His Frost Maiden

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Great, Josselyn thought wryly, it was just my presence that put the hard, stone-cast look on his face and the slightly annoyed tone in his voice.

  She tried not to wiggle in her chair. Heated blood pumped through her veins, afflicting her nethers with thoughts she’d rather not have about the brooding chocolate-eyed man. She turned her attention back to the viewing screen, determined to see everything no matter how painful. The image was moving now, leading through an icy version of the village beside her home. Though blurred at points, what they showed her was unmistakable. Everything she knew stood in icy sheets, dusted with fine snow.

  “The weather regulating satellite had been blasted,” Viktor said. She glanced up at the strange, pale man. His red tinted eyes disconcerted her and she didn’t look into them too long. Josselyn nodded. He wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t been told at least three times.

  As the image moved inside the main hall, she stiffened, remembering where her oldest brother lay dying. “Did you find no one else? No evidence of...?”

  “There were bones,” Lucien said. Viktor made a strange noise. Lucien couldn’t meet her gaze.

  “I assure you, I would know the full truth.” Josselyn said. Though their protectiveness was mildly endearing, it was also highly aggravating. Nothing they said could compare to the memories she tried not to think of in their presence. Such thoughts would only lead to tears and those were best shed in private.

  ‘Smiles are for the crowd, tears are for the family,’ her mother often said when Josselyn had been frustrated as a child about her station in life. There were many advantages to being noble—servants, power, money and education. But there were sacrifices, as well. Her life was not her own and her actions were watched closely.

  “Go on,” Josselyn ordered Lucien, using her most regal tone.

  “We found bones stacked in a...” Lucien glanced at Viktor.

  “I think it might have been a storage hole of some sort,” Viktor said.

  The images continued playing, showing her around her home as the men had explored. She noticed Evan and Rick stayed with the captain, touching their things, lifting and examining them before setting them back down. The idea that they explored her home like some archeological site they were ready to plunder caused her mouth to tighten. Then again, that’s exactly what her home had become.

  “How is it no other ships have come to my moon?” Josselyn asked. The camera followed behind Evan and she found herself trying to make out the shape of his backside beneath the puffier snowsuit. “In all this time, no one else found me?”

  “No one goes to any of the moons,” Lochlann said. “It’s pretty much known as dead space, too far from any viable space ports and a waste of fuel. The odds of a ship straying so far off course are slim.”

  “So none of the other moons have survived?” Josselyn bit back a tear. How was it everything she knew was gone? Forgotten? An unviable waste of fuel in dead space?

  “No,” Lochlann and Lucien said at once.

  “They are all like yours,” Lucien continued.

  “Did you check them for prisoners?” she queried.

  The men didn’t meet her gaze. Lucien said, “There was no time to land on the other moons. We only had fuel enough for the one stop.”

  The exploration on the viewing screen continued, until finally they had reached her. Since there was no sound, it couldn’t be heard what was said. If she had doubts before, they now all faded as she saw her frozen body. The captain’s movements made it hard to see exactly what they had done to free her. No one in the commons spoke as the images showed her collapse after she’d been brought back to life.

  Lucien stopped the images. “That is all of them. The rest are of us walking back through the castle to the ship. The recorder began to lose power so not much else was captured.”

  Chapter 9

  Evan walked around the corner, back into the commons, with a bundle of clothes in his arms. He set them on a chair. Jackson nodded once, but didn’t get up from the couch. The others sat just as he’d left them. They were done watching the footage and Josselyn merely glanced his way when he entered.

  He had talked himself into some control as he grabbed the change of clothes and tried to make his sparse room presentable for a lady. She’d already seen it and none of the other men’s rooms were better suited. He thought about making her a room in the VR Training area, but Jackson and Dev would probably start a gruesome virtual war over her bed in the middle of the night.

  “The room is ready if you’d like to be alone, my lady,” Evan said.

  “Or perhaps food?” Lucien offered. “I’m a wonderful cook.”

  “You use a food simulator like the rest of us.” Jackson shook his head. “The only one on this ship who can cook is Mei.”

  “That’s not true,” Lochlann said. “Evan can, in a pinch.”

  The ship lurched to the side. Josselyn stiffened, her brow drawn in worry as she looked at the others.

  “It’s probably just Rick dumping fuel,” Lucien said in reaction to her startled glance.

  “Why would the pilot dump fuel?” Josselyn frowned. She motioned at Lucien. “Didn’t you just say there was not enough fuel to explore the other moons?”

  Lucien began to open his mouth. Evan stepped forward, stopping the man from mentioning anything about Rick’s “pre-arranged” unscheduled pit stops for sex in front of her. “He’s joking. Rick would never dump fuel. This is just normal space turbulence found in this part of the sky.”

  Lucien grinned behind her back.

  “I’ll take you for food,” Evan said, unsure he wanted to leave the flirting dere brothers to entertain her. He recognized the look on Viktor’s face and the tone in Lucien’s voice. Because they couldn’t do anything to cheer her otherwise sad plight, they would start plying her with compliments and not so veiled come-on lines until she either slapped them or took them up on the offers. Either way, she would be distracted. It wasn’t the most tactful route to helping a person through a rough time.

  Josselyn lifted her hand, as if to take his arm, but Evan was already stepping toward the door. He hadn’t meant for his actions to look like a rejection but he could tell that is how she saw it. Her back stiffened and her jaw tilted up. Unable to artfully take back the slight and offer to help her down the hall, he continued forward. He was pretty sure he didn’t want her touching him, anyway. If that soft, small hand glided onto his arm, he might not let it stop there. Carrying her unconscious body was one thing, but feeling her willing, mindful touch quite another.

  “I thank you for the hospitality of your private chambers,” Josselyn said, as if he hadn’t rejected her hand. “I hope you will be comfortable in your new accommodations.”

  “It’s not a problem.” Evan wished his tone didn’t sound so gruff. “I only wish I had better to offer.”

  “I like that your eyes don’t hold pity for me. The others seem at the ready with their handkerchiefs.” Josselyn gave him a slight smile, though sadness filtered in her gaze.

  Evan nodded. He did feel for her, not pity per se, but empathy. “Handkerchiefs?”

  “It’s a little bit of cloth used for wiping tears.” Josselyn followed him into the dining hall. Like the rest of the ship, the room was plain. A single, long table stretched along the middle with enough chairs to seat the whole crew. The metal countertop dominated one side, with a food simulator set into the wall above it.

  “I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the food simulator, but it can materialize about any meal you wish.” Evan pressed a button, showing her how to work the machine, as he requested, “Coffee.” The simulator dinged and he opened the door. Inside was a steaming white porcelain cup of the bitter, brown liquid. Sam had gotten him used to the human drink. He held it out to Josselyn. “Do you like coffee? I’m told it’s a favorite amongst most human cultures.”

  She took the cup, sniffed, wrinkled her nose and handed it back. “I do not believe I will.” Instead, she pushed the
button for herself, hesitated, and leaned unnecessarily close to the simulator before stating loudly, “Mead.” A low-pitched tone sounded briefly over them.

  “It would seem you discovered something the machine does not know,” Evan gave a small laugh. “These are supposed to be programmed for nearly every humanoid life form based food.”

  She pushed the button again. “Yill.” The simulator let off the low tone. Not as loud as before, she asked, “Ale?”

  The simulator dinged. Evan opened the door for her, taking out a lukewarm mug of brownish red liquid. The smell of liquor wafted over him. “I should have offered you something stronger. I imagine it can’t be easy to discover your world as changed so dramatically.”

  “Careful.” Josselyn took a sip of the ale, only to wrinkle her nose slightly at the taste. It clearly wasn’t the flavor she was used to. “Lest I take back what I said about your eyes. Those words almost border on pity.”

  Evan knew she didn’t wish to appear weak, so said nothing about the difference between pity and sympathy. Instead, he looked at her cup. “How is it?”

  “Strange,” she admitted. Then sighing, she looked around. “It is all so strange.”

  For a moment, when she looked up at him, her beautiful eyes wide and clear, Evan wished he were more like Rick. He tried to think of something smooth and clever to say to her. Actually, he’d settle for Rick’s not so smooth. Trying to remember some of the choice phrases Rick used, he frowned.

  Josselyn leaned back. When had she gotten so close? His blood raged with lust. Desire swirled through his thoughts before dancing its way down his stomach to his loins. Images of pressing her up against the counter, her skirts lifted, his pants unbuckled to pool at his feet, entered his mind. He took a deep breath. It was a mistake. The faint smell of her hair, of sweet flowers, wafted over him.

  “Can you show me to my chambers?” Her voice soft, she took a step back, putting distance between them. “I was mistaken. I don’t think I can eat anything right now.”

  Evan’s frown deepened. Had he been leaning into her, breathing loud and harsh like the maniac he was fast becoming? He adjusted his hips, wishing his pants were looser to let the blood flow to his erection with more ease and glad they weren’t because the tight fabric forced the length to stay down.

  “Of course, my lady,” he managed, potently aware of how close her breasts were to the reach of his hand. He needed to get her into her room before he lost every rational thought in his head and attacked her right here in the dining hall. “You must want rest.”

  Chapter 10

  Rest wasn’t exactly what she wanted at the moment. Josselyn wondered if his sudden gruffness was because of her obvious advances, or just a natural return of his irritable temperament. For a moment, as he showed her how to get her drink from the machine, he’d softened.

  The burn of liquor had trailed a welcome fire down her throat. Josselyn clutched the cup in her hands. She wasn’t a fool. Part of her wanted to embrace the insanity of attraction, desperate to feel anything but the pain and loss. Her treacherous body mistook his sudden kindness for attraction. Like a herd of wild horses, desire stampeded its way over her length. Her mind, clearly not wanting to be left out, produced images of his tight pants around his ankles as he trapped her to the countertop and took her hard and fast. The way he pulled away from her, a frown marring his brow, made her think he could read minds and wasn’t happy about what was going through hers.

  Heat stained her cheeks at the thought. Her gaze traveled down Evan’s backside as he walked slightly ahead of her down the corridor. Josselyn had never been taken like that—up against a countertop. She’d seen it done between a servant and a knight one evening after a celebration at the castle. In truth, she’d never been taken up against anything.

  It wasn’t that she couldn’t have lovers. She had lovers over the years. Nothing worth bragging about to the gossiping maids, but they’d been there. Though, both times were really disappointing.

  Then why now did these thoughts pervade her when she should be concentrating on other things? Propelled forward by the sound of Evan’s steady footfall, she whispered, “I don’t want to be awake right now.”

  “The medic unit can give you something to help you sleep, if you like,” Evan offered.

  “No, I mean you shouldn’t have taken me out of the stone. Not now, not after so long a time has passed. I don’t belong here, in this generation or on this ship. Please, take me home. I don’t care if the castle is a frozen tundra. It’s the only place I have.” Josselyn stopped walking, merely standing in the corridor as she waited for him to look at her.

  He didn’t but he did stop walking. “If you go back, you will die from the elements.”

  “I know.” Josselyn didn’t move. “It’s where I belong.”

  Without warning, Evan spun around to face her, his gaze hard. “You would limp off and die, my lady? Is that how you honor your family? By giving up?”

  “Why are you yelling at me?” Her voice cracked, though a deep part of her rose up, taking offense to his words. “I didn’t ask you to bring me here.”

  “We never ask for the bad that happens to us, but it happens. The true test of character is how we go on, what we take from it. If you crawl off and die, what honor do you bestow upon your family’s memory?” Evan put his hands on his hips. Then, growling, he ordered, “Come. I’ll take you to your chambers.”

  Josselyn marched angrily after him. How dare he say such things to her? He didn’t know her. He knew nothing about her or her family.

  “It is easy to speak of things when you do not live them,” she charged. “Let us freeze you for a century and you let me know how you feel when you thaw to find everything you know and love gone—if you even love anything. By your callous tone, I doubt you care for anyone but yourself, at least no one it has pained you to lose.”

  “You don’t know me well enough to speak about my feelings,” Evan slid his hand over the wall and the door to the chamber opened. He stood to the side, letting her pass.

  “And you are so certain you know me?” she asked. “You think because I am a lady, I will just roll over weakly and die?”

  He blinked slowly, as if catching himself. “Didn’t you just say that very thing?”

  Had she? Josselyn thought back to her words. Yes, she had in a moment of grief thought of crawling off to die in her frozen castle home.

  “I might be a lady,” Josselyn paused, not sure why she was reaching out to grab him by the shirt. Jerking him into her room, she pulled his face down to hers. The strong urge to kiss him tingled over her lips. She angled her face to his, hissing under her breath, “But I know how to honor my family. If my crawling off to die is what I see fit to do, you will not question my decision.”

  His face was close now and she didn’t readily let go of his shirt. Her fist shook against his chest, as the heat from his breath hit her cheek. The tiny caress sent a shiver over her body.

  “There is no honor in choosing death,” he said.

  “It depends on how you die,” she countered.

  “What are we arguing about?” His gaze dipped down, as if seeing her close mouth for the first time. “And why?”

  “I think you sought to distract me from my grief,” Josselyn answered, not sure what made her believe that. “You made me angry on purpose.”

  “Anger helps.” Evan didn’t pull away, even as her grip on his shirt weakened. “At least until you find your purpose.”

  Her tone lightened, the anger leaving as fast as it came. In its wake, a desire to fight settled. “I was wrong about you, wasn’t I? You do understand. Is that why you’re so angry? You haven’t found purpose?”

  “I found it.” His tone saddened and he drew back, never closing the distance between their lips.

  “Who did you lose?” She shivered, feeling cold as his shirt slipped from her fingers.

  “A sister. Her name was Evangeline and she was everything pure and good in the universe.
She should not have died like she did.”

  “And your purpose was revenge?” Josselyn understood revenge. She felt it now curling inside her, needing a place to seep out. It was a constant in her rising and falling, churning and twirling emotions. Only, with so much time having passed, who could she seek revenge upon? Was it possible Jack was still alive? He would be a very old man now. Did she seek to destroy any children he might have had? Even if they were innocent of the crimes of their father? And even if her mother survived all of life’s tragedies, Lady Craven would have gone on to die of age.

  “My purpose was saving Samantha, the daughter of the man who killed my sister,” Evan didn’t take his eyes off her.

  “What happened?” Looking into the brown, steady gaze, Josselyn found herself trying to connect to the man before her. There was something to his ways that reminded her of home and she clung to that feeling.

  “Evangeline became sick while we were flying through deep space. There was only the two of us, but we didn’t want for anything. We were trying to find a new home world to settle on.”

  “You said she was killed? Someone poisoned her?”

  “Yellow Plague. She helped a man off the ground at a space port. He coughed on her and infected her. We got away before the authorities could activate a quarantine.”

  “And that man who coughed on her died as well?” Josselyn sat on the bed.

  “Yes. Everyone on that planet died. The authorities killed them to stop the plague.”

  “Then you saved this man’s daughter?”

  “That was not the man who killed her. That was an accident.” Evan began to pace. “We didn’t have time to resupply on the port before taking off. Without much option, we were forced to hail Ticaron for help. Gretori Zothos agreed to let us land for an emergency resupply and to help Evangeline. The Ticara are known healers, but they don’t usually use their gifts unless it’s for their own gain. So I offered to pay him. Apparently, it was not enough. As soon as we landed, Gretori Zothos took us prisoner, locked us in a cell and acquisitioned our ship for his own use. Evangeline died in my arms on a damp, hard cell. Gretori Zothos killed her with his deceit. At least on my ship with the medic unit, she had half a chance.”