A Touch of Stone and Snow (A Gathering of Dragons, #2)

by Milla Vane

She had been cursed. And shunned. But not by a goddess. Instead a bastard prince had been the one to steal everything from her. Her rank. Her honor. Her heart.

Lizzan’s throat closed. No, she could not do that. She had been exiled and her name had been struck from the books. To merely speak it was against Kothan law. And if Lizzan returned to the island, she would be killed . . . and worse, she would bring more shame to her mother and brothers than they already knew.

Not long ago, she’d been exiled from her home, branded as a deserter and a coward by an entire realm. This was the first time she’d ever felt like one.

“A woman with black hair and of this height.” Aerax measured on level with his chin. “One of the finest warriors ever seen, fierce when protecting anyone weaker than she. You might know her by the way she never fully smiles without beginning to laugh, or how she will say so much with her eyes that are the blue of a mountain lake, or that she favors her left hand when she uses her sword.”

“She only spoke a truth that no one wanted to hear. She is Koth’s shining jewel and was tossed into the mud.”

“Truly. And that is why I will not repeat the story you just told me,” she said. “Because I suspect it is not your story, but the story that was told about you. And I will not recarve your face.”

“He does,” Lizzan said. But understanding was not the same as listening—or obeying. “But he is a cat. So he’ll still do exactly as he pleases.”

“Lizzan.” She closed her eyes. So badly she wanted to turn toward him. To see him. “You’re not supposed to say my name.” “You said mine when no one else would. Never will I not say yours.”

Can you see through that veil?” “Likely better than you see through your ale,” said the priestess, voice warmed by amusement now. “You are very drunk.” “Only a little very,” Lizzan said. “It helps me think clearly.” “I doubt that is so.”

“Then I will start you on this path. This is what you must do—leave this temple, and vow to protect with your life the first person you see. And on the day of the first snowfall, you will know honorable and glorious death, and your name will become legend.”

“Shove my boot up your ass.” “Would your foot be in it? Perhaps I would not mind so much.”

“Take care, Captain,” he snarled into Uland’s face, and Lizzan tightened her arm around Caeb’s neck, willing him to stay in place. “My cat loves this woman more than he does me. If you hurt her, he will tear you apart—and I will not stop him.”

Never a man of Koth? Aerax had been born one, as surely as Uland had been. And if Aerax were led by his cock, then two years now he would have been with her.

But Lizzan had also just orchestrated her own death. She would not change that fate, not with her family’s honor at stake. And yet . . . the way Aerax looked at her now.

Yet even they could not know the full reason . . . that where Aerax would go, Lizzan would also come. For Aerax knew that she’d seen him first coming out of the temple. Just as he’d only seen her before she’d run back inside.

New light touched Lizzan’s face. “You still haven’t had your moon night?” “I am pledged to you.” He frowned. “Do you think I would ever touch another?”

Easy it would have been to rebel against cold tyranny. It was much more painful for her to push back against warm affection and good intentions.

“Aerax.” Her voice was a ragged whisper in his ear. “To the end of my days, I will love you. I promise you that.”

“The eve before last was the full moon. Instead of letting you run, I should have hunted you down and taken you then.”

Every night, we could be strangers. So dark it would be when I covered your body with mine, you would not see my face. You would only feel me deep inside.”

So many lies. Aerax’s jaw clenched. There was no mercy for the dead on Koth. And silver-fingered Rani would never come again to an island that would be her prison. Yet saying so would do nothing but endanger anyone who heard it—whether they believed it or not.

“All I have known of you is softhearted, generous, and strong. But to ask for this quest and name your death as a reward means you are also cruel and selfish and weak.”

“Whatever you need to keep this world from battering you into the mud, I will provide it. This night, I will protect you as you sleep. And the next, if you still need it. I will shield you from those who call you a curse, and who have taken your every hope. Until the morning comes when your heart is full again, and you see that there are so many more options left.”