Snowstorm King (Chronicles of Curses #2)
H.L. Macfarlane
"You're the magician's girl."
The inside of Kilian Hale’s castle was barely warmer than it had been outside. Elina’s teeth were chattering so loudly in her skull that she barely heard the man’s question. Well, it wasn’t a question; more a statement of fact.
The prince regent looked at her with an expression of mild interest. “Well, aren’t you?” he demanded.
Elina nodded. “He impregnated my mother, yes, but I would not say he was my father, and neither I his girl.”
To her surprise Kilian snorted in amusement. “No, I guess not,” he said. He settled back against the throne, pouring more wine down his throat before continuing. “So, Miss…?”
“Brodeur. Elina Brodeur. Daughter of Lily Brodeur –”
“Yes, yes, I don’t care. You came here seeking my help. What help exactly is it that you need?”
Something told Elina that Kilian knew exactly what the people of Alder needed. Going by his attitude, and the rate at which he was consuming wine, she concluded that he had merely approved an audience with her to provide himself with some kind of entertainment. The castle was empty, after all.
Disconcertingly so.
“Where is everyone?” Elina asked, glancing around the cavernous, dusty throne room. When she had imagined the inside of the castle this was not what she’d had in mind at all.
Kilian frowned. “Did I grant you an audience for you to criticise where I live?”
“I – no, I just –”
“Then tell me why you are here.”
What do you do when winter never ends?
Tempestuous, hedonistic Kilian Hale does not wish to be king. Only a curse cast by his father on his deathbed ties him to the throne until his elder brother, Gabriel, returns from war.
Spurned for not possessing the blonde hair and blue eyes of the people of Alder, Elina Brodeur seeks to win their approval by requesting an audience with their cruel, lazy king. But Kilian is not interested in the town’s pleas for extra provisions to help them through the particularly harsh winter, and time and again turns Elina away.
Yet the king soon discovers that he’s met his match in Elina, who strikes a deal with Kilian to get what she wants. But as provisions run low and tensions run high, Kilian struggles to get rid of the crown he never wanted whilst Elina tries to deny her growing feelings for the king she swore to hate.
The appearance of a pair of travelling magicians may just change everything…
Chronicles of Curses is a series of independent but interconnected fairy tale retellings that can largely be read in any order, though Snowstorm King is the preferred second in the series.
NOTE: Snowstorm King is written in UK (British) English, not American English.
Tagged as:
- fantasy 4
- retellings 3
- suspense 3
- historical 3
- sword & sorcery 2
- folktales & legends 2
- horror 1
- dark 1
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- format - reader age
- book 1
- adult fiction 1