Two star crossed lovers.
Nations divided by blood and power.
A war to end all others.
She is heir to the brutal Darkling kingdom and daughter to the most vicious king ever known, Vlad the impaler.
He's the Demon prince ru...
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I'd barely thought about the view of the foothills below, the gabled rooftops, all the color against the white snow, the lives beaming within the city and distance so doubting from Inphramundus. No one had uttered a single word until we'd reached our vantage point in the blistering night cold.
"Infernion take me," I hear my cousin, stomping his feet through the white murk all the way until flanking me. "We're actually doing this."
A noise of agreement is my only response.
"I spent the entire miserable voyage wishing to be off the ship, so ... why then, do I suddenly miss it?" He crosses his arms in feigned annoyance and scuffs at the snow. "Oh! Maybe because, on the ship at least, I didn't feel like my face was going to freeze off."
"When we're done here, I'll personally light you and your face on fire, Azazel." I respond. "Until then, your complaining is rather unnecessary."
His smarmy smile grows on his lips as he feels my warmth flare towards him.
Sunset streaks the mountains of silver peaks and off-kilter edges. My heart thrums, and I could hear the roar of blood in my ears as the ice palace gleamed in the day's final rays of light.
"Have Rei and Nero reached their positions?" I ask.
"Yes. My brother and the General await your signal." A slender female takes to my other side. Her voice death-awaiting.
I take in her black leathers. The hood covering her face.
She'd settled into that ashen calm we all seemed to find in the days passed.
"Good. Stand by."
My Fourth-In-Command gives me a low bob of the head, walking back to the group of shadowslingers at our backs.
Four nights of travel north saw the rolling expanses of the Night Court giving way to the slushing waters of Sea of Silver. Then, at some mid-point of journey, the vast ocean gave way to the heralding winds as we flew the rest of the way, leaving the ship with a small band of DeathDealers to safeguard it.
Blanketed mountains of white and gray that seemed to touch the sky crept ever closer. They followed narrow ravines, and slowly, the climate became wilder, more unforgivingly frigid, the endless rows of pines and winter trees turning denser. The flowing creek waters we followed turned heavier, and several hours later, the legion was walking alongside a powerful river of ice shards, and beyond that, the earth was laid dormant under an eternal layer of snow. Harsh and seemingly unlivable.
