Fantasy of Frost (The Tainted Accords Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

together.”
    “Tell me what would happen if I fought back. If we fought back,” I say.
    He falls silent, we both know what would happen. Exile or death.
    Before I can stop him, Olandon stands and punches the wall. He draws back his fist again and I rush in to grab it on the backswing. I turn the rest of his body towards me and rub a hand over his grazed knuckles.
    “One bruised person is enough,” I say, mostly to myself. I walk to the opening to spare him any embarrassment, hearing his breath is catching a little.
    I lean my head on the side of the opening and look out at the Kaur forest. I take as deep a breath as my bruised ribs will allow and renew my silent vow to be impenetrable like them. Mother will not destroy me, or her insane brother. I will survive this and when I rule, it will all be worth it.
    “I hate seeing them do this to you. How much can you bear before you break?” He must be truly upset to have asked me outright.
    I place a hand on his arm. “I am strong. They have not succeeded yet.”
    The stiffening of his shoulders tells me what he thinks of this reply. I know what he needs.
    “Thank you for being here brother,” I say and put my arms around him. He sighs after a minute and hugs me gently. “Always Lina.”
    Once he is gone, I walk over to the fan and pull one of the weighted cords to start its motion. The bouncing weights create their familiar rhythmic thudding sound in time with the throbbing in my jaw. There is not really enough smoke yet to warrant the fans use, but I find the regular thudding soothing.
    When I finally fall into an exhausted sleep, I have wonderful dreams of a life without my mother.

Chapter Five
    I lay on my stomach, my body aching, waiting for the bell signalling the morning meal.
    My eyes keep closing.
    I get up, moving in careful increments, and start stretching my body, knowing the next few days will be easier for it.
    I take up my favourite position by the arched opening of my room. The wood on the side I sit is more polished than the rest of the opening. I love Osolis during the day, when the smoke is gone and the world is cast in the soft orange glow of the firelight. I watch the activity of the milling people below me. Lattices of cracks are already visible in the bone-dry brown ground. These will only grow bigger as we rotate further away from the cold of Glacium.
    The bell rings, reverberating through the wood of the palace. I make my way down to the dining ring to sit with my tormentors.
    I crunch at my apple painfully, ignoring Kedrick’s gestures. I am not meeting with Kedrick. It would be disastrous if we were caught and I’m not eager for another beating. I’ll go to the orphanage today since I cannot train.
    Two girls around my age walk in front of me as I head out to the front of the palace.
    “She was wearing yellow! I felt sure it would be green.” One of them whispers. I roll my eyes, my mother was dressed in yellow robes today.
    The other girl is dressed in yellow robes herself. “Yes, it was a lucky guess. But your hair is almost the same style she’s wearing,” she says. They catch sight of me behind them and hurry away with deep nods.
    The court’s bright colours and quiet ways could be mistaken for tranquil and elegant. But it is so contrived and ostentatious it makes me grind my teeth. 
    Villagers skitter away and bow as I pass. I know it’s my mother’s title and her reputed hate of me which keeps them away. And they still remember the girl I once played with. Sometimes I see them running a finger across their throats to each other. They probably tell the story to their children late at night, to scare them. No one wants to be associated with me, unless they are desperate or too young to know.
    I reach the orphanage and sit with a young girl who stares up at me with huge grey eyes and her thumb in her mouth. Most of the children in the orphanage have lost their parents to fire or smoke inhalation. The dangers of Osolis are great