Cursed to the Ruined Court (Frostbound Court #3)

Chapter 1

Everly

There was no air.

No sound. Or light. Or time.

There was only heat, searing against my skin. The pain of too much warmth against flesh that had been cold for far too long.

My ring was no longer freezing, which was less comforting than it should have been. Because from the moment I had arrived in the cave, whatever bond tethered my mind and soul and very being to Draven had been muffled into nothingness.

Even my heartbeats felt far away in the endless space between the demand I made and the Dragon’s… response? Or lack of one?

An eternity passed while I stood in a cave that seemed to exist completely outside of time, my mind fuzzy and far away.

Why did you come here?

Was I asking that question?

No, not me. It had come from outside, from a deep voice that rumbled through my soul itself.

There were no answers, though.

There was only the dark, heated hush of the cave where my ancestor held the decision of whether I lived or died. Whether I saved my family and my people or became the straw that broke them.

Right. The people who needed me. My sister and my unlikely friends. The warring kingdoms that weren’t quite mine and the king who inexorably was.

Draven.

“I’m here... because I need my mana.” My voice was low and raspy, but it echoed through the silence nonetheless.

Hadn’t I said that before? How many times had I answered that question?

I gritted my teeth and continued in a stronger voice. “I’m here to reclaim what is rightfully mine.”

A rumble sounded through the dark, damp space, low and powerful enough to rattle the marrow of my bones and the fragile membranes of the wings that had emerged somewhere in my struggle. The cadence was familiar, though wholly unexpected.

Was the Dragon… laughing? At me?

If he was, there was no joy in the sound, though it wasn’t precisely malice, either—only something that felt older than both.

Then the flames began.