M. J. Padgett - Frozen Heart

What are people saying about Frozen Heart?

Oh, my goodness. My heart, this is so cute. Mia, beta reader

So many questions are unfolding AGAIN! Beth, beta reader

The things they do to books in this land! Allison, beta reader

Please tell me the next book is ready. I dont know if I can handle waiting with this cliffhanger! Mia, beta reader

2020 Melissa Padgett (M. J. Padgett)

Copyright registered with the US Copyright Office

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This work may not be translated except by permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. The names, occupations, events, incidents, and businesses are products of the authors imagination. Certain cities, states, countries, and institutions are mentioned, but the characters involved are wholly imaginary. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. Certain creative liberties have been taken with regard to procedure and function of some occupations, agencies, locations, and events to suit the purpose of this work of fiction. None are intended to represent actual agencies, agency procedures, persons, or events, and any factuality is purely coincidental.

First Edition 2020

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Design by: Melissa Padgett (M. J. Padgett)

Artwork obtained from: Shutterstock Image # 732271981 by appler

Frozen Heart

M. J. Padgett

The Immortal Grimm Brothers Guide to Sociopathic Princesses

Volume Six

For my grandmothers. You both taught

me so much, and in very different ways.

Frozen Heart

Song of The Lost

Beware the painted lips of Red

Whose kiss will surely render dead

For a heart as cold as death doth reign

Deep in forests filled with pain

Hear the cries of suffering souls

From beast to man upon the knoll

She bestowed a curse of miserable life

Upon the hands that toil and strife

Rise against the broken way

Steadfast my love, do not give sway

For evil lurks among the shadows

Be not tempted my darling White rose

You alone hold the key

Our daughter dear, set us free

Align with you, the seven sworn

Who not in death, we still do mourn

From the poison they shall rise

Forever cursed, Canis lupus inside

Break the moon once of blue

The howl we seek is strong and true

Beware the painted lips of Red

Whose kiss will surely render dead

Save the wolf wholl have her head

Our ever beloved Salien bred

Prologue

K AI HUNG UP THE PHONE , frankly, freaking out. There was no reason to believe Nikola Grocka would ever call him again, not after everything that had happened between them, but fate saw him fit for a second chance. Unfortunately, his second chance required the total devastation of his brothers world. He tapped the back of his cracked cell phone case, squashing the urge to throw it against a treeagain. How would he ever explain his past to his brother? His real past? He guessed the best way would be to come out with it and tell Ari who he really was and what he had to do. Nikola was quite clearhis special powers were needed to help her family and friends in the Black Forest, but even thinking about the Snow Queen made him queasy.

Thinking of his past and his ancestry, made Kai ponder the first Kaithe one whod gone against the Snow Queen and survived, barely. The story played in his mind as if he had been the boy tricked by the queen, cementing in his mind that confronting her descendant might be a death wish. Still, he pondered the story and tried to formulate a reasonable explanation for his brother.

Once upon a time, the devil took the form of a troll and made a magic mirror. The mirror distorted the image of anyone who gazed into it. The mirror, though forged in beauty, would never reflect the beauty of those who held it, and only magnified the bad. The devil took delight in distorting the images of man, but his plan was to take it to Heaven, where he would make the angels look like foolsand worse, to humiliate God.

However, when the devil tried to take it up to Heaven, the mirror laughed at him and shook until it fell to the ground, shattering into millions of pieces. The shards were blown all over the land, some no larger than a grain of sand. Those small splinters blew into the eyes of men, forcing them to see only the badness of the world.

Many years later, a boy named Kai and his dearest friend, Gerda, lived side by side in a small row of homes. Their two families were close and grew vegetables together. Soon, the two were close as siblings.

One day, Kais grandmother told them the tale of the Snow Queen, who ruled over the snowflakes. She commanded them, and they bent to her will. Outside his frosted window, Kai spied the queen, and she beckoned to him, but the boy darted from the window with fear.