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

knows, and she is clever. She has chosen the body of one unaware, unsuspicious, unsuspected. But her mind…ah, her mind runs free. Free to wage war. Free to do battle And now the suns have gone. And now, in darkness, she can strike!”
     
    And with that, the final remaining wall of the tavern crumbled into dust, and they could see the gleaming village all around them.
     
    “The villagers!” Rose cried out. “We have to help them.”
     
    But it was too late. The collection of shadows had begun to descend on them – first Wort, then the others, whose shapes they could not make out. They brandished their swords, slashing the air wildly, trying to fend off these mysterious figures whom they could neither truly see nor truly understand. Logan jumped in front of Rose.
     
    “Quick,” he cried, “put your back against mine – I’ll keep you safe.”
     
    Rose felt his warm, broad shoulders against her own. Somehow she felt safer with him there – but not by much. Her heart was still pounding. Her head was throbbing. And the more shadows she seemed to slash at, the more they reduplicated, returned, came after her.
     
    “But the villagers…” Rose cried. “We have to help them.”
     
    “What villagers?” It was a familiar woman’s voice, haughty and regal. And more than a little cruel. “Don’t you know, you silly girl?” Rose tried to place the voice, looking around for its source. “They’re all in hiding. Those that aren’t dead, I mean.”
     
    One of the shadows began to materialize – slowly but surely taking on a shape that Rose knew well.
     
    “My Queen,” she breathed automatically, as Redleaf’s tall and imperious form appeared before her. “Your Highness.”
     
    “I am your Highness ,” scoffed Redleaf. “Or at least I was. Before you failed me, Rose. You failed me and all of the Summer Court. You think yourself good enough to be deemed a full-fledged alchemist? Why, you’re hardly more than an apprentice, a little chit of a girl.”
     
    “Leave her alone, Redleaf!” Rodney cried, his voice wavering. Redleaf was dead, he knew – they had all seen her die, and then had banished her once again during the final Fairy Wars. How could she still be here?
     
    “And you, Rodney!” Redleaf rounded upon Rose’s brother. “You have disappointed me immensely. Not only did you run off with the enemy – although for you to do so was shameful and embarrassing enough – but you also let your friends die. Your brothers. And all because you had a crush on that girl Shasta. I should have been able to kill you for your treachery that day on the gallows, but instead that fool chose to save you – and to kill me. Kill me – ha! The Queen of Summer! She should have known that knife would only hold me back for a short wild. You are a traitor in spirit, Rodney, and in action. You betrayed your whole kingdom for a girl – a girl responsible for bringing forth the Dark Hordes. What if they had won, eh, Rodney? Ever stop to consider that? How ashamed your parents would have been – knowing the death of Feyland was, in part, the fault of their precious son.”
     
    Rodney’s hand shook and his sword trembled; Rose could see him blanch. How did this apparition know so much about him – his worst fears, his deepest regrets? How to hurt him the most.
     
    Rose whirled around and saw that Logan, too, was entranced by another figure. It was no fey like Redleaf, but rather a grizzled white wolf with a noble expression, words booming from its regal throat.
     
    “You have failed me, Logan,” the voice was saying. “You’ve neglected the Wolves, your brethren. And all to fight a war in which there could be no winner but the Fey – a war I sacrificed anything to keep my people free of. And then you shamed yourself before all Feyland, loving a woman whom you knew could never be yours, leading our people to slaughter because of your love for this woman.”
     
    “Grandfather?” Logan’s voice was