A Kingdom of Frost and Malice (The Winter Court #1)

by Ashley McLeo

“I’ll take care.” Warden Roar’s emerald eyes blazed into mine. “I have something to come back to now.”

“We will look for new dresses.” Roar replied, his eyebrows knitting together. “You’re beautiful, and I will not have any part of you disappearing.”

“Best be careful, my lady. Or I might start to think you’re not pretending.”

“You’re bleeding.” His eyes burned as I took two steps closer. “And limping. Tell me who did this to you.”

If I had not seen his cheeks turn red, I wouldn’t have believed that Prince Vale ever blushed. I stared at him until he cleared his throat again, more loudly the second time.

“You’ve also tempted my brother,” Rhistel said. “That intrigues me. Do you know we’ve shared a whore a time or two? One was even a fisherman’s daughter. So familiar . . . ”

I opened my mouth to argue when Prince Vale did the unthinkable: he punched his brother in the face.

“What happened to you? I saw you run out of the ballroom and . . . ” The prince trailed off, perhaps for the first time hearing how crazy he sounded. It bordered on territorial.

“That does not change the fact that if you touch her again, Father, it will be the last time you have hands.”