Page 1 of Cold Hearted
Chapter 1
Iknocked on the open doorway of my mother’s study and she called for me to enter. Nervousness pulsed through my body, but I shoved it down and stepped inside. My mother was counting on me—scratch that, theentire realmwas counting on me—and I wasn’t going to let them down.
“I’m ready.” I hated that my voice shook slightly. I’d trained my entire life for this. I was a walking weapon, a lethal force to be reckoned with. Eliminating one man would be easy.
My mother glanced up from the stack of papers and decrees scattered across her desk and looked at me sternly. The wind howled outside, rattling the windowpane as small rocks and bits of ice scraped against the glass. The curse sickness had already begun.
My mother followed my gaze. “It’s getting worse, Dawn. We’ve lost nearly all of the crops, the sun hasn’t been out fully in days, and the floodwaters are encroaching on our borders in the east.”
I swallowed hard and stood erect. “I won’t let you down, Mother.”
The crops we could afford to lose—we had stockpile in the storehouse—but our powers were linked to the sun,and if it didn’t come out to recharge … uswell, my people would perish.
Reaching into her blouse, my mother pulled out the large glass locket that contained the shriveled black heart of one of the Ethereum lords. A faint purple magic swirled around the dried organ that pumped power into our realm.
“This is all we need to make everything right in the world again, Dawn.” She tapped the glass. “Mine was passed down to me, but there isn’t enough magic left to save our people. Once you get your own, like your great-grandmother Mae did, all of this stops and you can protect it like I have protected this one.” She gestured outside the window.
I nodded curtly. “I won’t fail.”
My mother stood, walking elegantly over to me, and I couldn’t help but take note of her beauty. Her long, shiny, golden hair matched my own, and we both had the same bright green eyes. Her ears and chin were slightly pointier than mine though. But her features were ageless, and she moved with the grace of a dancer.
She’d had a hard life, but it didn’t show on her face, only in the sadness of her eyes when she thought no one was watching. My father died in battle when I was an infant, and she’d been made to manage a kingdom and raise a child alone. She had once told me that raising a daughter who would be the next to go to Ethereum and retrieve the heart of a lord was a burden. She’d had to oversee all my training for the task, on top of educating me to be queen and take over the Summer Court one day. Now our world was dying, and if I didn’t bring back the magic we needed to save it… millions would perish.
My mother placed a firm hand on either of my shoulders. “Remember, if you do everything right, the portal will spit you out into the mirror world directly in front of an Ethereum lord.”
I swallowed hard and nodded, my mother’s green eyes boring into mine.
“The Ethereum lords stole our magic, cursed our realm, and then fled to a world they created for their riches. We are only getting it back.” She reminded me sternly: “You should feel no sympathy when you retrieve it.”
My head bobbed up and down again as adrenaline rushed through my veins.
“What are the three things I taught you about the Ethereum lords?” she quizzed.
“Try to kill them before they even speak. If they do speak, then never believe their lies. And lastly, don’t let anyone else touch the heart once acquired.”
“Good girl.” She smoothed my hair, and I was horrified to see that her hand trembled slightly.
I could die. I knew that.
Ever since the mirror world was created, the queens of Faerie began to only give birth to daughters. Every hundred years, the princess next in line for the throne, our champion, entered the mirror world when the portal opened on the summer solstice and returned with the heart of an Ethereum lord. I’d trained for it my entire life because I was that champion.
Ethereum was a dark world that mirrored our own. Instead of four courts based on the seasons like we had, they had four lords of different geographic kingdoms: north, south, east, and west.Where our powers were related to nature, theirs were linked to darker things: bending one’s will, manipulating darkness, morphing into vicious monsters, and even reading thoughts.
Killing one of the Ethereum lords and returning with their heart weakened their realm and kept their darkness from seeping into our world by temporarily stopping the curse. Already the ill effects of the curse, which caused a thinning between our worlds, could be felt in our court, and our subjects were suffering for it. But changes in weather patterns were nothing compared to what would happen if I failed at my task. The very fabric of our realm would start to unravel, and the curse that began here in the Summer Court would bleed out into the Fall Court, and then Winter, and finally Spring. If I were unsuccessful, it would be up to the next court to send a champion to Ethereum to steal the heart I wasn’t able to. The other princesses were supposed to be trained in case a Summer champion didn’t return, but no Summer Court champion had failed to return to Faerie without their prize, and I didn’t intend to be the first.
“You don’t need to worry,” I said to my mother, my voice full of confidence. “I’ll return with the heart, and everything will be put right.”
My mother smiled at me, pride shining in her eyes. “Let’s get you ready for the ceremony.”
For a normal Summer Court ceremony, I would have gotten ready in my private quarters. My maids would have fussed over my hair and dressed me. We’d have gossiped about which fae gentlemen were going to be in attendance and the latest court scandals, but this was different. This ceremony would have no dancing, no lavish spread of food, no idle banter.
Today my mother led me to a chamber bare of any décor or frivolities. The only items in the room besides a mirror and chair were the ones I would need on my quest: clothes, Ethereum coin, weapons, and a small pack with limited supplies. The only person there to assist me was my mother, the Summer queen herself. She helped me get out of my corset and petticoat and slide on the fur-lined leather pants and tunic that was said to be the normal attire of an Ethereum female citizen.
Every past champion princess who’d traveled to Ethereum recorded as much as she could about the mirror realm in a journal so the next champion would be prepared. Because of this, we knew their customs, their money system, and even details about the different creatures that existed in their world. It was imperative that I blend in with the other Ethereum citizens, because if I were identified as a princess from the world of Faerie, I’d be executed on sight.
Once I was dressed, I surveyed myself in the full-length mirror. My black pants were tucked into sturdy black boots that laced up to my knees. The gray tunic I wore barely covered my butt and was cinched at the waist with a leather belt. Over the years I’d trained in pants, so it wasn’t as if I never wore them, but it wasn’t the style for women in Faerie to wear them in social settings. Especially not a princess in the royal court. Usually, I wore the finest dresses and skirts that the royal seamstress designed in a variety of my favorite colors and fabrics. It was going to take a little time to get used to walking around in public with them, and if it wasn’t for the thick wool cloak draped over my shoulders I’m sure I’d feel a little conscious about how the curves of my thighs were on display.
“Sit,” my mother said, bringing the small wicker chair over to me. “I’ll put your hair up.”
