“Just sing,”her mum’s voice whispered in her mind.“Let it out.”
Her voice shook as the melody fell from her lips, a little shaky at first. She patted her thigh, a soft beat as she began swaying to the music. Her voice grew stronger. The lullaby ended but she couldn’t stop singing. Aria after aria poured out of Lia. Tossing her hands in the air, she danced, the chains clinking merrily.
Delicous shivers ran up and down her spine as she ran her hands along her warm, sensitive skin. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
She could die happy,
Death. Her mum. Cosmos. Lo. Neve.
Her smile faded a touch.
A Mournful tale poured from her soul. Tears coated her cheeks as her voice rose and lowered with feeling. It was pain, loss, hopelessness, and unending grief. She pressed her hands to her warm chest and wound up for the crescendo. More tears fell as her surroundings completely disappeared.
The last stanza left her mouth and hovered in the air.
Lia let this silence rest, the murmur of Loriia voices dwindling into the deep of night. She opened her eyes, meeting the king’s devasting gaze. Emotion simmered in the onyx pools of his eyes. She should have been unnerved, but she could only smile through the tears. Her mom would have loved that song.
Olwen stood by Neve’s side, his mouth hanging open. “Did you know she could do that? I felt as if I were at the theater.” White shimmered in his eyes. She’d woken the berserker.
“Leave us,” Neve demanded, never taking his attention from Dahlia.
His commander grinned and fled.
Dahlia stared at her husband with a smile.
“Niliov,” she murmured.
“Niliave,” he replied, gaze roaming over her flushed face. His lips pursed as he spotted the wine jug at her feet. He slowly prowled into the tent and lifted it from the floor. The Frost King swirled its contents before taking a healthy sip himself. His black tongue darted out to lick the place her own lips had touched.
Heat flushed through her body that had nothing to do with the alcohol. He eyed her over the rim before reaching around the post to set the jug on the table. He placed a hand above her hand and captured her chin with the other.
Lia couldn’t look away from his handsome face if she tried. Without her permissions, her hands lifted and traced the sharp edges of his indigo jaw. “Beautiful,” she whispered.
He turned his face and pressed a kiss to the inside of her palm. A riot of butterflies took flight in her stomach. His finger skated down her arm, wrapping around the manacles cuffing her wrist. He paused scowling at the metal before producing a key from his pocket. She sighed when Neve released both.
Lia rubbed at both of her wrists.
“Better?” he murmured.
Dahlia beamed up at him and he gaped. “Much.”
The Frost King squinted at her. “How much wine have you had,jaivelle?”
She shrugged. “Enough that I am finally warm.”
Neve glanced at the woodstove and muttered in Loriian underneath his breath, before his full focus settled on her once again. “You should be in bed.”
She loathed sleeping. It just brought nightmares. Lia wasn’t sure how much time she had left in this world and she didn’t want to waste themsleeping.
Dahlia tried to move away but her legs were quite unsteady. She toppled to the side only to find herself in Neve’s arms. Lia snuggled into his warm embrace, her palm between his hearts.
“You’re soooo big,” she said.
A small quirk at the corner of his mouth. “And you are tiny.”
A peel of laughter escaped her. “By human standards, I am not. I’m tall and squishy.”
“You are perfect.”
