Frost Bound (Entangled with Trickery #1)

Dahlia

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dahlia

Dahlia came to several conclusions as a company of soldiers joined them outside the city.

First, that she was only a prisoner if she let herself be one.

Second, until this very moment, she’d been letting fear control her. Since the Giver had handed her off to the Asteran monarchy, Lia had been helpless in their schemes, but no more. She needed to be logical in each of her decisions going forward or her fear would get her killed.

Third, she’d always prided herself on being pragmatic. To be honest, she’d never had the choice to be anything else. There was always the next town or city, the next show to be performed so they could eat, the next healer to query discreetly. Lia literally could not afford to be herself. But in the last month, she’d experienced anger, joy, sadness, and empathy, and expressed them outwardly in a way she’d never done before. It was … freeing .

Fourth, Dahlia needed allies if she was to ever escape Loriia and reunite with her family. The Giver had told her once she could charm a snake, and since he was a backstabbing serpent, she figured that was true. In the icy lands, Lia was the outsider, but she’d already made a friend of Loshika. Who else could possibly help her? Her attention turned to Eyri. He was curious about humans, and he’d been nothing but kind to her. That was a start.

Fifth, she would never let anyone use her again. It would be her choice. Randa, Allium, and Neve all thought to manipulate her to get their way. She might be a peasant bard, but she’d never be at their mercy again. It was time to start acting like a royal.

And sixth, she was fairly certain she’d seen Jekket in the crowd near the Seed. A shiver of foreboding worked down her spine. Was he just a figment of her imagination? Or had the Giver sent him?

And seventh, the Frost King smelled of rosemary and cedar. She liked it all too much.

“You’re quiet,” the king rumbled.

“I’m tired.” She’d held herself stiffly away from Neve for hours, and the sun was about to set. The muscles in her back twinged and she grimaced.

A heavy sigh ruffled the hair atop her head. She squeaked when the king pressed her head against his chest and shoulder. “Then rest . You’re making Cessa nervous.”

Her initial reaction was to pull away from him, but she stayed, peeking up from underneath her hood. Lia was met with the strong column of his indigo neck that led to Neve’s sharp jawline.

Handsome.

She blanched, wanting to scrub the thought from her mind. He was the enemy. If he found out that she wasn’t the real princess, there was no doubt in her mind that he would execute her. The thought sobered her.

Dahlia focused on the soldiers that flanked their right side, from time to time catching a warrior studying her like she was an oddity. She frowned at their large shaggy horses. None of the soldiers rode rukhals .

“Why do they have horses?” she found herself asking. Didn’t the king say the stags did better in the deep snow?

“They are war horses bred for the deep north. They have been trained for endurance, bursts of speed, and warfare.”

Lia schooled her expression as a soldier glanced her way while she was eyeing his horse. When she needed to make a break for it, she’d need one of those horses.

“They’re lovely,” she commented. “I like their shaggy feet. It’s cute.”

“Cute? They are animals of war, warriors in their own right. They are not cute.”

His tone was so offended on behalf of the horses, a giggle snuck out. Once she started, Dahlia couldn’t stop until she started coughing.

“Are you done yet?” he asked gruffly, patting her back awkwardly.

“Yes.” She wheezed. “For the time being.”

They lapsed into silence, and an owl-looking creature swooped to the far south. She drifted off, dreaming about golden eyes and white feathers.

Loshika caught up to them later that night.

She crept into Dahlia’s room, listened to her chest, and then went to sleep on her own pallet. The next two days followed the same pattern. Ride all day in the king’s arms, trading softly spoken barbs, and then sleeping in a real bed with a roaring fire.

By the last day, it had grown so cold Lia had wrapped a scarf around her nose and mouth to protect them from the icy air. The terrain grew rockier and started angling upward, forcing her back against the king. The longer they rode, the tighter his body seemed to coil, and the shorter his temper grew. Every word he spoke was sharp or cutting.

Finally, Dahlia couldn’t take his suffocating ire and the cramp in her calf any longer. She didn’t care how close they were to the palace. Lia needed to get away from him.

“Please stop. I need to rest.”

The Frost King huffed his displeasure, but lifted his hand into the air, the company of soldiers all slowing to a stop at his signal. He slid from the rukhal ’s back and helped her to her feet. She muttered her thanks, but he didn’t reply, dismissing her immediately.

Lia grumbled under her breath and wound through the warriors until she found Loshika. She waved at the healer and stretched her leg out, her calf muscle twisted fiercely.

The healer climbed down from her own beast and crossed her arms. “When is the last time you drank water, my lady?”

“Before we left?” She grinned behind her scarf and held out her arms innocently when Loshika scowled at her. “What?”

“You need fluids to heal, reilleve .”

Dahlia knew that, but no one had outfitted her with a waterskin, and she didn’t want to ask the king, since speaking to him had become … unpleasant. He was downright beastly today.

No, it was better to go without if it meant not having to speak to him.

Loshika dug in her bag, retrieving dried fruit, meat, and a canteen. She slapped them into Lia’s mittened hands. “Now, go sit down and eat.”

Lia dipped her head and padded out of the crowd of warriors. The back of her neck prickled with all the eyes that watched her, but she ignored it and picked her way through the rocks, scrub brush, pines, and snow, until she found the perfect seat.

Brushing the snow from the flat stone, she sat down and pulled her scarf from her face. The cold nipped at her cheeks, but it felt refreshing. The scarf had felt smothering in the last hour.

While Dahlia preferred the warmth of summer, she could absolutely fall in love with the beauty of winter. She plopped a hard, dried apricot into her mouth and chewed slowly, the fruit slowly warming up as she admired how the pines added a pop of color to the crisp landscape. The snow sparkled under the sun, shining like a blanket of diamonds.

A hoot above was all the warning she got before an enormous owl landed on a pointy boulder to her right. She stared at the creature with wide eyes. The bird flapped its wings before settling down. The owl had to be at least the size of a large dog with its wide wingspan.

They stared at each other, and the owl tippy-tapped on the rock, an impatient dance.

“Why, hello there,” she murmured softly, hoping that her voice wouldn’t scare the creature away.

The owl blinked at her and focused on her lap, particularly the food.

“Are you hungry?” Lia picked up an apricot and tossed it over to the rock. It landed with a dull thud. The bird pecked it but knocked it away with its beak. Apparently, it didn’t like apricots. “Maybe some meat?” she crooned, tossing a piece of dried venison over. The owl snatched it up and gobbled it down.

Dahlia smiled. “Seems we’ve found something you like.” She yanked a piece of venison apart, her mittened fingers struggling, and tossed one piece into her mouth, chewing. Lia watched her feathery companion watching her.

Its feathers looked so soft. What would it be like to hug such a creature? She eyed its long claws and wickedly sharp beak. Lia wouldn’t be finding out any time soon.

The owl hopped closer until it was only about five feet away. Lia stared at the bird, admiring the dark bars woven through its white feathers.

“Do you want another piece?” she asked, tossing the next strip of meat to the owl.

It snatched the meat out of the air, swallowing it whole. Wow, that was something else. The owl eyed her with round gold eyes edged in black. They almost seemed sentient. She knew all creatures were intelligent in their own way, but this was something different. It was uncanny and knowing.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lia murmured. She’d never seen anything so stunning.

The owl hooted, and preened as if it knew she was praising it.

“ Valles ,” the low voice of the king said softly from behind her. “You need to move away from the astrylle .” There was something in his tone that made the hair along her arms raise. “Slowly.”

The owl screeched, its attention on Neve. It hunched forward, its claws flexing on the stone.

“Give me a minute,” she murmured, keeping her voice level, the magical moment over.

Lia gathered up her last two pieces of meat and tossed them to the owl, who didn’t even look at them. It stared at her. What the devil had she been thinking, feeding a gigantic bird of prey?

She stood and began backing away, when the owl leapt into the air and darted toward her. Lia lifted her arm over her face, waiting for those long-wicked claws to sink in, but the pain never came. Instead, a loud hoot sounded in her left ear.

Lia lowered her arm just a touch and swallowed her gasp. She was nose to nose with the bloody thing. “You don’t want to eat me, do you?” she whispered.

The owl crooned, and began cleaning itself like she was of no consequence.

A large set of hands settled on her hips and yanked her away from the bird. The bloody owl didn’t so much as spare a glance.

Neve lifted her and ran back to the soldiers, setting her down.

“That was stupid. Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

Lia rolled her eyes and he flinched. She didn’t think he liked that. She’d remember that for later. He laced his fingers together and placed them on the top of his head, pacing back and forth.

“You fed an astrylle ,” he stated, still pacing. “An astrylle .”

“Is that what you call the massive owl?”

He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Yes, and you could have been killed. They’re notoriously bad tempered.”

“He didn’t seem so bad.”

“ She ,” Neve volleyed back. “I can’t believe it,” he said mostly to himself.

“What?” she asked. Lia noticed that all the warriors were staring at them—at her. “ What? ”

The king chuckled, his attention on her. “It would be you. The stars are laughing at me.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

Neve stopped pacing and pointed to the astrylle . “These birds of prey are special in my culture. While they are bad tempered and volatile at times, they are fiercely loyal creatures, much like Loriians. They are often heralded as bringers of wisdom or change. And every century, a few bond with a Loriian.”

“Bond?”

“Yes. Astrylle can sense the inner person. They only choose the best of us.” He swallowed hard. “And she chose you.”

Dahlia looked to the owl and back to the king. “Me?”

“You.”

“All she did was take my scraps.”

“They don’t take food from anyone but their bonded.”

Lia gaped at him. “What does that even mean? The bird was hungry.”

The distance evaporated between them as he cupped the back of her head. “It means, reilleve , that you are more precious than I thought, and perhaps what this kingdom needs.”