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The thing was, like any good tyrant, Moria knew that if people were happy and comfortable, she’d lose her grip on power. She needed their rage and fear, or they might start to question her legitimacy.Hang on a minute, why are you queen…?
If people were comfortable, they might welcome Torin back again if he returned. They might forget to be angry at the demons, and she needed them desperately united against a common enemy—one only she could defeat.
Only by the constant threat of an attack by the Unseelie could she exert this control, so when people asked her why they were still freezing in their beds and why the cold gnawed at our bones, she still had herscapegoat. The demons were to blame, along with every traitor who might support them.
I turned back to the spluttering fire and knelt, rubbing my hands together and breathing on them for warmth. Aeron had brought me one other amazing treat: he’d managed to smuggle a single book out of the castle library, an eighteenth-century Gothic romance calledThe Cursed Monk. For something written centuries ago, it was surprisingly dirty, and I wondered if the subject matter had been on purpose. Aeron was, after all, something of a monk himself, sworn to chastity. It was hard not to think of some of the dirtier passages in the book as what might happen if he finally let that vow go.
The creak of the door turned my head, and snow swept into the room around Aeron’s fur-clad figure. The cold breeze slipping into the room stung my skin, and he turned to close the door. “I brought you back bread and cheese.”
My heart swelled at the sight of him, braving the icy temperatures just to make sure I could have a sandwich.
Aeron’s expression had become haunted, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know everything he’d seen by the castle.
“You need to be careful, Aeron. How are you getting this food without people seeing you?”
He handed me a paper-wrapped parcel, and I pulled out the frozen block of bread to warm it by the fire.
He sat down next to me on the hearth, stoking the fire with a stick, the dim firelight warming his cheeks. “It’s not just me, Shalini. There’s a small network ofpeople who don’t trust the queen, those loyal to Torin because they loved him. Those who know she could have ended this winter a month ago. A resistance of sorts. People are starving now, and some believe her story that it’s all the demons’ fault, but she’s losing her grip on them. She’s not doing what a queen is supposed to do. And the more she’s losing her grip, the more she retaliates with force.”
I swallowed hard. “What’s she doing now?”
He stared into the fire. “She has a dragon called the Sinach, and she’s using it to hunt people. Then she burns them. She wants us to think she’s a female King Caerleon. He left piles of bodies in his wake.”
My stomach dropped. “Oh.”
He leaned back, sitting cross-legged before the guttering flames. He looked exhausted, and I wanted to wrap him up and keep him safe here. But it wasn’t in his nature to hide out in a cabin while his kingdom was being destroyed.
“This cold,” he added, “is starting to feel less like a calculated political strategy and more like revenge. I think she’s furious at us. Her sister died, and none of us really cared or noticed. We all thought Milisandia was missing, but we didn’t look into it. And then it turns out the king everyone loved so much was at fault.”
“You still don’t know what happened?”
He shook his head, staring into the flames. “Whatever his reason, I know it was a good one. I know him. Maybe she was as cracked as her sister. I don’t know. Maybe it was an accident.” He slid his gaze to me. “I know he has sent assassins into the Court of Sorrows tokill Queen Mab and the royal family as revenge for what she did. He had one of Mab’s sons killed. I know he’s not allied with them. It’s hard for me to believe he managed to survive there at all, that Queen Mab didn’t have him slaughtered immediately. But I can only imagine she’s keeping him alive just long enough to torment him as brutally as possible.”
I shuddered. “Well, Modron didn’t show us everything, did she? Just what Moria wanted.” I warmed my hands by the fire. “If they find their way back to Faerie, could Torin reclaim the throne from here?”
“He doesn’t have any magic.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Moria has stationed soldiers around his throne, preventing Torin’s loyalists from finding a way to fix it. If he returns, he won’t have any power to fight with.” He turned to look at me, his eyes glinting with firelight. “I don’t understand how they ended up in the Court of Sorrows. How well do you know Ava? Do you trust her, even though she’s Unseelie?”
“You’re all just fae to me.” I nudged him. “Are the Seelie really that much better? Because right now, we’re cowering in the frozen forest hiding from a queen who wants to light people on fire with her dragon.”
He cocked his head. “Fair point.”
A sharp longing twisted through my chest. “Aeron, do you know what I would give to take you to a dive bar in my hometown? I was so desperate to get out of there and see Faerie. Ava warned me it wouldn’t be all butterflies and rainbows, but I had to see it. Do you know what I would give to just watch a basketball game withyou in a bar? With beer? I don’t even like basketball.” My voice held a ragged, hysterical edge.
His features softened. “When this is over, you can take me to your dive bar.”
“Have you ever had a chili dog?”
He stared at me like I’d started speaking in tongues. “Absolutely not.”
“Tuesday nights, they’re half-price at the Golden Shamrock. I don’t think I appreciated how exactly amazing they were until now. A hot dog with chili and melted cheese…” My mouth was already watering. “I know people criticize Americans, but who else would have come up with that genius? It is genius, Aeron.” I think I was shouting.
Outside, a roar like an avalanche rumbled over the horizon, and when I glanced out the windows, snow was shaking off the boughs. For a moment, I wondered if I’d caused it with my loud enthusiasm for chili dogs. But in the next moment, a dragon’s shriek sent a jolt of fear through my bones.
My heart fell.
I wanted to sneak under the covers and cower—because let’s face it, I had no dragon-fighting skills—but Aeron gripped me by the elbow.
“We can’t stay here. He’ll burn the cabin down.” Aeron pulled me toward the door so quickly, I nearly lost my footing. The moment I was outside, the cold stung my skin. Luckily, I never took my cloak off.
