A Kingdom of Gilded Thorns by D.T. Benson EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
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- Author: D.T. Benson
- Language: English
- Genre: Romantic Fantasy
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
I’m probably going to die tonight.
At the very least, I’ll be kidnapped.
I take a steadying breath and hold a snowflake stencil over a tall cup of
cappuccino. My hand trembles as I shake a can of cocoa powder over it.
The final customer of the night, a portly man with a bushy mustache,
notices my agitation. “It’s winter solstice night,” he says conversationally.
I nod as I slide his coffee across the counter to him. The snowflake
pattern came out okay despite my shaking hands.
“Why are you still out?” he asks. “My daughter hasn’t set foot outside
our house at all today.”
Yeah. Girls with caring families don’t leave their homes on the winter
solstice. They stay indoors and stay safe, protected by those who love them.
Girls like me? We work. If I don’t work, I don’t eat. Period. Plus, there’s the
whole hoping to get kidnapped thing.
“I’ll be heading home soon,” I tell the man as he pays up.
It’s a lie. I’ll be heading to the slums where I’ll try to lure the evil beasts
that stalk the streets of Lorthien each year on winter solstice night.
“Stay safe,” are the customer’s parting words.
As soon as he’s out of the coffee shop, Shearne flips the sign on the
door to ‘closed’. Darkness presses against the windows. It’s only four p.m.
but it’s already pitch black out there. If there’s a weather god, he’s an artist
who chooses only grays and blacks for his canvas this time of year. Iron
skies during the day are followed by long nights of deepest obsidian.
Shearne wordlessly begins to lift chairs onto tables in preparation for
the cleaners to sweep and mop the floors. She isn’t speaking to me.
A gust of wind rattles the windows and a draft whispers through the
shop. I inhale a deep breath of coffee-scented air. It’s tinged with the
competing smells of cinnamon, vanilla, brown sugar, and a myriad of
others.
“You should have left an hour ago,” comes a gruff voice behind me as I
start wiping down the counter.
I glance over my shoulder to see Grigor, Shearne’s father and the owner
of the shop, emerging from the kitchen. “Go,” he orders. “Now!”
I force a smile, then step away from the counter, removing my apron.
Every winter solstice night, ten girls aged eighteen to twenty go missing
from Lorthien, the capital of Prysha, captured by our faerie enemies from
Eraeon. Everyone is understandably horrified that I’m not at home right
now, cowering in fear.
I make my way to the tiny staff room beside the kitchen. Before I can
grasp the handle, the door swings open and Jaxson barrels out. He’s six and
a half feet of pure muscle and gleaming golden skin. His eyes are twin
pools of darkest midnight that swallow me whole as he collides with me.
I’m so tongue-tied, I can’t even let out a yelp as I go flying backward at
the impact. I freeze when he grabs me by the shoulders to steady me.
I should say thank you, but I hesitate a moment too long, and by the
time I find my tongue, he’s already entering the changing room across the
hallway.
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