Frost Bound (Entangled with Trickery #1)

Dahlia

Chapter Ten

Dahlia

It was a miracle that she made it back to her room.

Dahlia hugged a satin pillow to her chest and sang softly whilst she sat on the floor of the spacious wardrobe, eyes glued to the door, waiting for the monster to find her.

When would the demon come for her? She could still feel his whispered threats crawling along her skin.

Duck and cover, for the beasts now roam. Escape now quickly, don’t lead them home.

Don’t tarry, don’t tarry, my dear little one. You are not alone and the danger is gone.

How long had she been hiding? Time warped, and all she could do was rock and count to shut out the fear—the memories.

Vacant eyes, blood, Cosmos.

Sleep and dream for the day is naught. Stars will keep you while fear is fought.

Don’t tarry, don’t tarry, my dear little one. You are not alone and the danger is gone.

If the monster was coming for her, she didn’t want to see it. Pressing her forehead to the tops of her knees and closing her eyes, she fought against her memories and lost.

Nine Years Earlier

Sometimes Lia hated being an older sister.

She loved her younger brother Cosmos but sometimes, just sometimes, she wished she could go out without having to worry about him. With her mum always working, Lia had to take care of her rambunctious little brother, and it was … annoying. He was constantly sticky, hungry, and making a mess of things.

Dahlia sighed and sat on the edge of the fountain in the center of town. She longed to go play with the other girls, but none of them wanted a dirty little boy around, which meant Lia had to follow her brother everywhere as he ran with other littles his age, played in mudpuddles, or collected bugs.

She scuffed her bare toes along the dirt between the old cobbles of the street and glanced toward the snow-capped mountains that loomed above the little town. Her mum said soon the ground would be covered, and they’d have to wear boots again.

She couldn’t wait. Winter was magical.

“Lia, come play with us!” Her head snapped up and she smiled at Maege. The little girl waved her light blue hand in a come here gesture.

Dahlia shook her head and kicked her buckskin-covered legs. “Mama is harvesting today. I have to mind Cosmos.”

Maege frowned. “He’s playing with the other boys. Come weave crowns with us. We’re going to be princesses.”

She glanced over her shoulder at Cosmos. He was right there in the square playing marbles. It wasn’t as if she was leaving him. They were in the same area. Maybe they could both play.

“Okay,” she said slowly, hopping down from the fountain. Lia padded over to the girls and waved shyly. “Hi.”

A chorus of hellos and fanged smiles greeted her. Maege patted the spot beside her and Dahlia plopped down, taking the vine her friend offered. She once again checked on her little brother, who hadn’t moved from his spot. Some of the worry left her as she tied the vine into a circle and began to weave fall leaves into a crown with the other girls.

She’d just attached a small acorn at the front when the sound of horses and jangling armor met her ears.

“Haunts!” Maege yelled.

Everyone bolted upright. Dahlia scrambled to her feet, crown in hand. She scanned the square as people ran in all directions. Her stomach dropped when she couldn’t see her brother. Her mum was going to be so mad. She always said to hide if the ghost-like soldiers began searching the village.

“Cosmos!” she screamed, dodging adults as they snatched up their children and ran. “Cosmos!” Her heart pounded in her ears; she could barely breathe as she searched the square. The horses thundered closer.

“Not fair!” she heard her brother cry.

Frantically searching, Lia spun in a circle, until she spotted Cosmos near the tanner’s, fists on his hips, red-faced. She sprinted through the fountain, ignoring the cold water, and leapt over the other side, skidding to halt behind her brother just as he tried to shove the bigger boy, Wallin, with skin the color of the sky. He didn’t move, but a nasty look crossed his face, and he punched her five-year-old brother in the face. Cosmos toppled back, crying immediately.

Crimson trickled down his face, and something hot wiggled in Dahlia’s chest. She dropped her crown and brushed her brother’s tears away, patting his nose with the end of her tattered dress. “I know it hurts, but we need to hide.”

“Haunts?” her brother sobbed.

“Yes.” She pointed to a stack of barrels. “Go! I’m coming too.”

Cosmos climbed to his feet, still crying softly as he ran to the barrels and hid.

“Run, you big baby,” Wallin yelled. “The ghosts are coming to get you, and there’s no place to hide.”

Lia slowly faced the boy one year younger than her. Wallin was a bully through and through. Her mum said the reason he was so mean was because his parents hadn’t taught him to love all different kinds of people. But Lia thought he was mean because he liked it.

He stood a head above her even though she was older. He flashed his fangs at her and made a shooing motion. “Run back to your papa.” A pause. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t have one.”

The heat in her chest tightened. “I do. He died.”

“You’re lying. My papa says that he ran away because he didn’t want to be a papa.”

Her face flushed and her fingers curled into fists. “That’s not true. You’re the liar.”

Wallin leaned closer. “He left you because you’re a pathetic, colorless human.”

Her control snapped.

Lia swung, her fist connecting with the boy’s cheek. He cried out and grabbed for her, but she darted beneath his arm and kicked the back of his leg. Wallin crashed to his knees, and she jumped on his back, knocking him flat to the ground. Lia pulled his black hair, her knees digging into his spine.

“You’re a liar and a bully and a?—”

“What is this?” a scary voice growled.

Dahlia froze, blinking out of the red haze that had descended over her vision. She trembled as Haunts surrounded them, white armor gleaming despite the cloudy sky. Her fingers tightened as a pair of black eyes studied her from the top of a huge shaggy horse with sharp teeth. Wallin whimpered, and she came back to herself. She scrambled off of the boy. The boy climbed to his feet, crying.

“What happened here?” the scary Haunt barked.

“She attacked me because I won the game,” Wallin cried.

Lia frowned. “That’s not true. He cheated and hurt my brother.”

“Where is this brother?” another Haunt demanded, his black eyes narrowing in his pale gray face.

Dahlia stiffened, but kept her mouth shut. Haunts stole human children, her mama said. She shivered under the dark gazes of the huge monsters surrounding her. Cosmos had to be safe. He was her responsibility. She glanced at Wallin, who also didn’t say a word. His story would be proved a lie if they found her brother.

“Gone,” Lia commented.

“You wouldn’t lie to us?” the scary Haunt asked, his pale fingers flexing on the reins. He hopped off his mount and grabbed her by the front of her dress. He hefted her into the air.

“N-no, sir,” Lia managed to get out, holding on to his arm while her legs kicked the air. He bared his long fangs in her face and she blanched, tears welling in her eyes.

“This is what happens when we let them mingle among us. They cause pain and suffering,” he said. “Time for a lesson.” He lifted his other hand and Lia whimpered, scrunching her eyes closed as she waited for the blow.

“No!” her mama’s voice shouted. “Leave her alone! She’s just a little girl.”

Lia yipped as the Haunt dropped her; she hit the ground too hard, falling to her rear. She started to cry as her mother hung on the scary Haunt’s arm, glaring up at him. Lia screamed when he hit her mum and she dropped onto all fours. She scrambled toward Lia and yelled when another Haunt kicked her in the gut, toppling her onto her back. Her head made a sickening crack against the stone, and yet she still crawled toward Dahlia, until she caged the girl beneath her body.

“Mama!” she sobbed, clinging to her rough-spun dress.

“It’s okay, my sweet,” her mum slurred, the pupils of her eyes looking weird. She almost looked like a Haunt, her eyes were so black. “I love you. We’ll be okay…”

The blows kept coming until her mother collapsed, curling around Lia.

Lia continued to cry, pressing her face into her mum’s chest.

“Human scum,” she heard someone say, before a wet glob hit the side of her neck.

They were spitting on them, but she held still as her mum made a faint shushing sound. A whip cracked, and then the clatter of hooves started.

The Haunts were leaving.

They lay like that until the square rang with silence. Lia’s tears dried and itched on her face. She raised her head and stared at her mama. Blood dripped down her face.

“Mama?”

“ Leph ,” she wheezed, her gaze focusing on nothing. “ Teg leph .”

“I don’t understand.” She scooted back and her mum cried out in pain. “I’m sorry, Mama.” Something wasn’t right. “Help.” She barely whispered it for fear of the Haunts coming back.

“ Leph ,” her mum repeated, and began to shake.

Lia stood, fear pumping through her. She searched the area for someone, anyone , but no one was around.

In the middle of the square lay her trampled crown.

Her mother wheezed and seized on the ground.

This was Dahlia’s fault.

All because she wanted to be a princess for an hour.

“Dahlia!”

She jerked and cringed back against the wall, the fabrics around her rustling. Lia stared at Basil, who stood in the doorframe of the wardrobe with his hands on his hips. Her heart thundered and nausea swirled in her gut.

“What the devil are you doing?”

Lia blinked slowly at him. Hiding, that’s what she was doing. And reliving the horrors of her past. Didn’t he know monsters lurked in the castle? That they’d come for her?

The steward threw his hands in the air and stomped over to her, shoving aside all the garments around her. Dahlia wrapped her arms around herself, feeling exposed, like a raw nerve. He reached down and pulled Lia to her feet. His brows slashed together as his gaze swept her face.

“You look like death.”

“Thanks,” she croaked. Fatigue crashed down upon her as she tried to pull out of the nightmare that threatened to suck her back in.

“What happened to you?” he questioned, suspicion in his tone. “Were you discovered? Did you expose us?” When she didn’t answer, Basil grabbed her by the biceps and shook her. “Answer me!”

“No…” She shook her head. “Only the ghosts of my past came to haunt me.” Bane and blood, she was tired.

He harrumphed. “We all have ghosts, sweets. Now is not the time to let them bother you. Too much is at stake.” Basil lifted a lock of her hair and squinted at it. “Despite your little adventure last night, I was able to get your brother out of the palace.” He sniffed. “No thanks to your meddling.”

Dahlia rubbed her forehead. “Last night?”

“Yes, my lady ,” he emphasized. “It’s well into the day. The whole palace is in an uproar due to the fact the envoy arrived early, and they don’t plan to stay even one night.”

Her stomach dropped. “What?”

“That’s why I am late.” He pulled her from the wardrobe out into the light of her bedroom. “I’ve arranged for your things to be packed and sent along.”

Lia glanced at the ceiling. The gloomy sky hovered just outside the domed glass roof. Not a good omen. The weather seemed to reflect her mood. “My things?”

“Yes, you silly girl. You’ll travel with the Loriian delegation, and your trunks will follow behind you.”

“So what now?” she asked woodenly as Basil hustled her into the bathing chamber.

“We dress you properly, and ready you to leave with the envoy.”

Dahlia swallowed hard, feeling faint. “Are they as scary as everyone says?” She hadn’t been able to see anything in the dark, but she felt how the giant had loomed over her like a demon ready to devour her. All she could see was the Haunts in her memories as they beat her mother.

Basil paused, meeting her gaze. “They are … different.”

Translation: terrifying. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“You must. What are a few claws and fangs?”

Lia shuddered. “Monsters.”

“Maybe, but…” His gaze trailed to her legs and then back to her face. “What are a few monsters against a witch?”

“I’m not a witch.”

“Could have fooled me.”

She closed her eyes and centered herself. All she had to do was get through the meeting and the next few days of travel. Once the delegation had passed the Loriian border, she’d disappear and meet up with her brother. She’d take him and flee the kingdom.

Duck and cover, for the beasts now roam. Escape now quickly, don’t lead them home.

Dahlia couldn’t breathe as she descended a grand staircase of pure copper. Fear wrapped around her throat like a serpent. Basil strode ahead and waved a hand at the doorkeepers. The two liveried men opened the elaborate double doors, revealing the throne room within.

Lia paused at the bottom of the stairs and pressed a hand to her belly, the hard corset unforgiving beneath the emerald gown. The maids had cinched her so tightly, it felt as if her ribs creaked with each movement. After the last few weeks of being subjected to the fashions of court, Dahlia was thankful she didn’t have a drop of highborn blood.

She stared at the profile of the queen, who hadn’t looked in their direction. Queen Allium was like a diamond—glittering, cold, and hard. King Randa was another matter altogether. He leaned forward out of his great amber throne, his gaze roaming all over her. Inwardly, she winced. No father would look at his daughter in such a way. If the king wasn’t careful, he’d ruin the ruse just by looking at her.

Or show just how depraved he actually was.

The steward waved his hand at her, his expressionless mask in place. Dahlia could take a lesson or two from him. He transitioned with his crowd. While Basil portrayed himself to be an addled fop, she had a feeling he was more calculating, and savvier than anyone knew.

Pushing her shoulders back, she glided forward, her eyes on the ground in submission. Playing princess or not, Lia wouldn’t get her head cut off for raising her eyes in insolence. From beneath her lashes, she caught glimpses of soaring columns, gilded frames, and emerald marble. She paused at the bottom of the dais and curtsied, nary a wobble in the movement. Her thighs cramped as she held the stooped position, waiting for the monarchs to bid her to rise.

“Rise,” King Randa commanded.

Slowly, Dahlia straightened, still keeping her eyes on the ground. Her lungs labored for breath, but she tried to pull in slow, even sips of air.

“My love,” the king commented. “Look what our dear Basil has done.”

“You mean turn a commoner into a royal? It’s repugnant, and yet … she’s perfect.” Queen Allium’s tone was begrudging.

Lia didn’t feel any pride at the compliment. Looks were only skin deep.

“Let’s see if she’s truly ready. Look at me, Dahlia.”

She peered up at the queen, a little queasy. Allium reminded her of a spider sitting upon a throne, ready to devour her. Dahlia fought back a shudder as she got a good look at the thrones. Large insects were trapped perfectly inside the amber like little trophies.

Like how they’d trapped her.

The queen smiled but it was chilly. “I assume you know the stakes if you should fail…?”

“I will not fail.” I’ll run.

Allium hummed, her blood-red lips pursed. “My king, what do you think?”

Randa pushed his ginger curls from his face and grinned. “I think she knows what is at stake should she fail.”

Thank the fates that Cosmos was out of their grasp. Once she crossed the Loriian border, she would disappear, reconnect with her brother, and flee south. There was no way they could stay in Astera, but they could start over. They would be free.

The king grinned, but it was more of a baring of his teeth. “I like you, Dahlia. Our spies have said that you’ve been very obedient and have kept to yourself since your arrival in our home. Your silence made me curious. Quiet people can’t always be trusted, can they, my dear?”

Her heart thumped harder in her chest. Had they discovered her brother’s disappearance already? She didn’t dare look at Basil. She kept her attention focused on the king, maintaining her blank expression.

He clicked his painted nails against the armrest of his throne, his smile smug. “I had my son do a little digging. It seems Cosmos isn’t your only family member, is he?”

Her stomach dropped. No.

Lia’s mind whirled and her fingers sank into her gauzy green skirt. He couldn’t know about their mother. She’d never told a soul about…

“It seems you’ve been hiding your dear old mum in the northern countryside.”

A lump rose in her throat and the air felt thin. How did they find out? Even Cosmos didn’t know that their mum still breathed.

King Rada’s smile widened. “I can see from the gleam in your eye that you’ve been weaving a tangled web of lies, dear child. Just know that your secret will stay safe with us—your mother will stay safe as long as you do what you are told. If not…” He drew a line across his throat. “…we will relieve that foolish creature of her existence.”

Spots danced across Dahlia’s vision, and she wavered slightly. Basil clutched her left arm, squeezing a bit too hard. A warning.

Get a hold of yourself.

“You’ll be a good girl, won’t you?” the king crooned.

Lia found herself nodding as she tried to tamp down the panic. Every time she thought she’d crawled out of the hole she found herself in, Dahlia found herself deeper down. When would the dirt start raining down?

“Good. We have another task for you.” The king’s smile turned predatory. “We wish to be apprised of your movements, and any … discoveries … you make while visiting Loriia.”

“What should I be looking for, Your Majesty?” she said, throat dry.

“Anything that will help us.”

“I will do my best.”

“I’m sure you will,” Allium said. “But that is not all. That kingdom has caused problems for us for a long time. We wish to be rid of this new king and his presence in our lives. You will do this for us.”

Dahlia’s lips parted but she managed to keep in her gasp. They wanted her to assassinate the Frost King. She glanced at Basil, but he stared straight ahead like he listened to murder plans all the time. For all she knew, maybe he did.

“Will that be a problem?” the king asked, syrup coating his tone, but not able to hide the glee and malice in his gaze.

“No,” she all but whispered.

“Excellent. I know this won’t be an easy challenge, but I’m sure you’ll use every single asset of yours to the fullest.”

Translation, seduce the Frost King if you must.

Lia wanted to throw up.

“Don’t worry, Dahlia. I will send you help. Just keep an eye out for our spy.”

“Who is it?”

Allium smirked. “Now, now. Let’s not get greedy. What if you fail immediately? We can’t let you ruin all our plans.”

By failure she meant Lia’s death.

She waved a hand to Basil. “Give her our gift.”

Basil produced a box with a simple emerald ring. “Hold out your hand.”

Slowly, she held out her right hand and Basil slipped the jewelry onto her middle finger. Lia stared at the ring. “Thank you for the gift.” Why would they give this?

“It’s more than the sum of its looks, darling,” the queen preened. “Press the stone.”

Lia followed the command, and the emerald top swung open, revealing a tiny hidden compartment with a wickedly sharp needle in the center. Her stomach dropped. A poison ring?

“A little something to help with the job. Make sure you have contact with the king for ten seconds. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Her mind scrambled. There were so many things that could go wrong with this situation. “Can they scent the drugs?”

“No,” the king supplied. His smile turned gleeful. “We’ve had it tested several times.”

She hid her disgust. On who? Lia closed the ring.

“Now that’s done and over with…” The queen gestured to her left. “…come stand next to me. It’s time for you to officially meet the mongrel delegation.”

Basil stepped away from Lia; she lifted her skirt and ascended the dais to stand beside Allium’s throne, her legs shaking slightly.

They expected her to murder the Loriian king. A giant. He’d wring her neck before she even got close to him.

“I do have one question. What name am I to go by?”

“If you remember our prior conversation, I was once very taken with the floral.” She waved her hand lazily. “I thought of myself as a romantic in my youth. As it happens, the princess shares her middle name with you. That’s how I knew you’d been sent to us.”

Only through trickery and betrayal, not by fate.

“Her middle name is Dahlia?”

“Yes, you stupid girl. That is what I just said, isn’t it?”

Lia bit back her retort and nodded. “Yes, my lady.”

The queen glanced up at her. “Prepare yourself, little flower. The monsters are afoot. Try not to look too shocked and terrified when they enter or I’ll be very displeased.” A pause. “Also, they brought their king .” Dahlia’s eyes widened. The Frost King hadn’t left his kingdom since he’d been crowned. “I believe he wishes to assess you before he brings you into Loriia. Don’t mess this up!”

“Yes, my lady,” she replied softly, keeping her attention on the doors straight ahead with the ring heavy on her finger. Yesterday had terrified her, but it mostly had to do with the dark, the threats, and the surprise. Today, she knew what she was in for.

“Bring them in,” King Randa commanded.