Spring Frost Read Online Free PDF Page A

anything else you're not telling me?”
              “Like what?” Rose was a poor liar – I could see it in her eyes.
              “You seem fully recovered, it is true. Like Alistair...” Rose faltered, and I saw where this was going.
              “But I'm not?”
              “I don't know. The Sorceress's magic powers are so very strong. And the poison in that dagger was intense. I'm afraid, Breena...I'm afraid the poison isn't done with you yet. It hasn't manifested itself yet, but it could...”
              Rose turned around, and instantly I saw the glint of the knife in her hand. My heart started pounding as I leaped from my bed. Rose, too, under the influence of the Dark Sorceress? Little Rose? I couldn't believe it. I grabbed Rose and wrestled her to the floor; the knife dropped and slid across the stone floor. “Dark Sorceress!” I cried out, my voice full of rage, “you will not take her! Your quarrel is with me...”
              “Breena!” Rose was calling in a small voice. “Breena, calm down!” She was pinned to the ground beneath me, shaking like a leaf in an autumn wind. “Breena, it's me, Rose. I'm not trying to hurt you.”
              I sat up, looking at her with shock. Rose was staring at me in terror. “ I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you...”      
              “No, it's fine.” Now it was my turn to blush. Why had I reacted so quickly with anger – reacted so violently? Rose didn't look injured, thank goodness, but she was certainly shaken. Her skin was chalk-white and she could not meet my eyes. “I just got spooked, after what happened to Alistair. Why did you have that knife?”
              “I had to show you...” Rose said. “I needed to see...”
              “See what?”
              “The poison.” Rose looked downcast. “I'm sorry, I should have warned you. But I was afraid.” She slowly made her way towards the knife. “May I show you, Breena?”
              “What do you need a knife to show me the poison for?”
              “I'm so sorry, Breena.” Rose's voice trembled. “I need you to give me the palm of your hand. It'll only be a little prick.”
              Rose and I stared at each other for a while. I hesitated, but the kind look in her eyes told me that she was telling the truth – the Dark Sorceress had no power over her. I held out my palm to hers. She picked up the knife gingerly and – with an apologetic look in her eyes – lightly pricked the skin at my palm.
              I winced as a small wound opened up in my hand. But as I looked more closely at the injury, my pain turned to panic, to fear. The blood that dripped from my injury was no longer silver. Instead – streaming in rivulets down my wrist – it was a sickly, blue-tinted shade of green.

 
     
    Chapter 4
     
              T he whole room began to shake and shift. I put out a hand to steady myself, getting greenish blue blood on the creamy white bed sheets. My heart was beating so loud that I could barely hear Rose's cries of “Breena!” over the din. I could feel my whole body shaking with fear, shock, and confusion. The change in blood color could come from only one reason – a change in identity, a change in the most fundamental and basic level of magic. Humans had red blood; fairies had silver blood. The color of the blood was part of the deepest magical identity. And the only creatures I'd ever heard of who had green-blue blood were...
              “Rose...” my voice was shaking so that I could barely speak. “Is it true? Am I....a pixie?”   
              Rose was silent for a while. “You don't look like a pixie, Breena,” she said at last. “Your skin and features are unchanged; your ears aren't pointed. You don't have the appearance of a pixie.”
              “Nor the smell of one!” A kindly male