Frigid: Frost Boarding House 1

Chapter 1 / Part 1

SHE DIDN’T NEED TO SEE ACTUAL FLAMES. Hearing the name alone and knowing that she was coming was enough to send an icy chill from Camilla Frost’s head to her toes.

“They cannot stay!” She burst into the library where Camilla knew she’d find her father. Her unruly brown hair escaped their pins in her frantic state. “They are changers!”

Reid Frost, her father, sat in his overstuffed chair in the corner, one leg propped on the other, with the newspaper in hand. It was his mid-morning ritual. He glanced over the top of his spectacles at Camilla, expression unchanged.

Camilla rushed to the window to look out at the two new arrivals as they exited the carriage, then quickly away.

He removed his glasses and re-folded the paper.

“Aline Elana Dracul?” She emphasized the name. “She’s a Dracul!”

“I am well aware who she is. And I also know she’s a very respectable lady.”

Respectable lady? Sure, the Draculs were from wealth and starred in the society section of the most prestigious New York papers. The Draculs were connected. The Draculs were high society. The Draculs were famous.

But the Draculs were also changers. Of the dragon type.

“But they are…” She couldn’t look at them through the window any longer and turned to her father and finished her thought in a low hiss. Daring to speak what they were.

He smiled, leaning back with the end of his glasses between his teeth.

“You don’t believe me?” she asked. “Father, you must hear what I’m saying.”

Her father replaced his spectacles and resumed his posture before re-opening the paper. “I believe you.”

“Father, they are dangerous.” Her voice lowered in fear and she sunk into the chair across from him, pressing her hands into the folds of her dress. She clasped her fingers until her knuckles turned white. “You must make them leave,” she said. “They cannot stay.”

“I will do no such thing and neither will you.” Mr. Frost’s voice was stern. “Now, go and show Miss Dracul and her escort to their rooms, like I’ve asked.”

Cold fear made a racket against her ribcage, but Camilla steeled herself and stood.

“Who knows? Perhaps you and Miss Dracul will get along just fine and become the best of friends.”

Camilla scoffed and stalked out of the room.

“My apologies,” Camilla greeted Miss Dracul and her companion out front. She plastered the best smile she could manage under the circumstances and wondered if dragon changers could smell fear or if the shaking of her hands would be enough to give herself away.

Miss Dracul waved Camilla’s words off with gloved hands and a tight smile.

“Follow me?” Without waiting for an answer, Camilla led the pair through the front door and toward the stairs as the clacking of heels and clomping of boots followed.

Hitching her skirts, Camilla glanced back as covertly as she could when they rounded the staircase and tried to calm her racing heart. Perhaps if she appraised the new arrivals the way she did past boarders who weren’t stars of the society pages and didn’t change into terrifying lizards, she could squash some of her fear.

First, she focused on Miss Dracul who wore a cream head wrap. Although it covered the color and texture of her hair, it didn’t hide the beauty of her face and her fierce, icy blue eyes.

The pounding in Camilla’s chest slowed. It was working.

She looked only a year or two older than Camilla, but even without knowing Aline Elana Dracul’s background, she felt the waves of importance and high class with a force as if decades separated them. There was a clear gap of poise and etiquette training that was evident in the regal way Miss Dracul lilted up the stairs, yet kept her posture perfectly aligned.

Intimidating, sure. But the fear waned.

It also made Camilla feel plain with her brown eyes and hair that were almost the same color. And Camilla’s features were absent of the elegant, sharp angles that complimented Miss Dracul’s jawline and cheekbones.

If that were not enough to make her feel inferior, being near the rich finery of Miss Dracul’s clothing, Camilla’s dress was drab in comparison. Her dress fell out of style more than a season ago and told the story of more than one well-worn spot that had required mending.

Camilla pretended none of that bothered her as her eyes drifted to the gentleman.

Evandrus Quinn. His name didn’t sound familiar. He was tall, built, his skin browned with sun, and fiery orange-red hair. He was pleasant to look at, but Camilla dismissed the notion as soon as it entered her thoughts. She couldn’t allow her thoughts to move too far in that direction. He was likely a changer, maybe a dragon changer, too.

Upon their arrival, before Camilla rudely excused herself to insist her father send them away, Mr. Quinn explained that he was the traveling companion of Miss Dracul, but it was clear he held a more important role to her. It strangely disappointed Camilla.

“Thank you, Miss Frost,” Miss Dracul said with a curt nod when they arrived at her room. “Now, which one will Mr. Quinn be staying in? I would require him to be close to my room.”

“We do not permit unmarried ladies and gentlemen to be in one another’s rooms past sundown,” Camilla said. The implications were clear. She should have hid the judgement in her voice better. Who knew what happened to a person who offended a dragon changer?

Camilla’s heart shot ice-cold panic to the crown of her head and the tips of her toes.

Miss Dracul’s cheeks pinked. “Mr. Quinn is my protective guard, Miss Frost. Nothing more. It is imperative that his rooms are close to mine for my own protection.”

“Of course,” Camilla said, but it was too late because when she gestured to the next door down the hallway, she saw a flash of iridescent purple from her peripheral and she had to stop herself from letting out a yelp or a scream.

Scales.

The purple scales were almost faded from Miss Dracul’s wrist when Camilla turned back, but she knew she hadn’t imagined them.

“My apologies,” she said, not even trying to hide the tremor in her voice. “I-I’ll leave you to it.” Camilla skittered down the stairs without adding her hope that they enjoyed their stay.

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