Fantasy of Frost (The Tainted Accords Book 1) Read Free

them with Olandon, he was always eager for my input.

Chapter Two
    I’ll have to warn Kedrick he’s being obvious. He is looking at me too much during the noon meal. Anyone paying attention will see it and I know the court pay particular attention to the middle ring. What else would they talk about all day?
    “We’re not in meetings this afternoon, Tatum Avanna,” Kedrick says to my mother. Loudly. I nearly laugh at his crude way of telling me he’s free this afternoon. I’m close enough to see mother’s eyebrows lift before she smooths her expression. It always puts me on edge when she talks to him.
    “As discussed earlier, Prince Kedrick,” she says. Her voice could freeze the fourth. There are a few titters from the ring closest to our table. I grit my teeth. She has insulted him many times before. And he is always oblivious to her slights, much to the amusement of the court. I wish I was brave enough to risk her wrath and defend him.
    The court breaks out in whispers and I have no doubt of the subject. They remind me of Tellio lizards which eat the fallen Kaur branches. The venom in their mouth is the only substance known to break down the impenetrable wood. The blithering, stupid people around me care more about gossip and their hair than they do about each other. They are corrosive.
    We meet outside of the palace walls and I decide to take him to the old lake. I was expected at the orphanage this afternoon, but the matron would manage fine without me. Kedrick has run away from Malir and Rhone, the massive delegates who usually follow him everywhere and I have made sure I am not followed. I’ll have him to myself all afternoon.
    As we skirt around the village and leave it behind us, I become increasingly aware of how close he is. The small hairs on my arms raise every time he brushes my robe with his hand. It happens so often I start to wonder if he’s doing it on purpose.
    He passes the time by telling me stories of his family. I already know he has a younger brother, Ashawn, and, of course, his older brother is the King of Glacium. He makes me laugh with tales of Ashawn’s antics. Kedrick is very fond of his older brother, though the stories he tells make me wonder why. He seems to be a ruthless, inflexible kind of man.
    Kedrick grabs my hand. I look up, hearing his laughter and realise he has asked me a question.
    “Sorry,” I mumble, pulling my hand away.
    “Where were you just then?” he asks. This is one of his traits I cannot get used to. I do not like to share my thoughts.
    “How old is your brother?” I ask.
    “My brother is twenty-two, nearly twenty-three,” Kedrick answers, breaking off the top of some yellowed grass. It must nearly be time for it to be harvested for housing. “That must seem old to your seventeen years.”
    “It does not,” I say with a bite. He chuckles and too late, I realise he was teasing. It is another trait of his I was still getting used to.
    He laughs and nudges my shoulder with his elbow. “I know, I know. You are nearly eighteen,” he says and abruptly loses his smile. “I wish I was here for your birthday.” He chucks the bit of grass away. “It will be shortly after I leave.”
    A small breeze stirs my veil along my collarbone concealed by my grey robes. I reach up a hand to hold it in place. Why he would need to be here for my birthday? It was just a day like any other.
    “It will be two years from now,” he says, changing the subject with a shake of his head.
    I understand what he means. “Only if I am selected for the delegation to your world,” I say. Our two worlds alternated every revolution in sending twelve delegates to the other world. The chance of me being chosen was slim, since I wasn’t even allowed to see the village rotations and had not received any duties.
    “I worry that you will marry while I am gone.”
    I burst out laughing, thinking of the fat, balding man who stained his cheeks with berry juice, paying me far too many