The Heir of Winter

Chapter One DYMITRI In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. One minute, I was sitting awkwardly in the royal hall of my ancestors, hardly able to believe our reversal of fortune. The next, my brother and I were told that our fated mates were human women. That would have been enough of a surprise. My brother and I had always assumed that we didn’t have fated mates. Only the luckiest of shifters enjoyed that privilege. But the real shock came when Marienne told us that these women—these strangers—were in danger. She said we had to fly to the human realm immediately and save them, before they were lost forever. My brother and I shifted into our dragons and launched off the palace balcony into the air. We followed King Stavrok, who had agreed to accompany us. We’d never been south of our kingdom, let alone to another world. But our mates needed us, so we didn’t hesitate. Though the fear and trepidation that pulsed through my heart was very real indeed. The cold air nipped at my face as we flew closer to the magical barrier that divided my world from the human realm, with no idea of what lay waiting on the other side. We were dizzyingly high already, but we kept climbing. The air was thinner up here; there were no birds, nothing around us but thin strands of cloud. Beside me, my brother’s wings beat hard, but he managed to keep pace as we followed Stavrok to the portal. Lucian and I had always pushed each other, spurred each other on with every challenge. We’d always competed fiercely. It was what had enabled us to survive all these years of exile out in the wilderness. But we weren’t alone anymore. Our half-brother, King Damon, had agreed to take us in and allow our people to live within the safety of the kingdom’s walls. But even more so, Damon had asked us to live in the castle with him. That had changed our lives in many ways. Especially now. Without his contacts we would never have met the sorceress who had given us a glimpse into our future. With our mates. Stavrok let out a puff of fire when we reached the barrier as a signal to us. I slowed, flapping my wings hard and stared at the space before us. It was little more than a ripple in the air. The faint golden color would have been easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. Lucian pulled up next to me, hovering in mid-air. Stavrok went through first, disappearing into oblivion. I swallowed my fear and, after a glance at my brother, I followed, slipping through the portal after Stavrok. I inhaled sharply when I emerged. The change in the air was stark. In our world, a cold wind had been blasting over the frozen tundra of the north. But here it was warmer. Even the sky was different: a pale, peach color in the glow of the setting sun. Stavrok circled down to earth below me, but I waited for my brother. When Lucian flew through the portal and appeared at my shoulder, a sense of relief and happiness swept over me. I could tell from Lucian’s expression that he felt the same. We’d made it through unharmed. We fell into a simultaneous dive in perfect sync, wings spiraling outwards. It was a neat trick—impressive, according to those who had seen it in the past. We’d been doing it since we were kids. We didn’t need a signal. In the air, our shifters could practically read each other’s minds. We landed in the middle of a cornfield, and I found myself panting for breath. We were ice dragons. We breathed ice, not fire. And we weren’t as used to this warmth as Stavrok. The king was waiting for us, hands on his now-human hips. He gestured toward a small farmhouse to show us where we would be going next. I glanced at my brother, and together, we let go of our shifters and became human once more. n***d humans, like Stavrok after his shift. Would this be an issue, here in the human world? As if he’d read my mind, Stavrok said, “These people are loyal to our kind. They will clothe us and provide some means of transport.” “All right.” I nodded at the king. We had to trust him, but everything in me was tense and on guard. I was ready to shift back and launch into the air at a moment’s notice. This was not our world and nothing about this situation felt natural. I followed Stavrok, together with Lucian, without voicing the questions that were shouting inside my head. Judging by his relaxed body language, Stavrok wasn’t worried about the fact that we had all arrived n***d in the middle of a field. But, I couldn’t help the nerves that ran through me. When I looked at Lucian, he seemed equally tense: jaw tightly clenched, hands held in fists at his side. We stepped out of the field and walked toward the farmhouse. Lucian and I hung back while Stavrok rapped on the door. I had no idea what to expect, but a small buxom woman who seemed glad to see us, was not on my list. “Come in, come in. Out of the cold,” she said, and ushered us into a small cloakroom. “Help yourself to anything that will fit you.” The woman looked at Stavrok with the kind of reverence I wasn’t expecting from a human. When we were left alone to dress, I grabbed Stavrok’s arm. “Do they know about us? About you being one of our dragon kings?” Her behavior didn’t make sense with any other explanation. “Yes. This family guards the entrance to the human world.” He pulled on a pair of slacks designed to fit a man with his large frame. These people were obviously accustomed to our size as I found clothes that fit me perfectly well, even though I’d heard that the men in this realm tended to be smaller in stature than our kind. “I have been meaning to return here for some time,” Stavrok went on. “They did me a great kindness when I came here to find Lucy.” I spared a glance at Lucian, who was buttoning his shirt with clumsy fingers. There was a frown on his face and I knew that look too well. He hadn’t spoken since we arrived, which didn’t surprise me. He was always the more stoic one of us. I was used to doing the talking. When we stepped back into the main living area of the small house, the woman had returned with a man in tow. He had the look of a farmer. Although he was much shorter than us, he was stocky and strong-looking. His eyes darted between the three of us and in contrast to the wife, it seemed like he couldn’t wait for us to leave. “There’s a car waiting for you out front.” The woman smiled at us as she spoke, digging around in her pocket before pulling out a wad of cash and handing it to Stavrok. “This should be enough, Sire. Please call us if you need anything else.” Stavrok bent his head and kissed the woman’s hand, making her giggle. “I thank you. I will return when we find what we’re looking for.” The woman’s gaze fell on my brother and me, and her eyes softened. I wasn’t sure how much she knew, but I felt warmed by her kindness, nonetheless. “Good luck,” she said, waving as we left her small home and went on our way. ***