The Kingdom of Flames (COURTED BY THE SEASONS #1) by Audrey Everstar EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Audrey Everstar
- Language: English
- Genre: fantasy romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
The Dawn of Winter
The first time Celestine had seen winter had been a summer day. It was
one of the earliest and only memories she had of her mother.
“Come inside, my love.” Strong arms had scooped her up with an
urgency. She looked upwards at the sky, seeing its bright shine darken in the
intrusion of clouds and thunder. They approached with such an unnatural
rapidity, like they were invading. The wind howled across the land.
“Mommy,” Celestine had cried. “Where did the sun go?”
But her mother was running. She was the wife of Lord Mirrortower, the
only Unbannered gentry in the Painted Realm. Twelve banners, streamers of
a different color. Each swore allegiance to their demigod. To their Season.
But none ever knew if it mattered or not.
As winter crashed into the sky, darkness swallowing the sun, the answer
was clear. The obeisance of the people in this world did not matter.
“Close your eyes.” Celestine’s mother sprinted now.
Other people in the town were falling aside. The wind littered with rain,
then sleet, until she saw the twirling wall of snow coming towards them.
Above them, the sun warred with the clouds. A peddler was blown from his
stall as the force of a gale following them.
“I’m scared!” Celestine had cried out. She had wanted her mother to
shut her eyes. But she could not stop looking. Women were falling from the
force of the wind that whipped at them.
A wall of winter came barreling towards them. It was chasing Celestine.
She stared with wide eyes, her mutters of her mother’s name turning to cold
vapor from her lips.
“He comes,” Celestine’s mother huffed. She carried her daughter up the
street of the town. “His rage is too great.”
They ran towards her father’s keep. Men at arms waved them in. She
saw a man blown from a parapet, the high scream of him falling as he
plummeted towards the earth like her music box winding down. To her left
Celestine saw a knight in armor, bearing the sigilless mark of her father’s
house, try to steer his mount from the approaching weather. When the
shadow of winter struck him, both he and his horse were frozen solid,
encased in brutal ice.
“The sky is fighting,” Celestine whispered as she was carried through
the gates of the keep. High above her, the most beautiful myriad of darkness
and light, of sun and cloud, was swirling above them.
“Get inside!” her mother had commanded the men at arms. But they
didn’t listen, they were too entranced by the insanity of what they saw.
Her mother carried her into a guardhouse, slamming the heavy oak door
behind us.
“Oh great star in the sky, save us, keep us from his touch.” Her mother
backed against the door, letting Celestine down. She ran immediately back
into her mothers arms.
“Save us from who?” Celestine asked. Her mother rested a hand on her
back.
“From the King of Winter.”
“There are three gods in winter mother?”
But her mother stared at the wall, holding her close. “Never forget,
Celestine. There is only one King of Winter. He is upon us now.”
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