Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,19

a sigh to myself, I picked up the tray and brought it to my bed, sliding it at the foot of it as I once again glanced all around.

I was alone. For the first time in nearly my whole life, I was to eat a meal by myself. It had always been something done with my family, and during the journey, I’d had the messenger to talk to. Granted, he’d never talked back, but that was beside the point.

This whole place… it just felt too abandoned and isolated. I felt alone, even though I knew Winter was here somewhere.

I mentally reminded myself of what I’d told Ishan, hoping that things would get better. This was indeed the bed I’d made myself, and I had no choice but to lay in it and accept whatever fate dealt me. So what if another god had appeared in my life just as I’d agreed to wed another in place of my sister? I was a human girl. I didn’t get to choose between gods like a feast, and I certainly wouldn’t get to keep them both.

It was a nice thought, though. A very nice thought, one that would keep me awake in the nights to come, I knew.

I ate in silence. At least the food was warm. It was more than I expected. Bread rolls, meat that was seasoned and smoked to perfection, and even some fruit. Fruit that you definitely could never grow in a place like this. Magic had to be involved, but I didn’t think too much about it, knowing the more I thought about it, the more I’d think about the gods whose magic it was.

Winter and Summer. I had no idea that I’d ever be caught between them.

Chapter Four – Winter

My messenger told me she was here. He also relayed that the choosing did not go as it should’ve, that my bride-to-be had volunteered to take the place of her sister, and he allowed it. I was not angry, no, far from angry as I listened to him relay the story. If I felt anything, it was melancholy, a deeply ingrained sadness that only seemed to grow lately.

It didn’t matter who she was. It never did. My brides never lasted long, leaving me to live in this big castle, alone. I could summon people, I supposed. I could force my messenger or any of the animals on the mountain to keep me company, but it wasn’t the same. I wanted the one thing I would never have, the one thing that seemed to come so effortlessly to my brother, Summer.

I wanted life. I wanted the warmth. I wanted everything that was not mine, so tired of the vacant cold and death that seemed to accompany every winter, the destruction and power of its storms. While it was beautiful—there was nothing like an undisturbed field of snow sparkling with the weak rays of sun breaking through the clouds—it was not enough for me. Not anymore.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure if it had ever been enough.

It was difficult for me to keep track of time while up here. There was no law saying I had to remain in my castle, away from the kingdom I overlooked, but some days I could not muster up the strength to even think about leaving, let alone to actually get up and go. I could teleport, but what was the point? My brother was one with the humans, much more so than I ever was. They loved him more than they loved me, but I understood why.

I was Winter. I brought death to their crops and starved their animals when they did not save enough grain to feed them through the dark and cold months. I made the roads between villages hazardous to travel. It was all me, so why would I want to spend time with the mortals who would rather be in the presence of my brother?

All I wanted was someone who understood, someone who could be there for me. I didn’t want the world, didn’t want all of the humans to bow to their knees and worship me. I just wanted one. A wife. A bride who would spend her days with me and remind me that there was still so much wonder left in this world.

I’d spent so long trying to find her, spent so many countless years desperately hoping for a miracle, to find someone who would understand me, who would want to be with me. You could not be