Throne of Ice and Blood (Flame and Thorns, #2)

by Marion Blackwood

“But fortunately for you, my job is both to spy on the dragon shifters and to do everything I can to sabotage the Icehearts. And taking away all of their life slaves would certainly fall into that second category.”

“I am here on a mission from the Unseelie King himself.”

The Unseelie Court is still the majestic independent fae realm that it always has and always will be.”

“There are two reasons for why we have never tried to help you. The first one is because relations between our two courts have always been strained, to say the least. And the second, and most important, reason is because we do not get involved in other people’s problems. We protect our own realm. What everyone else does outside of it is not our concern.”

“Yes, most of the Seelie fae were dragon riders. But only a small portion of them used dragon steel to bend the shifters to their will. The rest were voluntary and mutually beneficial partnerships between fae and dragon shifters.”

“Only a small minority used dragon steel. Mostly the disgruntled and entitled ones who had been deemed unworthy by the dragon shifters and been rejected when they asked them about a partnership the traditional way.”

“If we didn’t have to fight that fucking war to free ourselves, we wouldn’t have had to burn our ancestral lands to the ground.”

“How did you know that I was in danger?” I shout at him again. “How did you know where I was?” “Because you’re my mate!”

“When Jeb and Tommen attacked you, when the wolfbear attacked you, when those four assholes attacked you tonight… I could feel your fear.”

“No, I can’t feel all your emotions. I can’t even feel all your fear. Right now, I can only feel the strongest of your emotions. Which is the sheer undiluted terror that comes when you’re about to die.”

“And whether you want to admit it or not, you are choosing to serve them. The consequences if you don’t do as they say might be awful, which is why you feel like you don’t have a choice, but you do have a choice.”

“Don’t ever apologize for crying. It’s not a weakness. It’s a sign that you’ve had to be strong for too long.”

“Then drain my magic. It heals you, right? Our magic lets you live longer because it constantly heals your body, right? So take it!”

“Goddess damn it, stop being such a fucking idiot! I am offering, you thickheaded overgrown bat, so just take it!”

sighs. “It doesn’t matter what you do, some people will always hate you. You could do everything they ask, give them everything you have, and it would still never be enough. They will still hate you. Either because of their own insecurities. Or because they have been taught to hate you.”

“He just got down on his knees and swore allegiance. He didn’t even try to fight.” He spits out a low and vicious curse. “Fucking coward.”

He gives me a devilish smile as he pulls us to a halt in the middle of the dance floor and then spins me towards him. “You wanted romance.”

“I am a selfish person, Selena.” He lets out a long breath that ruffles my hair. “And as much as I wanted to make sure that you never won the Atonement Trials, I’m secretly glad that you were stubborn and brilliant enough to win it despite all my sabotaging.”

“Because it allowed me to have this time with you.”

“Back in that underground forest. I didn’t have sex with you as a distraction to steal the ring. It was the exact opposite.”

“I did it solely because I wanted to. Because I wanted you.”

Betraying him tonight is going to shatter what’s left of my heart.

“What trap?” I breathe, my mouth suddenly dry as sand. “They have caught the human resistance.”

“Enough! I served them up to you on a silver platter, and you can’t even complete the simple task of arresting them. I refuse to be punished for your incompetence.”

Lavendera. Before her name has even finished reverberating through my skull, a branch shoots out and wraps around my waist. I gasp in shock, snapping out of my stupor and slam my hands down on the branch now encircling my waist. “Round them up,” Lavendera snaps to the guards as she strides down the corridor towards me.

“You work for them.” It’s not really a question, but Lavendera answers anyway. “Yes.”

“For how long? Did you work for them during the Atonement Trials too?” “Yes. My job is to make sure that the strongest magic users move on to the next trial.”

“After everything I have done to get to this point,” I press out, my voice desperate and broken. “After all the risks I have taken and all the miracles I have already pulled off, after all the promises that I have made to Isera and Alistair, this can’t be how it ends. Betrayed by my own people!” I stare at Lavendera as pain cuts through my chest. “By someone I thought was my friend.”

Because it’s not Hector who stares back at me from underneath the mask. It’s Draven Ryat.

“I’m not working for the human resistance. I didn’t even know that they were planning a damn heist tonight until they circulated word through their network earlier this week, asking me to help them by killing the guards outside the treasury.”

“My goals have occasionally aligned with the humans’ missions,” Draven continues while he reaches for a bottle on the desk. “So yes, I’ve helped them as the Red Hand on occasion. But my own mission has always been to destabilize Frostfell as much as possible. And it’s so much easier to get things done when I work alone, so in this city, I never actually joined the resistance.”

“You’re a member of our resistance.” “Yes,”

“I have watched you for years. Seen the way you always try to help and always put everyone else first. And seen how people distrust you and hate you for something that isn’t your fault. And I felt a connection. I knew that I had found someone who understood what it’s like to be hated for something that you haven’t chosen.”

“I’ve been falling for you for years, from afar, but then I truly got to know you during the Atonement Trials.” A wistful smile blows across his handsome face. “And then that day when you patted my cheek and said good talk, I fell in love with you utterly and completely.”

“I didn’t even know that we were mates until that day when the mate bond snapped into place. And after that, it was almost impossible to keep my hands off you. To stay away from you.” Pain flickers in his eyes again, and he drops his hand from my cheek and takes a step back. “And now, you need to leave.”

“Because they whipped my wings. Every day. For six fucking years.”

“I’ve already told you,” he replies, his voice tight, as he turns to meet my gaze. “I can’t leave.”

“I literally cannot say!” Desperation flashes in his eyes as he stares down at me. “So you either have to figure it out in the next thirty seconds, or you leave without me.”

“Fucking hell,” I blurt out, my pulse pounding in my ears. “They’re using dragon steel, aren’t they?”

Goddess above, the Icehearts have somehow convinced Lavendera to put the dragon steel on Draven. And as fae, she can channel her magic through the metal to control Draven. She can force him to do whatever she says.

“Since before they even landed on our island,” Draven replies, finally answering Galen’s question. “An entire horde of them ambushed me when I was out training. They tied me up and used Lavendera to put the dragon steel in. Then they made her order me in advance to publicly surrender when they came back days later.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I see a huge shard of ice sticking out of my spine. But I can’t feel it. I cough again and then look back down at my legs. In fact, I can’t feel anything below the waist.