I paused to watch his magic forming on the tree. It had been so long since I used my own wintry magic, I couldn’t help but wonder if mine would look the same. “Frustrated? What have I done to you except being me?”
Jack beat his fist against the bark, his lips parting as if he was about to answer me, but he pursed them instead. “It’s complicated.”
He was annoyed that I didn’t answer his questions about why I was for hiding what I am. Yet, here he was withholding some immense truths. Most people came to the Cove as a form of refuge or to escape the harsh realities of places that aren’t as accepting of us. Jack was a king in his realm and clearly came here for someone, but wouldn’t tell me who. So, who was she?
“I’m not ashamed, if that’s what you think.” Flaring my wings wide, causing their glittery glow to intensify, I began to form a snowball.
Jack adjusted his snowflake necklace and sighed, his glacial blue eyes even more cerulean from the falling snow. “You have nothing to prove to me. It either is or it isn’t. And I can’t come up with a good reason as to why you?—”
Before he could finish his sentence, I tossed the snowball at him, hitting him square in the forehead. He sputtered and blinked the flakes on his eyelashes away.
Growling, I turned away from him, my wings folding back as I power-walked through the snow. A plume of snowflakes erupted in front of me, covering my entire head, hair, and shoulders. I gasped and held my arms out at my sides, slowly swiveling to face him, the fury evident on my face from my clenched jaw and ice-splitting glare.
“You started it,” Jack countered.
Letting out a high-pitched snarl, I shook my head like a canine. “You’reinfuriating, Jack.” Fintan was trotting to my side before I even had to whistle for him. I walked away, fully intending not to turn back around this time.
When no sounds of snow crunching beneath boots came, I let out a peculiar sigh. A part of me was thankful Jack was letting me walk away, but another part of me wanted him to follow me—to, I don’t know, totalk.
Winter’s glow only knew why my body reacted the way it did to Jack. His wintry magic that captivated me whenever he displayed it, perhaps? Or the fact that I’ve never met another being even a fraction like me?
Hoisting myself to Fintan’s back, I leaned fully forward, resting on him. And as my stag carried me to our cottage, I slipped off my jacket to feel more of winter’s chill against my skin.
The winter’smagic that sparked in her wings when she’d shown even an ounce of confidence was enough to make my head spin. I’d had myself mostly convinced that there was no future for us, that my search would continue for the foreseeable future. Now ridiculous notions of hope and desperation filled my brain.
With my face shoved into Nanok’s fur, I mumbled, “Why can’t any of this be easy?”
Nanok huffed, shaking me away, and pounded his paws on the ground.
“I know, I know, I was given an entire kingdom, eternal life, and pristine power. Why would this be handed to me on a silver platter as well, right?” Using Nanok as a leaning post, I propped my shoulder against him, his gigantic breaths lulling me into some semblance of comfort.
Nanok snorted and jostled me.
“Hey, why do you keep doing that? I thought we were pals, and I can’t even lean on you?” Adjusting my shirt, I frowned at my bear, a bit insulted by his cold shoulder routine.
Nanok bristled his fur, and with a flick of his short, puffy tail, he turned away and strolled into the woods. He picked a hell of a moment to want some “alone time”—the bastard.
“Fine,” I shouted. “I see how it is. Maybe I can find a cute little arctic fox to be my companion. One I could carry in my pocket.”
Nanok, unimpressed, huffed and disappeared out of sight.
“Great. Just what I need, some quality alone time with my erratic thoughts.” Wiggling my fingers at the ground, I conjured an icy path, gliding on it like a surfer on a wave. It’d been so long since I’d done it that the fear of slipping and falling on my ass was an afterthought. At least Sylvie wouldn’t be around to witness it. Although it’d probably make her laugh, and thatsmileof hers?
Tensing, I dug my heels into the ice, sending it in a spiraling spray. Why was the idea of making her laugh, even at the expense of my own ego, suddenly so damn intoxicating?
“Fucking yeti’s frozen balls,” I roared, pinching the bridge of my nose from the brain freeze carving through my skull.
My magic lashed out at that, sending a pulsing wave of icy blue ringlets through the surrounding forests. It vibrated the trees, made birds fly away in alarm, and squirrels scurried to their nests.
A monstrous groan emanated from a frozen batch of rocks, a giant icy head protruding from them, followed by a torso, arms, and legs.
“Great work, Jack. Now you’re randomly summoning frost giants. Real responsible, yourhighness,” I mumbled.
The giant stretched his arms, his height challenging the birch trees surrounding us, and he parted one tree’s branches to peerdown at me. He had no real eyes, only two rounded areas carved into his spiky skull, the ice above them shifting as if he were raising an eyebrow. “King Jakzair, why have you summoned me to this—place?”
My given name sent a chill down my spine. No one had called me that in centuries, but the frost giant had probably been slumbering for that long until I went ahead and woke his ass up.
“Apologies, it was, well, an accident.” The unease in my tone had me rubbing the back of my neck.
