Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

ALVA

T he news of the snow dogs’ attack spread like wildfire. I didn’t wait for explanations or details, and immediately abandoned the mountain of dispatch paperwork piled on my desk. I sprinted to the kennels, my heart pounding in time with my boots.

When I arrived, the scene was chaos. A crowd of elves had gathered, their voices a jumble of panic and speculation. The once-cheerful village square had now been darkened by a shadow of fear. According to the stable elves, Mrs. Claus had already issued orders for a lockdown; everyone was hurriedly barricading doors and windows.

Thankfully, stable elves were already tending to the dogs, doing their best to keep them comfortable. Still, although they had been given sedatives and the village healer said they would recover from their wounds, my stomach twisted at the sight of their extensive injuries. These animals were trained to protect us, yet they had been left defenseless against whatever attacked them.

“What happened?” I asked one of the elves .

“We found them near the forest’s edge,” he explained, his hands shaking. Perhaps a part of him blamed himself for not being able to do more. Ensuring the safety of this village was ingrained in the blood of every elf. “They were like this when we got there. We didn’t see what did it, but others said they caught a glimpse of something—a blur of white fur. It moved too fast to be anything normal.”

Bile rose up my throat. Could the Frost Queen be behind this attack, too? That would mean she’d gotten through the shields.

“Where’s Nick?” I asked, dread pooling in my stomach.

The elf hesitated. “He took Icebreaker and went after them.”

A chill unlike any the Frost Queen could summon ran through me. Another storm was beginning to creep in, darker and angrier than the last. Nick would be caught out there without any protection.

“Does Mrs. Claus know?” I asked.

“She’s already been informed,” he said. “Guards are being stationed at the reindeer stables, and she’s making sure the lockdown is enforced. Everyone is to stay put until Santa returns.”

“What about Nick? Isn’t she sending someone after the prince?”

“Her orders were for everyone to stay put. She doesn’t want to risk anyone else getting injured.”

The words grated against me. How could I sit idle while Nick was out there, battling a storm and possibly facing the leopards on his own? The memory of his hurt eyes over the last few days flashed in my mind. I had pushed him away, telling myself it was for the good of the realm. But now, with the thought of him out there in danger, my resolve crumbled. I couldn’t bear the idea of something happening to him, not when I’d been so cold, so distant.

To Hel with Mrs. Claus’s orders. I needed to find him.

I made my way to the sleighs, ensuring no one saw me as I harnessed a smaller group of snow dogs. The storm was already picking up, the wind howling as if the Frost Queen herself was watching. My heart raced as I pulled the reins, urging the dogs forward.

The storm grew fiercer with every mile, the snow falling so thick it felt like a wall of white. The dogs pushed on, their keen noses guiding us through the forest. My hands ached from gripping the reins, my body trembling from the brutal cold.

As night fell, visibility became nearly impossible. The wind screamed, whipping snow into my face and stinging my exposed skin. “Come on,” I urged the dogs, though my voice was nearly lost in the gale.

Then, my heart sank as bloody tracks in the snow came into view. The tracks were faint, half-buried under fresh snowfall, but they were unmistakable.

Male boots.