Free Frost Fire (Frost Series #6) by Kailin Gow

bitterness.
     
    “That’s right, little girl.” He smiled a twisted smile.  “I remember you now,” he said. “You’re Rose, aren’t you? That sweet little girl who used to be so good, so obedient. What a shame to see you allying yourself with such trash – a half-breed Queen and a spineless, Winter King. But of course, you’re just following in the path of your brother, aren’t you? Willing to throw away all his honor in order to satisfy his traitorous lust with some Winter whore!”
     
    “How dare you?” cried Rodney and Rose in unison.
     
    “Just because of love,” Wort went on. “Weak, stupid, senseless, spineless love. What a shame. What a great, great shame.”
     
    Rose, Rodney, and Shasta grew hot with rage, but Logan remained calm, staring Wort down with a firm, fixed expression. “I have only one question for you, Wort,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
     
    “Now there,” Wort said. “You have to answer me first. What are you doing here?”
     
    “We came following that light we saw in the distance,” said Logan. “We’ve come to restore the Twin Suns of Feyland, Wort. Together. Summer and Winter as one. We’re united now, no more war. No more death. You’ve failed, Wort. We’re going to restore the suns of Feyland, and there will be no more tragedy. No more bloodshed.”
     
    Wort smirked. “Over my dead body,” he said, laughing. “Of course…you’ll never find that, will you?” His laughter seemed to echo throughout the room, and soon it was joined by many other voices – a whole invisible army of mocking jeers that made Rose’s spine tingle.
     
    “You don’t know, do you, fool Wolf?” Wort said.
     
    “Know what?”
     
    “Ah, piteous fool.” Wort’s grin spread widely over his misshapen face. “You’ve just walked right into our trap.”
     

 
     
    Chapter 9
     
     
    “ J ust like moths to light,” Wort went on, his tongue flicking snake-like out of his mouth as he spoke. “It couldn’t have worked more perfectly – and to think, I worried that you might be too intelligent, might slip out of our little trap here…”
     
    “What are you talking about?” Shasta had grown pale and her voice was shaky. Was she afraid, Rose wondered? But one look at Shasta’s blazing eyes told a different story: Rose had never seen Shasta so furious.
     
    “Oh, fool traitor,” said Wort, “you think that we, the Dark Inhabitants of Feyland, do not know about your quest to restore the Feyland Suns? We knew long before you arrived here – we knew from the beginning. What you were planning to do. What you could not be allowed to do. We will not allow you to restore the suns, not when their absence lets her thrive.”
     
    “Her?” Alistair asked.
     
    “The Sorceress, of course,” Wort smiled eerily. His eyes were yellow, reflecting the golden glow that surrounds them. “We will stop you – no matter what it takes. It is time for the Sorceress to rise. Time for her to take the place in Feyland to which she is entitled at long last – time for us to rule.”
     
    “You knew of us?” Shasta was bidding for time.
     
    “Of course we knew,” said Wort. “The Sorceress told us. She knows your foolish plans, and has already begun sending her legions against you. You will not be safe any longer. She will succeed in crushing you like fruit-pulp or pomegranate seeds against the ground. Nothing will remain of your foul Fey empire but ash and cinders.”
     
    “You’re lying,” said Alistair, more confidently than he felt. “We’ve read the prophecies. We know the stories. Your Sorceress isn’t even aware of who she is yet. She doesn’t know she’s a Sorceress – how could she be giving orders?”
     
    Laughter shook the room – echoes upon echoes of darkness. “She is alive,” whispered Wort. “She is around. She is aflame. She operates outside her body. The poor host may not know who it is that dwells within her – but the Sorceress knows. She