“Yeah,” I replied, smiling, but my throat numbed at that. The cold never sent a shiver through my bones like most because I was awinterfaerie.
Dagnar waved, and I kept the grin frozen until he was out of sight, frowning now and letting my shoulders slump. Was it really luck? Or a curse?
Shaking my head and taking a deep breath to push all negativity out the window, I turned on my heel, ready to busy myself until the next customer, but something made my spine suddenly seize. An icy hot sensation formed behind my eyes, moving through my cheeks and surging between my shoulder blades. The wings itched on my back, begging me to release them. I tried to fight it, but was quickly losing the battle. Running to the kitchen, my snow blue and white wings forced themselves out, flaring wide. My pale blue magic uncontrollably swirled my arms and hands. In the same instance, it all just abruptlystopped.
And for the first time in my celestial existence, my stomachwarmed.
This place was about aspeculiar as it was comforting. I’d been to thousands of realms through countless time periods and had never seen as many different mythical beings and species communing in the same space. Hidden within my grey cloak, I spent several hours studying Arcane Cove’s citizens. An orc passed at one point, eyeing me suspiciously but eventually paying no mind before wandering into a café calledThe Minty Boar. There were pixies, gargoyles, demons, and maenads. They’d be hard to spot without a keen sense, but I could smell a shifter’s scent on several human-like beings that passed. What they could shift into, however, I couldn’t surmise from scent alone.
More beings that looked human at first glance continued to stroll by, and though I could sense the magic thrumming in their veins, some I couldn’t tellwhatthey were. There’d been a male and female I noted with pointed ears, but they were larger andmore prominent than my own—elves and not fae. Not another fae atall? It seemed not only odd but unnerving.
At any rate, I’d seen enough to know there was no reason for me to hide, and the attire here appeared average, so I didn’t need to stand on ceremony in royal garments. Flicking the cloak off and making it disappear in a shimmering snow flurry, I stood in a pair of dark jeans, boots, and a blue V-neck tee. Rubbing the snowflake charm hanging on a chain around my neck, I paused when a discomforting pang radiated through my skull.
I’d rarely experienced pain, but it was more irritating than it was hurtful. Rubbing the back of my head, I turned the other way, and the feeling subsided.
“Hey there,” a female voice said from nearby.
Shaking the disorientation from my brain, I swiveled to face her. She was half my height with ringlets of chestnut hair and two small, tan antlers sticking out from her forehead. “Hey,” I answered, scanning her, more for curiosity than perusal. I’d known maenads existed but had never met one. They were usually glued to the hip of the Greek god of wine.
“I don’t recognize you. Are you new here?” The female folded her arms, her perky upturned nose discreetly smelling the air between us.
“Just got into town today, actually.” I slipped my hands in my pockets, habitually making my muscles tighten—a reflex from the instinct to display myself in front of a potential mate. Though the maenad was attractive, I didn’t get any tell-tale signs she was it.
“Oh, yeah? What brings you here?” The female scratched one antler, her hips swiveling as she took more of me in, paying special attention to my beard and wintry full-sleeve tattoo on my right arm.
Breathing in the crisp, clean air, I shrugged. “A change of scenery.”
“Well, I’m Aella.” She extended her hand.
Taking it, but not shaking, I bent forward to place a chaste kiss on her knuckles. She all but melted into an ironic puddle at my feet. “Jack.”
“Jack?” Aella snorted and curled her hand under her chin.
Chuckling, I made ice crystallize in my eyes, my gaze sparkling. “Something wrong with the name Jack?”
“Not at all. It’s only been my experience that people use a name like that to hide theirrealname.”
Leaning forward again, I blew a light, chilling breath, wafting it against Aella’s cheek and making her gasp. “Why does it have to be a disguise? Maybe it’s short for something.”
The maenad stood with her gloved palm pressed to her face, her mouth still formed in a gasp. “What is it short for?”
It was rare, if ever, I revealed my actual name to anyone, finding it best for the world to know me as they always have, simply—Jack Frost.
A man with long hair and curved black horns cupped his tanned hands over his mouth and shouted, “Aella, we’re going to be late, let’s go.”
“I believe you’re being summoned.” I jutted my head at who I assumed was the awaiting wine god.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll see you around the Cove?”
“Maybe.”
Not likely. My time was limited, and she wasn’t the female I needed to spend time with if I could only find her because shewashere.
Once Aella trotted away, I returned to the spot where I’d experienced the skull tremors. They happened again, and, pushing through the discomfort, I kept moving forward, the pangs morphing into an icy-hot current swirling beneath my skin. It pulled at my magic, turning my forearms and hands to ice, snowflakes fluttering my knuckles. It yanked and tetheredme until it withered away, leaving me standing in front of a building.
Squinting at the sign displaying the phrase Muffin Compares to You, I got the gut feeling I wasn’t going to like this place. Muffins meant food. It meant ovens to make them. And what were ovens? Hot. Ihatedthe heat.
All but pressing my nose to one of two large pane windows giving a view of the inside, I eyed shelves of packaged goods, a cupcake clock hanging on the wall, and display cases filled to the brim with all varieties of baked treats and breads. Groaning, I balled my hands into fists against the glass, lightly beating my forehead against it.
