Ambrosia (Frost and Nectar Book 2)

I pulled my sword from his chest, horror punching me in the gut as I stared at Torin’s blood dripping off my blade. Faltering, I staggered back again. Torin lay flat on the stones, bleeding out, and I felt the world go dark.

The hall that moments ago had been alive with excitement fell silent with a horrible hush, and I no longer felt as if I had a mind to think with.

Torin’s blood spilled onto the moss, pouring from his chest. I stared down at my own sword, my mind refusing to believe what was before me.

It must be a trick. My thoughts went horribly silent. No words could explain my mind-shattering horror as I stared at his blood.

A scream pierced the silence, someone asking him why he’d done that. A distant scream, muddled under the hush.

He couldn’t answer.

At last, the reality of it smashed through, and I rushed to his side, frantically pressing my hands against his chest to stanch the blood, but the sword had gone through his heart, and he did not move. There was no heartbeat. My hands shook uncontrollably.

He’d done that on purpose. I’d seen the look in his eyes for a fraction of a moment, the intent behind that movement. My sword had gone into his chest, but I’d felt it in my own heart, a sharp blade that made it impossible to breathe or think.

Only then did I realize it was me screaming at him, asking him why the fuck he’d jumped in front of my sword. Tears blurred my vision.

But I knew, didn’t I? He’d told me. He’d lived with crushing guilt because he’d killed someone he loved.

It was just…

Now he wanted me to suffer the same curse? His blood covered my hands. I didn’t think his heart was beating anymore, as the flow of blood was starting to slow.

“Love is a forge in the fiery depths of Mount Tienen,” Queen Mab’s melodious voice floated over the hall. “It makes us stronger, but the pain is excruciating. Isn’t that true, little wretch?”

When I looked up at Queen Mab, at the smug little smile on her face, wrath spilled through me like hot blood. I gritted my teeth, fingers tightening around the sword. Around me, the leaves lifted from the stones and flitted into the air. My body vibrated with hot fury.

Queen Mab’s expression was exhilarated, glowing. She was delighting in this horror. Her enemy, the Seelie king, had been slain by the hand of his lover. What a victory for the Queen of Sorrows.

A dark power slid through me, charged from the stones beneath my feet. How dare she end his beautiful life.

From the stones around us, vegetation came to life, snaking toward the queen. I didn’t know if that was my magic or hers, only that I wanted to choke her to death.

But I had to kill her fast. Time seemed to slow down as I raced across the mossy floor. One step, two…

My blade, covered in Torin’s blood, was destined for her throat. I didn’t care what happened to me anymore, and I was sure I was going to die anyway.

I was closing the distance between Mab and me when an arrow slammed into me from behind, piercing bone.

I heard her voice echoing over the hall. “Lost One, if you’re going to take aim at the Unseelie queen, you’d better not miss.”

I woke on tangled roots, inhaling the scent of blood mingling with earth and moss. In the dungeon once more, it was near total darkness.

My fingernails had grown too long. They curled over the tree roots.

I felt strangely disconnected from the lacerating pain in my back. My mind still wasn’t able to comprehend what had happened—the sword piercing his chest, his blood spilling onto the moss—but it kept replaying anyway, an endless loop in my thoughts.

It felt as if I’d seen it from a distance, a horror unfolding at the end of the tunnel.

It couldn’t have been me who’d stabbed him.

I lay, breathing in the smell of soil.

I couldn’t think of a single reason to bother moving.