A Crown This Cold And Heavy Audiobook Novels & Stories

Edward's POV Cold. That was first. Not pain. Cold. Starting at the edges of things and moving inward with the patience of something that knows it will get there eventually. The sky. Too bright. I tried to hold it in my sight and couldn’t. Sound arrived in the wrong order—a voice, then none, then two at once, then nothing, then hers. Hers stayed. Her hand was still in mine. I confirmed that before anything else. Warm. Still there. The warmth of it the only fixed point in everything else moving in and out.

he said, extending his hand. She looked at his hand. Then at him. Her eyes were dark brown, almost black, and so cold they could have frosted the champagne in her glass. Up close, she was even more devastating, sharp cheekbones, full mouth, a face that demanded you look and then punished you for staring. She took his hand. Her grip was firm and brief, and the touch sent something down his spine that felt dangerously close to recognition. "I know exactly who you are, Mr. Cross."

Still, I bought some yarn, intending to crochet him a scarf. Jonathan had always been so clingy, hardly ever leaving my side except when at work. To keep the surprise, I could only knit when he was away. A month later, with the cold settling in, I finally finished—a soft, sky-blue scarf. With a flourish, I wrapped it around his neck like magic. His face lit up with boyish delight. "You made this?" I nodded. Overjoyed, he kissed me lightly on the lips. "Thank you, Adam. With this scarf, I'll never feel cold in winter again."

“Few have been down here. It holds the true history of our pack, its blood and its burdens.” At the center, on a pedestal bathed in an otherworldly glow, lay a crown. Silver, heavy with jewels that seemed to drink in the light and spit it back. Jaxon’s breath hitched so sharply I heard it. “That’s… the crown of the first Morrien Alpha Queen.” His voice cracked, disbelief and awe warring in his tone. I stepped closer, every nerve screaming, every heartbeat pounding a war drum. I reached out and touched the crown. The coldness was immediate, then a surge of heat, like a wildfire coursing through my veins.

she projected her voice, hiding any fear she had. “Then please, recite after me; As queen I will protect all wolves who need protection. I will bestow my advice and knowledge for all who need it. I will follow my mate, the King in all his endeavors.” Klara repeated the words, glancing to Marc every now and then to see his proud, warm smile. Elsbeth took the crown of intwined thin gold strands from her head, and placed it on Klara’s. Adelaide brought forth a gold handled dagger, although this one had a blue sapphire encrusted in the hilt. She handed it delicately to Elsbeth. She nodded subtly to Klara, who nodded back, she’d been warned about this part. Elsbeth nicked her palm, before passing

Thousands of loyal wolves from every allied pack stand in hushed silence as the ancient elders step forward, lifting the heavy, gleaming Eternal Silver Crown and placing it firmly upon my head. The atmosphere is charged with a profound, reverent awe that commands absolute stillness across the entire summit. The crown, forged from the purest starlight-infused metal of the first vault, hums with a familiar, comforting resonance against my brow, anchoring my spirit to the collective heartbeat of our united people.

"What caused it?" Zevrael's body stilled beneath my touch. And in his breathing I could hear the faintest hitch that made my stomach clench. At the moment, I thought he would look away, or speak nothing at all. The tension thrummed in the small, lamplit room, thick as blood. The sensation as if I was soaked in warm blood that flowed down, and with an imminent itch to scrape it all away, to have hands on my skin to smear it clean with long international strokes. Then, slowly, he tilted his head, the motion deliberate, and his eyes burning with the fire of centuries of restraint met mine.

The letters were uneven, rushed, and old, but they struck me with the force of my mother’s voice. My little wolf, if you find this crown, then every lie has failed to keep you small. My vision blurred. Conri stepped closer but said nothing. Bardolph’s pain flickered through the bond, but he held himself silent. I kept reading. This crown is not proof that you must rule. It is proof that you were born free before men wrote contracts over your name. My breath shook. The crown warmed in my hands, and the hidden power beneath the red stones seemed to listen.

Do not touch her. She is my sister. She may be the seed. The title settled over us like cold rain. Betrayal seed. Grandmother’s voice came from every canal. One minute. The false king’s smoke poured through the cracks in the dome. Silvercrest sounded above us. Car alarms. Breaking glass. A distant r oar from the sea. The small white wolf stepped into the black flame. Its body began to disappear. Find the messages inside the crown. I grabbed for it. My hand passed through light.

“You and me both.” Kael slowed his pace as the ridge opened into a plateau, vast and silent. In the center stood a spire of ice, glowing faintly from within. Inside the ice, something shimmered, an orb of light bound by chains of dark metal. Lira’s breath caught. “That’s” “The Crown’s heart,” Kael finished. He stepped closer, the hum growing louder in his bones. The orb pulsed once and the chains rattled, as if reacting to him. Then came the voice again not from the air, but from inside his mind.