Miss Frost Chills the Cheater

by Painter, Kristen

  I had to speak up. “I’m not. Glitterskins is a pretty good idea. I mean, kids love glitter, right? But it gets everywhere, which makes parents hate it. Her idea is something kids and parents can love together.”

  My father nodded. “I agree, it’s a good product. Your uncle has actually decided it’s already going into production, although that might be on hold with this new information. But if you look at all the other work she’s put forward, even the work done with her husband, none of it is particularly exciting. She and her husband are what your uncle refers to as midlevels. Solid workers, good work ethic, decent ideas, but they’re not about to set the place on fire. Metaphorically speaking.”

  Sin sat back. “There are midlevels in every profession, really.”

  My father’s gaze returned to the paperwork in front of him. “That’s for sure.”

  Sin stared ahead, his expression making him seem lost in thought. “And lot of people spend their whole lives, happily I might add, as midlevels.”

  My father glanced at him. “You’re right, they do.”

  Sin refocused and tapped a finger on the papers in front of him. “So what made Dora suddenly step up her game?”

  I leaned in. “Do you think someone gave her the Glitterskins idea?”

  “Could be.” Sin shrugged. “What do you think, King, uh, Your Highness?”

  My father laughed softly. “Jack will do.”

  Sin shifted in his chair. “Okay, Jack. What do you think?”

  “That you’re on to something. It’s out of character enough that we need to do some deeper digging. Beyond this file.”

  If kicking my feet up onto the table in my father’s conference room wouldn’t have gotten me in trouble, I would have done it. “It just so happens that I asked the constable to surveil Frigit this morning.”

  My father’s brows lifted. “Good work, Jay. That might be just what we need to crack this thing open. Until then, however, I’m not sure there’s much more we can do.”

  “We could tour that peppermint plant,” Sin said.

  A huge grin spread on my father’s face. He reached over and clamped a hand on Sin’s shoulder all the while keeping his eyes on me. “You should marry this one, Jay.”

  “Dad…”

  My father released Sin and pushed to his feet. “Let’s go. There are sweets to be sampled.”

  We took my father’s crawler, which was a metallic-blue monster that made the standard ones look like tricycles. I thought Sin’s eyes might fall out of his head when he saw it.

  He ran his hand over the swooping lines of the vehicle. “This. Is. Amazing.”

  “Thank you. It was custom made for me.” My dad was beaming a bit. He loved this machine.

  “I can tell. It’s amazing.” Sin laughed. “I guess I said that.”

  “It’s all right. It’s a good word. Especially for this beast.” He clicked the key fob, and the doors opened skyward, making the crawler look like a giant blue bat. “Hop in.”

  I climbed into the back. It wasn’t even a question. “You ride up front, Sin.”

  “No, I couldn’t. That wouldn’t be—”

  “Yes, you can. I’ve ridden up front a thousand times.” I clicked on my seat belt before he could argue. Then I readjusted to sit in the middle so I could see between the seats and keep an eye on both my dad and Sin. And frankly, so I could be part of the conversation.

  Sin got into the front with a smile on his face. He looked the same way I imagined I did when presented with a box of goodies from Delaney’s Delectables. “The interior is so cool. It’s a lot sleeker than the other crawler. I’m guessing it has a lot more options too.”

  “It does.” My dad showed him a few things while I just shook my head, smiled, and thought about how alike my dad and Sin were. Maybe that was one of the reasons why my dad liked Sin so much. He enjoyed having another guy in the palace. Not that my uncle wasn’t a guy, but he didn’t live in the palace and he was busy with his own stuff.

  And maybe having Sin around would be a little like having a son for my dad.

  The thought that my father might look at Sin that way made me all warm inside. How sweet.

  After a few more minutes, we headed off into the tundra. The plant was a little ways out, mostly because the fumes the peppermint plants put out could be a little eye watering. Better to have some distance from town.

  The crawler talk continued until the plant rose up in the distance like a giant birthday cake complete with candles, except the candles were ventilation shafts. The intense smell of mint filled the vehicle.

  “Wow.” Sin blinked as his eyes teared up a little. “That’s strong stuff.”

  “That’s why we put the plants out here,” my father said. “Although you do get used to it after a while.”

  I inhaled, letting the aroma clear my head. Nothing like it in the world, frankly. Unless you’ve stuffed Junior Mints up your nose. Which I’m guessing you haven’t. Also, don’t.

  My father pulled into the employee parking lot, and we headed in. “This plant has only been open for two weeks.”

  “Is that why you’re here?” Sin asked. “To see how things are going?”

  “Not really. There are inspectors for that. I just thought you guys would like to see it. Although I do like to visit the plants after they open.”

  “So is this a surprise visit?” Sin asked.

  My father shook his head. “No, they know we’re coming. No need to give anyone a heart attack.”

  We went in, and after all the appropriate fanfare that a royal visit entailed, we were suited up in white lab coats, paper hats, and stretchy shoe covers. We’d also been given a tour guide, Xander Sweets. He was the plant manager, and a real character.

  He wore his baby-blue hair shaved short, maybe because of the paper hat his job required, but his ear tips were pierced with little silver hoops, and he had a candy cane tattooed on his neck. This was a man who loved his job.

  It took us about an hour to tour the plant, try our hand at making a few candies, and sample one (or three) of everything. And there was a lot being made in that plant. My favorite were the mint meltaways, little pastel-colored mint kisses with tiny white sprinkles stuck to the bottom of them. They were sweet and minty and definitely melted in your mouth, but the sprinkles added some crunch. I loved them.

  They were some of my mom’s favorites too, and Xander was kind enough to send a big bag of them back for her and another one for me.

  Sin had been sucking on the same cobalt and white striped wintermint candy cane for fifteen minutes. His tongue was probably blue. Meanwhile, my father was popping mint-chocolate jellybeans like they were free. Which, I guess, they were.

  On the verge of being minted out, we went back to the crawler with goodies to go and headed for the palace.

  I let Sin sit up front again. He and my dad were talking shop now. Production values or something. I drifted off, waking up as we pulled under the portico of the family exit.

  “Grab that bag of meltaways for your mom, honey.”

  “Got them.” I snagged the package, reminding myself to take out the ones that were for me.

  Sin held the door for me. “Are we going back to the office?”

  “I need to get that file and take it back to Mamie.”

  My father nodded. “And I have work to be done.”

  “Isn’t there always?” Sin sighed. “I should check in with Archie. See how things are going. He was going to try out some new doughnuts while he’s there. I wonder if they sold well.”

  “Use the snow globe in my office. We sent Archie with one, so if he’s not busy, he should be able to talk to you.”

  “That would be great.” Sin took my hand, giving me a wink. “Got enough candy there, sugar?”

  I laughed. “Never.”

  We went into my dad’s office. Ezreal was filing some paperwork. He turned as we came in. “I can tell where you folks have been. It’s like a clean, menthol breeze just blew in.”
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  Sin grinned. “Is it that apparent?”

  Ezreal nodded, closed his eyes and inhaled. “Now I want meltaways.” He laughed.

  I pulled out my bag of candies and set them on his desk. “Here you go. All for you.”

  He looked surprised for a moment, then he shook his head. “I can’t take these. Those are your mints.”

  I shrugged one shoulder. “I ate my weight in them at the plant. I’d much rather you have this bag.”

  He smiled. “That is very kind of you, Princess. I’m not going to refuse them twice.”

  I was about to hand my dad the bag since my mom’s candies were all that remained in it now, when the office door opened and the constable came in.

  She looked at all of us with a very serious expression. “We need to talk.”

  My father held his hand out. “Come into my office. Ezreal—”

  “Holding your calls.”

  We swarmed into the inner office, not waiting to waste a minute. As soon as the door was closed, Constable Larsen spoke.

  “Dora Frigit is up to something.”

  My father frowned. “We know. That’s why Princess Frost asked you to keep tabs on her.”

  There was a little edge of frustration to my father’s tone. He didn’t like anyone playing games with him, but I didn’t think that’s what Constable Larsen was doing. I tried to help. “What did you find out, Constable Larsen? You’ve only been watching her since this morning. What have you seen?”

  The constable made a face. “It’s more of a hunch.”

  My father groaned. “Get back to us when you have solid evidence. We have all the hunches we can use.”

  But the constable wasn’t giving up. She got points for that. “I need more help.”

  “You have a fairly large staff that don’t do much more than direct traffic and write parking tickets.” My father raised his brows. “What more help do you need?”

  She stared right back at him. “I don’t have access to most of the places Frigit goes. She disappears into the elevator at the factory and I’m done. I can’t get into the elevator with her. That’s not much of a secret tail, is it? And I certainly can’t get to the tinkers’ lab floor. I don’t have access. So the best I can give you is partial info.”

  My father sighed. “You’re right. We need to fix that, but I can’t give you access to the tinkers’ floor. And Kris won’t either, not even for a situation like this.”

  Larsen glanced at me. “The princess and her boyfriend got access.”

  “That’s a little different.” Not much, granted, but if my uncle started allowing everyone up there, the tinkers would revolt. And that’s the last thing we needed at the moment.

  I held my hands up before she could argue. “We’ll figure something out. Give us a few minutes to talk, please.”

  Larsen’s mouth was a hard, thin line, but then she nodded and went back out to the waiting area.

  Sin closed the door behind her. “Do you have a plan?”

  “Well…” I looked at my dad. “Remember that bracelet you gave me when I first went to Nocturne Falls?”

  A slow smile bent my father’s mouth. “You realize I wouldn’t normally approve of this kind of thing, but in this case, I think it’s the perfect solution.”

  Sin waved his hand. “Hello, necromancer here. No clue what you two elves are talking about.”

  I almost laughed. He was so adorable. “A form of elf magic, actually. Most elves use a special silver bracelet to disguise their elfish looks when they leave the NP. The bracelets make us look human to other humans, but elf to other elves.”

  “Seriously?” Sin seemed impressed.

  “Yep. They’re not quite as popular now as they used to be, what with multicolored hair not really that unusual anymore, but there was a time when no winter elf ventured beyond our world without one.”

  My father nodded. “And when Jayne went to Nocturne Falls, I gave her a special one. It changed the way she looked to both human and elf eyes. She needed it that way because the Winter Princess is pretty recognizable.”

  The light in Sin’s eyes showed he knew what was going on. “So she’s going to disguise herself again and do the following herself. Right?”

  “Right,” I said. “But, Dad, I’d really like Sin with me.”

  “I would too. Not saying you can’t protect yourself, but I’d feel better if you weren’t alone. Dora might look incapable of harm, but she’s a tinker, and at her skill level, boring as it is, her magic is substantial. I don’t need you run through with an ice spear.”

  I grimaced. “Yeah, I’m not real keen on that myself.”

  “Okay, I have to ask,” Sin said. “Is your father’s desk really made of ice? Or was that glass designed to just look like ice?”

  We were crouched down, taking turns peering out the mail slot of tinker Argyle Featherstone’s workshop on the lab floor. We’d been here for nearly two hours, settling in right after Argyle had been summoned to my uncle’s office, where he had been given the surprise gift of three days off under the guise of a new employee incentive program.

  As it happened, his workshop was catty-corner from Dora’s. Which made it the perfect spot to watch her from.

  His mail slot smelled like those little red-hot candies. I was sure that wasn’t a coincidence. Much like everything else that had been going on. Although, in Argyle’s case it was easy to see he liked his sweets on the spicy side. He had a big bag of cinnamon gummy bears on his worktable. I’d never developed a taste for those things.

  The only cinnamon I liked was in Mummy’s giant frosted cinnamon rolls. Which I could go for now, because somehow, even after eating all that candy at the peppermint plant, I was hungry again.

  I sat back for a second to answer Sin’s question. My neck was getting a crick in it. “Nope. Actual ice.”

  “How…” Sin shook his head. “I know it’s magic. I get that. But still. It’s impressive.”

  “It’s meant to be. It’s a show of his power. To maintain a slab of ice in such a pristine state of frozenness is astonishing. And he does it without much more than an afterthought.”

  “Can you do that?”

  “A piece of ice that big and that stable?” I thought about it. “I’ve never really attempted it. Not sure. But I’ll be able to when I become queen.”

  “So you’ll get more power when you’re crowned?”

  I nodded. “Comes with accepting the scepter. The ceremony is sort of your standard pomp and circumstance, but the actual transfer of power is pretty intense.”

  “Intense like how?”

  “Hang on.” I went down to a whisper. “I think I hear something.”

  I lifted the flap a smidge, and we both looked through.

  The slight creak of the door was easier to hear now, and in a few seconds, legs went by. Female legs. Dora Frigit, to be exact.

  I nodded at Sin, and he nodded back at me. We got to our feet, slipped our bracelets on and went after her. Discreetly, of course.

  Our bracelets turned us into Argyle and his wife, Yula. Completely. We even had their voices.

  “Hold that elevator,” Sin called out.

  We didn’t have their mannerisms, but then, we weren’t inviting Dora over to dinner, just keeping an eye on her to see what she did inside the factory. Once she left, Constable Larsen could take over.

  Dora held the elevator, although she didn’t look happy about it. Whatever. She could get iced for all I cared.

  I smiled at her and nodded politely as I got on ahead of Sin. “How are you, Dora?”

  My uncle had briefed us on the relationship between Dora and the Featherstones. They were friendly, but not buddy-buddy. That would do us just fine.

  She adjusted her grip on her bag and smiled one of those polite, closed-mouth smiles that didn’t reach the eyes. “Fine, and you?”

  “Good, thank you. I suppose you’ll be named winner of the tourney this year, what with all that duplication mix-up business going on.�
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  Dora’s smile vanished.

  Sin did his part. “Now, Yula. Dora’s entry was very good.”

  I nodded enthusiastically and looked at her, watching her eyes. “Oh, yes, it’s wonderful. Glitterskins is such a good idea.”

  Dora let out a breath and relaxed. “Thank you.”

  Of course, I couldn’t leave that alone. “How did you come up with the idea?”

  She tightened up again. “It just came to me.”

  She poked the first-floor button a second time.

  “You mean like a dream?” I stared at her, all smiley and curious and innocent-like.

  “Something like that.” She glared at the numbers counting down the floors.

  “I see. Headed home for the day?”

  “Yes.” Dora’s tone was curt.

  Sin leaned in. “We’re going over to Glacier Pizza for a large pepperoni with extra cheese.”

  Dora did that polite smile again. “How nice for you.”

  He nodded. “Why don’t you join us? Dinner’s our treat. You’re about to be the tourney winner, after all.”

  She hung on to the smile. “I can’t, but thank you.”

  The elevator finally found the first floor and came to a stop. Dora stepped forward before the doors opened and was out them a half second after they parted.

  Sin and I walked out casually, keeping our eyes on her.

  “You really think she’s going home?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. She seemed…”

  “Squirrelly.”

  I nodded. “Yep.” We followed behind at a leisurely pace, but we were losing her.

  “It’s up to the constable now?”

  I took a breath. She was almost to the parking lot. “It has to be. It would look weird for the Featherstones to trail her home. Uncle Kris said they don’t live near each other.”

  “You really want to keep following her, don’t you?”

  She went through the outside doors.

  I grunted in disappointment. “Yes. But it’s time to let the constable do her thing. I guess.”

  Sin snorted. “Come on, we have to get out of here before someone who really knows the Featherstones talks to us.”