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I pressed my lips together, refraining from glaring even though my churning emotions made me want to scream at him.
Garrick shrugged out of his fur vest, and before I could protest, offered it to me.
I swallowed back the rejection burning the back of my throat and slipped it on. Though it still left my arms bare, it radiated warmth. Garrick’s warmth. It smelled of fresh mountain air, of freer times when I still believed he was my friend.
I gritted my teeth as my heart sank all over again with a fresh sense of betrayal. This stone-faced man was not my friend. Certainly nothing more. Everything he’d done before was to gain my trust and lure me to his king and queen, and everything he did now was in service to them.
“Come,” Garrick said, holding out his arm.
For a moment, I blinked at it. “Are you their servant to usher me in and announce me, or my escort?”
Garrick only shrugged.
I forced myself to take his arm, to ignore how warm he was, how even now I felt secure near him when, logically, I knew I should feel most frightened of all athisside. At least theSilverfrost siblings hadn’t pretended to be anything other than monsters toward me.
The pair of guards swung the double doors inward at Garrick’s and my approach, and we were immersed in a flood of flickering gold light and heat. We passed through the entryway and into a huge curved room full of several tables laden with food, permeating the air with a tantalizing aroma that reminded my aching stomach I hadn’t eaten since yesterday. Multiple fireplaces roared at intervals along the walls, and countless fae chatted and dined at tables interspersed throughout the room.
But it was the left side that drew my attention, open to the floor below us, which offered nothing but a plain stone floor and windowless walls. Cold. Uninviting. And adorned with rusty stains, almost as if it were covered with old blood.
No one was down there, but I had the uncanny thought that the room below us was an arena, and the space above it was for the fae court to dine and watch as those less fortunate fought to the death.
I couldn’t stop myself from shivering.
“Welcome,” came a familiar voice. Yet it wasn’t the cold touch of my magic creeping through my veins—no matter how I reached for it, even outside my rooms, I felt no sign of it—it was the icy sensation of fear.
Queen Nerissa leaned back in an elaborate gold and silver chair, its size and design making it look much like a throne. At her side, King Preston was seated in a similar one, their presence at the end of one of the tables seeming to overtake the entire room.
Everyone quieted as their queen went on, gracefully gesturing toward me with false warmth. Countless fae stares bored into me like dozens of needles pricking at my skin. “Miss Florentia Cantwell, our honored human guest.”
The wordguestwas a lie I was surprised her fae lips could even utter, but I knew even with their limitations, they were masters of deceit. Swallowing my despair, I plastered a smile onto my face as I broke free of Garrick’s arm and dropped into a curtsey.
I lifted my head, studying Nerissa where she continued to lounge on her chair, clutching a wineglass full of golden liquid I knew to be fae wine. Her white gown glistened with countless pearls, its neckline rising on one side in a stunning mimicry of icicles. The dress’s train spilled along the stone floor and nearly reached the foot of Preston’s chair, where he reclined in a simple black jacket and trousers. The color of his eyes matched the wine in his own glass as he swirled it, staring at me expressionlessly.
My heart pulsed in my throat.
“Rise,” Queen Nerissa said after a long moment, lazily flicking her hand. Her eyes narrowed as my skirts rustled around my feet while I straightened, as if she were taking in my attire for the first time. “Little Snowflake, you look lovely, but what are you wearing?”
I followed the direction of her gaze, my fingers brushing over Garrick’s fur vest. My words stuck in my mouth.
But Queen Nerissa didn’t wait for my answer, pinning Garrick with her eyes. For the first time, a sense of foreboding for Garrick swept through me.But he’s their faithful servant,I reminded myself bitterly.
“I thought our honored guest appeared cold,” Garrick said, his tone blank, “and that you would want her to be comfortable.”
Queen Nerissa rolled her eyes. “Snowflakes don’t grow cold. But very well. Bring her to her seat.”
Garrick took my arm again, leading me stiffly toward the royal siblings’ table, where there were two open chairs on Queen Nerissa’s left. To my surprise, Garrick pulled out the furthest chair for me before settling beside the queen himself.
Glazed-eyed human servants scurried forth from other doors set at even intervals opposite the open end of the room, bearing trays full of countless delicacies I couldn’t have even imagined back in my humble town of Altidvale. I supposed while the kingdom of Silverfrost was immersed in winter, either fae magic or trade with surrounding lands permitted such variety in foods. Everything from roast duck to glazed ham to steaming potatoes to the finest and freshest of fruits was laid upon the table.Includingunfamiliar fruits in richer shades of plum and navy and gold and silver, ones that I knew better than to touch. Magic and glamour or not, I was still human, and I’d heard plenty of stories about the effects fae food could have on mortals, ranging from embarrassing to lethal.
“I’ve heard so much about you,” a woman beside me crooned, her lips stained blue from the fruit she was eating. Juice dribbled down her chin and she wiped at it carelessly. Her dark eyes had no pupils and her skin was so pale it was translucent, making the purple veins tracing her temples and neck visible. Her wispy black hair hung about her in a wild curtain. “King Preston and Queen Nerissa were just talking about how...unfortunate it was that your avalanche slew some of their best men.”
My heart lodged in my throat. If the royals were talking about the strength of my magic, that meant Garrick had told them just how much I was capable of wielding. I shouldn’t have been surprised, and yet this knowledge cut me deeply.
“It’s been such a heated topic of conversation,” the woman went on, her blue-lipped grin cruel. Her eyes flicked to my hair. “A mortal with such powerful magic?” She sneered. “What a waste.”
I tucked my hands into my lap, wishing she’d look away and focus her attention on someone else.
“Tell me,” she went on, leaning closer until I could smell the strangely sweet scent of the fruit on her breath, “did you know allthis time you had fae blood? Did you offer yourself to the royals on purpose in order to challenge them?”
