His Frost Maiden Read online

  His Frost Maiden

  Space Lords: A Qurilixen World Novel

  Michelle M. Pillow®

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  His Frost Maiden (Space Lords) © Copyright 2007 - 2018, Michelle M. Pillow

  Cover art © Copyright 2014

  Originally Published as: Frost Maiden

  Third Electronic Printing October 2014

  Second Electronic Printing April 2011

  First Electronic Printing December 2007

  ISBN 9781452421223

  Published by The Raven Books LLC

  * * *

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any and all characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or events or places is merely coincidence.

  Michelle M. Pillow® is a registered trademark of The Raven Books LLC

  To J.R.A.

  Faafetai.

  Thank you for the dynamic conversations, language and anthropological lessons, and general feeding of the creative madness. As you begin your journeys across the world, through unseen dimensions and a universe of imagination, try to stay a little bit grounded in reality… but not too grounded. Living in complete reality is overrated.

  Good luck in whichever dimension you settle in, and consider me a friend in all.

  Contents

  About His Frost Maiden

  Space Lords Series

  Welcome to Qurilixen

  Author Updates

  Note from the Author

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  His Fire Maiden

  The Series

  Join the Exclusive Club!

  About Michelle M. Pillow

  Free Reading Guides

  Please Leave a Review

  About His Frost Maiden

  His Frost Maiden

  A Dragon Lords World Romance

  Empath and space pirate, Evan Cormier is obsessed with decoding an ominous premonition about his future. When a fellow crewman angered a spirit, the vengeful Zhang An took her wrath out on everyone in the vicinity. Evan just happened to be one of them. He’s now facing a future in which he’ll be forever alone.

  Lady Josselyn of the House of Craven has been betrayed. With her home world on a Florencian moon under attack and her family dead, she finds herself at the mercy of the one who deceived them. There is only one thing left to do—die with honor. But before she can join her family in the afterlife, she must first avenge all that she held dear. Falling in love with a pirate was never in the plan. Evan and his thieving crewmates might have delayed her fate, but they can’t stop destiny.

  * * *

  Space Lords is a continuation of the bestselling Dragon Lords series and Lords of the Var® series.

  Space Lords Series

  His Frost Maiden

  His Fire Maiden

  His Metal Maiden

  His Earth Maiden

  His Woodland Maiden

  Can’t find the books?

  Updated Reading List and Links here: MichellePillow.com

  * * *

  To learn about new releases: Join the Mailing List

  Welcome to Qurilixen

  Qurilixen World Novels

  Dragon Lords Series

  Barbarian Prince

  Perfect Prince

  Dark Prince

  Warrior Prince

  His Highness The Duke

  The Stubborn Lord

  The Reluctant Lord

  The Impatient Lord

  The Dragon’s Queen

  Lords of the Var® Series

  The Savage King

  The Playful Prince

  The Bound Prince

  The Rogue Prince

  The Pirate Prince

  Qurilixen Lords

  Dragon Prince

  More Coming Soon!

  Captured by a Dragon-Shifter Series

  Determined Prince

  Rebellious Prince

  Stranded with the Cajun

  Hunted by the Dragon

  Mischievous Prince

  Headstrong Prince

  Space Lords Series

  His Frost Maiden

  His Fire Maiden

  His Metal Maiden

  His Earth Maiden

  His Woodland Maiden

  Dynasty Lords Series

  Seduction of the Phoenix

  Temptation of the Butterfly

  Having trouble finding the books?

  Updated Buy Links Here

  * * *

  To learn more about the Qurilixen World series of books and to stay up to date on the latest book list visit www.MichellePillow.com

  Author Updates

  Join the Reader Club Mailing List to stay informed about new books, sales, contests and preorders!

  http://michellepillow.com/author-updates/

  Note from the Author

  Dear Readers,

  I’m pleased to present you with the next installment of my ongoing Dragon Lords World stories, the series: Space Lords. These books continue the Bestselling Dragon Lords, Lords of the Var®, and Zhang Dynasty series. For those of you catching up on the series, a complete reading order list is available on my website, www.michellepillow.com.

  Though they can be read alone, I recommend reading books in order of release for optimal enjoyment. For details please visit me on the web at www.michellepillow.com. Thank you for your continual support of this project and your wonderful emails.

  Happy Reading!

  Michelle

  Chapter 1

  Prologue: Craven Estates, Earth Settlement, Florencia’s Fifth Moon

  “Josselyn Craven, you stand accused of crimes against the human race. Your title, family property, and your wealth are hereby stripped.”

  The intricate patterns of the old woven carpet came into focus under Josselyn’s face. Though each curve was as familiar to her as the bricks of her home, she had never seen them so close. Nor had she seen the sticky crimson stain now marring the once rich texture. Her hand shaking, she ran it by her face, knowing before she looked that it was blood. The acrid smell was all too potent as it curled into her nostrils. There was too much of it to be her blood. But whose? A servant? Were they all to be slaughtered?

  Sacrelue!

  Her muscles ached from the hours spent running around her large castle home, fighting off her attackers. She’d lost her sword below in the corridor by the main hall and now had no weaponry—not that she had the energy to lift much beyond her own weight. Josselyn’s father had seen to it she was trained as well as any man, but she couldn’t fight off the endless stream of soldiers that seemed to fill the halls. Sneaking through secre
t passages—those hidden behind the stone walls—she’d made her way from her bedchamber only to nearly escape through a high window. Her sides were scraped from the tight fit, but the ache was dull compared to the sharp stab of her broken ribs, the burning pull of a dislocated shoulder, and the myriad of bruises. All injuries were left by her Florencia Moon Coalition peers turned Federation lackeys. How some of the men looked like they enjoyed hitting her, watching as the last of the mighty Craven family fell.

  Though they claimed it was the Florencian government, the so-called rebels knew the truth. The Federation was behind the new policies ruining their freedom and their lives. Like the classic Old Earth tale of the nobleman who hid his true nature in order to save his people from a corrupt government, so too had her family hid in the limelight of society.

  Now, for their troubles, there were only three Cravens left. She’d seen her father fall, her three older brothers, too. The oldest, Jonathan, to a sword, the next in line, Peter, to an axe, and Ralphe to a dagger. Their dead bodies were strewn all over the castle, their blood staining the floors, marring her gown from where she’d held them. Hopefully one brother, the one whose body she had yet to find, had escaped. Rainier was the youngest at ten and two years, but resourceful. Then there was her mother, Lady Craven, who thankfully was off planet. At least she was safe. Lady Craven was not a fighter. She was a good, gentle woman with a heart big enough for the whole galaxy. The lady was protected by her family from most of their rebellious affairs.

  If only Rainier had gone with Lady Craven, as had been the original plan, then Josselyn wouldn’t have to worry about the boy’s safety. Even as she thought it, she knew the most likely scenario was that Rainier lay on a bloody, stone deathbed. The idea of him, alone and dying, tore at her. Even this blood stained carpet beneath her could have been his resting place.

  Shaking, she pushed up, her heart aching with the carnage she’d seen. Grief overwhelmed her spirit, even as it drove her body angrily on. She didn’t think on tomorrow, to the time when she’d have to face what had happened. It was all gone. Her life. Destroyed. Empty.

  It’s only a matter of time before they kill the rest, her mind whispered. Rainier and your mother will fall. We will all fall. What point is there in fighting?

  Live, fight, and die with honor, her father’s voice answered, a distant memory translating the family crest. Her eyes lifted to the doorway, to the old Latin words etched into the stone, ‘Ago pugna quod intereo per veneration’.

  They gave her strength as nothing else at the moment could. All around her, the chamber was in shambles. They’d ransacked her father’s old study, knocking aside the candelabras and overturning the furniture she’d sat on so many hours as a child. Taking a blue candle that rested by her hand, she flung it at the man who spoke, knocking his foot with the hunk of wax. He merely laughed at the weak defense, kicking the candle aside.

  Shiny white boots stepped closer, now smudged with the faintest trace of blue. The man leaned down, the low bass of his voice just above a whisper. “Just like your father and your brothers. Fighters all until the very end. Is it fear or pride that drives you on?”

  The end?

  At that she managed to lift her head, though her eyes were still on the white boots. “Rain?”

  “Even the boy,” the general in white answered. Josselyn caught her battered reflection in the boot, a stretched version of her face. His tone soft as a lover’s, he added so only Josselyn could hear, “He died well. Have no fear of that.”

  Then it was true. The last of her family had fallen, save for the mother who would come home to a dried crimson river that was once her life. Would they wait for her mother? Would they kill her, too? Even as she thought it, she knew the answer. It was etched into the irritated lines of the general’s face. A tear slipped over Josselyn’s cheek. It would seem she still had energy enough to cry, even if she couldn’t push all the way up from the floor on her own.

  Josselyn gave a cold laugh. What else could she do? Tell him she hated him? Tell him he was a monster? Call him names and curse his children’s children? She’d already done as much when he and his men were beating her senseless. They wanted names and she could die knowing she never gave them.

  Ago pugna quod intereo per veneration.

  “Get it over with,” she croaked. No part of her wanted to die a failure, but her family was gone and she knew they had failed to win an impossible war. All that was left was to die well.

  Was it wrong to be tired of the fight? To want death so she may again be with those who loved her? How could she live with the loss of so much? Forget that they’d failed. Forget that soldiers were taking over the land and there was no one left to stand up to them. How could she live knowing everything she loved was gone? Pain rippled through her at the thought.

  “Lift her,” the general ordered, his shiny boots walking away from her, taking her reflection with it.

  Two men hauled her to her feet, holding her up by her arms. Josselyn suppressed a cry as they jerked her dislocated shoulder. She couldn’t see their faces, didn’t need to. Her body hurt so badly she couldn’t tell where the pain was coming from anymore.

  The one who’d betrayed them stood before her. General Jack Stephans. He’d deceived her family and the fifth moon settlement. He’d traded them in for money and power. Josselyn lifted her gaze briefly to the hard depths of the steel green eyes before her. She wanted to kick, to give one last good blow, to go down fighting, but she couldn’t raise her limbs.

  “Poor little Josselyn, so heartbreaking,” the general grabbed her chin and swiped beneath her eye. He looked young, was in fact very young for his position, only a few years older than her six and twenty. And yet they all knew so much more of fighting than anyone their age should, than anyone ever should.

  “We gave you a home,” she whispered. “How could you do this? How could you join them?”

  “You gave me a place in your stables,” he spat, his grip tightening on her chin, bruisingly so. “Not a place at your table. Not a place by your side. Not equal. They gave me a rank, a title. They give me respect. They give me a place in this world.”

  “Jack,” she said, her voice softening for the orphan boy they’d found over twenty years ago. If she begged him, maybe fate could be turned around; maybe this day could be erased. Fate had spit them out in a whirlwind of chance and deceit. Maybe all that had happened wasn’t his fault. Maybe it wasn’t hers. None of it mattered. None of it changed the fact that he had taken everything she held dear, everyone, and now he was robbing her of her family home. Her tone hardened and she closed her eyes. “General.”

  “Look at me, Josselyn,” he said. His tone caught even as his grip on her face tightened until his fingers pressed the inside of her cheeks against her teeth. “You’re so cold. Even now, your face is composed. Is one, lonely tear all the passion you can muster?”

  “I am Lady Josselyn of the House of Craven.” Her eyes opened slowly, focusing on the shiny white of his uniform. It gleamed with the orange glow coming from the fireplace. The material looked odd in the drabber earth tones many on the fifth moon wore. Theirs was a world based on Medieval Earth. Each moon in the Florencian system was different, each settlement patterned off a singular time in the human past, times that history had almost forgotten. But the principals of the ancestors who’d established the colonies no longer applied. Times were different now. What had started as preservation of history had turned into reality, into laws and a way of life they all believed in as generation after generation was raised into the worlds of the Florencian moons.

  The general shook her by the face until finally she forced her eyes to meet his. He looked angry, hurt, wildly hopeful. “I can save you. I can say you had nothing to do with the treachery of your family. No one wants to kill a woman of noble blood. The line of Craven doesn’t have to die. I will take your name; the name denied me by your father.”

  Was he serious? She knew he’d asked her father for her hand in marri
age. In fact, she’d dismissed the proposal with the full knowledge he only asked because he wanted power. Did he think she could love him now? Want him? Take him into her bed?

  He must have read the answer on her face because his own expression hardened. She knew Jack. He wouldn’t ask again.

  “I suppose not,” he said, almost sad. “Even if you agreed, I could never trust you not to take a blade to my back. Not after today.” He sighed heavily. “Not after this.”

  “Ago,” she whispered, even her voice beginning to fail in its strength, “pugna quod int—”

  “Quiet your tongue! This house is mine. Mine.” He let go of her chin and her head drooped. “And you can die knowing that I have taken more than what you all refused to give me in life.”