Wintertide
Page 31
His words comforted me and I settled back into him as the red dragon shot ahead of us through the sky. Cronan surprised me with his speed as he took off after his kin. I had no clue where we were going but I tried to enjoy the ride as we seemed to be heading north.
We stayed high on the ride, the clouds masking most of the scenery that we would normally see on a cloudless day, while at the same time, keeping anyone from spotting us as well. Calex and I used the hours to talk about everything and nothing. He did the best he could to keep my mind off the loss of my best friend. Sebastian, Blade, and Jaxon sent their love to me over and over again.
The air was getting chilly but it didn’t bother me much. Calex still wrapped his soft feathers around me and I appreciated the gesture. “I wonder where we are going,” I mused as I absentmindedly stroked my fingers through his feathers.
“Ice, if you keep doing that, I don’t know that I can stop myself from taking you right here. And I don’t think your friend will like that very much.”
“Yes, but I would like that,” I teased. “Woah,” I exclaimed as the large mountains came into view. They were stunning with the stark white snow patches broken up by gray and black rocks. As high as we were in the sky, some still rose above us and I craned my neck to see the snow covered peaks.
Cronan followed the red dragon as he swooped in and out of the large mountains that followed no pattern of their placement. The cold was greater at this point and even I shivered. I hoped that the rest of my men were doing alright with this temperature. I knew Jaxon would be okay, but I worried about Sebastian and Blade.
I felt excitement through the bond and craned my neck to see, fidgeting dangerously and Calex held my hips tight to keep me from falling.
As Cronan circled a mountain, the sight before me shocked me. Rising high in the air, an icy castle stood before us, its towers rivaling those of Shadow Isle. Snow covered it and it was as if it were an abandoned home that was frozen in time. I felt a strange connection to it as if I had been there before. It called to me as greatly as my men called to me.
“The Snow Queen’s castle,” Calex’s voice was filled with as much awe as I felt. “I didn’t think it was real.”
We landed in front and all dismounted from our dragons. I scratched Cronan’s nose and thanked him for his ride. “You can be free now,” I told him even though I hoped he wouldn’t go. He nuzzled me and stayed where he was. I guess he would be staying and I would need to find a place to keep him so that he didn’t freeze.
The red dragon came over and appeared as if he wished to stay. I really needed to give him, or was it a her, a name if it were going to remain with us as well. The way the two dragons wrapped around each other it seemed as though that were the case.
I hugged and kissed each one of my guys, happy to have us all together and safe. I wanted to relish in their warmth and attention but I needed to go see our new home first. We had the rest of our lives to love on one another.
“Jax, how did you know about this place?” I asked as we made our way up the grand staircase that was made of ice, so ornate that it had to have been carved by the greatest of sculptors.
“My nanny gave me a book about my family history. She made me promise to never show it to my father and to memorize it, and then burn it. There was a map to this castle that your grandmother created, along with a warning of the spell that kept anyone but the one true heir from entering. My nanny was a seer and she foretold that I would need this knowledge one day. Now I understand what it was all about.”
My stomach jumped as I placed my hand on the doorknob. Jaxon’s words scared me and I didn’t think I would be a true heir to anything, let alone the Snow Queen’s crown. I gulped hard and pushed, bracing myself for whatever spell would cause unimaginable pain to me for daring to enter. I even flinched, but the door opened and a blast of wind pushed us to enter.
“Welcome home my Queen,” Jaxon stated proudly with a bow.
About Everly Taylor
Everly Taylor is a Fantasy author but enjoys all things paranormal and suspenseful.
She loves spending time with her three boys and niece, filling their heads with fantastic stories of the fae and creating little adventures for everyone to go on.
She is the proud mommy of a sasshole husky named Suki. No, she's not named after that show, or that place, or that person. A chi, named Apollo whose attitude is as big as his name. And a black cat, named Blue. She is often mistaken for a witch by her neighbors, but of course she encourages this belief with the utmost enthusiasm.
She has what might be termed an unhealthy obsession with Jackie Chan, but owns that to the fullest, still hoping one day to rock his world.
A lover of all things creative she is in fact a tattoo artist, a painter and loves instruments. And let's not forget the cupcakes, she loves them too.
She prefers rum over wine and has a language to match it. You can often catch her telling dirty jokes with her brothers if she isn't writing even dirtier scenes for her readers.
Follow her on social media if you’re up for some hardcore stalking!
Facebook
Newsletter
Amazon
Goodreads
Hardcore Stalking Links
About Melody Calder
Melody Calder is a multi-trope romance author with an addiction to chocolate, books, and swearing; not necessarily in that order. Her mind is always full of interesting characters and plot twists. She not-so-secretly loves cliffhangers but tries not to do that to her readers. She hopes to survive the teenage years of her twins and life with her handsy husband.
She has an extensive collection of elephant figurines and Chewbacca toys. Her family and friends will tell you that she needs reminders for everything, especially putting the clothes in the dryer, but they love her anyway.
You can follow her on social media for games, prizes, teasers and more:
Secret Desires Facebook Group
Newsletter
All Stalking Links!
Acknowledgements
We have so many people to thank for being a part of not only creating this book, but supporting us through our crazy journey.
Sirenic Creations, thank you for the gorgeous book cover! Rozie Marshall, thank you for the stunning formatting! Your dedication and hard work on making this book look beautiful on the outside and the inside is truly appreciated.
Our Alpha team, Katie, Penny, Donna, Nicole, Brook, Lynne, and Mo; you have all done a wonderful job making sure that this book was the best it could be. Your comments and reactions kept us going, wanting to write it faster for you all. Your encouragement and funny comments kept us laughing and so excited even past the end of book one.
To our PA’s, Sarah, Yahsira, and Kara, who are invaluable, thank you for your hard work on keeping our groups running while we were in the writing cave throwing out our crazy ideas and driving you mad by buying covers.
To Ira, thank you for being the amazing support that you are. You supported us with all of our insane ideas and hung in there while we fought to not kill our characters off! Your feedback was invaluable on this project.
To our readers, thank you for taking this journey with us. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it, and that’s setting our bar high because this project was so much fun. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your support.
More by Everly Taylor
Amulet of Queen Series
Book 1 Tattoos and Cupcakes
Book 2 Tattoos and Prophecies
Book 3- Coming Soon
Heated Holiday Shorts
Book 1 Satan's Gift
Book 2 Santa Strikes Back
Book 3- Coming Soon
Their Twisted Courts
Co-write with B.C Morgan and Everly Taylor
Before She Slumbers
More by Melody Calder
Suburbia Series
Secrets in Suburbia
Men in Suburbia
A Very
Suburbia Christmas
Escape to Suburbia
Standalones
Sinfully Yours
Sinful Erotic Anthology
Brothel of the Damned Series
By CT Dracass, Clover Payne, Rozie Marshall, and Melody Calder
Deadly Desires (Brothel of the Damned Book 1)
Book 2 coming Spring 2020