Chapter 1

Seven years ago, Gareth Lancaster, my husband, whom I loved dearly, had me exiled to the Everfrost Plains. It was there that I met my tragic death.

Now, after seven years had passed, he brought my older sister, Jillian Fawkes, over in his arms. He proclaimed that he wanted to carve out my heart.

When he found out that I was dead, he was furious. He grabbed my daughter, Ivory Fawkes, by the collar and hoisted her into the air.

"That's impossible! How could Willow Fawkes be dead?" Gareth snarled.

After scrutinizing Ivory, he sneered. "How dare a cheap slut who's probably slept with half the men in the world claim to want to reveal the 'truth' to me? I bet that you're some bastard spawn yourself. Now tell where that whore has run off to!"

Ivory's feet dangled in the air. Her skin turned blue from lack of air, yet she seemed unfazed. Her expression remained as calm as ever, as if death didn't matter to her.

"My mother is dead," she said evenly. "All you have to do is enter the house she lived in, and you'll find out everything that happened."

Despite being the Human King, Gareth found that he couldn't even intimidate a little girl. Outraged, he flung Ivory with all his might, tossing her several yards away.

"If that bitch doesn't show herself today, I'll carve your flesh off bit by bit and feed it back to you. Let's see if she can stand by and do nothing while her child comes to a slow, painful death."

Ivory's tiny body tumbled through the snow. Her head slammed hard against a hard rock and instantly started bleeding.

My father—a Foxkin—had followed Gareth to retrieve my heart. After seeing what happened, he came up to Ivory, his eyes glinting ferociously.

"You're a filthy bastard spawn, alright, just like your mother," he said with a sneer. "Still, it'd be a shame to waste such fine white fox fur. Since Jillian needs a pair of fur boots, we'll use your hide to make them."

Father uses his magic to rip the fur off Ivory's tail, the sickening sound echoing across the Everfrost Plains.

They despised me, so naturally, they despised my daughter.

Ivory! My Ivory!

I screamed in anguish, desperately wanting to rush forward and stop them from hurting her. But alas, I was just a fragmented piece of my soul. I couldn't even be considered whole.

After I'd died, I placed what little remained of my conscience into the crystal necklace I'd left to Ivory. The living couldn't even see me, let alone hear me.

I had no means of stopping Father, nor could I tell Gareth that Ivory was his biological daughter. She'd been torn from my womb by the malicious local beastkins the first year I arrived at the Everfrost Plains. That was why her growth was stunted.

Meanwhile, all of the humans and beastkins who'd come with Gareth didn't care that Ivory was just a little girl. They all began carving pieces of flesh off her bones to vent their anger.

"Willow had committed endless atrocities! She forced my daughter to sleep with the Snake King! My poor daughter was still so young when she had her innocence stolen from her, so why should Willow's daughter get to live in peace?"

"Willow, that vicious bitch! When we find her, we must force her to get a taste of how it feels to watch your daughter violated before your own eyes!"

Before long, Ivory was completely covered in injuries. She lay bleeding on the snow, her hands still clutching the crystal necklace I'd given her.

She didn't attempt to fight back against those who were attacking her. On the contrary, she had a faint, unreadable smile on her face.

Gareth kicked open the door to the hut where I'd stayed. He smashed all of the scant remaining furniture into smithereens while hollering, "Willow! If you don't want your daughter to die, you'd better get out of here right this instant!"

As he ransacked the hut in search of me, he bumped into the closet. A flurry of letters drifted in the air like snowflakes before scattering onto the floor.

After picking one up, Gareth tensed, his gaze widening in shock.

They were the 999 love letters we'd written to each other, each one harboring the immense love we had for each other. Strewn among them were the letters I'd personally written to Gareth after I'd been banished to the Everfrost Plains.

Legend had it that if a couple wrote a thousand love letters, they would be together forever.

However, by the time it came to the last one, Gareth hated me with every fiber of his being. He exiled me to the Everfrost Plains and never once came to see me.

Gareth's hands shook as he clutched the yellowed paper.

Just then, Jillian, who'd stood in silence the whole time, suddenly stumbled into Gareth's arms.

"My head hurts, darling. Do you think it's because of the cold?"

Her voice snapped Gareth out of his reverie, and his expression turned icy once more. He was just about to respond when Ivory crawled back onto her feet.

Still drenched in blood, she snorted. "It seems to me that you're just afraid that you'll get exposed for all the deplorable things you did to my mother."

All the blood drained out of Jillian's face.