Cursed by Ice: The Immortal Brothers, by Jacquelyn Frank
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Cursed by Ice: The Immortal Brothers, by Jacquelyn Frank
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From New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Frank comes the smoothly sensual second book in an exciting new series featuring four immortal warrior brothers who must stake their hearts against their fate. As punishment for plotting with his brothers to steal immortality, Garreth is suffering a freezing torment until the end of time. Again and again, his fierce fighter’s physique is frozen into a chiseled ice sculpture, his heart hardening like a diamond in his chest—only to thaw and resume the chilling torture. Until, like his older brother Dethan, he is offered a reprieve from a goddess—in exchange for his allegiance in a celestial civil war. Garreth lives to fight and fights to live. But while laying siege to an embattled city, he finds another reason to go on—a beautiful warrior woman named Sarielle, who commands a mythic beast through a mysterious and powerful bond. Terrified of her strength, the city rulers have kept her captive, and now she refuses to submit to a new master. As Garreth seeks to unleash her passion and melt the icy resistance of her heart, will he become her ultimate salvation—or lead them both to greater destruction?
Cursed by Ice: The Immortal Brothers, by Jacquelyn Frank - Amazon Sales Rank: #763239 in Books
- Brand: Frank, Jacquelyn
- Published on: 2015-03-31
- Released on: 2015-03-31
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.87" h x .88" w x 4.17" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 352 pages
Cursed by Ice: The Immortal Brothers, by Jacquelyn Frank About the Author Jacquelyn Frank is the New York Times bestselling author of the Immortal Brothers series (Cursed by Fire, Cursed by Ice, Bound by Sin, Bound in Darkness), the World of Nightwalkers series (Forbidden, Forever, Forsaken, and Forged), the Three Worlds series (Seduce Me in Dreams and Seduce Me in Flames), the Nightwalkers series (Adam, Jacob, Gideon, Elijah, Damien, and Noah), the Shadowdwellers novels (Ecstasy, Rapture, and Pleasure), and the Gatherers novels (Hunting Julian and Stealing Katherine). She lives in North Carolina and has been writing romantic fiction ever since she picked up her first teen romance at age thirteen.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
chapter one
Garreth walked into the command tent and immediately dropped his burden on one of the cross-legged tables within. He wore full armor, so every time he moved the sound of metal striking metal was made. It was a sound he had grown to love over his lifetime. The sound of a man ready for whatever battles might come his way. A sound he once thought he would never hear again.
“Well, little brother, how goes things with the troops?”
Garreth turned to face Dethan. “Well, elder brother,” he said with a tight-lipped smile, “they are bored out of their skulls.”
“I thought you were sending out hunting parties.”
“I did. And we’ve game aplenty now. But these men have come for a fight and they are itching to do battle. I cannot say I blame them. The summer wears on, and soon you will be returning to your wife and child, taking half our forces back with you to winter. They want to see at least one more glorious battle before they go.”
“Outside this tent and a few strides away is that glorious battle to come.” Dethan moved to the front of the tent, looking out the opening and toward the city they had chosen to sack in Weysa’s name.
That was their part of the bargain, the deal that had freed the two brothers from their torments after they had drunk from the fountain. Dethan, Garreth had learned, had been thrust down into the darkest, hottest pit of the eight hells, cursed to burn to the bone over and over again, just as Garreth had been cursed to freeze. But almost a full turning of the seasons ago, the goddess had freed Dethan.
Weysa needed warriors to fight in her name. She and the other gods had grown weak as the people turned away from their faith and belief in them, for they needed the love and devotion of the people in order to gain power. And now that the twelve gods were at war, split into two factions of six, they desired power more than ever. Weysa’s faction consisted of Hella, the goddess of fate and fortune; Meru, the goddess of hearth, home, and harvest; her brother Mordu, the god of hope, love, and dreams; Lothas, the god of day and night; and Framun, the god of peace and tranquility. They warred with the opposing faction of Xaxis, the god of the eight hells; Grimu, the god of the eight heavens; Diathus, the goddess of the land and oceans; Kitari, the goddess of life and death; Jikaro, the god of anger, deception, and storms; and Sabo, the god of pain and suffering.
However, Kitari, the queen of the gods, was being held by Xaxis’s faction against her will, a fact they had discovered only last winter, when Dethan had traded away his immortality in order to discover her true intent. It had been a risky proposition, one that could easily have backfired and meant a permanent end to Dethan, but instead it had freed him fully from his curse, made him mortal, and allowed Garreth to be freed from his icy hell as well.
Somewhat.
For every night, between dusk and the juquil’s hour, Garreth was cursed to freeze again. A reminder, he thought grimly, of what he had done and of the gods’ discontent with him. Weysa had only freed him to fight; she had not been willing to release him entirely from his curse.
But that did not matter. All that mattered was that they and their army perform well. They had Hexis, the city where Dethan’s wife ruled with Dethan, and they had conquered one other city already, this past spring, erecting temples to Weysa within its walls and filling their army with more soldiers from that city. Now it was coming on the end of summer and out there, only a short distance away, was the next city.
The city they had conquered in the spring had been easy. Almost too easy. Dissatisfyingly easy. Garreth had wanted a pitched battle, a fight to vent his anger and frustrations on.
Both of which were great and many.
But more than that, he wanted to please the goddess. Not from fear of her, although that was most certainly present, but in the hopes that she would see what powerful warriors the brothers were, what great assets they were . . . and maybe it would compel her to find and release the remaining two brothers from their torments.
Garreth and Dethan fought and conquered just the same, in the hopes that one day their brothers would be free. Yes, most of all, that was what they both fervently prayed for.
Just then a courier ran up to the tent. He handed a pair of dispatches to Dethan.
“Ah! A letter from Selinda!” Dethan said eagerly, moving back into the tent and handing the second dispatch to Garreth, unread. Dethan clearly did not care what was in the other message. The letter from his wife meant more to him than anything else.
Rescuing their brothers was a very close second to that.
“Look! Look how he’s grown!” Dethan showed a paper to Garreth excitedly. It was a very skillfully rendered and life-like miniature sketch of Dethan’s infant son. The child was nearly five wanings old, and Dethan had been campaigning for three of those wanings. Garreth and the army had conquered their city in the spring alone before Dethan had joined them at the turn of summer, as was agreed by Weysa. Dethan’s summers were hers, when he would fight, and the remaining wanings he belonged to his beloved wife, Selinda.
These wanings had been difficult on Dethan, Garreth knew. He had wanted to be with his wife and child, and the separation had often taken its toll on his mood. But Garreth had easily forgiven Dethan his surly moments. He would have felt the same had he a wife like Selinda and a child like Dethan’s fine son, Xand.
“She writes that they are both healthy and well. That—” Dethan broke off.
“Yes?” Garreth prompted.
“Well, I cannot repeat this part,” Dethan said with a wolfish grin, his eyes bright with delight as he looked up at his brother. “She would never forgive me.”
“Say no more, brother,” Garreth said, amused by the besotted man.
He was amused, but he did not smile.
He had thought he would never live to see the day his brother was in love. Of all of them, Dethan had never professed to love a woman—even in his youth, when boys tend to be reckless with giving away their hearts. But he was completely around the bend over Selinda, his devotion to her intense.
Garreth envied him that. He envied the warm home and squirming child that awaited his brother once the cold of fall came calling. Garreth would continue the campaign against the new city until it was defeated, however long that took, but Dethan would leave him to it the moment the weather turned cold.
Garreth left his brother to his letter and turned his eyes to the missive in his own hands. The paper was folded neatly and sealed with wax, which had been stamped with the intricate image of a dragon of some sort, its wings broad within the circle of the stamp. The letter was addressed:
To the Beasts at the Gate
Intrigued, Garreth broke the seal and opened the letter.
You come upon our small city with aggression and numbers. We do not ask for war, and yet you bring it. We will not stand idly by while you rape our home of its innocence and peace. Consider yourself warned. End your folly against us now and we will let you leave unharmed.
The City of Kith
“Brother, I do believe we have been threatened,” Garreth said with thoughtful amusement.
Again, without a smile.
Dethan looked up questioningly as Garreth handed him the missive. He read it quickly and promptly burst out in a rich, raucous laugh.
“Such posturing. They are weak and they know it. Once we lay siege and they begin to starve for lack of fresh game and supplies, they will be welcoming us with open arms. As it is, their mill and butchery are outside the city walls. We have already seized control of them, as well as the farmland and crops, which right now are ripe with growing grain and thick with orchards. They know they are doomed to fall to us. This is mere posturing.”
“It has spine, you have to admit.”
“It shows fear.” Dethan scoffed.
“I think it’s just the opposite,” Garreth said thoughtfully. “They sound very certain that they are not the ones in danger. Perhaps the more important question is, how did this missive reach us? The city has been locked down against us since we arrived, no one in and no one out.”
“There is always a way in or out, whatever the circumstance. There are always some enterprising sorts willing to risk running a blockade. For profit.”
“Yes, but the Kithians are violet skinned. Surely we would have noticed one of them in our camp who was not under guard.”
There were Kithians in camp, all of them prisoners of the army. Mostly farmers and others who had been caught outside the walls of the city. But as Garreth had said, they were all under guard.
“That is a puzzle, it is true,” Dethan said, a frown marring his features. He walked to the tent opening and yelled out, “You! Page! Where did you get this letter?”
The courier who had dropped off the missives stepped into the opening of the tent, leaving the conversation he’d been having with one of the command tent guards.
“A messenger from Hexis brought it only a short while ago,” the courier said.
“No, not the one from my wife. The other.”
“Other? I handed you only one missive, your most honorable.”
“I’m holding both in my hands, page,” Dethan said, showing the letters to the man.
“I . . . I only . . . But there was only one,” the page insisted, looking flustered and very honestly worried.
“Never mind. Go and get yourself a meal,” Dethan said. Then, once the young man had left, he turned back toward Garreth. “What do we make of this?”
“Altered perception? It must be some kind of magery.”
“So it seems. If they have a mage with that kind of power, we will have to be more alert. It was foolish of them to tip their hand though. We will now be on guard against it.”
“But what can we do against a mage? Especially one who can alter the mind. Your wife is the only mage we know and she is two weeks’ journey away from here.”
“My wife will remain home with my son,” Dethan said darkly. “We will not even entertain the idea of her coming on a campaign.”
“Dethan, she is a magess of fire, one of the most powerful of the mage schools—”
“Enough! We will not discuss it!”
Garreth knew by his brother’s terrible tone that it was indeed the end of the conversation. Garreth’s sister by marriage, however powerful she might be, would never be allowed from behind the safety of Hexis’s walls. Not for anything, and certainly not for war.
“Then how are we to prepare for whatever tricks they have planned? This is clearly a mage of some kind of mindcraft.”
“Perhaps. The best way to battle this is by using deception and great numbers. No mage is strong enough to fool an entire army, but they can do damage in small increments. It is most important that they don’t know where you and I are. As leaders, we are the ones giving commands and we cannot allow ourselves to be tricked into giving false commands.”
“Not an easy ploy considering your armor is black. It rather stands out.”
“As does yours with its golden hue. We will have to wear other armor.”
“But both of our armors are god made. And you are no longer immortal, brother. I do not wish to see you—”
“I was fighting wars without immortality for a very long time. Do you not trust that I can come away from this alive and well again?”
“Of course I do. I only meant . . . I would not wish to take unnecessary chances. Not when such a valuable tool such as our armor is available to us.”
“It is not ideal of course, but it will have to be. I will call a page to find us suits of common armor. You cannot be killed except with a god-made weapon, and since I am the only one with a god-made sword, you have little to worry about.”
“I would not say that,” Garreth said with a grimace. He moved toward the opening of the tent. “Dusk comes.”
Dethan frowned, his clover-green eyes expressing his deep regret, his awareness of what his brother was suffering, and the guilt of knowing it was his folly that had led Garreth to it.
But Garreth had willingly followed Dethan. He had made the choice of his own free will to go on their quest for the fountain. He had been weak and was now paying the price for not being strong against his brothers’ cajoling coercions.
“Brother . . .” Dethan began.
“Dusk comes every night,” Garreth said quietly. “Will you flagellate yourself every time?”
“Yes,” Dethan said simply.
“I wish you would not” was all Garreth could say. Then he left the tent and began to head toward the orchards that stood a little ways away from the encampment. He headed for the section of marjan trees that had turned from a healthy white to a sickly brown, the only trees in the orchards not bearing leaves or fruit. Both had fallen to the ground the day after they had first come to Kith. The day after his first dusk in the orchard.
He stood among those barren trees and slowly removed his armor. Piece by piece, he set it down onto the ground a few feet away from where he eventually stood waiting.
The moment the first touch of darkness bled into the sky, the grasses beneath his feet began to turn white with frost. The frost crept outward in an ever-widening circle, overtaking the dead trees, climbing up the bark and into the branches. Had there been leaves left, they too would have frosted over.
He began to feel the cold seeping into his bones and he could not help but shudder. He tried not to brace against it, tried in vain to just let it come without his body resisting it and causing him even more pain in the long run. But he tensed just the same, his heartbeat racing as his breath began to cloud upon the air.
He dropped to his knees, falling forward onto his hands, as pain screamed through his freezing muscles. His body shuddered again and again in a futile effort to try to warm itself. He felt everything within him turning to solid ice, from bones to sinew to flesh. The insides of his ears, his eyes in his sockets, his scrotum and his penis. Eventually his lungs and heart froze solid and he could no longer breathe. When that happened he fell, a solid block of iced flesh, to the ground.
And after an hour he began to thaw . . .
. . . only to freeze again.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Great Book in a Great Series! By Karli Copy gifted by publisher and Netgalley in return for an honest review.Like book one, Cursed by Ice takes sufficient time for world and character development. And like book one, it fully drew me in and ended with a great HEA and set-up for the next book in the series. It is a great book in a great series.The follow-up to Cursed by Fire focuses on Garreth, the youngest of the four warrior brothers who stole immortality from the gods and as a result were sentenced to unending torture. He and Dethan have another city in their sights to overthrow for their goddess and are working on breaching the walls when a flame haired, violet skinned woman appears on the wall, arms raised. Shortly afterward a wyvern appears and begins razing their troops with it's fire. Garreth senses a connection between the woman and beast, shoots her with his crossbow and attacks the wyvern with Dethan's god made sword. The city falls to them and Garreth learns the woman survived. He brings the healer to her, but finds she is soulbound to the wyvern. She carries the beast's sword injuries on her body, and the only way to heal them is to heal the beast, who fled to the mountains.Sarielle was a slave to the ruler of the city and a Wrena to the wyvern. Her sisters were held as leverage against her and she was chained in her room at night to ensure her submission. When Garreth tells her that all slaves have been freed, she doesn't believe him. And when he asks her to take him to the Wyvern so they can heal him, the only way to heal her and save both their lives, she doesn't trust him. But she senses the wyvern is fading and will die if she doesn't. And as time passes she sees that Garreth is trustworthy, as well as being very attractive.As Dethan watches his brother and Sarielle grow closer, he becomes increasingly determined to keep them apart to save Garreth from the wrath of their goddess. And he finds an ally in the beautiful, politically astute mistress of the deceased ruler of the city, Davine, who wants Garreth for herself.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Better than book 1 By Ezinwanyi Cursed by Ice picks up right where Cursed by Fire ended. Dethan had just found out that he will be getting the aid of his youngest brother Garrett, on the mission to build an army while gathering worshipers for their patron gods. In book 1, Dethan’s punishment was nightly burning by god’s fire, whereas here, Garreth was continuously frozen for his punishment.Garreth was a more humble and likeable character than his older brother Dethan. Garreth was more sensible and cautious about his actions. Garreth accompanies his older brother to the city of Kith and there, he meets a slave girl named Sarielle. During their mission to conquer the city, Garreth learns that Sarielle has a bond with a wyvern (Dragon-like creature) and her life depended on the safety of the wyvern and vice versa. Sarielle has two sisters that the city elders held hostage, forcing Sarielle to usethe wyvern to protect Kith. While Garreth becomes attracted to Sarielle, he doesn’t lose track of the mission that goddess Weysa set him and Dethan upon.Garreth and Dethan finally sack the city and Sarielle asserts her independence, which put her on equal footing with Garreth. Thus the road to pursue their attraction was cleared, and they began a battle of wills.Better than book 1 but this series is not going to be memorable. It's just not on par with some of the new releases right now. I am on the fence about this series overall. I feel like it could really be good but it’s lacking something. The story telling was much better in the sequel and the main characters had more depth. There was even more involvement from the gods in this book. But the story needs a little more of something to propel it from average status. I will try book 3 in a few months.*Thanks to Tantor Media for the audiobook given in exchange for an honest review.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. 5++ Stars By pw reader Cursed by Ice is even better than the first in the series, Cursed By Fire. I didn’t think was possible since I loved Dethan and Selinda. Surprisingly, I loved everything about this story, too. Even the gods came through this time. Social issues such as unfounded biases and slavery are dealt with in this story as well as guilt and forgiveness. The main character are the voices of reason in a dog eat dog land. While this is certainly a romance story set in a wonderfully created medieval-oriented world, it is also a study in the relationship between siblings. I couldn’t help but wonder if Sarielle would be quite the mother hen when her sisters are grown as Dethan still is with Garreth. I’m glad I read his story first because in this one, I kept thinking Garreth should go ahead and take that punch at Dethan, he deserves it.Then there is the whole gods and goddesses to contend with by the brothers who have already spend hundreds of years being punished by them. These gods and goddesses that Ms. Frank has created are for the most part unlikeable beings with powerful egos and the abilities to match those egos. Like the Roman and Greek counterparts, they have qualities to both admire and disdain, such as jealous, pettiness, manipulative, and the desire to taunt others. They certainly keep the story interesting especially in this one where they show a charitable side I wouldn’t have believed them capable of having. It was through them that there were unexpected twists in the story that I didn’t see coming.Fantasy readers and all romance fans will enjoy this book, Cursed By Ice. Jacquelyn Frank has written an extraordinary series that engages both the heart and the mind. I highly recommend it.Copy provided by the publisher through Net Galley for an honest review.
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