Frost Fae (Dark Fae Kings #2) - Meg Xuemei X Page 0,41

me that in any hostage situation, the longer you stayed with your captor, the slimmer the chance you’d ever escape. So, I’d have to take the first opportunity to flee.

The knights appeared absent-minded while corralling their king’s half-naked harem. With the two powerful monsters gone, this might be the only open window I’d get.

I must escape now or die trying.

When I’d admired the spectacular view during the Winter King’s grand tour, I’d never thought I’d have to run for my life mere hours later.

I lifted my long gown and bolted toward the edge of the rooftop.

“Stop, Lady Evelina!” the leading Winter knight shouted.

How ironic he still called me a lady while his king called me trash and a whore.

Three knights came running swiftly after me. Good thing I wasn’t out of shape. I’d always been a runner even before the Fae kings and their knights started training me.

A bearded knight jumped at me from the side, but I sidestepped and kicked him in the knee with my heel. The knight stumbled back with a curse, and I broke into a blistering run again.

I reached the edge of the roof while the pursuing knights were still several yards away, and I climbed onto the railing lithely.

“Lady Evelina,” a Winter knight pleaded. “Please don’t do this. His Majesty will execute me.”

I tore the hem of the gown to prevent it from hindering my jump.

“Fuck your asshole king,” I said. “Tell him he can rot in Hell.”

The knight lunged for me, his fingers brushing my wrist as I flung my arms open and leapt.

I plunged toward the far ground, face up toward the white misty sky. The world appeared so pure while I just had one of the ugliest days of my life.

Horror was etched on the knights’ faces as they reached the brink and stared down from the top of the castle, thousands of feet high. From this angle, the glacier castle appeared to float in the air.

I might not be able to conjure up my magic, even in a crisis, but I knew in my blood that plants were my affinity and I owned every inch of vine on earth.

At my summoning, vines shot from the castle wall to my aid, stretching and entwining and making a nest around me. The nest shot to the ground, and soon I could no longer see the stunned expressions on the knights’ faces.

I waited for them to cut the branches of the vines from the top to drop me. It wouldn’t work, though. The vines would sprout from the ground to hold me up. And if the knights attempted to harm me in that way, I’d mercilessly command the thorny tendrils to drag them down from the top of the castle and let them plunge to their death.

But the knights just stared down at me. To my surprise, none of them shouted for their king to announce that I’d escaped. None of them sprang into pursuit, either.

As soon as the nest of vines touched down outside the confinement of the castle, I stepped off my makeshift elevator and waved away the vines. Then I bolted toward the snow-covered forest a mile away.

Too bad I’d lost a shoe when I kicked that knight in the knee. Now I had to run barefoot while holding the other shoe in my hand.

As I ran, the icy ground burned the bottoms of my feet, and I’d never hated ice so much. I hated anything that associated with the Winter King.

I didn’t stop as I ran for my life and freedom.

The soles of my feet shredded, leaving a trail of blood on the path of hard ice when I reached the edge of the forest. Coldness numbed my pain before heightening it again.

I didn’t mind pain. I was no stranger to it anymore. I now welcomed the burn, for it made me feel alive with hatred, filling the void that once blossomed with affection and desire.

I looked back at the castle in the distant light.

The knights hadn’t come for me. It was probably beneath them to hunt trash.

The wind bellowed harshly as I dove deep into the frozen forest.

A beast howled somewhere, rattling thick chunks of snow from the branches above, pumping fresh fear into me.

Fear, however, didn’t freeze me as my rage rose to meet the challenge.

Chapter 13

I couldn’t tell north from south or east from west, as the sun and stars all abandoned this frozen world. There was only the endless white sky and deep forest.

The Winter