Shadow Frost by Coco Ma follows the story of Princess Asterin Faelenhart as she battles both a deadly demon and a plot to end her life. Here’s an exclusive excerpt.

As if demons and conspiracy theories weren’t enough, the princess of Axaria must also outwit a terrifying wyvern in an exclusive excerpt from Shadow Frost by Coco Ma.

This is 18-year-old Ma’s fantasy debut, but it already promises plenty of stunning storytelling and amazing adventures. Find out more below!

And now, an exclusive excerpt from ‘Shadow Frost’

They looked up just in time to see a churning mass of darkness swoop high into the moonless sky, blocking out the stars. It dove from above, a hawk with its prey locked in sight, smashing into the window headfirst. Quinlan’s invisible shield launched it backward with a throb of light, the glass rattling. The dark mass shrieked and plummeted out of sight.

Without a word, Rose grappled for Asterin’s arm and pulled her to her feet. They both hurried to the window, craning their necks to capture a glimpse of the courtyard below.

The mass looked like nothing more than a lump of blackness, jumbled on the pavement. And then it began to spasm. They watched as it took shape, lengthening into the muscular body of a predator, two wide ears popping out of its skull. It had two hind legs, but its forelimbs had been replaced with a pair of thorny, gnarled wings. A tail of barbs swept across the ground as it turned its head up and fixed its beady yellow eyes on Asterin.

She shuddered. “What in the name of the Immortals is that?”

“It’s not the demon, is it?” asked Luna.

“No, it’s a wyvern,” Rose said. “They haven’t been sighted in the Mortal Realm for centuries.” Luna raised her airstone, only for Rose to smack it away. “You can’t cast anything through Quinlan’s shield. It’ll backfire.”

“It’s preparing to attack again!” Asterin shouted. No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than the wyvern thrashed its wings, colliding into the window with enough force that they all leapt back. The creature shrilled in pain as patches of its leathery skin ignited in indigo flame and flaked away. It flailed midair for a moment before hurtling at them yet again. Asterin’s heart seized as a single, hairline fracture raced down the glass with an ominous crack.

Rose pocketed her tristone and slid her bow off her back. “Shit.”

“We have to get out of here,” gasped Luna.

Asterin didn’t dare take her eyes off the wyvern at the window as it hoisted itself higher in the air, wings pumping, preparing for another—and perhaps, final—assault.

“I’ll hold it off,” Rose said. “Luna, protect Asterin at all costs. When it breaks past the shield, you are both going to jump out the window. It’s only two stories.”

“Are you crazy?” Luna yelled. “Why can’t we just use the door?”

“Touch it and you’ll melt the skin right off your bones,” Rose replied, reaching for an arrow. “Asterin, you cannot die here. You have no idea how much is at stake.”

Asterin flexed her wrists. “If any of us are going to fight, we’re going to fight together. None of us are going to jump out any windows, and none of us are going to die—”

She cut off as the wyvern barreled forward with a triumphant screech even while black sludge oozed from its blistering skin, as if it knew it had already won. The blow spread the single crack into a web.

All it would take was one more strike.

Asterin gripped the omnistone. “What do I do with this?”

Rose cursed again and nocked an arrow. “Shield. Make a shield. Keep it up until I say so.”

Just as the wyvern poised itself to charge, Asterin thrust her arms out. “Skjyolde!” Magic erupted from her fingertips, weaving into a dome of translucent energy over their heads.

The wyvern lunged once more, and the window shattered, peppering the shield with glass. Even though Asterin braced herself, a groan still tore from her throat as the wyvern rammed into her shield, claws scraping mere inches from her face. She stared into its horrible yellow eyes through what now seemed like a too-thin barrier, her arms trembling the longer she resisted. “Rose,” she gasped.

“Wait for it,” Rose hissed from beside her, bow drawn.

Asterin snarled as the wyvern forced her back another foot, toward the scorching heat of the door. “Wait for what?”

“Now!”

Asterin relinquished her hold on the shield, the dome dissolving into nothing. Rose let her arrow fly, dead-on for the wyvern’s heart.

The arrow found home, burying deep into its chest, but somehow, the wyvern did not fall.

Instead, it charged at Luna.

Time seemed to slow as Asterin watched it leap five feet into the air, razor-sharp talons extended. Her magic acted of its own accord, blasting straight from her core. Spears of ice shot from the floor and sent the wyvern tumbling sideways. Its talons punched into the floor, trapping it for a few precious seconds.

“Get behind me!” Asterin yelled, pelting more ice at it. But to her dismay, each blast was smaller, weaker. She yanked at the strings of her power. More, more, why isn’t there more? she thought desperately.

The wyvern prowled closer, as if savoring every step. Its tail lashed out at her hand, but the pain was overshadowed by sheer horror when it knocked the omnistone right out of her grip. The stone sailed into the air and skittered behind the wyvern.

“Almighty Immortals,” Asterin said. The three of them started backing away. “All right. While I distract it, you two get out of here.”

“No,” Rose said, eyes wide. “Asterin, listen. You don’t need the stone. Your magic is a part of you. Your powers lie within your blood, closer within reach than you think. Harness it.”

There was a thump at the door.

Asterin clenched her jaw and braced her palms outward, her heart pounding in her ears. The wyvern’s tail scraped against the floor with an ear-splitting screech as it advanced. Your magic is a part of you. She tried to imagine it, envisioning her powers coursing through her veins, surging from deep within, flowing out of her fingertips.

“Come on, Asterin,” Luna whispered. “You can do it.”

A blade of ice the length of her arm surged from her open palm, slicing through the air like one of Rose’s arrows. It pierced the wyvern’s left eye and plowed clean through the back of its skull. The wyvern howled, lurching sideways, its good eye—blazing with yellow rage—darting until it found her.

With the last of her dwindling strength, Asterin threw up a final shield as the wyvern barreled forward, giving her no time to think, to doubt. Pain raced through her body as it collided into her shield, forcing her onto her knees.

She couldn’t let go.

The corners of her shield crackled as the edges of her vision clouded black, blurring in and out of focus.

I can’t let go.

But she couldn’t hold on.

The pain became too much, her body driven far beyond its limits. She prepared to conjure a final blade of ice. When her shield dropped, she would go for the wyvern’s other eye. She stared into its foaming maw, at the dripping fangs—

The door behind them ignited in an explosion of scorching heat.

A growl ripped through the room as a figure engulfed in indigo fire lunged through the last wisps of Asterin’s shield just as it flickered out.

Quinlan leapt at the wyvern with an enraged snarl, knives flashing. The beast swerved in surprise as the Prince of Eradore leapt onto its back with acrobatic ease, dancing on his toes, maintaining his balance even as the wyvern bucked. Each strike, delivered with a calm, lethal grace, drew shrieks of pain from the wyvern, the iridescent blades Quinlan wielded somehow managing to slice clean through its hide. Black blood poured from its wounds and splattered onto the floor.

Asterin cried out as the wyvern whipped its tail in wild retaliation and sliced Quinlan across the forehead. Unfazed, he broke away, leaving the wyvern’s neck wide open for the fatal blow. Quinlan’s eyes met Asterin’s for but a single heartbeat, his pupils blown wide and ringed with the deepest shade of blue she’d ever seen.

Before either of them could act, a howl erupted like a battle cry at her back. Asterin turned to see Quinlan’s flames licking up the remains of the door. And poised beneath it … a magnificent silver wolf with luminous emerald eyes.

Asterin’s heart stopped as those eyes met her own. She knew this wolf.

“Lord Conrye,” she whispered, and she knew that she was right.

With a mighty pounce and a frigid blast of arctic air, the Protector of the North soared over their heads and sank his glistening fangs into the wyvern’s throat.

About ‘Shadow Frost’ by Coco Ma

The official synopsis reads:

In the kingdom of Axaria, a darkness rises.
Some call it a monster, laying waste to the villagers and their homes.
Some say it is an invulnerable demon summoned from the deepest abysses of the Immortal Realm.
Many soldiers from the royal guard are sent out to hunt it down.
Not one has ever returned.

When Asterin Faelenhart, princess of Axaria and heir to the throne, discovers that she may hold the key to defeating the mysterious demon terrorizing her kingdom, she vows not to rest until the beast is slain. With the help of her friends and the powers she wields—though has yet to fully understand—Asterin sets out to complete a single task. The task that countless trained soldiers have failed. To kill it.

But as they hunt for the demon, they unearth a plot to assassinate the princess herself instead. Asterin and her friends begin to wonder how much of their lives has been lies, especially when they realize that the center of the web of deceit might very well be themselves. With no one else to turn to, they are forced to decide just how much they are willing to sacrifice to protect the only world they have ever known.

That is, of course, if the demon doesn’t get to them first.

Shadow Frost by Coco Ma hits store shelves on October 1, 2019, but you can pre-order it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or Book Depository. Don’t forget to all add it to your Goodreads list!