the truth apparent that day. Her ability was real, and she guessed it wasn’t leaving her anytime soon.

  Alexia pulled the concealer out of her makeup bag and slathered thick layers of it around her neck. By the time she was finished, Leo had woken.

  “Get any rest?”

  “Enough.”

  Sleep lingered on his lips when he smiled. It faded when he looked at the clock.

  “Do you have to go?”

  She didn’t reply. They both knew the answer.

  “At least let me drive you to the airport.”

  She went back to him, burrowing her head in the crook of his arm. His fingers curled through her hair, extinguishing the pain in her scalp.

  “America is only a plane ride away,” she said.

  “Is that an invitation?”

  “Maybe.”

  With a gentle hand, he pulled her away from his chest to gaze into her eyes. “So mysterious.”

  “Believe me, sometimes I wish I didn’t have to be.”

  He smiled a knowing smile, on t
he other side of a secret that very few people knew about. Then he leaned in for her again. They remained inseparable until the alarm pulled them out of their waking dream.

  EPILOGUE

  “Oh my god, Alexia! I had no idea your love life was so…adventurous. I have to admit, I’m a little impressed, but he got you bad. Be careful with that stuff, okay? People have died from it.”

  Deborah was staring at her neck, which was craned against the window. Alexia had lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors to be the one lucky enough to sit beside her. Self-consciously, Alexia raised her hand to cover the marks, cursing the false advertising on the packaging of her concealer.

  Eight hours of coverage, my ass. It hasn’t even lasted four.

  She gritted her teeth, knowing she had to play along.

  “I’ll be more careful next time.”

  “Good. You know, if you want a safer way to have fun, I have some things you could borrow.”

  Alexia had no idea what she was referring to and had no desire to find out.

  “That’s okay, I don’t think I’ll be seeing Leo for a while.”

  “Who said anything about Leo? You’re going back to America. You’re a free woman again!”

  Her reply was dismissive. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  With the fun in their row on a downward spiral, Deborah scanned the plane for a new playmate.

  “Bingo,” she said before adding innocently, “I’m going to get a drink…don’t wait up.”

  Alexia’s scoff said she wasn’t planning on it as Deborah shimmied out of her chair, whipping her hair in every direction like it was being blown by a turbine. Amy and Carrie giggled from the seats behind.

  “At least you’ll finally get a bit of peace and quiet,” Carrie offered.

  Alexia looked back at her.

  “How did you weasel out of sitting beside Debs on both flights?”

  “Hey, I had to share an apartment with her while you got to share a five-star hotel room with some French model of a man.”

  Alexia nodded in consideration. “That’s fair.”

  “So what happened?” Amy asked, pressing her face between the gap of the seats. “Will you see him again?”

  Alexia shifted her gaze out the window. France was fizzling into the distance, pulling with it her memories of the week. The higher they soared, the more her time there began to feel like a distant dream, one of heaven and hell. The plane turned, sprinkling her window with golden sunlight that reminded her of Leo. She caught her breath as his face surfaced in her mind’s eye, her heart suddenly heavy with longing.

  “I don’t know,” she said, speaking only to herself. “But I hope so. I really hope so.”

  Newsletter Sign-Up

  If you enjoyed Black Frost Winter, sign-up to Lenai’s newsletter to be one of the first notified when Black Bayou Spring hits the shelves in March 2020. By signing-up, you’ll also receive complimentary behind the scenes interviews with the author discussing the creation of her novels. Register now by visiting www.lenaitheauthor.com

  Before you go! If you would consider leaving a review on Amazon, it would be greatly appreciated. Reviews are one of the best ways a book can reach the hands of new readers, and Lenai reads each and every one of them.

  About the Author

  Lenai is from the golden prairies of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Although Canada will always be her home at heart, Lenai’s wanderlust has taken her to explore 49 different countries—living in a number of them. After ten years in Texas, a year in Dubai, eight months in Wellington, and four years in London, Lenai has settled into her current residence in Brisbane, Australia. Black Frost Winter is her third novel, following Black Leaf Fall and The Day The Aliens Came.

  You can connect with me on:

  https://www.lenaitheauthor.com

  https://www.facebook.com/lenaitheauthor

  https://instagram.com/lenaidespins

  Also by Lenai Despins

  Black Leaf Fall (The Black Seasons Book 1)

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZMWJ1DK

  Alexia Brooks’ life is uprooted when she moves to the sleepy forest town of Pine Ridge, Pennsylvania, for her final year of high school. The transition is unsettling, but Alexia finds comfort in her greatest passion: ballet.

  Dancing in the woods one day, she meets Xander, an attractive stranger with a mysterious past. Weeks go by and Alexia only learns two things about him. The first is that he lives all alone in a huge gothic mansion, and the second is that she’s hopelessly in love with him.

  Xander’s life is shrouded in mystery, but the more Alexia tries to make sense of it, the more distant he becomes. What is he hiding? The question continues to torment her until the fateful day when she finally solves his secret. Alexia realizes too late that some stones are better left unturned. Now, her sanity and survival are on the line.

  The Day The Aliens Came

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CYBHFVR

  The tragic bombing of Winnipeg destroyed more than just the city—it shattered Caden’s walls of reality. Through the settling dust, a truth has surfaced. His entire life has been a simulation controlled by artificial intelligence.

  Fleeing to the remote edge of civilization, Caden joins a group of survivors. But there has been no uprising; humans are powerless against A.I. forces. Someone, or something, has intervened in the war for planet earth. Caden remains in the dark until he is thrust into an encounter with something more staggering than conscious machines; extraterrestrials.

  Why have they come? Can they be trusted?

  He is going in blind, but with all other options exhausted, throwing himself at the mercy of these otherworldly visitors is his last chance for survival. It now falls on Caden’s shoulders to prove the worth of the human race…and time is running out.