by Zoe Parker
I trained my eyes on The Queen’s back as my father stepped forward to help her up the stairs of the dais. Normally, I would follow with the help of Lily and be seated to the right of The Queen, but since this was my joining ceremony, I would remain where I stood. Once seated on her throne, she turned to me. As much as I wanted to rebel, I knew now was not the time. Dipping my head, I curtsied.
“Your majesties.”
“Rise, my princess,” she declared, her voice carrying throughout the cavernous room.
Doing as instructed, I turned to face my clan.
“Rise, Clan of Restari, and welcome.”
The Queen would never speak directly to her subjects. That duty was left to King Damon or me. Senseless, but a power play was everything to the monarch. If I lived to make it to the throne that would be one of the first rules I would get rid of. Looking toward the herald who had somehow appeared to my left, I gave him a nod indicating he should start. I tuned out his words, but kept my face interested. Appearance was everything and all that jazz. Besides, he would only be spewing out our history and how important it would be for me to find my mate to ensure balance. I speculated if this year’s spiel would include the horrors awaiting me should I fail to mate with whomever they’d chosen this time. The Queen would never allow that failure. She would be ashamed that her daughter, the heir to the throne, was an utter disappointment where it mattered most.
Movement in my peripheral caught my attention and I focused on it. Kormen, along with his sister and his parents, was here. I forced myself not to smile. It had been nearly three weeks since I’d seen him and if ever there was a day I needed my best friend, today was that day. Once my betrothed was reveal, we would move into the joining. He would be allowed to touch me and his fate would be fatally sealed. Kormen had been there since day one and though I couldn’t touch him directly, he’d layer me in blankets and hold me while I fell apart. I wiggled my fingers slightly, our code for hello and in this case, ‘I missed you.’ His fingers didn’t move and he didn’t give me the easy grin he usually wore. His lips were turned down at the corners and his eyes were tight and dull. He didn’t look like the jovial man I snuck away and goofed off with. He didn’t look like my friend. He looked defeated, detached. In fact, his entire family looked worn down, which was weird considering I’d been told they were gone on a vacation to The Hot Springs, one of the warmest locations near Sault Ste Marie.
Kormen’s mother covered a sob with her hand as her husband pulled her into his side. It occurred to me that I should tune into the herald just as Kormen took a step forward. And another. And another. He kept taking them and out of sheer shock it took me quite a moment to realize what was truly happening. But this couldn’t be happening.
Kormen. My best friend. My brother in every sense of the word except by blood. My confidante. My life-line. And my parents had chosen him to be my next victim.
Chapter Two
“No,” spewed vehemently from my lips. If they thought I would allow this then they knew nothing about me. I knew they would do whatever it took to ensure my ascension to the throne and if I were to think logically, I would see their reasoning behind choosing Kormen. He was the strongest amongst our warriors. The fiercest. Unparalleled in his resilience. If anyone stood a chance against balancing my power, it was surely Kormen. However, I was not in a logically thinking frame of mind. They would not make me do this. They could not. I loved Kormen. Just as much as I loved my own blood brother, Dallon. It was not an intimate kind of love, but that of the closest friend possible. My feelings toward him were and would always be nothing more than platonic. In spite of his strength, I would kill him.
My father’s eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked from my face, a mixture of grief-stricken horror and incredulity, to The Queen’s, pure stone. In that moment I knew that he’d been told I was okay with this. She’d led him to believe that I would actually go through with this atrocity. And he believed her. He took her word for it and never even thought to consider that she lied just as she’d done my entire childhood.
“My Princess, it’ll be ok. I’m prepared for this. I can handle it,” Kormen stated.
I stared at him, my mind reeling. One, I didn’t remember Kormen ever calling me princess and two, he knew this would happen. He knew and he let me be blindsided. Ambushed. I could feel my hands frosting over, a slight chill settling over my entire body.
“You pre . . . you were . . . how did this . . .”
The words refused to come. Questions and sentences fractured within my mind before they fully formed. He agreed to this. He told me nothing. Betrayal—deep, throbbing, and consuming, coursed through my entire being. I tried desperately to calm myself, inhaling and exhaling deeply, but I could feel the chill settling in. A few gasps were heard in the crowd and I knew that if I could see them, my irises and pupils would be turning a ghostly white, nearly translucent. I felt a cold breeze as it began to stir around me, letting me know that I probably wouldn’t have to wait until after my birthday to lose control of my Vetur. In my anger, I would surely be the first princess to truly eradicate her entire clan.
“Cyan, calm down,” Kormen pled as he took a step closer to me.
The fact that he’d reverted back to my name wasn’t lost on me. It actually made it worse.
“Cyan! You will cease this tantrum at once!” The Queen shouted.
Cease? Tantrum? I would not. The breeze grew stronger and in an effort to calm myself, I closed my eyes. It did no good. I heard the stirrings of panic in the yelps and shuffling of my clan. Opening my eyes, I turned to face them. Those closest to me scrambled away. Others stared in slack-jawed shock, unable to understand what they were seeing. “Leave,” I screamed as I clenched my fist. From my feet a wave of ice shot out, blanking the floor. It disappeared beneath the feet of my clan and froze some of them in place. Shocked and somewhat horrified whispers of The Vetur flowed through the panicking crowd. The men scrambled to help the women escape, bodily lifting some of them and running for the door. Some stayed to help their brethren free themselves from where they’d been frozen. The bravest of them all? Those stayed to face me. They formed a barrier of warriors between myself and those unwilling to risk the depth of my fury. Bravehearts. Had I been in control of my own faculties, I would’ve been proud of them. However, anyone with eyes could see that I wasn’t remotely close to being in charge of myself.
“Cy, please! Listen to me, you have to stop. This isn’t you, please don’t do this,” Kormen shouted.
I could barely hear him over the roaring winds that I’d created. I didn’t want to hear him though. I didn’t want to listen to him suddenly revert back to the friend I knew and loved. And my Vetur? It wanted nothing more than to face the challenge of taking out the warriors before me. Their numbers created a worthy opponent. Vetur surged through me, shocking my body into a numbing cold.
“You think you can stand against me?” I challenged.
None of them seemed certain, but there was a resoluteness to them. They didn’t want to fight with me. I was their princess, beloved by all. Yet here I stood, poised to take them out. And I would. I would destroy them all with no remorse if they attacked me. Vetur was in control and she swept through me, icicles forming sharp knives in my grips. They would regret the many days I spent suffering through their extensive training regimen. A cruel smile graced my lips. Vetur would revel in this and since we were one, I would do the same.
“What’s happening to her? Why is she doing this?”
That voice. Deep and raspy, compelling and demanding. It sent a shock of warmth rushing through me and Vetur took notice, urging me to seek him out. That warmth felt extremely nice. Torn between exterminating the threat of the warriors before me and exploring the voice that I somehow knew belonged to the dark stranger, I was glad when The Queen spoke. This was her doing. She was at fault. She needed to be dealt with.
“This doesn’t concern you, Valen. Stay out of it. Cyan, do not make me tell you agai
n. You will stop and you will do it at once,” she snapped.
I turned to face her and leveled her with a glare that I knew she would have been proud of under different circumstances. On second thought, her shitty motherly instincts probably still made her proud. My father sucked in a deep breath, having never seen me like this, but he moved to stand closer to his mate. He seemed to think he could protect her. Yet no one seemed to think I needed protecting.
“Or what, Celeste?” I questioned as I made my way up the steps of the dais. She was no longer The Queen in my eyes. She was no longer sovereign. “What exactly will you do? Kill Kormen? No, that’s what got you into this mess. So, what? Kill me?” I raised a brow in question, but didn’t give her time to respond. “By all means, my Queen, please do. I have nothing left to lose. I’ll never sit upon that throne. I’ll never find my mate. And if you weren’t too stubborn to see that, you would’ve let me leave when I tried to. Instead you’ve doomed us all and left me no choice!”
My last words came out as a roar as I swept my hands forward and up into an arc, sending a wall of ice rushing toward her. She threw her hands up in retaliation, palms facing outward, erecting a wall of her own to stop mine. As I knew it would, mine plowed through hers as though it were simply a pane of glass.
“Guards!” My father bellowed as he grabbed The Queen, snatching her away from my line of fire. My parents’ guards hesitantly sprung forward, but with a flick of my wrist, I pushed them back and closed them within a dome of ice. It wouldn’t kill them, but it would keep them from interfering. My fury was reserved for The Queen alone. I didn’t really want to hurt the protectors of our clan. I would force her to protect herself though. I would force her to face what she had created. Being cold and icy was a pillar of our culture, but she took it to the extreme. While my brother Dallon had been coddled, supported, and encouraged, I’d been pushed and prodded, forced to stretch my limits more and more each time I thought I’d reached my breaking point. I’d spent countless hours in training, my mind and body starved for sustenance. No food, no sleep, and no interaction with anyone outside of my teacher. My mother. And my father had allowed it. Only in secret he came to me and showed me the kind of love and care that I craved. Vetur had allowed his touch. Hadn’t seen him as a threat. At least not until now, when he’d sided with her.
“Your guards will not keep me from her!”
Movement flashed and they were there before me. The three strangers. I hadn’t thought it was possible for them to look even more menacing, and yet they did. Backs straight, no longer slouched carelessly, and bulging muscles poised to either attack or defend, they were a sight to behold. But their leader; the one front and center, three steps ahead of the two flanking him? He was glorious. His dark hair grazed his wide shoulders. Honey brown eyes glared at me, his lips stretched into a thin line. Black clothing head to toe, made a valiant attempt at concealing his powerfully built physique. Hands as big as dinner plates remained loose, palms open and facing me, at his sides. Loose and empty. He’d chosen to face me without a weapon, but his entire aura radiated danger. How he managed to simultaneously seem relaxed and alert was beyond me, but Vetur recognized the true peril in the room. It wasn’t The Queen. It wasn’t the warriors at my back. It wasn’t even the formidable duo flanking him. It was him alone. My power urged me to confront him. Fight him. Make him conquer us. One corner of his mouth ticked up into a smirk and the movement drew my eyes. When I realized he’d been watching me analyze him my eyes narrowed in irritation.
“Little fox,” his baritone flowed across to me like a warm palm caressing my face and I barely suppressed a full-bodied quiver. “I’d like the opportunity to take that challenge.” He finished with a dip of his head and a slight bow, never taking his eyes off me. Those eyes. That body. His voice. Every aspect of him tugged at me and I fought to resist it. Fought to remember the challenge I’d issued to The Queen to kill me. Did he think he could take me?
My eyebrow rose in question as I realized the ice within a three feet radius of him and his men had begun to melt. Drawing back up to his full height, he took a few steps toward me. Also, had he just called me a fox?
“Accepted.”
“Not accepted! You will keep your distance from my heir, Valen! Cyan, you will stop this foolishness and do as you’ve been told,” The Queen shouted just as Kormen spoke up.
“Cy you cannot do this!”
Calm that I hadn’t even noticed settle over me receded in an instant, giving way to a seething rage at their interruption. I needed to speak with this beautiful stranger. Needed every single interaction he gave and they wanted to prevent that. Celeste continued to spew threats, not even realizing the monster she’d unleashed. Pulling one of my knives back into myself, I flicked a free hand in Kormen’s direction, burying him in an avalanche of snow. I’d deal with his betrayal later. Eyes narrowed to slits, I focused on the woman who birthed me. The bane of my existence. “You went too far this time, mother. If you want me to stop this then you’ll have to kill me.”
Her eye twitched. The only indication that my words had a negative effect on her, but I ignored it. My second knife materialized in my palm again and with little thought, I sent them both sailing through the air with her as my intended target. Valen, who seemingly read my mind, moved barely a moment later. Jumping, he plucked both knives from the air. His hands sizzled as the ice melted in them. Son of a . . .
“Let the record show that I vehemently object to that whole killing you suggestion,” he stated, his voice still calm and collected.
Vetur snapped within me and erupted outward into a thick covering of ice on every surface within the room. The stained-glass windows, unable to withstand the quick freeze, shattered. They’d been in this castle, my family, for generations. Forever destroyed. I was too furious to care. “Your objection means nothing,” I roared at the attractive, yet so far infuriating, stranger.
“My god, Damon. It’s really her. She’s the Vetur,” Celeste’s awe-filled voice proclaimed into the silence that followed my outburst.
A gust of wind swirled around me and swept locks of my hair across my face. My hair, normally the purest black, had turned snow white. That was new. I was nearly shocked out of my anger, but my Celeste’s words continued. Always her words.
“I knew she would be magnificent! I knew I would create the perfect being. My perseverance has finally paid off.”
A screech, hollow and filled with sorrow, echoed through the room. Rapid fire, I materialized ice knives and propelled them toward her. She let out a terrified scream when she realized Valen wouldn’t be able to stop them all.
“Look at your magnificent creation, mother, and enjoy it while you can because you will never see it again,” I shouted.
Guards jumped into action blocking my knives, sometimes with their bodies. My father pulled Celeste aside and twisted his body just in time to catch a knife in his shoulder blade. Had he moved any slower it would have sunk dead center in her forehead. Gritting my teeth, I advanced only to draw up short when Valen and his men blocked me.
“We should talk, little fox,” he stated, still calm as hell as though I wasn’t literally losing my shit.
The fucking nerve! His calm fed my anger and I turned my attack to them. They blocked and dodged my throws, but some of them slipped through their guard, pierced through their dark clothes and darkened the fabric with their blood. Their grunts of pain when I met my mark, fed Vetur. She thrived on the adrenaline and exertion of the strong men steadily advancing on me. And they had to be truly strong to survive my attack. Flinging my hands forward, I buried the two nameless warriors’ feet in thick blocks of ice. One of them cursed in frustration, while the other complained about the temperament of arctic foxes and their clever minds. What??
My hair whipped around my face as I battled solo with Valen. He really was impressive, but I didn’t want to admire him. I didn’t want to admit that he held his own against me. I wanted to bring him down. Letting out a sh
riek, I formed a throwing dagger and a 24-inch Japanese shoto sword. An unusual combination for a woman, but it was that unexpectedness that had brought my challengers to their knees on several occasions. I charged at Valen, his eyes widening as I slashed and stabbed at him with my shoto while jabbing at him with my dagger. I only aimed for spots that I knew would kill him within minutes of a strike—his neck, his heart, his lungs, major arteries. His body twisted and his forearm guard rang with the sound of ice striking metal with each blow he blocked. He was too strong. Too swift. I wouldn’t succeed at bringing him down that way. Aiming for his feet, I blew a gust of cold air from my mouth. He faltered and I sliced, my shoto inches away from his carotid. He tossed himself back and brought up his hand, catching the blade in his grip. And I stilled.
