Spring Frost Read Online Free PDF Page B

concerned. “What just happened? Are you okay, Breena?” He sighed. “Was this about our fight? Please, Breena – I'm so sorry....I was jealous, I was angry, I didn't mean any of it...”
              I shook my head. “No, it wasn't anything like that. I forgive you for that – and I'm sorry, too. It was automatic. Like something in my body. You felt so...cold. Freezing.”
              Kian furrowed his brow, a look of concern coming over his face. “You were poisoned by the Dark Sorceress,” he said. “But we did not have any knowledge of what kind of poison it was – or its effects. Was your blood green?”
              I nodded mutely.
              “And now we have another side effect,” said the Duke gravely. “Now it appears she feels the chill of winter the way a mortal does. As a Fey, she was immune to the cold of Kian's touch. But now she responds as a mortal would.”
              “What?” Kian leaped to his feet in shock and surprise. “You're trying to tell me that Breena will freeze up every time she comes near me?”
              “And what about the Winter Kingdom?” I couldn't resist breaking in. “We planned to live there – how am I supposed to go back to the Winter Kingdom if I can't deal with the cold. Not to mention...we're supposed to be getting married.”
              “Breena is now the Queen of All Feyland,” Kian insisted, “she cannot have an aversion to Winter – it's part of her kingdom, too.”
              “Now, now,” the Duke said. “Please, do not panic. It may seem like these side effects are severe, but we have the best alchemists in the land working on Breena; we are working to cure her and to reverse the effects as swiftly as possible. But if she was poisoned by the Dark Sorceress as you said...”
              “Uncle!” Alistair's bright, clear voice called out through the doorway. “If I may – if you don't mind – I would like to take a look at Breena myself. She's been asleep for a few days and so we haven't really been able to see the effects of the poison until now. I, too, have been feeling affected – but I was able to read some of the Book before it poisoned me. Maybe the book has the clues we need for understanding the Sorceress's magic.”
              Alistair had the book under his arm. He walked towards me, putting out a hand to feel my forehead. But no sooner had he come near me than I began to feel a sudden, horrible chill, a sickening feeling at the pit of my stomach.
              The second Alistair touched me, I felt a rush of dark energy coursing through me – a transference of power between Alistair and myself. Darkness seemed to fill my veins to bursting; darkness was all around me. Alistair had been able to withstand the magic of the Book somewhat – his alchemical training had strengthened him – but somehow the Book’s proximity to me was enough to send me reeling. I felt as if I had been hit by a tidal wave of magic. I started shaking.
              “Breena? Breena, what's wrong!” Kian called. But I was writhing, convulsing violently.
              The last thing I saw was a puff of black smoke surrounding me, and the astonished faces of Logan, Kian, Alistair and the Duke.
              And then they were gone. Or, more accurately, I was gone. I was in an unfamiliar room, staring at an all too familiar face.
              “Hello again, Breena, my dear.”
              Clariss was sitting calmly before me, my crown glinting on her head. “We're going to have a lot of fun together, you and I.”

 
    Chapter 5
     
     
              I was reeling. Smoke was all around me, clogging up my nostrils, filling my field of vision. I staggered backwards, coughing. I put a hand to my mouth as I looked up, waving away the smoke with my other hand. Where was this place? I was in a dark stone room, the only source of