Midnight Frost

by Kailin Gow

  “Shh!” She silenced him with a kiss. “You'll spoil the surprise, Frank!”

  I knew that their reverie was no place for me – not yet. Right now they needed to be alone, alone for the first time in twenty years, alone to whisper promises of times from before I was born, out of my earshot. I smiled as I left them, knowing as well as my father did that my mother's teasing was a sure-fire sign that she meant “yes.”

  We'd be a family again.

  I walked a little further down the battlefield, where Delano and his men were burying the pixie dead.

  “This land,” I said. “This land is not Feyland.”

  He looked up at me, resting on his shovel.

  “I will make a decree,” I said. “The land where the pixies have fallen – this patch of earth here. I will call it Pixie Pass, in honor of the pixies who once lived there. Whom we fairies once drove out. And nobody will pass this land without honoring the pixies who gave their lives to save it.”

  “Thank you,” Delano said quietly. There was no hint of sarcasm in him any longer.

  “And we will welcome pixies in our courts. Summer and Winter alike. You don't have to stay in the northern lands – not unless you want to.”

  “They're not so bad,” Delano gave a weak smile. “You would have learned to love them. Had you stayed. Had you married me.” He looked at me with regret.

  “My home is here, Delano.” I extended a hand. “But you are welcome in it.”

  “And you – and your kind – are welcome in the north.” He took my hand and we exchanged a solemn handshake.

  “I will always call this place Feyland,” I said. “But I will let it be known that it once had ano ther name. Skirnismal. And those pixies who live among us will be welcome to call the land by whatever name their language requires. They will have the same rights as fairies, and my patronage will extend to them all. I know you are King of the Pixies. But will you accept another title?”

  “What is that?”

  “The Duke of the North,” I said. “Of the United Lands. You will of course rule all the pixies,” I said quickly. “I would never dream of...”

  “I accept.” Delano lowered his eyes. “But now,” he said sadly. “I must finish the burial?”

  “Someone you know?” I motioned towards the grave.

  “My son.”

  Delano continued digging, no longer meeting my eyes. My heart filled with pity for him. How much of his life did I not know – would I never know? How much would remain a mystery to me?

  I went further along the walls, to where the wolves were mourning their dead with a howl. Josephine was covered in earth as she dug each grave by hand, spurning all offers of magical help.

  “I told Josephine the truth,” Logan came up behind me. “I told her that our engagement was for politics only – that I didn't want that. That I wanted you to marry for love, not for our support.”

  “And?”

  “She wasn't happy about having anyone but a Wolf on the throne. But it's different now. She trust you. You saved Feyland.”

  “We all did,” I said.

  “I told her that the Wolves would be granted full magic again, under the new Frostfire reign. I told her that wolves would be welcomed into the courts once more.”

  “Court,” I said. “We want to build just one. Leave the Summer and Winter palaces where they are, but build a new one. The Palace of United Feyland. Right on the border between Summer and Winter. A palace for all fairies.”

  Logan gave a faint smile. “Then I need to ask your Royal Highness for a favor.”

  “What is it?”

  “Shasta must have told you by now of her plan.”

  I nodded.

  “I want to go with her. On her quest. To help restore the Feyland suns. And for another reason. I want to find the source of Wolf Fey magic. I want to restore magic powers to my kind – to restore their lost glory. I want to go away for a while. Only...”

  “Only what?”

  “If you had a reason for me to stay?” His voice trembled. “If you had a reason to keep me here.”

  I sighed. I knew this time my choice was final, that there was no going back. The war was over now, and as the chaos of the conflict had died down, it was time to give him the true answer. The honest answer.

  “I give you permission to go,” I said, taking his hand. It was enough. He knew what I meant.

  “I see,” he said.

  “I will always welcome you back here,” I said. “As a friend. As my closest most dear friend. But now it's time for you to go. To find your magic. To find...to find someone who can really make you happy.”

  Logan took a deep breath. “I figured you'd say that.” He forced a smile.

  “I'm sorry.

  “No, don't be sorry.” He turned away from me. “I think I always knew – deep down. I knew however much you loved me...it wasn't the way I loved you.”

  “I do love you, Logan,” I said. “But you deserve someone who can love you in a different way, completely.”

  “It'll be tough finding someone who can measure up to you.” Logan gave a bitter laugh. He looked down, and for a moment I almost wavered.

  I had to be strong and let him go. “When you find her,” I said. “You'll know.” I fought back tears.

  He opened his arms and I ran into them. It was to be our last embrace for a while. We held on for the longest time, but finally he kissed me on my forehead, turned and walked away. I felt my heart break but knew it was for the best.

  At last I came around the castle walls to find Kian. He stood alone, looking out over the horizon. His face brightened when he saw me.

  “Where have you been?” He took my hand.

  “With Logan.”

  “Oh,” his face fell.

  “Saying goodbye. He's leaving. He's going with Shasta and Rodney and Rose. On a quest. They've gone to find the suns. To get them back.”

  A smile came to Kian's face. “Then...?” He finished the thought telepathically.

  I nodded.

  “Then we're here,” Kian looked out over Feyland.

  “Here we are.” I looked out with him – over the valleys and mountains, over the forests and oceans. Everything was faint in the magic-light, but its beauty was even now unmistakable.

  “Then there's something I have to do.” Kian dropped to his knee, taking hold of my hand. “I believe, your Highness, I told you that if this war was ever over, I would ask you to marry me. I would ask you to be my Queen. And now here we are.”

  “Here we are.”

  I could feel the tears stinging at my eyes. I thought of all we had gone through to get to this moment – of all the pain and confusion, the misunderstandings, the deaths. All at once I felt tired, more tired than I had been in my life. My limbs ached; my muscles cried out for release. All the adrenaline that had kept me going for the past two years left my body, and I sobbed with the flight of my tension.

  “Breena?”

  “Yes?”

  “Will you?”

  “Yes!”

  He was covering my hand with kisses, wrapping his arms around my waist, holding me more tightly than he had ever done before.

  “Now get up,” I pulled Kian up to face me, pressing my lips against his. “We have a lot of work to do.”

  *************

  The Fairies of Feyland continues with Logan, Shasta, Rodney, Rose, Kian, and Breena in

  Book 6 of Kailin Gow’s Frost Series

  Frost Fire

  December 2011

  Sneak Preview of the New Fantasy Series

  The Fire Wars

  Book 1

  kailin gow

  Prologue

  The stones glowed brightly, seeming in their otherworldly light to mirror the gleaming of the stars. The night was black, as black as a squid's ink, but she was not afraid. She had the stones – their ancient power calling to her as she held them in her hands. She had the book, its pages seeming to grow warm upon her fingers as she tur
ned them. And she had her love – and she knew that he would keep her safe.

  The crimson sunset had vanished into the black waters, and now all was still. They stood at the top of the volcano, a volcano that had not erupted in many centuries – since the old days. Since long before the Erosion had come to change the shape of the world.

  But she felt its power. She knew that deep within the volcano, the power of flame lay waiting, like a dozing beast, waiting for her to harness its strength, to let the force of the fire take over. She knew that she had the power: she would connect with the molten lava, with its heat, its beauty. She would make its strength her own.

  She was beautiful; she knew it now better than she had always known it. The stars and stones alike shone down upon her, casting her dark face and flashing eyes in their milky pale light. The stones were piled high – green and blue, yellow and red, precious gems from all corners of the island. She had found them all herself; they had called to her, each one, since she was a child. She had felt a connection with each tiny gemstone as she held it in the palm of her hand, pocketing it for her collection. Now, staring at the circle of stones she had made, she knew why. It was for this purpose that she had been chosen. It was for this purpose that her abilities had been formed.

  She sat cross-legged in the center of the circle, her book on her lap. It was the book of the Fire King, the god of fire, its ancient tongue intelligible to the Fire's children alone. She knew what her destiny was. She would bring back the Sacred Fire, its purifying force, its flames. She knew what the scientists knew and did not say – that the Erosion was getting worse, that soon the whole earth would be engulfed in water. The ice caps would melt; the tides would grow stronger. The people did not know; the Earth did not know. But she knew.

  And she knew it was her duty to stop it. The Sacred Flame would come, at once creator and destroyer, push back the waves and call from its molten depths new lava, new earth.

  And she was doing it with her love at her side. She gazed at him, her heart beating faster. She knew his beauty; his beauty floored her, as if she were seeing it for the first time. It was always like the first time. She knew the source of his flashing eyes, his powerful animal muscles, his broad shoulders. The power of the flames rushed through him. He drew his beauty from the source – like her, he called upon the volcano and its ancient ways.

  He was the Fire King, and for thousands of years he had been searching for his Queen, the goddess from whom he had been separated. The goddess who had more power even than he to destroy and to rebirth. The true power of the twin ways of flame – death and resurrection. And only she could regenerate the earth. Only she could rebuild its lost lands. He had searched for her, evermore frantic – knowing that he had to find her before it was too late. Before the Erosion grew too dangerous. Before the Calypticon. For the gods of Water would submerge the earth to suit their own ends – if the fire gods did not strike back.

  The girl knew the legends well. After all, she had grown up on the island. She had not mingled with the other outsiders, the generations of new settlers who peopled the island with fast cars and shiny beach homes. No, she was one with the Veteri – she sought them out. She knew their hiding places. She listened to their stories. And she knew the Fire God sought one born of a mortal, who would from her flesh reveal her powers. And she would win the love of the Fire God. The Fire God who had spent centuries seeking her, who had assumed human form, who sought out the one who loved him above all else. The one who loved him so much she was willing to die for him, and to be reborn. The one who would past the test.

  And she was that goddess. She knew that now, her heart beating faster with proud certainty. From the moment she had met him she had known him – seen past his brilliant blue eyes and cruel charm to the flame burning within. And she had wanted it so badly – for the tales to be true. For the legend to be real. To be his goddess. And it had been proven true. She had not run from him, from the danger of his desires. She had stood by him, borne his passion, burned to his touch.

  And now she would summon the Sacred Flame.

  It was time. She would fulfill her destiny. The great task of the stones – from these small, hot gems she would make the fire.

  But first she had to pass the test. A bonfire had been prepared for her in the basin of the volcano, drawing its strength from the volcano below. She would walk through the flames. She would stand in their heat.

  But she would not be burned.

  She would simply be reborn, her goddess form made clear.

  “Stop!”

  She whirled around to face him, and her face crumpled with compassion. She knew this man – she knew he was the enemy of her love. His ways were not her ways; he belonged to the realm of water. That shadowy cool force that only dampened her flames. She had loved him, once – but she could not think of that now. That was before she had learned who he was – that was before she had discovered her destiny as Queen of Fire.

  “Don't do it – it's too much a risk I can't save you from these. Even my power won't extinguish these flames. It's too much a risk.”

  The Fire King scoffed. “Some faith you have in her, cousin! Be off with you!”

  “Please – it's too dangerous. You're risking her life.”

  “I have found my love,” the Fire King said. “She has found me. She is the Goddess. Let not your petty jealousy blind you to that fact. She is mine now.”

  The girl's eyes were wide with sorrow. “I'm sorry,” she whispered to the man. “I'm so sorry.”

  But she did not hesitate. She turned and walked proudly towards the bonfire, which set the night blazing with its light. Flames licked at the hem of her dress; she could feel its scalding heat. But she knew it would not burn her. She knew it would not hurt her.

  She had to prove her faith. She had to prove her love.

  She had to jump in.

  No sooner was she in the midst of the flames than she knew something had gone wrong. Her skin was blistering; agony beat in her blood. She screamed and could not scream, for her mouth was filled with smoke, with fire.

  “Help!” The cry escaped her lips. “Somebody help me!”

  But there was nothing they could do. The greatest oceans in the world could not have put the fire out. She heard them yelling, screaming, calling her name – she saw, between the licking of the flames, them running towards her, repelled by the magic that guarded the bonfire, thrown upon their backs. Her screams choked into nothingness; her pain became nothingness too. She heard them screaming her name as she died.

  And then the flames were gone, carrying with them her body, turned to ash, and the ashes blew forth over the silent night. All that was left of her – scattered to the winds.

  “No...” The Fire King was doubled over. He felt her pain. He felt her burn. Tears were stinging at his eyes. “No!”

  “You killed her. You fool – you killed her!”

  “She was the goddess!”

  “She wasn't a goddess – she was a girl. My girl. And you killed her!” A punch, a blow. The Fire King did not bother fighting back. He let the Water King kick him, bruise him, spit upon him; he let his blood run freely into the earth. This pain was better, he thought. Anything was better than the guilt that was overtaking him.

  The guilt running alongside the fear.

  For he knew now, with terrible certainty – time was running out. The woman he loved was not his goddess. She was dead – gone from him forever. And if he did not find his goddess soon, then the whole world would suffer for it.

  Other Series by Kailin Gow

  DESIRE

  “literary genius” –Kindle Obsessed

  A Dystopian world where everyone’s future is planned out for them at age 18…whether it is what a person desires or not. Kama is about to turn 18 and she thinks her Life’s Plan will turn out like her boyfriend’s and friend’s – as they desired. But when she glimpse a young man who can communicate with her with his thoughts and knows her name…a young man with bur
ning blue eyes and raven hair, who is dressed like no other in her world, she is left to question her Life’s Plan and her destiny.

  Available Now

  http://www.facebook.com/DesireSeries

  From Bestselling Author Kailin Gow comes

  Beautiful Beings

  An ethereal exclusive boarding school with unearthly beautiful students…

  Lux, a rebel girl, who has been seeing demons and angels since she was two…

  Asher, the bad boy on a motorcycle who sketches angels…

  Brax Kingsley who instantly captures Lux’s eyes when she moves into the neighborhood…

  And the Hatchett twins whose parents were murdered, leaving them a ridiculous fortune…

  All brought together…all part of the puzzle behind the Beautiful Beings.

  Available Now

  http://www.facebook.com/BeautifulBeingsSeries

  Want to Know More about the Frost Series, Author Insight, Author Appearance, Contests and Giveaways?

  Join the Frost Series Official Facebook Fan Page at:

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  Talk to Kailin Gow at:

  http://kailingow.wordpress.com

  and

  on Twitter at: @kailingow