The Snow Queen's Captive by Jill Myles Read Free Book Online Page A

then, our lands have been swept into an endless winter. As long as you remain here, you will continue to destroy everything.”
    So she was winning simply by being present? That was easy. She considered the ramifications of eternal winter. Nothing but snow and ice, which was fine for her, of course, but everyone and everything would starve. Plants would die and so would all the livestock that depended on them, and then the humans. She’d be a mass murderer, and all she’d have to do is sit back and encourage the snow. Lovely. “Doesn’t seem like the nicest thing to do.”
    He laughed then, the sound hard and brittle. “Since when have you cared about doing the nice thing? Ever since you arrived you have attacked others and destroyed lives. You stole me from my people and have used me for your own cruel whims. And now you have a change of heart? You’ll forgive me if I don’t quite believe your tales, Cold One.”
    “No, I don’t guess you would.” She wasn’t surprised by that, not really. He hated her, and she couldn’t blame him. Apparently the snow queen had been quite awful to him. She wondered – not for the first time – what those cruel whims had been. Then she thought of the ice on his groin and blushed. She could guess some of them.
    “Why are you here, asking me these things?” He sounded as if he hated her being here.
    It made Charlotte even sadder. She shrugged, trying not to take it to heart. She wasn’t this awful Snow Queen. She wasn’t. She was just time-sharing her body for a time. That was all. And she couldn’t let this get to her. “I just wanted someone to talk to, that’s all. I miss having friends.”
    “Friends?” he echoed. “What does a creature like you need with friends?”
    She was beginning to wonder the same thing. Perhaps Muffin had set her up for the loneliest challenge of all, and the real trick wouldn’t be keeping the heroine from Kai, but keeping her own wits about her through this ordeal.
     
    ~~ * * * ~~
     
    She had something up her sleeve.
    Kai couldn’t figure her out. This had to be some sort of new trick to get him to let down his guard. Being hard and cruel might have been fun for her in the beginning, but it was obvious she’d lost her enthusiasm for it and decided to try a different tactic. It had to be why she kept showing up, eating her meals with him and asking him bizarre questions.
    It had to be why she had that sad, desperate look in her big blue eyes.
    She was clever, too. She thought of everything. When she visited him, she acted as if she hated his cage almost as much as he did. She asked him soft questions about himself. How old was he? What were his people like? What did his food taste like? Was he warm enough? Did he have enough food? Would he like a bath?
    And when it was late at night and she was up in her bed, he could have sworn that he’d heard the soft sound of distressed weeping.
    Kai was beginning to miss the cruel side of the snow queen. At least that, he understood. Removing the enchantment that kept him complacent and then trying to befriend him? This was clearly part of a game, but one he couldn’t figure out. And he didn’t like that.
    After a day or two of this, he decided to use her games against her. She pretended to be lonely? He’d be friendly to her. Attentive. Caring. She wanted a friend? He’d be that friend. And then when she let her guard down, he’d destroy her.
    She was not the only that could be a cold, calculating liar. And she’d soon learn that he could be just as ruthless as she.
    As she’d begun to do every day, she showed up after the sun had set and the night grew cold. She looked weary, dark circles under her bright blue eyes, and when she drew ice up from the floor to create her stool, it seemed to take her longer than usual.
    He took bites of his travel bread from his pack – the last of it – as he watched her. Now she was showing weakness in front of him? Another ploy? Very well; he’d play