Forged in Frost and Fire (Book 1 in the Chronicles of Kings trilogy)

Chapter Twenty Three

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

The bathwater was warm though it did little to thaw my insides. I made the water red/brown with dried blood and dirt. I didn't care much that I was bathing in a tub where Gray had bathed. It hardly mattered. I had never really bathed in a heated tub before so I was using the luxury while I could. The soap smelt of pine and cinnamon and it was strong enough to make me wrinkle my nose. But soap was soap, and I desperately needed it, so I washed up quickly.

After all the grime was scrubbed away, I wrapped a towel around myself and headed to the mirror. I reached up to wipe away the fog that had collected there but my hand wavered. I didn't want to see my reflection. All I'd see when I looked at myself was the face those girls from Camp Caligo saw before they plummeted to their deaths. I'd see the unrecognizable features of my new face that Tellie might not have even recognized had she seen it. So I ignored the mirror.

I got dressed in the clothes Gray had left for me. They were all black and...oh wow, there were leather pants. Great. But they were comfortable and surprisingly movable in. I slipped on the black, sleeveless tunic that went with it, then put on my old boots since there were no shoes.

"You know how I said I wanted to delay the meeting?" a voice called through the door. I sighed loudly. Gray was quickly becoming one of my least favorite people here, and I hated everyone here...

"Well, I think I'll actually get in trouble if I delay any longer. We need to go." His knuckles rapped against the door. Once, twice, three times. I sighed again and gathered my old clothes. They were muddy and torn and still smelt of blood and freshwater, but they were all I had of my life in the army. I pressed them to my chest, squeezing tight, before opening the door.

"I hope you bruised yourself with all that knocking," I said.

"Yeah whatever, taunt me later." He grabbed my clothes and threw them onto a chair before grabbing my arm and hauling me towards the door. His thumb skimmed my cuff but he didn't recoil from it. The pain was still there, though I had gotten used to it now. If I fought against them it would've flared though.

"You can touch iron?" I asked.

"Hells yeah," he said, letting go of my wrist as we made it out into the hallway. "I wouldn't be much of a metal controller if I couldn't control all types of metal. It doesn't affect me like the others do, it's the only reason I'm still here. The king likes to use me to make iron products."

"Ah, so you're being used as a weapon, too?" I asked, turning down a corridor. We walked out a door and into an outdoor part of the castle. There was a garden below us, where I saw a girl with dark brown skin and the most beautiful deep, red hair I had ever seen sitting at a fountain along with a broad, muscled boy with tan skin and ocean blue eyes I could see from here. Gods damn, why was everyone here so beautiful?

"Definitely not like how you're going to be used," he said, letting out a breath. I shot him a strange look and opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but then I noticed the way his shoulders were raised and his jaw was clenched, the muscles of his face sharp. Well, at least I could start developing the habit of trying not to anger the fae now.

"A few quick lessons about my cousin before you meet him," Gray said, as we turned down another corridor. This one led to a large flight of stairs. He walked down them quickly and my body was struggling to keep up. I needed to eat, I needed to sleep. I couldn't do this.

"He's angry...like most of the time," he said. We passed by servants holding baskets of laundry and they both eyed us. And without much warmth either. Damn, even my ice wasn't that cold.