Page 2 (1/2)

"Aimery, you may proceed"

"Please!"

"Your queen has spoken," said Thaue Aimery "Her word is final"

Aimery drew an obsidian knife from one of his bell-shaped sleeves and held the handle toward the prisoner, whose eyes had gone ith hysteria

The roorew colder Winter’s breath crystallized in the air She squeezed her arainst her body

The prisoner took the knife handle His hand was steady The rest of hiirl--I’m all she has Please My Queen Your Majesty!"

He raised the blade to his throat

This hen Winter looked away When she always looked away She watched her own fingers burrow into her dress, her fingernails scraping at the fabric until she could feel the sting on her thighs She watched the ice climb over her wrists, toward her elbows Where the ice touched, her flesh went numb

She i out at the queen with those ice-solid fists She i into a thousand icicle shards

It was at her shoulders now Her neck

Even over the popping and cracking of the ice, she heard the cut of flesh The burble of blood and aThe hard slump of the body

The cold had stolen into her chest She squeezed her eyes shut, re herself to be calm, to breathe She could hear Jacin’s steady voice in her head, his hands gripping her shoulders It isn’t real, Princess It’s only an illusion

Usually they helped, these h the panic But this tie Gnawing into her sto from the inside out

Listen to one

It’s all in your head

She heard the clouards’ boots as they approached the body The corpse being slid toward the ledge The shove and the distant splash below

The court applauded with quiet politeness

Winter heard her toes snap off One By One

"Very good," said Queen Levana "Thau is carried out"

The ice was in her throat now, cli inside their ducts There was saliva crystallizing on her tongue

She raised her head as a servant began washing the blood fro his knife with a cloth,"I as"

The nobles in the audience tittered--Winter’s disgust of the trials was a source of merriment to most of Levana’s court

The queen turned, but Winter couldn’t look up She was a girl s too easily shattered

"Yes," said Levana "I often forget she’s here at all You’re about as useless as a rag doll, aren’t you, Winter?"