Frozen Hearts (Winter Fairies Book 1)
Nikki Bolvair
Prefix
Hidden deep within the human world exists the four realms of the Royal seasons. Some fairies conduct Dash Paths (the spreading of the season) throughout the human world. Each Dash Path: Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, are delicate and often changing. These events are a weekly tasks for them and should be listened to as if a tangible entity that whispers on the wind and burns deep within the heart.
When a Dash Path is off target and Mother Nature neglected, it can cause a chain reaction. Mother Nature would put them on the right path if they listened, but if not, the elements of their own realms would seize their hearts and weaken the fairie. And that’s precisely what took place in Winter. The one and only way to correct this unfortunate mistake in the Winter realm was for the neglected frozen heart to find their second half. Or as it is affectionately known as, a snowflake.
***
“We need to do something. I won’t tolerate it. Not one of my sons falling to the depths of a blue frozen heart,” Frost rattled off to Colder, his closest fairie friend and devoted adviser. His tall and lengthy form paced with worry across the frozen tiled floor.
Colder heard his friend sigh as he drew out an intricate crystal whiskey decanter along with two tumblers. He could understand what his close friend was going through. “King Frost, I know full well your plight, my daughter has buried her head in books. She’d rather wrap herself up in the warmth of human words than pursue the frost bite of a mate.” He poured them each a finger amount of spirit and handed over one to his king.
Frost began to take a taste but Colder halted midway to his mouth. The wheels appeared to be turning.
“Except...”
Frosts eyebrows raised into his silvery hair. “Except what?”
“You’d think with Diamond growing up in the castle that they might have turned into friends, but no. Both of our youngest couldn’t have been more distant, yet the same. But the last few dashes we dragged them to-they appeared different with one another.”
Frost’s optimism increased “You imagine?”
Colder took a sip, speculating about how his daughter and Frost’s son had fallen to the back end of the frost team, each in their very own world, disinterested in the spreading of wintertime, then poured another three fingers. Frost kept his tumbler out and he filled it once again.
Colder then raised his tumbler along with his long time friend as he spoke. “King Frost, I propose some mischief. Your son and my daughter.”
Frost thought for a moment before he nodded and clinked glasses with him. “It could work.”
Colder took a sip, thinking about the way his daughter casually asked about Kings Frost’s youngest son. “We have to hope that it will.”
Chapter One
Prince Graupel Greenland sat down at his desk, pouring over winter scrolls to calculate where the next Dash Path should begin and end. If the predictions were off, the humans of the states wouldn’t get six more weeks of winter. This year he was determined to freeze out Royal Blaze, the summer prince fairie. The two of them remained constantly at odds. It came with their positions as Dash Path Coordinators. Father thought he was too involved with planning winter dashes. That he should feel the shifts where Dashes should be, but Graupel felt his way was practical. More dependable, sure and true… if only Royal hadn’t anticipated each time where he planned to make his dashes and appeared early to do his summer dash. For the last five years.
Royal couldn't possibly have beat him, but he has, how?
A knock sounded at the door before Graupel’s oldest brother Sleet opened it.
Graupel waved him inside. "Lee, come in sit-sit. I just about have our next Dash planned out."
Sleet came in and eased his lanky frame into the chair. "Rau, father is insisting on you coming for dinner, once again."
Graupel popped his head up as his thick sleek eyebrows rose into his hairline. "Didn't he request that just last week?"
Sleet raised his gaze up to the ceiling as if asking to the icicles that hung there for guidance. Exhaling, he shot his stare back to his youngest sibling. “Last week you didn't show,” he answered dryly. "Possibly this time you should."
Graupel sent his oldest brother a glimpse of annoyance. “I had coffee with you this morning and I came to dinner the time before that.”
“No, you didn’t make it to dinner the time before that,” Sleet replied, a flicker of irritation and impatience reflected in his eyes. “You made it to the Dash, and even then you're in the back of the group calculating.”
Sleet saw Graupel’s shoulders tense as a harsh sigh escaped and his gaze met his own.
“Is it absolutely necessary that I be there tonight?” he wanted to know, gesturing to his work. “I have tons to do, especially if we require to know where our next Dash will be.”
Sleet got up and swung his arm around to the many papers that littered his brothers desk; his maps he had spread out along with a proctor, calculating spans, and charting, things that Graupel relied on to get his information. “Why are you still doing that? Dashes don't show up on maps and calculations. They come from the gut brother. The longer I see you in here, the more I realize-that for you to resort to such measures, your heart must be as azure as the ice below our feet.”
Graupel shot up from his chair pointing an accusing finger at his older brother. “You’re wrong! You know nothing about my heart.”
His brother's gaze narrowed as he tapped his fingers against his leg. “If your heart is not so blue, my brother, then show us that it’s not frozen to the truest form of blue ice. Feel it in your soul and let the Dash come from you. I believe Blaze has chosen to do the same.” He added the jab. “Hence the reason he has been on target and you have been wallowing in a tangent of self-pity.”
Graupel’s jaw clenched as he thought about what his brother had said. Was that how Blaze was able to do it? Was he resorting to sheer gut instinct to make his summer Dashes overcome his?
Looking to his older brother, Graupel gave a head nod. “I will be there tonight. Whatever advice father wants to give me, I will take it.”
Amused, his brother cocked his head to the side. “And what is your news on a snowflake? Father has his eyes set on finding you one.”
Shaking his head, Graupel sat back down in his chair and rubbed his forehead, distressed over the snowflake comment. A true love, one of a kind, snowflake. Or in other words, a mate. He briefly thought about Diamond, but then dismissed the thought.
A snowflake was more stressful to think about than resorting to his inner instincts for the Dash. He was barely two thousand years old. Still young. He had time enough to find one.
“You know,” Sleet started. “I had played with the idea about a mate.”
This made Graupel’s eyebrows raise. “Oh really?” he asked with a grin. “And who did you determine your snowflake was?”
Sleet's fingers danced along his thigh as he remarked with a smirk. “Diamond Dust caught my eye several times.”
“Diamond?” he replied, haltingly. “Colder's daughter? The one that consistently has her head stuck in a book? And never speaks? The one that goes to the iced coffee shop and regularly sits in the rear corner, Diamond? Her?”
Lee's smile broadened considerably as he gave an affirmative answer. “That's the one. Thought she was a looker, maybe even felt something, but…” he shrugged.
Graupel studied his brother. “You’re toying with me.” He relaxed back in his chair, resting his elbows on the armrests. “Yeah, she's beautiful, and we've known her forever, but as a snowflake?”
“Hey, it could’ve happened, but it didn't .”
“What drove you to decide she wasn't your snowflake?”