Authors: Amanda Hocking
Frostfire
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CONTENTS
As dawn began to approach, the celebration finally wound to a close. Even though I
had been working for over twelve hours, I felt wide awake and even a little buzzed,
like I’d gotten a contact high from the energy around me, not to mention the thrill
of completing my first real assignment as a tracker.
Since my graduation was still several months away, I hadn’t been given any major detail
or heady responsibility. My duties for the night involved standing at attention during
the formalities, and surveying the rooms for signs of trouble the rest of the night,
which mostly meant directing the increasingly inebriated party guests to the bathroom.
But still, I had been here, working alongside other trackers and even the more elite
Högdragen—the guards charged with protecting the Kanin kingdom. That’s why at the
end of the night, despite the growing ache in my bare feet, I was a little saddened
to be relieved of my duties.
King Evert and Queen Mina had opened the doors to all the Kanin in our capital of
Doldastam, and there were over ten thousand of us living here. With that many people
streaming in through the doors for an impromptu party, the royal couple needed all
the hands they could get, including trackers-in-training.
We’d just gotten word a few days before that another tribe, the Trylle, had defeated
our shared enemy, the Vittra. For the past few months, our King and Queen had been
quietly preparing the Kanin. If the Vittra had taken out the Trylle, we would have
been the next logical target, since we were wealthier and more powerful than the Trylle.
We were too strong and plentiful for the Vittra to go after first, but once they conquered
the Trylle and turned their army to Vittra, they would be strong enough to go after
us.
But when the Trylle did away with the Vittra King and his entire army, they did away
with our impending war as well. So naturally our good King Evert found reason to celebrate,
which was how I’d ended up working a party until the early hours of the morning.
By now the King and Queen had retired to their chambers for the evening, and nearly
all of the guests had gone home. A handful of trackers and Högdragen stayed on to
oversee the party until everyone had departed, while the cleaning crew had begun the
unenviable task of taking care of the mess.
Since so few people were left, I was relieved of my duty and sent home for the night.
I felt a bit like Cinderella then, her lovely coach turning back into a pumpkin, as
I walked slowly into the front hall. Though I had been wearing the trackers’ formal
uniform—a tailored, frosty white suit, all crisp and new since this was the first
time I’d worn it—instead of a gown given to me by a fairy godmother, at the end of
the night my uniform would be put away, and I wouldn’t perform any more duties until
after I graduated.
Once I did graduate, I’d be given a silver sash to hold my sword, but until then they
didn’t quite trust me with a weapon, not that I’d really needed one for a celebration
like this anyway.
As I made my way toward the front door, unbuttoning my jacket and letting it fall
loose, I let out a heavy sigh. Many of the kerosene lamps had gone out, leaving the
large entrance glowing dimly. The white banners that decorated the high stone walls
of the palace had begun to sag, and silver confetti carpeted the cool floor.
The creak of a heavy door closing gave me pause, because it sounded like the door
to my father’s office. I glanced down the narrow corridor off the main hall, and sure
enough, I saw my dad emerging from his office. His black hair—which he normally kept
smoothed back—had become slightly disheveled, and his tie was loosened, with the top
buttons of his shirt undone.
“What are you doing?” I asked in surprise. “I thought you went home hours ago.”
“I had some paperwork I needed to finish up.” He gestured to the office behind him
as he walked slowly toward me, suppressing a yawn as he did.
My dad worked as a Chancellor for the kingdom. I knew that Dad took his job very seriously,
and he often worked late nights, but I’d never known him to work quite this late before.
“Paperwork?” I raised an eyebrow. “While a party was going on?”
“We needed to send a letter to the Trylle.” Dad gave a half shrug, which did little
to convince me that that was really why he was still working. “They’re poised to oversee
two kingdoms now, and it’s in our best interest to align with them.”
“And you needed to do that right now?” I pressed.
“It could’ve waited until the morning,” Dad admitted, and his mouth turned to a sheepish
smile as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I wanted to see how your night went.
It is your first big night on the job.”
“It went well,” I said, then paused when a wave of doubt hit me. I tried to replay
the night in my head, searching for any mistakes I might’ve made. “I think.”
“I’m sure you did wonderful,” Dad assured me, and his grin broadened, stretching into
one of pride and affection. “Every time I looked over, I saw you standing at attention.
You looked so grown up and so … official.”
“Thank you.”
“My little girl is all grown up,” he said wistfully and reached to tousle my blond
waves.
“Dad.”
I ducked away from his hand, but I couldn’t help but smile at him. “Can you at least
wait until we’re out of the palace to get all mushy?”
He opened his mouth, probably to point out that we were alone, but then we both heard
the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor. Instinctively, I stood up straighter
and put my shoulders back. I was about to start buttoning my jacket back up, but then
I saw Konstantin Black walking right toward my dad and me, and for a second I forgot
to breathe.
We allowed movies and music from the human world, but the true rock stars of our society
were the Högdragen. They had been ordinary Kanin who worked their way up to powerful
positions of respect and authority, and none had done it quite so quickly or with
as much flare as Konstantin Black. Still in his twenties, he was already the Queen’s
personal guard—the youngest in recorded history to have such a position.
His black velvet uniform, embellished with silver thread and jewels, was the most
luxurious of all the Högdragen uniforms, and even though it was standard for Kanin
in his position, his somehow seemed even more divine. His silver sash caught the dim
light from the lanterns and managed to glint a little. Even the diamond-encrusted
bell handle of his sword sparkled.
He strode confidently over to us, and I tried to remain as blank and composed as I
could, as I had been taught. But it was impossible to keep my stomach from doing flips
inside me. For years I had been admiring him from afar—for his abilities, his strength,
his composure, and, if I’m being honest, in more recent years for how handsome he
was—and this was already the most personal encounter I’d had with him.
We’d been in the same room before, but always separated by a sea of people, since
his duties kept him close to the Queen, and mine kept me far from her or the King.
He’d brushed past me in halls. I’d seen him from the crowd as he’d demonstrated his
skill in fencing games during the summer. But I’d never seen him really look at me
before, or notice my attentive gaze among all the other adoring faces.
Now here he was, smiling as he stopped in front of us, and it had the same overwhelming
effect as looking down from a great height.
I’d gotten so used to gazing at him from a distance, it was hard not to stare. The
way his lips curved up slightly more on the left side as he smiled, or the shadow
of stubble that had grown darker on the smooth line of his chin as the night progressed,
or the way his black hair was slick and straight until it began to curl at the nape
of his neck, where it stopped just above his collar.
“Chancellor, I wasn’t expecting to see you here at this hour,” Konstantin said to
my dad.
“I was seeing my daughter home.” Dad motioned in my direction, and Konstantin looked
down at me. He wasn’t much taller than I was, but he seemed to tower over me, with
his gray eyes like smoke resting warmly on my face.
“It was your first night working something like this, wasn’t it?” Konstantin asked.
I nodded. “Yes,” I said, relieved that my voice stayed even and normal.
“You did very well.” He smiled at me, causing my heart to flutter. “I’ll put in a
good word to your Rektor.”
“Thank you very much, but that’s not necessary,” I told him firmly.
Konstantin laughed, the sound filling up the front hall and echoing through it. “Modesty
is a noble thing, but it won’t get you a coveted spot on the Högdragen. Take help
whenever it’s offered if you want to make it in this world.”
I’d always insisted that I only looked up to him as a guard, as someone I wanted to
emulate. But now, with the mere sound of his laughter sending pleasurable shivers
through me, I couldn’t deny that I’d been harboring a crush on him for so long it
had begun to turn into something that felt dangerously like love.
“That’s very sound advice, Konstantin,” my dad said, pulling me from my thoughts,
and pulling Konstantin’s gaze from me.
“You sound surprised that I have good ideas, Chancellor,” Konstantin said with a wry
smirk.
Dad returned the smirk in kind and adjusted his loosened tie. “I think it’s just the
night wearing on me.”
“Sorry, I should be letting you get on your way,” Konstantin said apologetically,
and my heart sank when I realized this brief exchange would soon end, leaving me feeling
even more like Cinderella than ever before.
“Thank you.” My dad nodded and stepped back toward the door, then Konstantin held
out his hand.
“Actually, Chancellor, if I could keep you just a few minutes longer I might save
you some trouble in the morning.”
“What do you mean?” Dad asked.
“The Queen just went to her chambers, but before she did, she let me know that she
wanted you to sign a document first thing in the morning to be sent out to the Trylle.”
Konstantin gestured to the grand windows above the door, which were starting to show
the first hints of dawn. “And with morning so close, if you wanted to sign it now,
you would have a few hours longer to sleep in.”