Frozen Fear Book. 2

❅Chapter 18❅

I was ready for them when they entered my room.

Mab was the first to enter, this time tailed by her precious Cerberus. The golden wolf growled, low and deep in its throat when it caught my scent, it's black eyes pinning me in its glare. Seeing him reminded me of how much I hated barghests.

"You healed much faster than anticipated," Mab mused from the other side of the bars. She wrapped slender fingers around the cool metal, leaning closer to get a better look at my face. "Last time I checked, those chains on your wrists should cancel any time of magic ability pumping in those veins of yours."

I shrugged from my spot on the floor. "Perhaps I'm stronger than you forseen."

She smirked at me. "Perhaps."

Her beauty never failed to impress - a mixture of feline grace and undoubtful youth. Her cheeks were blushed in blue, matching the color of her plump lips. And her eyes, those orbs of pure ice, were as weighing as always. Today, a bright blue gown clung to her form like liquid sky, the neckline dropping below her naval.

Mab motioned to the door, and it opened to reveal a huge pooka, its fur a dusty charcoal. It had the face of a hare, but it's maw was something of a nightmare. Yellow fangs, jagged like broken glass, stuck out from under its lips. It carried a ring of keys on a belt looped around its midsection.

"They key," Mab demanded, holding out her hand.

The pooka nodded, taking the ring within its razor sharp claws.

Panic jolted through me. Was the key under the fur rug the only key to my cell? Would they notice someone stole it? Would they search my room if they did? What would they do to me if they noticed the little bronze key under my backside?

The pooka pulled another bronze key off the ring. "Your grace," it murmured, its vocal chords rumbling together as it handed the key to the queen. When she had it within her grasp, the pooka moved from the room, leaving the door partially open.

Mab took the piece of metal in her hand, moving it between her fingers. "I'm not sure how you did it, daughter, but I do intend to find out." She placed the key and gave it a sharp twist. The lock popped, the door swinging open.

No goblins rushed in this time, instead my mother's favorite barghest stalked into my cell, all three of its head low to the ground. "This is all the security I get? Come on, I figured I'd earned more than that."

"You've proven this is all I need," she purred back, a challenge shining in her eyes.

Fine, if it's a fight you want it's a fight you're going to get.

Cerbus's growl echoed off the walls, vibrating the very marrow in my bones. He moved, slowly, to the back of the cell to push me forward, but that's what I was expecting. I jumped forward, out of the cell, turning in midair to slam the door shut. The barghest screeched in rage, all three mouths gnawing at the bars, but my attention was fastened to the powerful being standing before me.

A wicked grin took over Mab's features. "Look at you," she cooed. "You outsmarted a dog. Congratulations."

I snarled, baring my teeth. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't beaten you. Yet."

The Winter Queen's face morphed from something of beauty to feral rage, and at last I saw the monster that she kept hidden beneath her porcelain skin.

She lashed out, her claw like fingers reaching towards my face. Ducking, I kicked my leg out, sweeping her legs out from under her. She landed on her back, a growl, low and eerie, slipping past her teeth. "I wonder who taught you how to fight," she growled, sitting up. "Was it your little toy witch, perhaps?"