Frost Bound (Entangled with Trickery #1)

Neve

Chapter Two

Neve

Three months earlier

“You must take a loviaye ,” Olwen declared. The king’s oldest friend tapped his claws along the crystal table between them, a smirk pulling on the scar that cut across his cheek and into the left side of his bottom lip.

The newly crowned king of Loriia had known this was coming. Neve’s advisors had been hounding him to secure the frost kingdom with an heir since the last assassination attempt. His claws clicked faster against the carved wooden arm of his throne in frustration. They still hadn’t figured out who’d sanctioned it.

Astera. Vergllos. Beltisse. It could be anyone at this point.

Although he’d planned this discussion, Neve still felt nauseous at the idea of taking a foreign bride—a loviaye . Especially one that was saloes —a human, someone so different from himself—small, breakable, pitiful, dangerous . There wasn’t an honest human among the kingdoms he’d visited when he was a child. It was why he’d lost his mommar .

The king locked his emotions down, feeling the telltale stir of rage at the long-past injustice.

“I agree with you.” He nodded to his cousin, Eyri, who was scribing the meeting. “I’ve held the throne for a year. It is time I take a niliave .” He paused. “A human wife.”

His council erupted with cries of surprise and dissent around the rectangular table. He waited it out and smothered his flinch when his sister’s voice rose above the din.

“You cannot be serious!” she shouted. “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You hate saloes .”

Neve clenched his teeth and took a deep, calming breath. His sister wasn’t wrong. They shared the same opinion of the Asteran people as a whole, but to blatantly question him outright in front of his advisers was inexcusable. Her heated remarks would make him look weak, and that was something he could not afford. The kingdom was on the brink of civil war with their own clan lords, and with the Asterans pressing in along the border … he had to make this sacrifice, and the council needed to side with him. For everyone’s sake.

Shut Lumi down now.

He leaned forward in his chair. “Do you want your kingdom to fall into war and ruin?” Neve asked softly, his voice as hard as steel.

Her lips pressed together, turning a pale blue from their normal navy. “No, of course not, but…”

“That is what will happen if we do not forge a truce with the humans of Astera.” He scanned the councilors in the room with a stern glare. “We have waged war for hundreds of years with the saloes , and it has gotten us nothing but a small mine to the south, widows and orphans, and hatred. This stops with me. Our people must move forward or we will not survive, and we might as well hand ourselves over to Astera’s greed now.”

Lumi swallowed hard and crossed her arms, disgust rippling across her face. “You would wed a human, bring one of those monsters into our home after what they did to our mommar ? What they did to you?”

His black claws scratched against the wooden arms of the throne. Even after all these years, Neve could still feel a phantom throbbing in his shoulders—where his caern’ye used to be. They’d maimed him by sawing off his shoulder horns and leaving him for dead. It was the least of his torture at the humans’ hands, and a bloody miracle he’d survived; his mother hadn’t been so lucky.

“She is precisely the reason why this needs to be done.” The words were necessary but painful to say. Saying he loathed humans was too pale of an expression for the deep-seated rage, pain, and bitterness he harbored. But he was the king; he couldn’t afford to think like his sister did. He had a kingdom to rule, a people who needed trade to survive—trade that needed to go through Astera.

He would marry the little saloes wretch, place the princess in the tower, and pray she was as sickly as his spies reported. With any luck, he’d never have to see her after the wedding. “As much as we’d all like to invade Astera and take it by force, it’s not possible. We all know how the Battle of Kallere ended.” He exhaled heavily. While frost giants were larger and more skilled in battle, humans bred like rabbits and had greater numbers. It made for an evenly matched battle, which led to far too many casualties. So much death . He’d lost two of his brothers and his father.

“The only path forward is a peace treaty.” The words tasted like ash on his tongue. He wanted to curse at the universe for serving him such a fate.

His povvar’s closest councilor, Eira, brushed her snow-white hair from her face, her dark gaze looking pensive. “I agree with you, lae reillov . But I do have a question. What makes you think they will even entertain such a deal? They only have one legitimate child, from my recollection.”

Neve smiled for the first time, revealing just a touch of fang. “Our spies have reported that Queen Allium detests her daughter. The princess is kept cloistered in her own wing of the castle, and has no contact with the court.”

“And you’re not worried she has some defect?” Eira asked, arching a white brow in question.

“I know she does. The queen revealed a tidbit to one of her lady’s maids, one who happens to be in the pocket of one of our spies.”

“They hate us,” Lumi challenged. “They could marry the Asteran princess off to anyone.”

His smile widened mercilessly. “True, but the Asteran crown is deeply in debt. While they were able to continue farming despite the blight of the last few years, they didn’t hold up several of their trade contracts. Astera’s coffers are empty. They scraped enough together to fulfill some orders for their eastern customers, but they’ve left their own people to suffer and starve. I have a feeling they’ll be glad to sell their daughter off to the highest bidder. Anything to stall a growing rebellion amongst the people.”

“Even to so-called monsters?” Lumi spat.

“Especially monsters. The queen is calculating and vain. Allium knows the value of royal blood, and we are the only ones who can afford it.”

Bacti, a male with lavender skin smiled, but it wasn’t nice. “What of the clans? They expect you to take a bride from the people to unite us. They will not take it well when you choose a foreigner over their highborn daughters.”

Neve had thought of this. “I will take their daughters as the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. It’s one of the highest positions a valles can be offered.”

Bacti nodded. “Very good, sire. Seems like you’ve thought of everything.”

It took everything inside of Neve not to twitch. There was something about Bacti that rubbed him the wrong way. They’d grown up together, and were friends of a sort … but he didn’t trust Bacti, not like he trusted Olwen.

“What of an heir?” Olwen asked, a smirk on his cocky face. He laced his fingers across his stomach and leaned back in his wooden chair, which groaned under his muscle and weight. “There’s never been a half-blood on the Frost Throne in all our history.”

Neve narrowed his eyes at his closest friend but answered the question nonetheless. “A valid question. We all know it is possible for humans and giants to breed, but the survival of the mother is low. Depending on the state of the princess, we may have to enact the concubine edict to secure the Frost Throne.”

Lumi snorted and crossed her arms. “I’m sure Flyka will love that,” she grumbled underneath her breath.

His former love, Flyka, still hadn’t spoken to him since he told her of his plan three weeks prior. He’d be lucky if she’d spit on him if he were on fire, let alone be his concubine. If Neve was honest, he prayed it wouldn’t come to that. He’d been raised in monogamy, and had no desire to venture outside of those bonds, even if the idea of laying with a human turned his stomach.

“I will make sure the kingly line is continued one way or another. That is all that is important,” he replied.

“Peace and trade are all fine and good, but what will this alliance do for us?” Warrin, an old, silvering warrior asked. “ Saloes are greedy, and they breed quickly. Do you have plans on letting them cross the border and settle in Loriia? Is it worth the risk?”

Running a hand through his blue-black hair, Neve sat back in his throne. He’d anticipated this. “I have no immediate plans on letting Asterans immigrate into our kingdom. They must prove themselves trustworthy first. I’m under no illusions that this truce will be easy for either side. There are centuries of hatred and violence on both sides. Peace and trade aside, I hope to procure part of their harvest each year.” He held his hand up as Warrin opened his mouth to speak. “While we can support our kingdom now, there’s no guarantee that the blight or some other disease could affect our crops in the future. Astera can grow things we cannot. This alliance is worth the risk.”

“Then am I to draft a letter to the Asteran monarchy, lae reillov ?” Eyri said, pushing a thick pair of spectacles up his azure nose, black eyes blinking. His studious cousin was quite the scholar and secretary.

The king scanned his council, but all stayed silent. A begrudging agreement.

He dipped his chin in assent. “So be it. I would like to see a draft tonight.”

“Yes, lae reillov ,” Eyri replied softly.

“Thank you.”

The king stood from his throne and his advisors rose quickly and bowed, their closed fists resting between their hearts. Neve rounded his throne and strode out of the crystal throne room. His back teeth ground together as a pair of light slippered steps followed him. He’d had a feeling his sister would follow him. While Lumi had said nothing at the end of the discussion, she’d been fuming in her seat.

“Not now, Lumi,” he growled, his boots slapping against the stone floor. Still too close to the council room. Noise traveled in the stone hallways beneath the palace. His council would be able to hear every word they spoke.

“I will not be silent when you’re acting a fool,” she hissed back, her voice echoing in the arched corridor.

Qov.

He spun around and grabbed his sister by the arm, pulling her into an empty armory room. Neve slammed the wooden door shut.

He rounded on Lumi. “You cannot speak that way to me.”

She scoffed, tossing her braids over her left shoulder. “Just because you’re reillov now doesn’t mean I won’t stop acting like your older sister.”

“I’m not asking you to. But godsteeth, Lumi, I can’t afford to have you oppose me so publicly. Too much is at stake. We need to be seen as a united force, or one of the great houses could see us as weak and decide they want the throne for themselves. Civil war would break Loriia and leave us ripe for the Asterans. Beltisse is content for now, but Vergllos is playing along the edges of treason.”

“I’m just so angry!” she shouted, waving her hands, the sleeves of her black dress flapping wildly like a demented raven. “I don’t want to have one of those scorpions lurking about the palace. They took everything from us.” Tears filled her eyes. “You’re welcoming the enemy into our home.”

“Do you think it doesn’t bother me?” he growled, his own rage at the situation licking up the back of his neck. “That it doesn’t sicken me to think about taking a human as my life partner? Even the idea of touching her cool body or looking into her pale gaze disgusts me.” Neve ran a hand over his face. “I feel vile thinking and praying that their damaged princess doesn’t survive long after the contracts are signed.”

Lumi covered her trembling mouth as one tear dripped down her cheek. “You just seem so calm and collected all the time. Like you don’t care about what they’ve taken from us.”

His shoulders throbbed again, and he hissed, closing his eyes for a moment. “I was the one who was attacked, Lumi. Tortured .” He opened his eyes. “I watched our mommar die in my arms as a child, choking on my own blood and pain. How could you ever think such a thing?” His voice was raw—old memories and agony clawing up his throat. “I hate them.”

His sister pulled him into a hug, her head resting against the mangled remains of his caern’ye on his right shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay to be angry with me, but it must be in private. I will always be your little brother, but I am now your reillov . Whether we want it to or not, it changes things. I need you to support me on this. It is the only way I’ll survive what I must do.”

Lumi pulled back and met his gaze. “Our die is cast then?”

Neve nodded. “Let’s pray luck is in our favor.”