The soldier raised his eyebrow and asked, "What is the last thing?" "The heart of a good man," she whispered. "Ah, that is the easiest of all," the soldier replied softly. He leaned forward and placed his mouth against the Ice Princess' cold, cold lips. And then a very strange thing happened. For instead o f the soldier freezing, the Ice Princess thawed. Hot tears spilled from her eyes, melting the ice that covered her face. . . . --from The Ice Princess The wind caught her skirts and swept them against her legs. Coral pushed back a lock of hair flying against her cheek. Out beyond the cliffs the iron-grey sea was pushing whitecaps toward the shore and the heavy, damp air tasted of salt. She'd never lived by the sea, had been born and bred in the heart of London, but somehow it had seemed right when she'd left the Grotto to come settle here. She half-turned and looked back along the worn narrow trail by the cliffs. Her cottage was on the horizon, a smal white dot.
