Frostfire Read Free Page B

anyone get in or out of it yet?” Ridley asked.
    “No.” I shook my head.
    “It could just be a human thing,” Ridley suggested, but he didn’t sound like he believed
     it.
    “I don’t think so.” I sighed. “I’m gonna go check it out.”
    “Okay.” Ridley pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded once, reluctant to agree
     that I should put myself in a possibly dangerous situation. “Just don’t do anything
     stupid, Bryn.”
    “I never do,” I assured him with a smile, but that just caused him to roll his eyes.
    “I mean it,” he insisted. “Investigate, but do not interact with them until you figure
     out who we’re dealing with. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can run the plates or find
     out anything on that car. I’ll check in with you later today, okay?”
    “Okay. And I’ll let you know if I find anything out.”
    “Stay safe, Bryn,” Ridley said, and before he could say anything else, I ended the
     call.
    According to the clock on the phone, I only had twenty minutes left of lunch and then
     afternoon class began. My options were limited, but I knew I didn’t want to wait outside
     all day, hoping the passengers would make a move so I could see them. If somebody
     was after Linus, I needed to find out who it was before something bad happened.
    So I walked out of the alley and straight to the car. Ridley might consider what I
     was doing stupid, but it was my best option. Out of the past twelve changelings I’d
     tracked, I’d brought twelve of them back home. I wasn’t about to let Linus be the
     first one I lost.
    I grabbed the handle of the back door, half expecting it to be locked, but it opened,
     so I got in. Two men were sitting in front, and they both turned around to look at
     me as I slid across the seat.
    “What the hell?” the driver snarled.
    When I saw who it was—his steel-gray eyes meeting mine—my heart clenched, and all
     the air went out of my lungs. For that moment everything felt frozen as he glared
     at me, then the rage and horror surged through me in a nauseating mixture.
    I recovered as quickly as I could, holding back my anger, and smiled at him. Somehow
     in an even voice, I said his name. “Konstantin Black.”

 
    TWO
    vengeance
    His eyes narrowed, and his lip twitched ever so slightly. “Do I know you?”
    “Not exactly,” I admitted, not surprised that he didn’t remember me.
    The only time I’d spoken to him had been one of the most important and traumatic nights
     of my life, but that night he’d clearly had his mind on something else. Before that,
     I had only been one adoring fan out of thousands that he’d met in his tenure at Doldastam.
    Konstantin had changed some in the four years since I’d last seen him—four long years
     since he’d attacked my father and disappeared into the night. His eyes seemed harder,
     and there were lines etched in the once-smooth skin around them. He’d grown a beard,
     and his hair was a bit longer and wilder than I remembered him wearing it.
    But he was still unmistakably him. I’d spent years nursing a schoolgirl crush on him,
     picturing that face in my daydreams, and then I’d spent years plotting my revenge
     against him, picturing that face in my nightmares.
    Now here it was, his eyes mere inches from my own, and he had no idea who I was.
    “You’re a tracker,” Konstantin realized, and the corner of his mouth curved up into
     a smirk. I remembered the way that smirk had once filled me with butterflies, but
     now it only made me want to punch it off his face.
    “So you do know her? Or not?” his companion asked.
    “No, I don’t know her, Bent,” Konstantin told him, and I glanced over at his partner
     in crime.
    His friend—Bent, apparently—I didn’t recognize, but by his features I guessed he was
     Omte. His skin was smooth, and he appeared to be tall, but he had the same lopsided
     square head and beady eyes of a hobgoblin. Not to mention he didn’t seem that