Free Summer of Frost by L.P. Dover Page A

and into the throne room. I had ten minutes to get my
bearings before all my secrets were revealed to the whole Summer
Court, and to Drake. The room was alight with candles and smelled
fragrantly of sunshine and flowers, but no amount of sweet smells
were going to calm my nerves. I paced for the full ten minutes it
took to get everyone assembled. They were all eager and ready for
battle.
    King Oberon took his place at the front and
sat while Drake stood up beside him, both waiting for me to speak.
Quickly, I glanced around the room at everyone present before I
began. Loudly, I spoke so the whole room could hear me. “I was able
to get into contact with my friend and guardian last night. I know
where they’re at, and what’s going on. It’s not what I was
expecting.”
    King Oberon nodded. “Go on, Princess. We’re
all listening.”
    Sneaking a glance at Drake, he nodded as
well.. “Apparently, there’s been a mutiny of sorts with some of the
dark sorcerer’s people. The man in charge of the attack is a dwarf
named Brokk, and he’s the one Durin’s been searching for since the
whole Meliantha debacle. He thinks Sarette is me, and he wants to
trade my power for power. If the dark sorcerer doesn’t grant
him this, Brokk is going to threaten to tell the courts where he
hid the secret scroll, the same scroll our people wrote over a
century ago telling us how to defeat him. It seems the dark
sorcerer wasn’t the only one who knew where the scroll was
hidden.”
    Gasps erupted from everyone, and the feeling
of hope we never thought imaginable surged with great force
throughout the room. We’ve been searching for years to find a way
to defeat Alasdair, and his evil magic, and we were so close to
finding it.
    King Oberon raised his hand. Everything and
everyone went silent. “If this is true, then we need to find out
where the scroll is at.”
    I agreed. “If we capture Brokk and bring him
here I can find out everything we need to know.”
    The king furrowed his brow in question.
“How?” he asked.
    Here we go, I thought.
    “As you know, when one of the Four come into
their full power some new abilities emerge. Calista is the
all-powerful, Meliantha can heal and bring back life, and I can
find the truth. I’m a truthseeker.”
    Drake took that time to speak. “How does
that work?” he asked curiously.
    “All I need is to have contact to him, like
touching his hand and so forth, and the answers will come to
me.”
    “And this was your guardian that told you
all of this?” King Oberon asked.
    I paused and inhaled deeply, knowing it was
the time I was going to reveal my secret. Slowly letting out my
deep breath, I finally answered, “No … it wasn’t my guardian, but
my friend, Sarette, who told me.”
    The king paused, weighing in my reply. “How
is that possible? It doesn’t make any sense,” he remarked.
    The time had come, and instead of answering
the King, I looked straight at Drake when I spoke. “It’s possible
because I visited her in her dreams. You see … not only am I a
truth seeker, but I’m a dream walker as well.”
    Drake’s mouth flew open and uncertainty
crossed his features. I could tell by the expression on his face
that he was wondering if our dreams were real or if he cooked them
up in his own imagination. If he asked in front of his people and I
said that it wasn’t me he would feel like a fool in front of
them.
    King Oberon looked pleased. “I’m impressed,
Princess. The only other person I know with dream walking abilities
is Elvena, but she needs others to help her. Are you saying you can
do it all by yourself?”
    “Yes, Your Highness.”
    “You and my daughters have become very
powerful women. No wonder the dark sorcerer wants you. Let’s pray
we have better luck keeping you out of his grasp. Sometimes it
seems the more we tried keeping my daughters safe, the easier it
was for the dark sorcerer to get to them.” The king’s eyes looked
haunted and weary. I knew he had