Ambrosia (Frost and Nectar Book 2)

Pearly, coral dawn streaked the sky.

Torin picked up his sword, and I pulled on my damp dress, squeezing some of the water out of it. As I did, I felt the distant vibrations of hooves pounding through the forest trails.

My heart sped up, and I smoothed out my dress, the fabric still stained from other people’s blood. “Torin.” I tried to make my voice sound calm and even. “You have to go now. We have to go now.”

He turned back to me for just a moment, then pressed his forehead against mine. One last kiss, a brush of lips against mine.

“They’re coming, Torin.”

He couldn’t meet my eyes anymore as he turned away from me and back to the mirror. Framed by silvery coils, it hung above the empty forge. Torin touched the glass with his fingertips. He inhaled a deep, shaky breath, his voice hoarse. The moment he finished saying Faerie, silvery light exploded around him, so bright I could hardly see. I shielded my eyes. Magic vibrated over my skin, sizzling in the droplets of river water on my body.

When I opened my eyes again, Torin was gone, sword and all.

I stared at where he’d just been, feeling like my chest had hollowed out. My emotions flitted between relief that he was safe and barbed emptiness at his absence.

A tear rolled down my cheek, and I wiped it away with my palm. Why did it feel so hard to breathe?

With a shaking breath, I stepped closer to the mirror and swallowed.

The thing was, I couldn’t have Torin entirely in control of whether I could come to Faerie again, could I? He was hell-bent on self-sacrifice to atone for what he’d done to Moria’s sister. I trusted him with almost everything, but I didn’t trust the man to look after himself properly.

Here before me was a magical tool that could open the realms, that could create portals between worlds. I couldn’t just leave it here. So I clenched my teeth, and I punched the glass in the lower left corner.

As soon as the pain shot through my knuckles and the shards cut my skin, I realized the stupidity of not picking up a rock to break the mirror instead. But what was done was done. A crack splintered the mirror in the left corner, and I pulled off a triangular shard.

Now, the vibrations of the oncoming soldiers were growing louder, closer. I held the fragmented mirror in my hand, and I stared into the remains of the looking glass on the wall. The magical surface shimmered and rippled.

With a racing heart, I called out the name of my city. Pale light erupted around me, and I felt myself falling, gripping tightly to the shard of the mirror as I tumbled through a void. I landed hard, two bare feet on the pavement. I may have put my dress back on, but I’d left the stolen shoes back in the Court of Shadows.

I staggered, trying to get my balance, and my ears rang with a strange rushing sound. A cool breeze whipped over me.

Disoriented, I blinked, looking around.

I stood in the center of town by the bus station. Dawn was breaking over my city. A bus rolled out of the terminal, starting and stopping, releasing little black clouds of exhaust.

Newspapers tumbled across the street, buffeted by the wind. How did the magical Unseelie mirror choose this bus station? I suppose it was the center of town, and it was our main public transportation.

My thoughts trailed off.

An elderly woman with plastic bags on her feet was pushing a shopping cart full of cabbages in my direction. She scowled at me, then muttered, “We don’t need your kind around here.”

I reached up to touch my horns and found they still jutted from my head. At least I didn’t have the wings out.

When I looked down at myself, I was wearing a white dress soaked in river water and other people’s blood, and it was pretty much transparent on me. Dirt caked my bare feet, and I held a sharp shard of mirror that could probably be considered a weapon. In short, I looked like a living nightmare.

My stomach rumbled, and I glanced at the McDonald’s across the street. Holy shit, that would taste amazing right now, but I didn’t have money, and they’d probably call the police.

I started walking. From here, it was about a mile to my old apartment, but that was where Andrew lived. There was no way I would show up looking like I’d had a nervous breakdown. Like I’d fallen apart, unable to handle the shame of the nude photos he’d shared.

It was only another mile more to Shalini’s place. I broke into a run, hoping to get back there before any police officers stopped me with awkward questions. The sidewalk felt cold and grimy beneath my bare feet, and I tried not to think about what I was stepping on.

Gods, I missed Torin already. My mind kept flicking back to the feel of my fingertips on his chest, the glorious smell of him.

As I reached the emptier streets closer to her apartment, I slowed a little to catch my breath. The only people out this early in the morning were a few joggers who studiously avoided my gaze.

Don’t look at the half-naked lady.

Once, I’d enjoyed running through the streets for fun. Now? I don’t think I’d go back to it. What was the point of jogging when you could actually fly?

At last, I turned onto Shalini’s street, and my stomach clenched.

Great ash goddess…

There they were, dressed in tidy gray Lululemon outfits, practically matching: Andrew and Ashley. Out for a morning jog.

I stopped walking, practically freezing in place. Ashely grabbed Andrew’s arm, and her face went pale.

I knew I looked like an absolute monster right now.

Why did this encounter feel more horrifying than a month in the Unseelie dungeon?

I winced and gave a slight wave to Andrew. Unfortunately, the happy couple now stood between me and the entrance to Shalini’s apartment.

I cleared my throat and pointed at the gate behind them. “Just going to Shalini’s.” I really didn’t want to get closer, to have them inspect the absolute state of me and ask why I was covered in blood.

Andrew’s nose was wrinkled, his eyes narrowing like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. “Ava, what happened to you? The gossip columns said you had a nervous breakdown after you were dumped. Is that, like, a psychotic break?”

My jaw clenched. “Is that what they said?”

His gaze darted to the top of my head. “Was it the horns? I didn’t know fae had horns.” His lip curled with obvious revulsion. “Did they cause the breakdown?”

Ashley’s blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail so tight it tugged at her features. Still gripping Andrew’s arm, she cocked her head, her forehead wrinkled. “Are you…okay?” Her voice sounded unnaturally high-pitched, and her words were slowly enunciated, like she was speaking to a confused child. “Should we call someone to come get you?”

“I’m fine. I can’t really divulge what I was doing,” I ventured. “It’s fae stuff. Magic. Top secret. You wouldn’t understand.” I didn’t realize how insane that explanation would sound until the words were already out of my mouth. “Never mind,” I said sharply.

“What are you holding?” asked Andrew. “Why are you…where are your clothes? Where are your shoes?”

“It’s not really your business, though, is it?” I snapped.

“You nearly ruined my life, you know,” Andrew said sharply. “Everyone was sympathetic to the poor dumped fae woman. I got fired.”

“So you sold nude photos of me.” I inhaled deeply. “You know what? I really don’t care anymore. About any of this.”

He shrugged, his cheeks turning pink. “But maybe people should know what you are really like. Why I couldn’t be with a fae. Maybe then they would understand and have some sympathy that I just wanted a normal life.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know, Torin really doesn’t like you.”

Andrew’s lip twitched. “He’s not your boyfriend, though, is he? They said you’re not actually marrying him. They said you disappeared after he turned you down at the altar.” His gaze swept down, taking in my tattered state. “Ava, you should really get some help.”

For a blinding, incandescent moment, I could see myself running up to him and ramming the shard of mirror into his shoulder. Not enough to kill him, but enough to make him deeply regret every decision he’d ever made up until this point.

But I was in the human world now. And here, we didn’t just stab people. In fact, I liked that about this place. Right?

I had at one point, anyway.

I clenched my teeth and hurried past him on the sidewalk.

As I left the two of them behind, I reached the black, wrought-iron gates outside Shalini’s apartment, gates that were just for show, because I’d never seen them locked. I cast my gaze around the courtyard garden of begonias and asters, thinking how tidy it looked compared to the Court of Sorrows. Nice and civilized.

I stood outside the apartment’s brick exterior and pushed the buzzer to her apartment.

I waited a few minutes, my chest tightening a little bit.

As the breeze nipped at my skin, I hugged myself.

I suppose she could have stayed in Faerie?

If she wasn’t in her apartment at six in the morning, then she probably had stayed in Faerie. But was it by choice? Had the entire kingdom frozen over when Torin left without a queen? I had no idea, but a nauseous feeling was starting to climb up my gut.

I pushed the buzzer of another apartment—then a second one, until at last someone answered, sounding annoyed and groggy. “What?”

“Sorry,” I said, in the best imitation of Shalini’s voice. I turned my head away in case they had a camera view. “It’s Shalini. Can you just buzz me in? I forgot my keys.” Without another word, the stranger buzzed the door open, and I pushed through the heavy wooden door.

I climbed the pretty tiled stairs to her apartment. I didn’t have a key, of course, but what I did have at this point was an insane lack of patience and the heightened physical strength of a fae.

After knocking several times and calling her name through the door, I kicked the door three times—hard—until the wood splintered just above the doorknob.

When I’d created enough of a gap, I shoved my hand through the splintered wood and unlocked the door from the inside.

As soon as I stepped in, the scent of trash and mold hit me hard. I cleared my throat with a growing sense of unease. When I stepped into the kitchen, I dropped the magic piece of mirror onto the table.

There, I found a box of donuts, completely overgrown with fuzzy gray and green mold. My nose wrinkled, and I dumped them in the trash.

I should probably eat, I supposed. I opened her cupboards and pulled out a box of Cheerios, then filled a glass of water from the sink.

At the kitchen table, I ate like a toddler, shoveling dry cereal into my mouth. As I chewed, my mind ticked over the possibilities of what could have happened.

Shalini must have known that I had disappeared, and she was the most loyal friend I’d ever known. Maybe she didn’t want to leave Faerie without finding out what had happened to me. Maybe, when Torin returned to his kingdom, he would send her home.

She’d run back here, relieved, maybe with a new boyfriend in tow, and we would hug each other and drink wine and tell each other about everything that happened in the past few weeks. Months? How long had it actually been? Somehow, it felt like years and hours at the same time. I washed down the dry cereal with cool tap water. Holy shit. Had I never realized before how amazing tap water tasted? Tap water was the nectar of the gods, and you could have it whenever you wanted it. It was the one thing I still liked about this place.

When I’d filled my stomach and drank as much as I wanted, I headed over to Shalini’s bedroom. As she was my best friend, I didn’t think she’d mind if I borrowed some clothes.

I pulled open her drawers and fished out some dark leggings and a long-sleeved shirt, then stepped into her cream-tiled bathroom.

I turned on the shower, letting the steam fill the room. As the shower heated, I felt myself slip into a daze, listening to the comforting hum of water pounding against the tiles. I pulled off the bloodstained dress and shoved it into the trash. Naked, I stepped into the shower, and the hot water pounded my skin. I grabbed a bottle of liquid soap and scrubbed myself. Dirt from my feet swirled in the drain, a tiny whirlpool of mud.

What was Torin doing right now?

I came out of the shower smelling like vanilla and civilization. I towel-dried my hair and pulled on the clean clothes, then crossed into the living room to drop down onto the sofa. How long would it take for Shalini to come back once she realized I was here?

I bit my lip, staring into space. She would come home, wouldn’t she? With Torin’s permission, she could go in and out of the different realms. But worry nagged at the back of my mind.

I cleared my throat as my nervous thoughts grew louder. I really had no idea what happened after I left the kingdom. Torin wondered if his sister had taken over, but who knew? Maybe no one took over and they all starved. Maybe Moria took over, or the bitter hag who cursed the place.

I stood and started pacing. How long was I going to wait before giving in and using that magical piece of mirror?

A male voice, tentative and worried, pierced my thoughts. “Hello?”

My head snapped up, and I looked at the door.

Someone, Shalini’s neighbor, I presumed, stood in the doorway, a man dressed in a light blue button-down l shirt with closely cropped brown hair. “Is everything okay here? It looks like there was a break-in. I’m sorry—who are you?”

I rubbed the knot in my forehead. I needed people to leave me alone. And it seemed like I’d forgotten how to behave normally in the Court of Sorrows, because I muttered those words out loud.

“Are you supposed to be in here?” he asked.

“I’m Shalini’s roommate,” I said. “Her new roommate.”

“She hasn’t been here in a while,” he shot back, staring nervously at my horns.

I really wished there was a way to shut the door, but I’d broken it too much.

I prowled closer to him across the room. “Your help isn’t needed here.” I bared my teeth with a snarl. “And I’d advise you to leave well enough alone. You don’t know what might happen to you if you cross a Dark Cromm.”

I heard the echoes of my brother in my threat.

The stranger turned white as milk, and he pivoted to hurry down the stairs.