His Frost Maiden

by Michelle M. Pillow

  The chamber was small and rectangular, constructed of metal and lacking in personal touches. In her home, tapestries and portraits covered the walls, as did banners of her family’s crest—even in guest rooms. This place had nothing to signify family or home.

  A dark grey coverlet spread over the bed like a sheet of cloth-like steel, smooth and flat, adding to the dreary grey theme throughout. The only splash of color was a red quilted blanket across an out-of-place black chair in the corner. A small technological gadget rested on top. Though they’d chosen to live on a moon with the conveniences of Medieval Earth, each of them had learned of the other times in human history. The device was like nothing she’d ever seen.

  Two metal doors, as if molded into the walls, kept her inside. Slowly, she stood from the bed. Her hair spilled over her shoulders and she combed her fingers through it, weaving the long strands at her temples into a braid that coiled around the crown of her head, leaving the back long. She’d done it so many times that it didn’t take long.

  Her gown had small rips and tears, but nothing could be done for it. Lady Craven always said a person’s bearing mattered more than their dress. But then, Josselyn’s mother could have been noble in rags.

  She wondered if she would again see the man with brown eyes the exact color of medium cream grade Lithorian chocolate. When she woke up in the medical booth, it had been the first thought that struck her as she looked into his eyes. Her favorite chocolate, the ones her mother gave her on her birthday, her one little naughty pleasure when it came to her diet. Silver threaded the short, black hair at his temples. It was dignified and bespoke of a commanding presence. A small shiver worked along her spine. She’d never seen such tight clothing on a man before. The black molded over his chest, dipping and rising over the bulge of his muscles.

  Josselyn found herself again fussing with her hair and determinedly pulled her hands to her sides. Her back straightened. The shiver was nothing, she assured herself. Just a reaction to the man who’d helped to save her life. But, even as she tried, she couldn’t quite recall the other man who’d been standing next to him at the castle. It was all a blurred memory.

  There wasn’t time for innocent infatuations, nor for displaced affection. She didn’t know the man. He didn’t know her. It was impossible for there to be anything beyond a physical reaction. Besides, as a lady, society held her to a higher standard when it came to her associations. Her father might be...

  Josselyn choked back a wave of pain. She couldn’t even think the word. He might not be there with her, but she would make him proud of the lady he raised. As the last surviving Craven, duty fell upon her shoulders and she did not shrink from duty.

  Did society’s expectations even matter anymore?

  Josselyn lifted her chin. Society might not matter, but honoring her family did.

  Going to the door on the left, she ran her hand over the seam, not finding a knob or latch. Along the side, a small, square frame was embedded into the metal wall, hardly noticeable. Touching it, she instantly jerked her fingers back as the door slid open. The small room was definitely not the way out. An empty wardrobe, mayhap? What else could the small chamber be used for?

  The next door easily slid open as she touched another panel. At least they did not keep her prisoner. Ignoring the thumping in her chest, she refused to let her hands shake as she walked down the shorter length of the metal corridor. A small, etched sign pointed the way. Too bad it wasn’t her native language. Taking a breath, she sounded it out, “C-o-ck-p-it. Cock—”

  “If that’s what you’re looking for, star beam,” a man said behind her, laughing.

  Josselyn turned, her jaw lifting. The man’s teasing expression gave the impression that he would say more. Not understanding the joke, she merely gave him a slight smile. “I am Lady Josselyn of the House of Craven. I would speak to your captain, please.”

  A smirk lined his features and whatever it was he was thinking of saying, he held it back. The way he moved reminded her of some of her father’s knights when pretty lady travelers joined them for a banquet. Black, tight pants hugged low on his hips. The crimson, long sleeved shirt snuggly stretched across his chest, the end tucked into his pants. Did all the guys on this ship wear such fitted clothing? They were a stark contrast to the looser long tunics and breeches she was used to seeing on men.

  “Have I made a mistake?” Josselyn asked when he didn’t answer. “I admit my star languages are rustic. Did you not understand?”

  “Your voice is perfect, star beam.” The man’s easy smile and mischievous expression was very likable. “I had to take a moment to fight my first reaction to introduce myself as your captain.”

  Josselyn gave a small, surprised laugh at the unhampered honesty.

  “In truth, I’m much more important. I’m Rick, the pilot, and I keep us afloat in these here stars.” He took another step closer.

  Josselyn stiffened, not moving but effectively stopping his advance with her stony expression.

  “Hey, no, don’t get scared, star beam.” Rick held up his hands. “I promise you, no one on this ship is going to hurt you.”

  “You may address me as ‘Lady Josselyn’ or ‘my lady’,” Josselyn corrected.

  “But your eyes remind me of a star beam, my lady.” Rick’s easy smile widened. “Come on, I’ll take you to Jarek’s quarters.” When she didn’t move, he said, “The captain, Jarek. You wished to speak to the captain, didn’t you? He’s with his wife and son. I’m sure Mei will be excited to meet you. You two are the only women onboard.”

  The man turned and Josselyn followed him back down the corridor toward the end. With nowhere else to look, she found her eyes drifting down his back. Suddenly, he stopped and she quickly diverted her attention to the wall.

  “Here we are.” Rick knocked against the metal. Seconds later the door slid open.

  A slender woman in men’s clothing answered, “Rick, what are you doing here? Are our comms on silence? Have you angered another ship by opening your mouth on the transmission waves again?”

  “Sorry, no adventure this time. I brought you a friend.” Rick motioned to Josselyn.

  Mei turned to her.

  Josselyn bowed her head in respect. “I am Lady Josselyn of the House of Craven. I requested the audience with Captain Jarek. I must speak with him most urgently about a matter of grave importance. There is a ship we must intercept before it is too late.”

  A light growl sounded from within the room. The woman chuckled softly.

  “I assure you, I am quite serious.” Josselyn didn’t scream, she never did that, but nor was her tone light. “Lady Craven’s ship is about to be attacked. Your help in preventing that will result in untold gratitude from our noble family.”

  “Lady Craven?” The woman’s expression instantly fell. Her brown eyes saddened as she asked, “That was your mother, wasn’t it?”

  “Was?” Josselyn’s knees weakened and she fell to the side. Rick was there, catching her against his chest. Another light growl sounded inside the chamber.

  “Bring her in,” the woman ordered Rick.

  Rick swept Josselyn up into his arms, carrying her inside the captain’s quarters. They were larger than the chamber she’d awakened in, but still relatively small compared to her section of the castle. Beautiful yellow and red silk scarves hung along the walls of the open space. Strange flowers danced within their embroidered depths, fluttering as Rick carried her past. On a bed lay a man with long, black hair spilling over his shoulders. Next to him, a baby pumped his arms and legs. The child looked like a tiny version of his father with thick dark waves against his tiny head. Only his eyes appeared more of the woman who answered the door. The man rolled to his feet at their entrance.

  “Jarek,” the woman said. “This is Lady Josselyn. Lady, this is my husband, Jarek.”

  Rick still held her in his arms and Josselyn kicked her feet slightly in an effort to get him to set her down.

  “Rick,” Jarek ordere
d, pointing to the side. “Put her in the chair.”

  She half expected the pilot to protest, but he did as he was told. Glad for the chair, Josselyn sank into its thick depths. Rick stood and she waited for him to leave. He didn’t.

  “You found her ship?” Josselyn eyed the man-dressed woman who was supposedly the lady of the ship. The woman glanced down at the inspection and lightly touched her hips as if embarrassingly examining her own clothes. Josselyn turned her gaze to the captain, her jaw set.

  “Mei?” Captain Jarek looked at the woman. The baby on the bed made a gurgling happy noise.

  “Lady Josselyn,” Mei said. “The time of your mother’s ship has passed, long ago. We’re not sure what happened on your home moon, but you have been imprisoned for a very long time.”

  “No,” Josselyn shook her head in denial. “I would remember being imprisoned. Florencia’s council invaded my home because we opposed their rule over the moons and their alliance with certain Federation factions. The man you saved me from betrayed our family and killed my...killed everyone.”

  “That might have very well been.” Mei’s voice was soft, her accent unlike the others. “But you were imprisoned into stone. Someone destroyed your weather satellites and what we guess was a thriving settlement is now a barren moon. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but whatever happened to you happened a very long time ago and there is no record of it in any of the public historical databases.”

  “It happened today,” Josselyn whispered. Pain filtered over her, numbing and stabbing at the same time. She closed her eyes as the room spun around her. This couldn’t be happening. They were crazy. That was it. They were all mad. “I have heard of no such prisons that will keep a person suspended in time as everything passes. You must be mistaken. Ask the other. He was there. The one with brown eyes. He knows. He saved me. It just happened.” Hysteria settled over her and she felt as if her bodice was tightening over her chest. She gasped for breath, her cheeks hot as she looked desperately around the room.

  “The Federation had such technology,” Jarek assured her. “They’ve had it for nearly a century from what Viktor and Lucien have discovered. For some reason, they stopped using it.”

  Josselyn’s gaze hardened as she looked at the captain. “We heard Florencia aligned themselves with the Federation, knew our resistance is what prompted the attack, but to use such means to subdue us? Why keep us alive? But, if what you say is true, maybe the others...?”

  “No,” Jarek shook his head. “You were the only one who could be saved.”

  What did it matter? If what they said was true, all was lost. And, if they were crazy, all was still lost. Either way, everything she loved was gone.

  “None of this makes sense. I should not be here. Jack had a gun. It was over. We lost.” Josselyn wanted to pull at her hair and scratch the memory from her eyes and brain. “I don’t believe you. It can’t all be gone.”

  “Rick, why don’t you find Evan? I think he might be of service,” Mei said. “I’ll take her to the commons. Lucien can pull up some of the scouting images we have of the moon.”

  “All right,” Rick agreed.

  Mei slipped a hand under her arm, tugging gently. “Perhaps we told you the truth too soon.”

  Josselyn allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and led away.

  None of this is real, she told herself. None of this is happening. I’m in a dream and when I wake up all will be as it should be.

  Chapter 8

  Evan didn’t want to do this. But, after arguing with Mei for nearly twenty minutes, he’d given up, instinctively knowing she wouldn’t relent until he did what she asked. The others wanted him to go to Josselyn, to read her and help her through her grief and confusion. But they didn’t know what they asked of him. Her grief and confusion became his until he felt as if he’d lost his family and his home. It reminded him of the loss of his sister—sweet, innocent Evangeline. And, with those feelings, came memories as clear and fresh as the day they happened. He was not blessed with the luxury of forgetting.

  Walking into the commons, he stood just inside the doorway. Josselyn’s back was to him, her head tilted as she watched the transparent viewing screen floating above the gaming table. The holographic images were of her home moon, barren desolate landscapes, frozen memories of her past.

  “If what you say is true,” Josselyn’s soft voice washed over him, “then I’ve been imprisoned for a hundred and three years. A whole century has passed by.”

  Lucien sat next to her. He controlled the viewing screen, showing her landscape photos they’d taken from the air when scouting for a place to land. On her other side, Viktor stood behind Lochlann’s chair. Both men appeared uncomfortable, though loath to leave Lady Josselyn. Jackson stayed back, near the couches, watching in silence.

  “Here is the prison complex,” Lucien said. “This is where we got the powder to free you.”

  “And where you found the statues of the others?” Josselyn asked, her head not moving as if she couldn’t look away from what she saw.

  “Yes,” Viktor said, quietly. He glanced at Evan, his naturally red-green eyes pleading for his assistance in speaking to the lady. None of them wanted to be the one to tell her bad news. Evan understood why. She looked so delicate. Though, he knew inside she was made of tougher things. A front view of her castle came on screen.

  “This is what we found on the ground,” Lucien said. “Sorry for all the shaking. The temperatures are pretty harsh on the surface and we were walking at the time. The survey camera is attached to the captain’s jacket, so we’ll see what he saw.”

  Josselyn lifted her hand to the transparent image, skimming her finger along the edge of her home. Her touch cut through the floating screen, distorting the picture.

  Concerned, Evan stepped into the room, “Lucien, no.”

  Josselyn turned in her chair, her wide, dry eyes meeting his. He’d expected her to be crying with what she felt. Instead, calmness radiated off her composed features. Without exposing his ability to read her every emotion, and risk scaring her, he couldn’t very well voice the objection that she was too upset to see inside her childhood home.

  “It’s just the castle.” Lucien’s eyes were wide, trying to pass some hidden meaning to his words as he spoke. Evan’s gaze again drifted from Lucien to the noblewoman. “For some reason, the footage of the prison complex is lost. Might have been interference from their electrical system.”

  Translation: Lucien didn’t want the lady to see the crushed stone bodies and either deleted or hid the original footage to spare her.

  “Are you sure this is wise?” Evan asked, his words lacking conviction. He couldn’t take his eyes from hers. The blue-grey, stormy depths studied him and he felt his heart squeeze. Desire, liquid and hot, struck him hard in the gut. Now that she was mended, it wasn’t as easy to temper back the passionate feelings. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her mouth—such full, pretty lips meant for kissing. “The lady has been through much. Perhaps rest would be the best course?”

  As the lady’s back was turned, Lucien glanced at Josselyn and then the others before shrugging a shoulder to indicate he didn’t know.

  “I have no need of protection from the truth, sir.” Josselyn didn’t move, didn’t show that she noticed his overzealous attention to her perfect mouth.

  Evan began to sweat; worried that the others would see the raging hormones in his expression, notice how his words were stunted as he tried to speak. “I did not mean to imply otherwise, my lady.”

  “My lady,” Lochlann said. “I believe this is one of the remaining crew members you might not have met, Evan Cormier.”

  “I believe we have.” Josselyn stood. “Though, I was a little out of sorts at the time. As I have thanked the others, I should like to thank you for your assistance in freeing me.”

  Her gown hugged her curves, in what he could only describe as clingingly so. The bodice pulled tight, showcasing the gentle swells of her breasts, gl
iding down over the shape of her hips. He swallowed. “It was my...duty.”

  Duty? Had he just said it was his duty? Evan glanced past her, his own idiotic words distracting his overeager brain long enough to look at his friends. They all stared back at him, as if puzzled.

  “Oh...” Josselyn’s mouth opened, her lips parted to form an oval.

  Evan needed to leave before he made a bigger fool of himself. “There aren’t any extra rooms on the ship, so you will be staying in my quarters. I’ll make room with someone else.”

  “Not with us,” Lucien said. He shared a room with his brother. “We’re crowded as is.”

  “Sorry, cadet,” Lochlann laughed. “I need my space.”

  “And I need my beauty rest,” Jackson said. “So I guess the short blast goes to Rick.”

  Evan tried not to grimace. Bunking with Rick? To Josselyn, he said, “I’ll just go remove a few of my things and ready the room for you.”

  Satisfied he said all the correct things, he nodded curtly and left. Once around the corner, he let loose a long breath, his feet carrying him quickly from the woman’s presence. What had just happened? One look into her eyes and he was like a pubescent youth fumbling around a half-naked Galaxy Playmate.

  “This ship is too small,” he whispered to himself. “I cannot get far enough away.”

  It took all of Josselyn’s inner strength to sit back down and pretend the rude man had no effect whatsoever on her melting insides. Like the other male crewmembers, he dressed in pants so tight they molded his hips. The black material had a dull sheen to its surface. His arms were strong and muscled, like he exercised often. They joined to broad shoulders and a thick chest. The looser material of his short-sleeve, pale brown shirt left his forearms bare. The color of the shirt accented his gaze, making his eyes stand out. They were just as she remembered, deep chocolate pools that she wanted to get lost in.

  “I’m sorry for that,” Lochlann said. “I’ve never seen Evan in such a mood. He’s normally pretty easygoing.”