Miss Frost Chills the Cheater

by Painter, Kristen

“Please, Sin, talk to me. Say something.”

  Then a small groan.

  “Hang on, sweetheart.” I reluctantly took my hands from him and planted them on the ice. Immediately, I started absorbing the cold, pulling it into my body to melt the ice and free him.

  I shivered for more than one reason. Sin would never want to live here now, would he? And who could blame him? But that was fine. As I began to shake with the cold, I knew I’d do anything to be with him, including abdicate.

  My cousin could have the throne.

  All I wanted was Sin.

  The ice melted, and Sin fell forward into my arms, but I was weak with cold and we toppled into the snow together.

  I pushed him off me, rolling him over so I could get to my knees. I smacked his cheeks lightly, trying to bring him around.

  As I did that, I realized I’d completely (and understandably) ignored what was going on with Ezreal and Gregory. I glanced up. Ezreal had Gregory subdued and tied up with plastic bands.

  The zip ties must have been in the bag he’d grabbed from the crawler.

  Ezreal rushed to my side. “How’s he doing?”

  “Frozen. Not much response.”

  “I’ll start a fire.” He pulled a kit from the bag and set to work getting a pile of dry branches gathered in a flattened area of snow.

  “Can’t we just get him back to the crawler?”

  A few sparks from the lighter and flames shot up from the kindling. He shook his head. “You know what a trek it was getting here. He won’t make the trip back unless he can walk on his own.”

  “You’re asking a lot.”

  “No,” Sin whispered. “I can do it.”

  “Sin.” I sucked in a breath, overjoyed to hear his voice. I kissed his frozen mouth. “We’re going to warm you up by the fire.”

  I pulled him closer as Ezreal went to gather more wood.

  Sin began to shiver. It was a good sign. He was getting the feeling back in his body. Pain would come next. Pins and needles that felt like spikes and daggers.

  I held his hands in mine. The fire was warming me up too, leaching out the cold I’d willingly absorbed. I gently massaged his palms and fingers to help the blood circulate.

  He groaned again.

  “I know,” I whispered. “It hurts.”

  He nodded a little. “Thank you.”

  Ezreal returned with more wood.

  I shook my head. “I’m so sorry.”

  Sin smiled. “I love you.”

  Ezreal added the wood to the fire, crouching down next to us. “Princess?”

  I looked up. “Yes?”

  “We have two small problems.”

  “What are they?” Sin had survived. I could handle anything now.

  “Night is coming fast.” Ezreal glanced over his shoulder. “And so are the yetis.”

  I looked into the woods behind him, but didn’t see anything. Yet. “Great.”

  “The fire will draw them. They’ll be afraid of it, but it’s still going to get their attention.”

  I nodded. “Understood. We need to move, then.”

  “We do.” He looked at Sin. “Mr. Crowe, how are you feeling?”

  He was still lying down, but managed to shrug. “Better every second.”

  “Do you think you can walk?”

  He slowly pushed himself to a seated position. “Yes.”

  His lips were still a little blue.

  I frowned. “What about Gregory?”

  Ezreal pushed to his feet. “I’ll handle him. He seems to have lost the use of one arm. His hand is black.”

  I stood as well. “I saw that.” I looked at Sin. “You did that, didn’t you?”

  He got to his knees. “I did. Just defending myself.”

  “Good job. I’m sorry you even had to—”

  “He tried to kill me.” Gregory snarled. “Would have too, if I hadn’t—”

  “You’re lucky he didn’t,” I snapped back. Then I glanced at Sin again. He was still sitting up and seemed a little more stable. “I guess we might need to explain your death touch now.”

  He slowly rubbed his hands together. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. There will be questions. And without answers, more rumors will start. Maybe August will let me post something in the paper.”

  “I’m sure he will. But we can worry about that later.” Sin was finally standing. He didn’t wobble, which I was thankful for. “You seem like you’re doing better. The fire really helped, huh?”

  “It did,” Sin said. “Thank you, Ezreal.”

  Ezreal nodded. “You’re very welcome, Mr. Crowe. Now I suggest we get moving.”

  He hoisted Gregory to his feet. “Follow me. Stay as close as you can.”

  Gregory had gone pretty quiet at the mention of yetis. Apparently, his crazy didn’t extend so far as to think he could handle a pack of them on his own.

  But he had to know what awaited him back at the palace. His actions would not go unpunished.

  Ezreal pushed through the brush, and we found our trail again. I looped Sin’s arm over my shoulders to help support him. He didn’t complain. We pushed on as fast as we could. Darkness was settling fast, erasing what little light there was.

  A faint, and thankfully distant, scrabbling carried through the forest from behind us.

  My pulse increased. I knew it was yetis. I knew they were coming for us. And I knew there was a lot of forest left between us and the crawler.

  The wind picked up as night came, whistling past us. Carrying our scent to the yetis. But at least it wasn’t carrying their stench to us. If there was any silver lining, that was it.

  “Are we going to make it?” Sin asked softly. He was leaning into me more than he had at the start.

  “Of course,” I answered. “We’re almost there.”

  We weren’t. But what else could I tell him? It was a lie of kindness. And my desperate attempt to keep him moving.

  I swallowed, trying to keep my fear at bay. But yetis were fast, really fast. The only reason they weren’t nipping at our heels yet was because they weren’t ready. Maybe they wanted to circle around us more. Who knew the mind of a yeti?

  The attack would come at any moment. My heart was about to break through my rib cage. I tried to breathe normally and failed. Panic was seeping through me faster than the cold. And the cold I could handle. The panic…not so much. “I never thought I’d want to see a wendigo so badly as I do right now.”

  Ezreal snorted, then slowed as he turned to look at me. “That’s a phenomenal idea.”

  “It is?” We slowed, too.

  He came to a stop and stared into the forest beyond us, nodding. “Keep going toward the crawler.”

  Sin and I stood beside him. “We’re not leaving you here.”

  “Or me,” Gregory snarled. “You’re not leaving me.”

  Ezreal cut his eyes at the man. “Another good idea. But we’ll save that for plan B.” He went back to staring into the trees. “Go ahead, Princess. Get to the crawler. I won’t be far behind.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  I got Sin and I moving forward again, passing Ezreal and Gregory in a few quick steps. The path we’d made coming in was getting harder and harder to pick out in the dying light.

  Gregory started to mumble about not being left behind again, but a piercing, brittle scream broke through all other sounds.

  It was so sharp and sudden, it almost knocked us to the ground. I caught us at the last second, my heart in my throat now.

  “What was that?” Sin twisted to look back.

  “Wendigo,” I managed despite the fear clogging my airways. Then the understanding of what Ezreal had done hit me. “Well, Ezreal’s best impersonation of one.”

  “For real?”

  Sin and I kept going forward. My pulse was tapering down toward normal. “Yes. Ice trolls are great mimics. No doubt the yetis are hightailing it in the other direction by now. The wendigo is their only real nature predator.�
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  He nodded. “I remember you mentioned that when Nocturne Falls had that unfortunate yeti infestation.” Then he lifted his head and inhaled. “There does seem to be less stink in the air.”

  “Always a good thing. Now save your breath, we still have a ways to go.”

  I didn’t know how much longer it took us. Could have been ten minutes, could have been an hour. Trudging through the snow and brush and dense forest made every new step very much like the last, but finally we broke through the tree line.

  I helped Sin into the back seat of the crawler where he could lie down, then I got the engine started so I could crank the heat on. Our vehicles were very good at warming up, and every seat had a heater built in and several vents to ensure the person at that seat had the proper temperature. He’d be warm in no time.

  The crawler also had exterior lights, so I turned those on to help guide Ezreal in. He probably didn’t need them, but it couldn’t hurt, and I didn’t want Gregory taking advantage of the dark to try to escape.

  Hunting him down in this inky blackness would not be fun. The stars were brilliant and plentiful, but not enough to see by. Thankfully, the snow had stopped.

  A few minutes later, Ezreal walked out of the forest with Gregory in tow. Mostly dragging him. I jumped out of the crawler and went to help. This was a multi-use crawler. It had a cargo hold in the back, which was probably used to haul supplies back from the market. But it’s where Gregory would be riding now.

  He’d earned it. And I was not about to make Sin share air space with the crazy who’d tried to kill him.

  Yes, I was still angry. I probably would be for a long time to come. Gregory’s selfish, reckless actions had ruined everything. I never wanted to see his face again, and planned on doing everything in my power, which was considerable, to make sure that happened.

  I grabbed Gregory’s dead arm and helped pull him forward. “That wendigo call was amazing, Ezreal.”

  He smiled. “It was your idea.”

  “No, it wasn’t. It was my random statement. You had the idea. You saved us.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was blushing or wind-burned. He shrugged. “Let’s call it a team effort.”

  “I like that a lot. How about some more team effort getting Gregory into the cargo hold?”

  Gregory spat at us. “How dare you? I’m the house steward. I will not ride in a cargo hold.”

  I leaned in toward him. “You were the house steward. Now you’re a prisoner of the realm and will be treated as such. Letting you ride in the hold is a kindness you don’t deserve, so if you’d prefer to be strapped to the roof, that can happen just as easily.”

  “Princess.” He blinked at me like he was dismayed at my behavior.

  The living nerve. I almost laughed at him. Almost. “Don’t.”

  Ezreal popped the hatch on the crawler and stood there waiting. “What’s it going to be?”

  Gregory scowled and muttered some more, but limped his way to the hold.

  Ezreal shut it, smirking. “What a piece of work.”

  “I’ll say.”

  “You all right, Princess? That was a lot of effort back there. And you’re still holding the ice sealing his door shut. You must be wearing a little thin.”

  I shook my head. “Getting Sinclair back has erased a lot of my tiredness.”

  “Glad to hear it.” He tested the latch on the hold, double-checking it was locked. “What do you say we head home?”

  “I say that’s all I want to do.”

  He drove, and I sat in front since Sinclair was lying down, but within twenty minutes he was sitting up and seemed very much himself again.

  I was twisted in the seat to see him better. “Don’t overdo it. The cold can really take it out of you.”

  “As I found out. But I promise I feel all right. Nothing a good night’s sleep wouldn’t help.” He touched Ezreal’s shoulder. “Thank you for your part in this. I owe you my life.”

  “Sir, I don’t think—”

  “I do, Ezreal. Jayne was smart to get you involved. Doing this by herself would have been a monumental task. Your help was invaluable.”

  I nodded. “He’s right. Your help was key. Getting Gregory and Sin back to the crawler was a two-person job. I really needed you for that.”

  Sin smiled. “And your wendigo imitation is the best I’ve ever heard. It’s also the only one I’ve ever heard. And the only one I hope to hear.”

  We all laughed for a second, but Sin turned serious a moment later. “What’s going to happen to Gregory?”

  Ezreal stayed quiet, letting me answer. In part because he had to know how much of a role I would play in this. I took a breath and reminded myself that I had to be fair and just. That was hard when Sin had been the victim.

  I exhaled. “I am going to advocate for his banishment. I don’t think there will be much pushback on that, though. I have a feeling it’s what my father would decide on anyway.”

  “So Gregory will have to leave the North Pole?”

  I nodded. “And will be unable to return. It’s a punishment reserved for only the severest of crimes.”

  Ezreal finally spoke up. “This is certainly one of those.”

  Sin thought about that. “Wouldn’t it be worse if he had to stay here and live with what he’s done?”

  “Maybe. But I could never trust him again.”

  “Doesn’t the NP have a jail?”

  “We don’t. Crime isn’t really a thing here.”

  Sin nodded. “Well, I’m not saying let him keep his job. But being forced from the only home you’ve known…”

  “He would have killed you.”

  “Maybe.” Sin paused. “Or I might have killed him.”

  Ezreal glanced in the rearview mirror. “Can you, I mean, are you capable of that?”

  Sin met his gaze. “Apparently, I am. What I did to his hand I could have done to his entire body if he hadn’t stopped me with those ice restraints.”

  Ezreal’s brows bent. “Will that blackness fade? Or heal?”

  “No,” Sin said. “And if it isn’t dealt with, it will spread. He’s going to lose his hand.”

  “He’s marked for life, then.” Ezreal shot me a look. “You could let him stay. He’d never be able to hide. Losing his hand would be a constant reminder of what he’s done and the acts he’s committed against the crown. His betrayal will always be evident.”

  “I hadn’t considered that. He’d have to be under house arrest, obviously.” I turned in my seat to look out at the night. “I still don’t know. All I can think about right now is how much I want him gone.”

  The palace was as brightly lit and fully awake as I had ever seen it at such a late hour. The windows glowed and the grounds were in full illumination. I wasn’t sure the palace had ever looked more beautiful. Maybe that was because of what we’d just been through.

  Or maybe it was just because we were being beckoned home.

  Bittersweet happiness filled me from the sight of it and the feelings that welled up within me, but I knew beyond all question that I could leave this place behind for Sin.

  My world had no color without him. No warmth, no happiness. No magic. I needed him beside me. Wanted him to be the one I grew old with. And when he told me, as he certainly would, that he couldn’t make this place his home, I’d understand and tell him that wasn’t a problem.

  I had made my decision just like he’d made his. I would abdicate, and we would return to Nocturne Falls once and for all. It was a great place to live.

  That had to be what he wanted. Why else would he ask that Gregory not be banished? Sin didn’t want Gregory free in the human world, because that’s where we’d be living.

  Made sense. Keep the man who’d tried to kill him in a distant kingdom where he could be monitored. No chance of Gregory getting another crack at taking Sin out that way.

  Although, when I abdicated, Gregory would get what he wanted. No non-winter elf would sit atop the Winter Throne.

/>   I frowned. In a way, that meant Gregory still won.

  I couldn’t think of it that way, though. I had to focus on what was best for Sin and me. What would keep us going.

  Ezreal drove the crawler around to the south entrance and under the portico. Valets swarmed the vehicle, eager to help. One took off inside, no doubt to let my father know we’d returned.

  By now, I was sure the message we’d left with the housekeeper we’d run into at the service entrance had been delivered to my family.

  Ezreal opened his door while a valet opened mine and another opened the back door for Sin.

  I got out and went to work. “Get medical down here immediately for Mr. Crowe. Get security here for Steward Gregory and call the constable as well.”

  Lots of nodding and “Yes, Your Highness” answered me.

  “Please confirm that someone went to tell my father?”

  “I’m here.”

  At my father’s voice, I glanced toward the palace doors. He stood there, back-framed by the light, looking very much the Winter King. Ice vapor swirled around him, showing his mood as he strode down the steps toward us.

  “Dad.” I couldn’t keep my voice from cracking. I cleared my throat and pulled myself together. “Gregory almost killed Sinclair.”

  He pulled me into his arms. “Are you okay? Is Sinclair?”

  “Yes.” Sin was still in the crawler, but the rear doors were open on both sides. “Thanks to Ezreal.”

  My father kissed my brow before releasing me. He peered into the back seat where Sin was. “You all right, son?”

  “I am. Your daughter and your office manager are very brave people.”

  My father smiled. “So are you. I know how many times you’ve put yourself on the line for Jayne.”

  Then he straightened and looked at me again. “Did you leave Gregory out there?”

  I snorted. “No, but I’m sure he wishes that.” I walked around to the cargo hold, my father following, and unlocked the hatch.

  It lifted, revealing a snarly, cranky steward who looked more like a trussed Christmas goose than the elf in charge of the winter palace.

  Muscles tightened and twitched in my father’s jaw. He glared at Gregory.

  Gregory held the eye contact for only a moment before he looked away, going pale.