Frozen

by J. E. Taylor

  Kyle glared through the glass-like ice, his gaze as hard as the barrier itself. That low growl that signified the start of his shift permeated the space.

  “Kyle,” I snapped, and he shot a glare in my direction. “My King,” I added, softening my voice.

  He stared at me, his fists tight enough for blood to drip out of his left hand where the priest had cut him. The other was completely white. I imagined the welts in his palms and took a step closer.

  Movement on the other side of the ice caught my attention. I gasped.

  Senator Brax stood next to a guard who had a knife to Kris’s throat.

  “Daddy!”

  The cry came from behind me, and I walled Anna and the children into the chapel and out of any sort of danger that may be coming forth. I stepped close to Kyle and took his hand in mine. He slowly unclenched and wrapped his hand around mine.

  I swiped my hand in the air, and the ice evaporated. All the arrows that had embedded in my wall fell to the ground in gentle whispers.

  “Let my brother-in-law go,” I said and stood at the ready, my hand splayed in the direction of the danger.

  “You violated the law,” Senator Brax said. “And you must face the repercussions.”

  “She was protecting me from the assassins you sent,” Kyle said. “Arrest him.” He pointed at the senator. When no one moved, Kyle continued. “Do you understand what those bells signify? Your queen has married. Which makes me king. And if I recall Bryggen law correctly, as king, the guard works for me. Not you, Senator Brax.” He pulled the papers out of his pocket. “You who had the most to lose if this moment came to fruition.” He let the wind take the papers.

  The guard holding Kris started to pull the knife away.

  “The law states the senate must approve her choice of suitor prior to marriage. She has broken yet another law. Besides, any man who would dare don the house of Bryggen crest is not stable enough to become royalty.”

  “Stability has never been my strong suit,” Kyle said. “But I assure you, I am of royal blood. I am the house of Bryggen. And I am ruler of this kingdom.” He pulled his hand out of mine. “And if you do not unhand my brother-in-law, I will personally take your head off.” He stepped around the bear and stood tall, staring the guard down.

  No one moved.

  “If you move that knife away from his throat, you will be joining them on the hanging block,” Senator Brax threatened the soldier holding the knife to Kris’s neck. “Surrender or he dies.”

  The number of arrows pointed at us chilled my soul. I could tell Kyle wanted to jump into battle, but the collateral damage was too great.

  I slowly closed my hand. “Stand down,” I whispered low enough for just Kyle to hear me.

  Kyle glared at me, the fury visible in his gaze as well as the muscles taut across his back. I shook my head and dropped my arms to my side.

  “Seize them and take them to the dungeons while the senate decides their fate.”

  For the second time in less than twelve hours, my hands were covered and bound behind my back.

  “Let him go,” I said as the guards dragged me past Kris.

  “He will be standing trial for his treasonous acts as well.”

  “You bastard,” I screamed and kicked out, catching nothing but air.

  Anna and the kids cried out from behind the ice as the three of us were led to the dungeon cages for sentencing. Whatever the senator had planned for us, it would not be pretty.

  The moment the arrows and knives were not threatening those I loved, then all hell would break loose.

  Chapter 13

  We were all separated in the dungeon. Guards marched me into a room that had a nasty-looking iron hook dangling from the ceiling. It was thicker than a man’s fist, and the point glistened with deadly intent. Three equally sharp barbs cascaded down the inside of the hook. It looked like the type of tool used to catch a whale, but I knew better.

  It wasn’t used for fishing. It was used for killing in the most heinous of ways.

  Three guards surrounded me while doors closed, and keys jangled in the hallway. It wasn’t until the other cells were secure that Senator Brax stepped into the room holding the king’s crown in his hand. He swung the door behind him, but it never latched. The guards moved back, giving him some room.

  He set the bedazzled circle on his head. While Kyle looked regal with the crown adorning his white hair, the senator looked like a child trying on a paper crown. He looked ridiculous. He walked over to the iron hook and took it in his grip, studying it before glancing at me.

  “This will do much better than the pear,” he said, caressing the sharp point. He crossed to stand in front of me.

  He nodded towards the guards and one grabbed me around the waist. The other two tore a slit in my dress and each grabbed a leg.

  I slammed my head back into the face of the guard who held me, smashing his nose. He stumbled back, but his grip, as well as the two holding my legs didn’t loosen. I screamed as the senator lined up the hook. The minute the metal touched me I froze in place at his frightening intent.

  He was going to make sure I never conceived. The size of that hook would more than likely kill me. I couldn’t catch my breath.

  “Or you could just agree to marry me and attend to my needs,” he said.

  I blinked at him. The only way that would ever happen is if he had Kyle and my entire family killed, because Anna and Kris would never stand by and let this nutcase make me his slave. I licked my lips and opened my mouth to speak. When nothing came out, he leaned closer.

  I slammed my forehead into his face. A satisfying crack filled the room, and I bellowed, “Never!”

  He stumbled and fell. The hook caught on the fabric of my dress, dangling in place as the senator cried out in pain from the floor. His nose gushed blood and his face turned a shade of red I had never seen.

  One of the guards holding a leg reached for the hook.

  “That is mine to fuck her with,” Senator Brax snarled through the flow of blood.

  The guard pulled his hand back as if a snake had bitten it.

  Wiping his bloody hands on his pants, Senator Brax climbed to his feet. He stepped towards me, reaching for the metal when the ground rumbled, and the loudest snarl echoed through the dungeon.

  The door was nearly yanked off its hinges, and the feral bear charged.

  Senator Brax never knew what hit him. One minute, his mouth was hanging open, and the next, a headless body crumpled to the ground. The crown that had been on his head spun through the air and landed on the bear.

  The guards dropped me, scrambling for their swords, but none of them were fast enough. The three men met the same fate as the senator.

  Blood painted the walls, and the crowned bear lumbered over to where I sat, stunned by the violent justice he’d delivered. He nuzzled me with his nose, and I stared into his deep blue eyes. My gaze went to the crown on his head and I smiled.

  “I wasn’t sure you would make an appearance or not.”

  He transitioned, squatting between my outstretched legs. “I will always have your back. It just took a little longer to pick the lock than I thought it would.” He glanced up at the dangling hook, and a dark shadow crossed his face. “Almost too long, it would seem.” Kyle glanced over his shoulder at the dismembered head of the senator, stood, and kicked it into the corner. “Sick bastard,” he mumbled under his breath.

  When he turned back to me, he offered one of his gore-ridden hands. I stared at it for a moment. My hands were still bound behind me and I leaned forward, holding them high enough for him to see. He shook most of the flesh off before a sharp claw extended and sliced through the binds holding my wrists together. He offered his hand again, and I accepted his help, despite the roil of disgust that clenched my stomach. As soon as I was on my feet, he reached behind me and picked up my crown. It must have tumbled off with one of my head butts.

  He grabbed the keys off one of the bodies and led me out of the roo
m. He unlocked the cell next to mine and swung the door open. He stepped back into the cell we had vacated and picked up the senator’s head while Kris stepped into the empty hallway.

  “What happened?” Kris asked, his gaze dropping to Kyle’s bloody quarry.

  “They were going to irreparably harm my wife.” He waved towards the cell I had been captive in, but Kris’s gaze jumped from the twisted door hanging on the room I had been in, to the bloodbath inside, and then the senator’s head in Kyle’s grip.

  “I thought...” he started.

  “Kyle is a man-beast,” I said.

  Kris’s eyes widened, and he paled. “The new king is a... shifter?” His voice cracked.

  “I like that description much better than man-beast,” Kyle said and led us out of the dungeon.

  We stepped into the bright morning sunshine, and Kyle crossed to the castle proper, toward the town square.

  Anna and the kids were held in cages, and the Bryggen army had assembled around them. On the platform, the guillotine has been rolled out. I guessed the good senator had already passed judgement without input from the rest of the senate or the townspeople.

  Kyle led me up the stairs quietly as Kris crossed towards Anna. Guards stopped him.

  “Let him pass,” Kyle said, his voice booming.

  Faces turned towards us and eyes widened.

  “My wife, your queen, has been accused of murdering those men.” He pointed at the dead men still propped up at the corner of the podium. “They shot an arrow at my back. That is the act of a coward.” His gaze pierced the crowd, traveling over the guards and the gathering townspeople.

  “Where is Senator Brax?” one of the guards asked. He looked as if he were going to vomit.

  Kyle tossed the senator’s head in the middle of the townspeople. They parted as the head came to a stop. A gasp fell over the crowd, and a different guard started to unsheathe his sword.

  “Would you like the same fate?” Kyle asked, his voice feral enough for the guard to pause. “Since Elsa is now my wife, I am your king. I expect you to kneel and show some respect.”

  No one moved.

  “Now!”

  Even I jumped at the volume of his command.

  Kris was the first to drop to a knee and bow his head in respect. I never insisted the kingdom kneel before me. It was a strange feeling to see the slow progression of familiar faces dropping down.

  When everyone was on their knees, Kyle continued. “It seems the senate has been compromised by greed and power. Therefore, they are immediately relieved of duty.”

  Shocked faces shot up to stare at the new king with open mouths.

  “Elsa and I will discuss how to go about replacing the value the senate provided, but in its current form, it was only interested in serving itself and not this kingdom, as evidenced by the last decree that called for a ruse that would have made Senator Brax king.”

  Silence descended on the square as people exchanged confused glances. Even some of the former senators looked stunned by Kyle’s announcement.

  “This kingdom has made poor choices with the senate at the helm. It will not continue.”

  “Why should we accept you as king?” one man yelled out. He had been a Brax loyalist, fighting every forward step I tried to make for the people of Bryggen.

  “Because he is my choice to stand by my side. And he is worthy of the station,” I said.

  “Why should we accept a stranger as king?” a man in the audience yelled out, crossing his arms.

  “I am not a stranger to Bryggen. This kingdom wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t created it and oversaw the trade routes in and around this isolated cove.” He waved at his soiled tunic. “Do you not recognize this crest?”

  The man looked at Kyle’s shirt and dropped his gaze. “Impossible,” he challenged.

  “It is just as impossible as someone freezing the region in a fit of anger,” I said, and more heads jerked up. Before I lost my cool and laid frozen waste to this kingdom, no one believed this power pounding through my veins existed. I was impossible incarnate.

  “Did he force you to marry him?” a woman in the back asked.

  “No. This was my choice.” Heat filled my cheeks, and I glanced up at him. I did not voice that this was expedited due to Senator Brax’s latest decree. “He can be a bit of an ass at times, though.”

  Eyes widened. I smirked up at him and raised an eyebrow. His lips toyed with a smile, and then he wiped it away, ignoring my public dig. But now almost every woman in the crowd, as well as a handful of the men, suppressed a smirk.

  Kyle rolled his eyes and focused on the soldiers. “Let my sister-in-law and her children out of those cages.”

  They traded panicked glances with each other. Anna met my gaze and then turned her body so I could see what was behind her in an adjoining cage. Three hungry cougars paced in the tight space.

  My heart plummeted. The complete annihilation of my family had been planned. And no one in the crowd looked as if they would have stopped it. A burn rose, heating my skin. I clenched my jaw as the fury of what could have been raced through me.

  Murmurs began in the crowd, and Kyle squeezed my hand.

  The podium we stood on had blistered with frost. Waves of cold air seeped from my skin.

  “You would have allowed this?” I hissed, waving at the plans put in place by the man whose head lay in the dirt.

  Gazes dropped to the ground, and faces reddened with shame.

  “This will never happen under my reign.” Kyle released my hand and hopped down to the ground.

  The crowd parted, giving him a wide berth.

  “Help my family,” Kris said, still on his knees and looking up at Kyle with both fear and sadness reflected in his face.

  Kyle crossed to the cage. The snarl that came from his lips made the wild cats cower as equally as it did Anna and the kids. Those surrounding him flinched back, their features traced with fear.

  Kyle reached his hand through the bar and ruffled Sara’s hair. “Do not worry, little one. That growl was not meant for you.”

  “That is the only way out,” Anna said, pointing at the gate separating the two cages. It was the one intended to be opened at some point during the senator’s killing spree.

  Kyle chuckled. “No, sweet sister-in-law. That is not the only way out of this cage.” He wrapped his hands around two of the four bars in front of her. Metal groaned as he reshaped the straight rods into bows as easily as she shaped cookie dough. The two center bars were next, and when they were as wide as the outer bows, he stopped.

  He reached in and plucked Sara out of the cage, setting her on the ground next to her father. Kristoff was next, followed by Dennis. And then he offered Anna his hand. He helped her out, then reshaped the bars and growled at the cats once more.

  When he turned and met my gaze, I thought my knees would give out. His display of raw strength affected me as much as his touch had, and all I wanted to do was consummate our marriage.

  His stride was sure when he returned and helped me down from the stage. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a wife to satisfy.” With his arm around my waist, he led me back to the castle.

  Chapter 14

  “A bit of an ass?” he asked as the door closed behind us. “I should punish you for that comment.” He towered over me with a cross of displeasure and lust written in his gaze.

  “Yes, you can be a supreme ass.”

  He grabbed my waist and yanked me against his hard body.

  I glanced down at our blood-streaked skin. “As much as I want to explore the hostility sparking in the room, I think we need to rid ourselves of that bastard’s blood first.”

  “The bear doesn’t mind the blood,” he said and pressed his lips to mine.

  I pushed away. “But I do. I do not want any part of that insidious evil spawn to be involved in the consummation of my marriage.”

  Kyle blinked as if my words were a physical slap, recoiling from me. The idea I’d planted raked
disgust over his features and he nodded.

  I grabbed his hand and led him to a small room that overlooked the sea. Robes hung from posts on the walls, and the inner room was brightly lit with the sun’s rays. I removed my clothes, and Kyle followed suit, folding his tunic and placing it on a clear bench. I led him to a spot in the center of the room.

  “Where is the tub?” he asked, his brow creased in confusion.

  I smiled and moved him a few paces to the right. “Just stand here.”

  I crossed to a lever and turned it. A circle in the ceiling opened, cascading water warmed by the sun down over Kyle. He tilted his head into the fine spray and sighed.

  I paused, watching the man who I had struck a marriage deal with, and I realized there was something deeper there. Something that moved me and indeed made me feel alive. He wasn’t what he pretended to be. He wasn’t a self-serving bastard who just took what he wanted. He had heart and passion and was one of the handsomest men I had ever laid eyes on.

  He glanced at me and smiled, cranking his finger towards him in that come hither silent command. I cranked the knob as far as it would go and obeyed his request. As I passed the shelf full of soaps and oils, I grabbed a bar of one of my favorite sweet scents and joined my husband under the waterfall.

  “What is this?” He pointed to the ceiling.

  “A shower.” I handed him soap. “I designed and helped build it.”

  “It is a slice of heaven,” he said and laughed, taking the soap from my outstretched hand. “Just like you are, my little engineer.” He tapped my nose and focused on scrubbing the senator’s blood off his skin.

  When he finished, he turned his focus on me. He peeled away the bandage on my shoulder and washed me from head to toe with a gentleness that belied his glistening muscles. The care he took flushed my skin more than the water did, and when he stood before me, meeting my gaze, the hunger reflected in his eyes as bright as the sun.