Iron Frost - Clan of the Rim Chronicles #1

9

I SAT IN MY room with Eeira to have the privacy of our conversation. Gulbrand had sent two guards to stand by my door like he informed in his conversation with Calder, but all I could seem to think about was ours--what little we did say. But I knew that had to be put to the side right now when I needed to know so many other things about my past.

"Why did the frozen queen kill my parents and my sisters? What was her problem with them, with me?" I questioned Eeira, my voice cold and cross.

"The frozen queen Sylvi is a very tortuous witch," Eeira replied as she sat down in the velvet chair next to mine. "She has wanted power for a very long time, and by their murders she was able to get that. At least for seventeen years until you were found."

"You mean the kingdom and the realm, she was able to take all of it?"

Eeira was hesitant. "Yes and no. She was able to achieve the title of the only fey ruler in the realm, but she didn't have any control of the west side. It was your uncle Magnus who survived and was left to run your kingdom until one day you could claim the role as queen. He didn't take position of the throne because you were still alive, only kept things in order and at peace with the realm," she explained.

"He banished Sylvi and her knights from the kingdom until your return. That is how we have all remained safe for so long. Any treaty is sacred to the fey and if broken leads to either permanent exile in the ephemeral world. . .or death, by the hands of the Clan. Magnus was killed a few years ago by unknown sources during a lone journey."

"If the banishment wasn't lifted then why did her knights come for me?" I questioned. "Linnea said it was my powers, that by freezing Blane I somehow. . .awakened them and it was a beacon straight to them."

"The treaty kept Sylvi from entering the west, but it could not keep her from searching for you all these years," Eeira said. "The reason Hanir and Linnea were assigned your protectors was because their heat kept your cold dorment, among other things. They brought you to live in Arizona where it never snows, kept you away from ice so your powers wouldn't flare, and. . . protected you from ephemeral boys which wasn't as perfected. When your magic was unleashed the force boomed over all the realm, and that was how we all knew it was you. As did Sylvi."

"What, you're saying it was like an earthquake, or an explosion?" I questioned, that information seeming a little far fetched to me.

"You are an Arnesen, Eerika," Eeira reminded. "Your powers are far stronger than any of the frost fey, even the frozen queen. Your lineage has been the life force of this realm for centuries. Your power is connected to the forests, the mountains, even the creatures that strive here. Without you the realm would surely die away much like the north has."

"If the banishment wouldn't be broken until I came back then why did the knights try to kill me? If I was dead it would still be forced," I inputted.

"If you were dead there would no longer be a treaty," Eeira corrected. "Sylvi could finally take the place of the frozen queen over all the realm, and not just the north."

"Her faery guards were looking for me in the forest when I arrived," I informed her. "Calder and I overheard that she sent them. But if the treaty is void now why doesn't she just come for me herself?"

"We believe she's waiting out, thinking or even hoping that you will come to her if the knights haven't taken you before then. I think her motives quickly changed once she learned you escaped the iron knights and were brought here. She knows you will have an anger and pain boiled beneath you over what she has done to your protectors and your family. She will gladly use that to who only knows what advantages."

I tried to keep my voice from quivering. "What made her like this? What caused her to hate my family so much?"

Eeira took a long pause, as if trying to recollect a story.