Kieran read until the letters blurred and the pages mocked him with silence.

He threw his cloak around his shoulders and walk out into the night. The guards outside straightened.

“My King... ”

“You didn’t see me,” Kieran cut in.

They froze, then bowed their heads. “Yes, my King.”

His boots crunched over the frost, carrying him beyond the palace gates into the shadowed woods.

He knew where to go.

The Frostlands kept its secrets, and among them was the shack that crouched against ...