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Surprise lifted her brows, and she shook her head. “Are you jesting?”
“Not at all, little bird.” He sat back in the chair and ran a thumb along his chin. “I don’t tease when it comes to saving the land.” Morozko paused, then cocked his head. “When my mother was slain, I was glad for it. As cruel as she may have been as a ruler, she was ten times worse as a mother. I was a means to keep her legacy alive, but other than that, I was a toy to pull out, to use or abuse however she saw fit.” He tilted his head back, glancing up at the ceiling. Shadows stretched across the length of the room, disappearing into the darker crevices. “I saw her death before it happened, and she only knew this at the very end. She hated me more than the mortals at that moment.”
Light danced across Eirah’s face. She’d grown still and studied him far too closely. He didn’t like it—he didn’t want her to see deeper than his cool exterior. “Why not tell her?”
“Because she deserved to die. And Frosteria needed someone who actually sought to care for it. When I was crowned, I vowed to protect the land as I’d protect myself.”
Eirah didn’t argue with that. Although it’d happened long before she was born, Maranna’s legacy lived on through the wicked tales the villagers and frost demons would spin. After a moment of silence, Eirah pressed on. “What about a sacrifice? Are you still planning to end my life?” she asked, her brow furrowed.
He mused over her question, carefully guarding his thoughts lest she hear him. Would a sacrifice aid their cause? Or would her death be for nothing? “I don’t know. If there is another way, I’ll find it, but I’ve tried an animal to see if it would buy us time. It didn’t work. If there is to be a sacrifice, the vision is clear you are at the center of what is to come. No one else.”
Eirah grew quiet again. “I think I should go check on my father,” she murmured after a time. “Unless you want me to stay.”
He flicked a hand in the air. “Go.”I don’t want her to leave.
Eirah hesitated for a moment, and he knew she’d heard his thoughts. But she waited for him to say something else, to ask her to stay. “Go,” he repeated. This time she stood, glancing back one more time before leaving him. As soon as the door shut, he lashed out, kicking the chair beside him. This all stemmed back to his mother and her wretched reign. Now, Eirah knew, and it was up to her to process the information. Despite everything she’d endured, she seemed to handle it, and he commended her for that. A strength he’d not seen in many, and something akin to pride beat within his chest.
Morozko sat slumped in the chair, staring into the fire until sleep overtook him.
Eirah grabbed hold of his arm, stilling him. She motioned to a changeling as it leaped toward a child. Instead of colliding with the boy, the demon’s body shimmered, stretched, and disappeared. At first, the boy convulsed, then, as he sat up, his eyes flashed yellow.
The mortal lifted his hands and glanced at them. An inhuman screech emitted from him before he ran off.
Morozko scowled. “They can possess mortal children.”
“Then how do we know who is possessed and who isn’t?” Eirah hissed.
“I don’t know.”
Morozko awoke with a start and pushed out from the chair. It took him a moment to look around and process that he was in Vinti, in someone else’s home. When his nerves settled, he charged outside, and judging by the rising sun, he’d only been asleep for an hour.
Nuka roused, yawning, as he looked at Morozko.
“Your Majesty?” Andras stepped away from the tree he leaned against. “Is everything all right?”
Morozko smoothed his hand down his face. “No. We have a big problem.”
“What is it?” the captain prompted, his shoulders tensing as he peered around.
“The creatures who did this… they can invade a child’s body.”
Which meant there was a distinct possibility that a handful of humans were already compromised. But how were they meant to eradicate them—by killing them all? Morozko curled his fingers into fists and growled. He wouldn’t. There had to be another way.
16
EIRAH
Eirah peered up at the star-freckled sky. The torches around the village burned brightly through the darkness, not to give off light but protection from creatures that she now knew were created by Morozko’s vicious mother. Changelings.
As for Eirah saving Frosteria?Bah! She couldn’t bring a lick of magic to her fingertips at the moment, even though it churned within her. Could only will herself to shift into an owl, but what would that do? Get herself put into a cage and become a meal for someone? The one time magic had shot out of her previously may have just been a faulty occurrence.
A hoot echoed above her, and she glanced up at the sky once more, finding Adair circling her. “I didn’t meanyouwould end up in a cage.Me.”
He gave another hoot, following her as she hurried back to Saren’s home, the snow crunching beneath her boots. Morozko was staying in an abandoned cottage alone, and he’d denied her offer to linger inside with him. The king had wanted her company, but he hadn’t spoken the words aloud, only inside his head. He was a grown male, and she wouldn’t treat him as a babe by asking him a second time.
Morozko had finally confessed the truth to her, making her understand why he’d chosen her as his sacrifice, given her his blood, and made her practice shifting. But it didn’t make any of those things right. And she felt foolish, so incredibly foolish, and so should her village, even though it was their ancestors’ fault for not passing the story down the generations. They had knownwhya sacrifice had needed to be performed… Yet they’d either forgotten or had chosen not to believe it anymore. If she had known, she would’ve been the first to bring a blade to one of the livestock, even if that would’ve meant less food on the village’s table. It would’ve saved so many lives. But now, sacrificing an animal wouldn’t do any good.
At some point, she may still need to sacrifice herself, but not yet, not until Morozko learned more from his visions… For her family, if it came down to it, she would still make the choice, just as she had chosen to go with Morozko when he’d first picked her at the ceremony.
