“What business do you have here?” Keldarion asks.
“This is my youngest brother’s idea,” Damocles says, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear there was amusement in his voice. Too bad my brother is incapable of such emotion.
Kel raises a brow at me but stays silent. Perhaps because he feels like I’m not even worthy speaking to or because he doesn’t remember my name, I can’t be sure.
Regardless, there’s no point sidestepping what I need from him. “Take me to the coldest place you know, Keldarion. I need it.Now.”
Keldarion glances at Damocles. “Is your brother mad?”
Damocles sighs, rubbing his temples. “Yes, but I like to humor Dayton’s wild impulses from time to time. It keeps him from doing something even more ridiculous.”
“At least I’m being ridiculous under your watch!” I snarl, the heat inside me flaring. “Now, Prince Keldarion, please, take me somewhere colder, because even your dick-shriveling keep isn’t icy enough for me!”
Keldarion smirks. “Very well. Follow me.”
We trekthrough the freezing halls and then out beyond the giant wall that surrounds Keep Wolfhelm. Damocles accepted the Winter Prince’s offer of a cloak, but I refused. Gooseflesh covers my arms, and my teeth chatter.
But I’mstillburning.
Outside of Frostfang, there’s nothing but ice and snow as far as I can see. The only thing of interest is towering Mount Rhuvenmark, a long-dormant volcano. Keldarion leads us to a forest on the western side of the city. Eventually, we reach a vast lake, the surface so clear it looks like glass, reflecting the pine trees and tall, twisting mountains. Winter folk huddle over small circular holes, their rods dangling in the water.
“I don’t know if this is the coldest,” Keldarion says, judgment and confusion in his tone. “But at least it’s within walking distance.”
The air here is frigid, biting into my flesh with every breath.
“It’s perfect,” I say, slapping his back, which earns me an annoyed grunt.
Without a second thought, I strip off my shirt and stand before one of the abandoned holes. The water is so dark, it appears almost black. It’s so unlike the clear turquoise oceanof Summer where you can see for miles beneath the waves, the coral sparkling pink, orange, and yellow.
I clench my hand over my burning heart and then lower myself into the water. The cold is shocking, a sharp, painful contrast to the fire that’s been consuming me. I submerge myself, ducking under the surface.
Distantly, I hear the murmuring voices of my brother and Kel above. But I can’t rise yet, not when it’s still simmering within me.
An image flashes in my vision, auburn hair spread over my silken sheets, our bodies intertwined, his teeth biting into my shoulder as we move together.
I sink deeper.
Forge my own path.
That isnotmy future.
Another flash, this image right in front of me, so close I think there’s someone there. A young woman falling, hands reaching for the surface, brown hair a tangle around her face. She’s beautiful. She’s drowning. I reach toward her, but she disappears in a hazy mist.
My heart feels on fire now.
Deeper. I push myself to the chilliest depths of this lake.
I stay there, letting the cold seep into every part of me, numbing the burning sensation that has tormented me for months. Finally, I feel the fire beside my heart begin to fade, replaced by a calming, divine frost.
As I emerge from the water, shivering but relieved, I look up at Keldarion and Damocles. “Thanks,” I say through chattering teeth.
Keldarion shakes his head, a bemused expression on his face. “You, Dayton, are a mystery.”
Damocles wraps a fur cloak around my shoulders, his eyes filled with a mix of concern and exasperation. “Let’s get you back to the Summer Realm before you freeze to death.”
“Thank you, Dammy,” I say.
He stares at me, his blue eyes a mirror of my own. “You know I would do anything for you, little brother, even if I do not understand it.”
