^“Good morning, Frostie,” a voice said from the direction of her window, but she didn’t need to open her eyes to know who it was. For a start, pretty much no one else would be perched on her windowsill. Hell, that was probably the way he’d got into her flat. Josh knew she was mad at him, so wouldn’t have let the other man in when he’d left for work. Or she hoped he hadn’t, otherwise he was getting a stern talking to when she saw him later.

Eira sat up in the bed, letting the sheet fall to her waist. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her naked already, and it was only fair play that he could see what he wasn’t allowed to touch.

“Morning,” she responded, swinging her legs out of bed, and stretching, her back turned to the fae. She sauntered over to her wardrobe, fully aware of the effect she was likely having on him right now, especially with the post-sex glow she was surely sporting.

“I see you had fun last night,” he remarked.

“No thanks to you.” She pulled a baggy t-shirt and leggings from the drawers inside her wardrobe. She didn’t actually need to go anywhere as she didn’t have work. Unless Leth told her what was going on with the frosts, that was, then she’d probably have to leave the house. Ah, well. She’d deal with getting properly dressed if and when she had to. She pulled the t-shirt over her head, letting it fall below her ass.

“You could have stayed, it could have ended like this.”

She spun around, the anger he’d riled up in her the night before returning. He didn’t even sound sad that their date had ended badly. In fact, it was almost like he was laughing at her. “Not when you refuse to tell me the whole truth.” She pointed a finger at him and channeled as much anger as she could into her face. He was going to tell her the truth. He’d have to if he wanted her in any way shape or form.

“I can’t tell you,” he admitted, an unnamed emotion that sounded almost like regret creeping into his voice.

“Why not?” she demanded.

“It betrays someone.”

She raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t going to have him play that way. No way was he guilting her into letting this go. “So what? I’m just supposed to let the frosts disappear? Do you have any idea what that could mean? For the world? For my family? For me?” She almost choked on the last question, and Leth jumped down from the windowsill, making short work of the space between them, though he did hit his leg on the side of the bed. Karma really could be a bitch.

“Eira—” He tried to reach out to her, but she stepped back, narrowly avoiding a collision with her wardrobe.

“Don’t,” she hissed.

“I can’t—”

“Don’t, Leth,” she interrupted. “If you can’t tell me the truth, then don’t bother telling me anything. In fact, just go. I don’t want you here. Mate or not, lie to me and you will never set foot near me again.” Her blood ran like ice cold anger inside her veins. Which was pretty damn impressive considering she was ice. Or more accurately since she could control ice. Either way, coldness wasn’t exactly alien to her.

“But—”

“Just go. Now.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. Wise man. She didn’t get the impression that he was going to tell her anything useful anyway, it was better that he went and stopped distracting her. Despite her anger and the resentment towards his lies, her body was still responding to his closeness and the warmth that emanated from him. It was enticing, and all she wanted to do was sink into his arms and forget that she had any problems.

To her immense disappointment, he turned back towards the window. “The door, Leth. Use the door. And make sure you use it in the future too. Preferably with a knock.” He nodded, acknowledging her request, but didn’t turn to look at her as he walked out of her bedroom, and hopefully towards the front door of her flat.

When the familiar click of the lock engaging sounded, she relaxed against the wall, relieved to finally be alone. She had a lot she needed to do if she was going to figure this out, which meant that it was probably time to study the family history. Fortunately, somewhere along the line, one of her ancestors had the foresight to write it down. Unfortunately, it was boring as hell and she hated every moment of reading the damn book. She was technically supposed to have done it before she turned eighteen, but no one had actually enforced it. She was starting to regret her decision to avoid finishing now.

Eira pushed a hand through her hair, getting it tangled in the knots that had formed over night. She needed to shower, but if she did, she’d lose the smell of Josh that surrounded her. Though maybe she could rectify that by stealing one of his shirts. Or several of his shirts. Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

She wondered over to the locked chest where she kept the book. Crouching down, she ran her hand under the bottom of it, locating the key where she’d hidden it. Technically, she believed that she was supposed to carry the key on her at all times, but nothing said secret like a key hanging around her neck, so she’d hidden it underneath instead. Besides, no one would think to look there. Hell, no one would even be thinking of looking for her book at all because no one but Izzy even knew of it’s existence.

She fit the slightly rusting key into the lock and turned it. She was rewarded with a large clunk as the chest unlocked. Luckily, she didn’t have to actually lift the lid itself, her Grandma had tricked a witch into spelling it for her. Eira didn’t like to think about how she’d done it.

Dust flew up from the chest, and she coughed, already regretting not thinking this through completely. Looking away, she blinked her eyes, trying to rid herself of the dust that was making her eyes water. This wasn’t going to be fun. Going back to the chest, she pulled out the large book and re-positioned it as she stood. Why did they have to make the thing so damn heavy? She knew it was handwritten, and old enough that it had to have been, but it was so damn inconvenient. She’d have to scan it all in and put it on a tablet for her own child. It’d take time, but if it meant that he or she would never have to do this then it’d be worth it.

Or maybe she’d make Leth do it. Punishment for his lying. That seemed fitting, especially given that she couldn’t actually be rid of him if she tried. He was hers now, and she was his.

She stumbled out of her room and into the open plan living room, and hefted it on to her dining room table. She looked at the massive tome again, and wished that it was evening and an acceptable time to have wine. Unfortunately, it was not, nor did she have the time to wait until the evening so she could drink wine. The frosts were already late, and she’d already wasted time by going on a stupid date with Leth when he knew he wouldn’t tell her anything, despite promising to.

Small snowflakes covered the dining table in front of her and Eira growled in frustration, this was getting ridiculous. Concentrating harder than she should have to, she tamped down on the anger that was building inside her. Something needed to change, she’d never lost control like this before. Finally, the snowflakes dissipated and she felt calm enough to make herself a coffee and start reading the Goddamn book.

Three hours, twenty-six minutes and four cups of coffee later, she was about ready to scream. For whatever reason, the person who’d decided to write this had also decided that writing the useful information in with a boring day to day log was the right choice. She really didn’t care what numerous generations of Jacks and Jacquelines had eaten for breakfast. Though it had given her a new appreciation for her name. Up until now, she’d found it cliché that her name meant snow, but now she guessed at least it wasn’t Jacqueline like a lot of the heirs before her.

The interesting bits actually were interesting at least. There was a lot that she needed to know, but hadn’t bothered reading before. Part of her wanted to stop, but she knew that wasn’t an option. Though at least she was at one of the interesting part:

Queen Nieves, ninth Queen of the Winter Fae, made a deal with Jack Vorst. If he could produce six barrels of the Queens favourite wine within a day, then she would forfeit her powers over the frost and snow, making her role a ceremonial one. What Queen Nieves wasn’t aware of, was that Jack knew her sommelier, and had been tempting him with the hand of his only daughter in marriage. Jack had been bribing the sommelier, and had saved up the six barrels, which were never served to anyone but the Queen, before approaching her. Thus, when the Queen agreed to the deal, Jack returned to Nieves’ Court with the six barrels, and she lost her powers over the frosts. The powers rest with the Vrost family, renamed to Frost in 1542 when they relocated to the Kingdom of England along with the rise of Protestantism, to this day, and will continue to do so for the rest of eternity.

She stared at the book, before re-reading the passage. And then again for a third time. How the hell had a fae Queen managed to lose her powers over what was essentially a bet? That seemed like a monumentally stupid thing to do. More than that, there were still questions surrounding why Jack even wanted frost powers. They were cool at times, but ultimately, did nothing, it was all a little confusing and she wasn’t sure where it all fit together.

She pushed up from the table and wondered back over to the kettle, knowing another coffee was definitely in order if she was going to stand any chance of sorting through the rest of the damn book. She’d probably regret her fifth cup later, but maybe she could work off the excitement with Josh. Actually, that sounded like a good plan. She almost text him to let him know, but held back. It’d only end in them texting back and forth, which would distract her from what she was supposed to be doing.

The light outside her windows began to fade, and her eyes ached from the strain, but she’d finally started to accept that it was worthwhile. She’d learned a lot, including that there were very few people who could actually control the seasons. Namely, the four Fae Queens, well three Fae Queens, the winter one was still pretty useless, their heirs...and her. Which meant that it could only be one them trying to stop the frosts, leaving two possibilities as far as Eira could tell. Either the Winter Queen was trying regain control over them, or one of the others was trying to stop them herself.

Spring made no sense, after all, stopping winter wasn’t exactly conducive to making sure that spring itself came. Which left summer or autumn, and given that Leth was of summer fae descent, and wouldn’t talk about it, that kind of had her thinking that the Fae Queen of Summer was the one behind everything. Not that knowing that actually helped her. She had no idea where the Fae Courts were, or where the Queen would be, or how to even stop her once she had. Though maybe getting confirmation should be first. Which she guessed meant talking to Leth. Except that she was still mad at him, and didn’t have a number to call him on anyway. Doing the only thing she could, she snatched up her phone and clicked onto Josh’s name, almost certain that he’d have the fae’s number. They’d all been talking about her behind her back anyway from what they’d said, and Josh seemed to be the ring leader of that. Knowing him, he was probably trying to come up with a way to seduce her. Not that it would actually take much. Even Leth could win her pretty easily and she was mad enough at him to keep making it snow.

Now all she needed to do was discover as much as she could about the fae, preferably before she faced the one who could tie her stomach up in knots. Only problem was, there was nowhere to really find it out without visiting one of the Councils, and considering that she didn’t have one, as she didn’t belong to any one race, that would prove easier said than done. Guess it was the internet for her, and the strenuous task of separating the fact from fiction, and hoping that she picked the right options. Still, knowing even a little before talking to Leth would put her in better stead than she was in now.