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Roland’s sword was a fabled Summerlea weapon of inconceivable power. It had disappeared three thousand years ago, not long after the Summer King who first wielded it sacrificed his life to save his kingdom from invasion.
“Any woman who truly loves you would love it, Wyn. It’s obvious how much care you put into it.”
The Summerlanders had raped and murdered dozens of villagers, then locked the rest in the meeting hall and burned them alive. Eighty-six lives wiped out in one senseless act of violence. Eighty-six innocent Winterfolk
Her cape caught on a protruding nailhead, and the sudden yanking pull all but strangled her.
This shit would happen to me
The only spot of warmth on all her skin was the small, rose-shaped birthmark on her inner right wrist—proof of her royal Summerlea heritage.
She had followed her charge from the gentle, oceanside kingdom of Seahaven, twenty-eight years ago, and stayed to raise Rosalind’s children as she had raised Rosalind herself.
“Don’t fight so hard against things you can’t change, child. You’ll batter yourself to death. Learn to change what you can and accept what you can’t. Be the palm that bends in the wind to withstand the gale.”
She was, instead, like the Snowfire in her mother’s garden, bursting into bright, defiant bloom when temperatures plummeted and snow began to fall, daring winter to do its worst.
“There is a weathermage at work,” Wynter said. “A strong one.”
“Just a warning, I think.”
Baby gorl just having a temper tantrum
Summer Sun! She’d never known anyone besides herself capable of generating such concentrated fury in the skies.
She hadn’t cried in front of her father in years—not since the day he’d told her she was responsible for her mother’s death.
Three silver chains dangled from the ear cuff, each attached to a small silver bell bearing one of three Wintercraig runes symbolizing ice, fire, and the Great Hunt.
blue-white diamond called the Wintercraig Star.
So I will take one of your daughters to wife. She will have a year to fill her womb with an heir to claim both the Winter and the Summer Thrones. If she fails, she will be turned out to face the mercy of the mountains, and I’ll be back the following spring to claim another daughter. And so it will continue until I have my heir or you are out of daughters. That, Verdan, is the price of peace.”
Ew what a trash man
He dodged a fist meant to break his nose and laughed again, enjoying himself for the first time in a very long while.
Wynter felt his nostrils flare with an instant stab of aggression, and his upper lip curled back to bare his teeth. He even growled, low in his throat, like a snow wolf warning another male away from his female.
she’d been manhandled by the Winter King, Maude Newt, and her father. Yet of the three of them, her family’s sworn enemy was the only one whose hands had left no mark on her.
Her Royal Highness, Angelica Mariposa Rosalind Khamsin Gianna Coruscate.
Contagion never touched her, deadly blows turned away at the last moment, even the few grievous wounds she’d suffered over the years healed swiftly, without infection or scarring. It was as if the gods themselves sat on her shoulder, protecting her from sickness and peril.
Especially as all she has to do is lie there and spread her legs.” “Blessed Sun!” she exclaimed. “How can you be such a monster? You’re her father! Rosalind was her mother! Hate the part of you that lives in her if you must, but how can you hate the part of her that came from our Rose?”
GO OFF QUEEN
“I will not ask who beat you,” he said. His thumb brushed across her cheek, over the ridges of the Rose branded into her skin. “As he signed his work, there is no need.”
The blows you struck against her are now blows struck against me. For the first time all morning, genuine fear crept into Verdan’s eyes. “This hand, which beat my wife until she could scarcely stand, you will never lift again against another. She lives, and so you live. But the hand you raised against her dies.”
BARK BARK BARK
“And consider this also: I will now do everything in my power to ensure that Khamsin’s child—the child of the daughter you loathe—will be the next ruler to sit on the Summer Throne.”
Im so fking hot rn
Valik shook his head. “I’ll let you tell her that.” He rubbed his jaw. “I want to be able to chew my dinner.”
Lmaoooo
Wynter grinned, teeth clenched. “That’s it, little flower. Get angry.”
“Winter’s Frost!” The tent flaps flung open, and Valik, who had been standing guard with the men, leapt inside. “That lightning struck so close, it damned near singed my eyebrows!”
Hahahhahahahaa
That was the insidious price of the Ice Heart. Each use of its power, no matter how minute, robbed him of some irretrievable portion of his humanity. After three years of war and death, so little of his former self remained, he felt even the tiniest additional loss like a hammer to the heart. He could literally feel himself growing more distant, more unfeeling, more like the dread, soulless monster of legend.
If the Winter King thought to control her, he would find caging the wind an easier task.
She’d only been seeking privacy to hide her weakness, as all wild things did.
Even if her hair did keep getting blown into the joints of Wynter’s plate mail and ripping out by the roots.
I had the same thought!!! TOO FOKIN REAL BRUH
The third morning, ignoring the fierce objections of his men and Valik, in particular, Wynter left off his armor.
Why is Wyn so babygirl
Khamsin glanced uncertainly at Wynter, but he was already striding away towards a waiting cluster of noblemen.
Hes kinda an ass
Hold your child in your arms while there’s still warmth enough in you to feel the love you need to melt the Ice Heart. The surest way to drive back the garm is to rob their masters of hope for victory.”
Not that the idea of spending the next year in bed plowing Khamsin every chance he got was unappealing.
The word plowing and treating her like a broodmare is giving me big icks
Regicide is not a crime Winterfolk easily embrace.” “Only priestesses of Wyrn, eh, Laci?”
Wynter fell into step beside the severe, stately woman who’d once been his friend and intended bride.
I buried them by the side of the road, back in Summerlea.”
She went all the way back to Summerlea to bury them?!
What joy it would be to skate the skies on swirling black clouds or ride the lightning as it raced miles in mere instants.
Her eyes grew calm and intent. “Yes,” she agreed smoothly, “he is a very . . . intense lover and skillful enough to make a woman lose all reason. It’s one of the things I’ve missed most these last three years. And I can see how an inexperienced girl might assume the power of his sexuality implies a bond that doesn’t really exist.”
Damn does this girl want to die or…
Fired up by her confrontation with Reika Villani, Kham waved aside the pale cream gown Bella had laid out for this morning’s luncheon with the ladies of the court and chose instead to garb herself in bright, vivid, Summerland colors.
Baddieee
“Of course. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.” Mortified, Kham spun on her heel and walked rapidly down the hall towards the stairs. All the way, she fought a losing battle with tears and had to duck into one of the abandoned bedrooms to hide when the dam burst and the flood of hot, salty wetness spilled down her cheeks.
:(
“I like her, Wynter. I like her quite a lot, and I didn’t expect to. Yes, she has a temper—and a hard time keeping it contained—but there’s also a kindness in her, and a great deal of loneliness. I don’t think she’s the threat Valik believes her to be. You really should spend more time with her.”
I love this woman
“I changed my mind,” he said. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.” Gently, as if she were fragile crystal that would shatter at the slightest pressure, he touched his lips to her eyes, nuzzling away her tears, then brushed soft, lingering kisses across her cheeks until her slender arm twined around his neck, and she lifted her mouth to his.
Bruh why am i about to cry
But this Khamsin, the wounded, needing Khamsin who couldn’t hide her pain, she seeped into the cracks in his icy armor, penetrating much deeper than was comfortable or safe.
He wasn’t ready for that, so he left her in the middle of the night.
Goddammit Wynter wtf get yo ass back here
“Riding lesson?” Every bruised and wilted part of Khamsin’s soul suddenly perked up. “I’m to have a riding lesson?”
GOOD but if wynter isnt there thats booty they need to spend some quality time together and not just f*ck everytime 4000x in a row…i need more emotional depth than that
