Frost Burn

by K T Munson

  “Please tell me you have some idea what is going on,” Darha said with a smile.

  Aradel grinned. “It must be the will of the gods!”

  Getting to their feet, both Queens raced over the ice toward the shore. They’d just touched the dirt when Kirill, Cas, and Coor all rode up with half an army of Fire and Frost Nation soldiers and magic users. Neither Coor nor Kirill looked pleased with them at all, but Darha couldn’t even bring herself to care when her eyes rested on Cas.

  “Aradel!” Kirill bellowed as he dismounted his elk. “I knew you would—”

  “Wait, wait,” Aradel interrupted him. Darha looked at Aradel, only to find Aradel already staring at her with tears in her eyes. She rested a hand on Kirill’s chest when he approached, and shifted her eyes to Cas. “Commander Cas,” Aradel said. “Please come here.”

  Cas glanced at Kirill. Kirill’s brow went up curiously before he nodded. Cas dismounted and approached both Queens, bowing at the waist. Darha’s heart was racing as she looked at him. What if he could touch her without burning her? What if she could touch him?

  “Would you please take Queen Darha’s hand?” Aradel said.

  Cas’s brows furrowed with worry. “Queen Aradel?” he asked, unsure.

  “Please,” Aradel insisted, her face set in a hopefully expression.

  Cas looked back at Darha and bit his bottom lip regretfully. Finally, he reached his hand out and hesitantly took Darha’s. Darha gasped, and Cas’s eyes went wide when there was no pain. Before Darha could even take a breath, Cas closed the distance between them, and his hands were on her cheeks as he stared at her face in shock. No words were necessary; Darha wasn’t sure any were even possible. Cas leaned down and pressed his lips to Darha’s, and his kiss said it all. It was Darha’s first lengthy kiss, and she never wanted it to stop. Being kissed by a man she loved was indescribable, a feeling she could never repeat.

  “Hey, easy,” Coor said, feigning irritation. “That’s my baby sister.”

  Chuckling, Cas and Darha pulled away from each other, but Cas didn’t break eye contact with her. “I am in love with you,” he said as he caressed her cheeks. “I have been in love with you since I saw you crying on the river during our supply run to you.”

  Darha gazed into his pretty eyes. “I’m in love with you, too.”

  Cas smiled and kissed her one more time. Darha then melted into his chest and he enveloped her his arms. She took in a deep breath through her nose, taking his warm clean smell deeply into her senses before exhaling again. So, this was the man she was meant to love. She’d always wondered what he would look like, what he would be like. Now she didn’t have to wonder. He was here.

  Darha’s eyes rested on Aradel and Kirill, and Kirill looked at Aradel with unconcealed astonishment. “What happened?”

  “It’s over with,” Aradel told him. “We’ve won.”

  “Freya?” Kirill asked.

  “Dead,” Aradel whispered, and Darha’s heart went out to her.

  “That doesn’t explain,” Kirill started, before pointing back and forth between Darha and Cas as they touched each other unhindered.

  Aradel laughed lightly and shook her head. “We don’t know what happened.” She took Kirill’s hand and pulled him toward his elk. “Perhaps there is something at the temple. I need to speak with High Priestess Kerin,” she said as she mounted. The long train of her dress spread out over the back of the elk.

  “The High Priestess? What would she know?” Kirill asked as he mounted in front of her.

  “All of the historical books that might explain this were stored under the temple long ago for safekeeping. Cas,” Aradel called, “escort Queen Darha and the Fire Nation back to Hurra.” Aradel held onto Kirill as she looked at Darha. “I will speak to the High Priestess in Axion and return with any news.” Darha nodded as Kirill took up the reins and turned his elk south.

  Cas took Darha’s hand and guided her toward his own mount before facing her. “Have you ever ridden an elk?”

  Darha laughed. “No, I can’t say I have.”

  Cas’s grin widened as he took her waist and helped her onto its back. It felt very similar to riding a horse, only an elk had different hair, and a massive set of antlers on its head. Cas mounted in front of her and she wrapped her arms around his waist, her heart still racing over the fact she could touch him so casually all the sudden.

  “Hold on,” Cas said.

  Darha found herself smiling. “Don’t worry. I’m not letting go.”

  Frost: Chapter Forty-Three

  Kirill frowned at the musty books that surrounded him and crossed his bulky arms to keep from knocking anything over. In a rush to preserve their culture and history when the last war had ended half a millennium ago, many of the most ancient books came here to the temple basement. Aradel was on the floor, her skirts spread out around her, as she turned the page of the hundredth one she’d looked at. Under her was an oversized cushion, and around her were stacks of more unread books.

  “Why exactly am I here?” Kirill asked.

  “You want to keep an eye on me,” she said, turning a page and tipping her head in the process, “and I want to keep an eye on you.”

  He grumbled a little and shifted his feet. He’d lost the grime but had kept the beard, mostly because his mother had loved it and recognized him. Thea had made fun of him when he went to check on her, as he expected she would, by saying, “Wow, you clean up nice, frost flake. I barely recognize you.” But her smile and friendly caress of his face made it clear she liked it as well, so it stayed.

  “I’m not worried you’ll do anything stupid,” he grumbled. “There’s nothing stupid left to do.”

  “Perhaps I’m simply giving Thea a break,” Aradel said, and he saw her fighting a smile as she turned another page.

  Kirill rolled his eyes. “She’s bored and stuck on bedrest,” Kirill reminded her. “I’m doing her a favor.”

  “You’re annoying her husband,” she pointed out, glancing up at him before turning another page.

  His gaze narrowed. After Freya had been defeated, and the Fire Nation was no longer in danger of cold temperatures, they’d invited Thea and Coor to stay at Axion. At first Thea had protested, but when her healers told her it would be better for the baby to lie in a comfortable bed rather than the makeshift cot she’d been on, she reluctantly agreed. Apparently, her motherly instinct trumped her smart mouth.

  “He is worse than I am,” Kirill said with a frown.

  Aradel laughed and put her thumb in the book to hold her spot before resting it in her lap. She gave him a brilliant smile, the type that made him involuntarily smile in return. He inspected her face and saw a strange glow of happiness he didn’t remember seeing there before.

  She put a hand out, “Help me up.”

  When he reached over, his hip caught a pile of books and they cascaded down toward her. She gave a surprised cry and pulled her dress out of the way. He managed to catch most of them, but despite their efforts, some still landed on the edge of her skirt.

  “You’re like a bull in a glass shop,” Aradel laughed as she reached for the books pinning her skirt.

  Kirill pushed the rebellious books back up onto the table as Aradel stood, hugging the fallen ones to her chest. After placing them on the pile, one seemed to catch her eye. She hesitantly took it, and Kirill peered at it as she turned its spine up.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  Aradel carefully opened it. The spine protested. It was so old that Kirill could hear it crinkling. When she read the first line, she brought a hand to her mouth, then glanced up at Kirill. “This is it. This is the first queen’s diary. High Priestess Kerin was right. It was down here.”

  “Are you sure?” Kirill asked, leaning over her slightly.

  She put her finger on the page and started reading. “‘My husband marches to the battlefront, and as he kissed me goodbye this morning, I had this sense of foreboding that I would never see him again. I fear on this
day I shall have kissed him for the last time. This time he faces the king of the Fire Nation, and I fear it will end in both their deaths. I am powerful, but Queen. My duty is to my people, safe behind our wall, as my husband marches to certain death...’ It is marked for a few days before the end of the war.”

  Kirill looked at her. “Let’s go and tell the others.”

  Aradel passed him and all but sprinted up the stairs with Kirill close behind. When they reached the upper parts of the temple, it was dark. The torchlight cast shadows across the floor as they hurried out to the street. Some people called to Aradel as their queen. She gave them a moment’s regard, but they could tell she was in a hurry. Sometimes Kirill forgot she was queen. For so long she had been Aradel, but she had become more than that to everyone else. She moved with ease through the world now. Finally, she had found her place.

  The Queen’s sleigh was always ready and waiting as it was now. Kirill couldn’t help but smile as she climbed in and immediately sat down to open the book. She had it pressed firmly in her lap as the sleigh took off toward the palace. Kirill leaned back and let the wind wash over him, taking in the fresh air that had been deprived him in the dank makeshift library.

  When they reached the palace, workers were returning home so the streets were busy. Some called to Aradel and shook her from her fervent reading. She waved and thanked them as she stepped down from the sleigh. Kirill followed close on her heels. She continued to read as she walked, and Kirill was careful to keep her from running into anything.

  “Aradel,” he censured when he took hold of her arm so she didn’t trip over some stone cutting tools.

  “Hmm?” she asked, gazing up at him questioningly.

  He put a hand on the book, covering the pages. “We should wait until we’re all together.”

  She looked down at the diary longingly before carefully closing it, and nodded. “Thea will be in the new great room in the western wing. I’ll get Darha from her suite and meet you there.” Not waiting for a reply, she hurried off.

  Kirill shook his head after her before turning toward the northern half of the newly constructed western wing. The new section had been added during the reconstruction to accommodate fires. Just because cold no longer affected the Fire Nation in such a terrible manner, didn’t mean its citizens liked heat any less. So, they’d added a new stone wing to the palace to accommodate their needs, while leaving the eastern wing exactly as it had been. Here, stone and wood kept everything together instead of ice.

  When he opened the door, heat poured out of the room and against his face. Two heads turned to him as he entered—those of a hopeful Thea and her husband, who stood next to her chair by the fire.

  Thea sighed. “No success again today?”

  Kirill kept his face carefully neutral as he closed the door behind him, and came over to crouch on the other side of Thea’s chair. She glowed with the early traces of pregnancy and happiness. She might not have liked being bedridden, but she had adjusted easily to the idea of being a mother.

  “Aradel found something,” Kirill informed her and smiled.

  Thea’s surprise turn to playful annoyance and she punched his leg. “You did that on purpose,” she said, and Kirill found himself laughing.

  “It isn’t nice to jest with a restless pregnant woman,” Coor pointed out.

  Coor and Kirill had come to an easy accord where Thea was concerned. They weren’t really friends, but they both loved the spunky woman between them. It had been enough to ease tensions, and they had come to an understanding of sorts.

  “I’ll show you an angry pregnant woman if you don’t tell me what she found,” she snapped, but her words held no real fire as her smile softened the edges of her voice.

  The door opened and a blushing Aradel, flushed Darha, and preoccupied Cas all entered. They each seemed engrossed with different parts of the room, and Kirill surmised quickly what had happened. Apparently Aradel had interrupted something between Cas and Darha. Kirill thought about clapping Cas on the back when they joined them, but one glance at Coor and Kirill decided against it.

  “She found the first queen’s diary,” Kirill informed Thea, which brought the new trio back to reality.

  Aradel held the book up with excitement. “I read some on the way over. Apparently after both nations’ kings died in the last war, their surviving queens met. That was when the Fire Nation Queen suggested an ancient curse that the Derser Recs had unearthed, and had been protecting for thousands of years.”

  “A curse?” Darha asked, coming around to stand next to Aradel. “What kind of curse?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t get that far,” Aradel said.

  “Well, keep reading!” Thea demanded.

  Aradel nodded and scanned a few lines before continuing. “It starts with the two queens meeting in secret. Here it is. ‘It was with a heavy heart that I listened to the queen of the Fire Nation. The death of my husband nearly broke me, but what she suggests is far worse. Cursed. We would curse ourselves, and our people, so that we might live. I can see grief on her face, etched into every line. The fight has gone out of her like it has gone out of me. I know this war has claimed family and friends alike, and I am ready to end it. I agreed with Queen Ria, though it made me a little sick. Were it not for the possibility of reversal, I would have denied her suggestion outright. Instead, I took her hands into mine, and we read the curse, infusing it with the power of the moon pearls. In a flurry of fire and ice, we did what was best to end the devastation of this war, and made the cold fire, praying it would be enough. Our nations would be forever separated because of our intolerance for the climate and temperature of the other. The more powerful the magic user, the more they are affected by the opposite temperature source. This will keep them apart, stop them from fighting. I know that it is best, but I wonder how many people will die from an early spring or late winter because of our choice. Only if two queens like ourselves create the blue flame can the curse be undone. We shall say it is in the will of the gods, and build bridges to remember, and hope. And we shall let our terrible deed be lost to time.’”

  Aradel’s voice drifted off, and the room was filled with silence. Kirill finally spoke after a moment. “Two queens to make the curse, and two queens to break it.”

  “It must have been so terrible for them,” Darha said, shaking her head.

  “A terrible burden,” Aradel agreed.

  “A mistake,” Thea interrupted sharply with a hard look on her face. “A mistake we will not repeat.”

  It was a sentiment that everyone in the room could agree with.

  Fire: Chapter Forty-Four

  Darha’s head rested heavily on her hand that was propped up on the arm of the chair she sat in. An easy and gentle smile was on her face as she watched Thea, Coor, and Kirill discuss baby names for her niece or nephew.

  “You are not naming your child that!” Kirill cried.

  Thea was laughing so hard that her arms were clutched around her stomach and she was almost doubled over.

  “Coor!” Kirill cried. “Tell her she’s not naming your child that!”

  Cas came over to Darha and handed her a mug some sort of Frost Nation native drink that was delicious and warm. She wrapped her hands around the mug and tried to take it, only Cas didn’t yield it to her. She looked up at him and he smiled before leaning down to kiss her lips. Darha grinned and took the mug as he sat down on the free arm of her chair.

  Coor stiffly shrugged his shoulders with a playful smile at Kirill. “I don’t know. Kitzu has a nice ring to it for a boy.”

  “No,” Kirill protested with a groan.

  Darha was chuckling as she shifted her position, resting her elbow across Cas’s lap, and watched the ensuing hilarity.

  “And I do like Firill for a girl,” Coor added.

  “Darha,” Kirill said facing her. “Help me out.”

  Darha held her hand out helplessly. “I agree with them.”

  Kirill sighed heavily and rolled
his eyes. “You’re all insane.”

  “Kirill, Kirill,” Thea said, resting a hand on his knee. “I’m naming our child after you and Fitzu in some shape or form.” Her smile was one of deep fondness and tender affection. “My baby wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you two.”

  That did it. Kirill took in a deep breath, then leaned down and kissed the top of Thea’s head. “Fine. Condemn your child to a lifetime of bullying. See if I care.” He started out of the room, pausing at the door and looked back at Coor and Thea. “But if Kitzu or Firill come to me complaining about bullies, I won’t be responsible for my actions after that.”

  Everyone in the room laughed. “Of course, Uncle Kirill,” Thea said.

  Kirill had nearly made it out of the room, but stopped in his tracks, and looked back at her with wide eyes. “Oh no. That’s not happening.”

  “Uncle Kirill,” Coor said, grasping his chin and pondering as he looked up at the ceiling. “I like that.”

  Kirill huffed loudly in annoyance before leaving the room, and everyone remaining burst into laughter again. After it quieted down, and Thea and Coor started talking about names again, another Frost Nation soldier came to the open door and knocked.

  “Queen Darha?”

  Everyone’s attention went to the door. “Yes?”

  “Captain Idok, majesty,” he said with a bow. “Queen Aradel requests your presence in the royal conference room.”

  Darha’s brows dropped. “I’m scheduled to meet her there in two hours. Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, majesty. The business to be conducted has unexpectedly been able to be moved forward. I’m here to escort you.”

  Darha’s brows jumped up. She took a long drink from her mug before standing.

  “Business?” Thea asked.

  Darha nodded and placed the mug on a nearby table. “We’re signing the peace treaty.” She leaned down to kiss Cas’s lips and then went toward the door, smiling back at her brother and sister. “I’ll be back. Don’t decide on any names without me.” Thea and Coor chuckled together as Darha left the room.