Etched in Frost (Hallowed Harbingers #1)

by L.R. Friedman

She’s everything to me and she doesn’t even know it.

My soul is tied to someone who doesn’t know I exist. It’s torture. Even to just be seen by her, to be able to hold her through the night, to feel how it would be to have her skin pressed against mine… I’d give anything, pay any price, for that.

She’s become my heartbeat. The only one I have now. She pulses with a certainty that is etched into my skin and sinks deep into my bones. If she were to claim me as hers, as I long to claim her as mine, the world itself would come to life, full of color and possibility.

There are no secrets when it comes to your mate. I don’t care if she’s mortal, I’ll give her every truth she desires. Give her everything in whatever way I can.

I’ve been able to find her even without my memories because I’ll always find her. In any life. In any form. For she is mine and I am hers.

“You deserve someone hellbent on loving you.” The air sweetens, the pulse within me amplifying. I swallow down what the sensations do to me. “You deserve someone who listens, wants to learn you and your body inside and out, sees your presence in their life for the gift that it is. You deserve someone who makes you feel alive.”

She’s a storm that’s swept me up and consumed me so deeply that I’m both irrevocably broken and beautifully changed by her. Forever.

When I’m around Jolie, the world stops.

You are important to me, so if you need me, I will be here.”

“Mates were created by Fate to combat the loneliness that can come with immortality. Harbingers see it as a gift. It’s not set when the bond will take shape, but once it does, it’s a constant need to be with your other half. I can feel it. Feel you. Always.”

“Your pulse is the most precious sound to me, Tempest.”

“Every day you continue to amaze me. One day, when I get to claim you, body and soul, I’ll show you just how much you do.”

“But I’ll find a way to you in any season, Tempest.”

It’s easy to be blind to the things we don’t want to see, even when they’re right in front of us.”

“I’m as real as the whisper of the wind, the cold settled in your bones, the flakes that fall outside…or inside, if I’m feeling especially inspired.”

“I never stopped trying to get to you.”

“You aren’t just anything, Tempest,” Jax says, platinum brows drawing together, tone deadly serious. “You are everything.”

“Everything I am and everything I will be is yours, Tempest.”

“Well, we’re all a little crazy,”

“I’m yours, Jax. And you are mine. My mate. My love. My life.”

My perfectly feral mate.” “Only feral for you,” I chime back.

“I’m here,” she says, placing a hand over my heart. “Even when you can’t see me, you carry me with you always.”

Despite the distance, our love continues to grow. Even when he’s away and unreachable, I can feel him. He’s the whisper of the wind, the cold settled in my bones, the flakes that fall outside. The sun can be shining, the windows clear and untouched, and the flowers in bloom, and he’s still here with me. Always with me. He’s the silver-glowing scar spun at my sternum, cradled between the neckline of a feathered corset. The patter of my pointe shoes when I run to my spot, adjusting my headpiece one last time before springing onto the tips of my toes. The caress of fog as the scenery opens and reveals me to the audience.

Dance may be the love of my life, but Jax is the love of my existence.