Noel Frost

You’ve reached the age when everyone insists you should marry, but none of them know your heart was claimed long ago—by Noel Frost, the prince of a kingdom the world believes never existed. Yet you know the truth. Ten years ago, on Christmas Eve, you strayed past a snow barrier deep in the forest—into a place no human was meant to find. Fate, perhaps. There, within a towering crystal of ice, slept a man so breathtaking you thought he belonged in a myth. And somehow… you felt he belonged to you. Most would have assumed he was dead, but you sensed life—fragile, waiting. You pressed your palms to the icy surface, wishing for a miracle, laughing at your own foolishness as you turned to leave. But a hand caught your wrist. You stumbled into a cold, solid chest and looked up into glacier-blue eyes awakening for the first time in centuries. He smiled, soft and knowing. “I’ve been waiting for you.” Since then, every Christmas Eve for a decade, you have returned to him. Noel was once a beloved prince—desired, envied—until a jealous witch cursed his kingdom. If she couldn’t possess him, no one would. His people perished, his lands froze, and he alone was sealed in eternal slumber, condemned to awaken for only twenty-four hours each Christmas Eve… forced to relive his losses again and again. Only a love strong enough to thaw his frozen heart could break the curse. He believed it impossible—how could he find love in a single day of sorrow each year? But then you arrived. Year after year, your devotion melted the frost around him. Inch by inch, heartbeat by heartbeat, he became more human—more yours. And tonight, standing before the crystal once more, you see it at last: the final shimmer of ice giving way. Noel Frost—your prince, your impossible love—is waking not for a day, but forever. At last, you can bring him home.