The Ice Queen

by Jovee Winters

  And then with a finger wave and a laugh that echoed through the room, he was gone.

  Silence descended like a heavy shroud, making her feel as though she suffocated on the oxygen she was sucking down on.

  Alador moved his hands to her shoulders, turning her around so that she looked up at him.

  His brows were drawn tight, and she couldn’t seem to stop shaking. What he’d done was so much worse than what she could have imagined.

  “Gerda did this. Killed this maiden and she has no clue,” Luminesa whispered, feeling cold in a way she never had before, deep to the very heart of her soul.

  He shook his head. “And she doesn’t need to know. Do you understand? This doesn’t need to rest on her conscious.”

  She blinked, understanding the wisdom of his words, but feeling dead and numb inside.

  “And tomorrow? And the next day, and the day after that? What then Alador, he will strike again. How do we stop this? Stop the demons at night and the children from harming others during the day?”

  Pulling her tight to his chest, he hugged her.

  And it was hard to explain what his touch did to her. He was so warm, so deliciously warm in a way that felt incredible. That made her toes tingle and her head fill with a dizzying rush of blood.

  Luminesa was still shaking from the oppressive weight of that news, but another part of her, and equally as strong, reveled in the feel of his arms, in the now familiar scent of him—like pine and earth. She buried her face in his chest and closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths.

  He rubbed his hand gently up and down her back in a soothing motion. Once she’d finally stopped shaking, he pulled away just a little, looking her deep in her eyes.

  “Okay now?”

  No, she wasn’t okay. Nothing about this was okay. But she was at least not quite so shaken up. Everything was wrong. But there was still hope for them, all they had to do was find that key.

  “I’m okay.” She nodded.

  “Good, then perhaps it is time to deal with Antigua.”

  Again he was right.

  Sucking the corner of her lip into her mouth, she nibbled on it, before looking back at the body. She’d have to return Antigua back to the ice she’d been.

  But first she’d need to extract the glass particles from it.

  “Horse, I am glad you are here,” she mumbled, not daring to look up at him, and hoping that she hadn’t said the wrong thing just now.

  With a shake of her head, she dropped to her knees. Raising her palms over the body, she focused on separating the ice from the silver, sort of like separating the wheat from the chaff. The process was painstaking and delicate.

  Her arms trembled and ached each time a wave of that dark power curled off just one tiny powdery fragment of it.

  Alador knelt on the other side of Antigua, but she felt his eyes on her. Caressing her, studying her.

  She swallowed, but said nothing and he respected her silence, letting her work.

  After at least an hour she’d finally separated all traces of the silver from Antigua’s form. It was gathered in a pile beside Luminesa.

  Weaving more of her ice magic, she created a glass jar and with a command to the wind, whipped the small pile up and into the jar. Sealing it tight.

  Only finally able to breathe now that the stickiness of that evil had been locked away. At least like this she could hide this bit of silver away from the Goblin. Luminesa knew he had more, far more to harm them with, but the more she kept hidden from him, that at least was one less thing to worry about down the road for them.

  Clenching her jaw, she took a minute to breathe.

  “Are you well?” he asked.

  She was about to say yes, when his hand landed on her shoulder.

  Luminesa froze.

  Her breath. Her body. Even her heartbeat. Everything inside of her stilled at the fiery contact of skin to skin. This time his touch was far more intense than it’d been during the hug.

  His palm was work roughened, but nice. Warm. So very, very warm.

  Her body screamed to coat herself in ice again, to cast him out, cast out his touch, his nearness, to demand he release her now, and move away.

  But she could hardly remember how to form words, let alone speak. And beneath his palm, her flesh thawed.

  Turned from ice, to supple smooth skin, and though every other part of her was frozen, that bit of warmed flesh made her feel...hot. Alive. Excited.

  She shuddered.

  And he snatched his hand back, looking down at it in wonder.

  What had he felt?

  He exhaled a jet of frost from between his lips.

  “Did you take my cold?” she asked softly, almost terrified to pierce the heavy veil of tension that now flowed between them.

  Grabbing his hand with his other, he pressed it to his chest, as though hugging it. “You took my warmth.”

  Not a question. But she nodded anyway.

  “Did it hurt?” she asked him.

  Green eyes brighter than a spring meadow after a heavy rain sparked as he shook his head.

  “Me either,” she admitted almost shyly.

  Breath sawing out of her now, she turned back to Antigua. If she couldn’t get physical distance between her and Alador, she could at least get back to the task at hand.

  Grabbing hold of the poor maiden’s hand, Luminesa breathed the song of returning and immediately the body separated into thousands of flakes of shimmering ice and snow, gathering up into a spiral that danced and swirled in the stiff breeze and for just a moment it echoed with the laughter of winter.

  And then Antigua was gone, returned to the world she’d been crafted from.

  Before Alador could do it again, Luminesa swept up her gown so that she could stand. Grabbing the glass jar full of that deadly silver, she hugged it tight to her breast and looked at him as though she were a mouse and he were the falcon.

  He wore no shirt, the weather conditions outside was dangerously cold to anyone but her, but he didn’t seem fazed by it, even though his dark flesh was pebbled tight with goosebumps.

  Alador took a step toward her and suddenly terrified, though she couldn’t hope to understand why, Luminesa gathered the hem of her skirts, turned and ran far from there.

  She knew he wouldn’t follow, but still she didn’t stop running. Once her foot hit the bottom landing of the stairwell, she transformed into a tower of swirling snow and didn’t stop until she was once again back in that quiet corner of the castle, outside and one with the world she loved so well.

  Baatha’s shrill scream alerted her to the fact that though she was nothing but snow now, her familiar sensed her presence and returned to greet her.

  Landing gracefully on the balustrade, his piercing golden eyes stared directly at her. In her wintery hands she still held the silver.

  Antigua had been so broken. Brutally slaughtered by the hands of a small child. And normally that act of violence would have been enough to harden Luminesa’s heart toward the humans she now housed, but she knew Gerda hadn’t known what she’d been forced to do. Probably had no memory at all of the violence she’d committed under the Goblin’s bidding.

  Luminesa would need to be more vigilant in watching the children, along with keeping guard against the ice demons...not to mention the confusing riots of emotion she felt whenever Alador was near.

  Baatha cried.

  And in his cry she heard his words.

  It wasn’t the Goblin or the murder you ran from, but the centaur male. Why?

  The wind howled with her words, echoing through the dead forest of skeletal trees.

  “I don’t know,” she said, “I don’t know...”

  Chapter 8

  Alador

  He’d looked for her throughout the rest of the day, but she’d vanished as surely as the Under Goblin had.

  And though the castle was still warmed by magical white flames that refracted with every color of the rainbow, and there was a bounty of food
s set out for he and the children whenever one of them even so much as stepped foot in the dining hall...the castle felt strangely empty without her in it.

  He suspected she might be guarding the castle, ensuring no harm befell them. But he also suspected very strongly that she’d run away from him this morning.

  Because of that touch.

  That touch that’d rocked him to his very core.

  He sighed. The only thing he’d been able to do after that was to keep a close eye on the children and make sure nothing happened to them, or against anyone else.

  But they’d been happy...or rather as happy as could be expected under these conditions. Even Kai had come out of his shell a little and was laughing with Gerda as they’d eaten their lunch of soup and sandwiches.

  Alador had taken the children to go exploring the castle proper once done. Eventually stumbling into a room that had been created with the express purpose of being a child’s paradise.

  There was an endless array of plush toys, dazzling costumes for play, and stacks of children’s books.

  The children had run into the room with delight, and he’d sat in a corner, taking turns glancing out the ice-paned window as he looked for her.

  The children had settled down finally, playing quietly with each other, giggling over an icy checkerboard as Gerda bested Kai in a second round.

  They’d had their fill of candies and sweets, it seemed whenever the children even mentioned it a silver tray of Turkish delights would appear to them, only to be gobbled down in the very next instant.

  She had done this.

  Provided above and beyond what she’d needed to, and asking for no words of praise in return.

  She truly sought nothing from them.

  And it bothered Alador more and more.

  Turning his left palm over he stared at the marking for at least the tenth time, tracing the spidery lines of a snowflake that’d appeared on it the second he’d touched her shoulder.

  He’d felt the bite of frost rage through him, but rather than make him want to scream, make him want to turn and run and hide, he’d craved more.

  He’d not suffered from the burn, but instead had been consumed by it in a different way entirely.

  Even now, remembering the way her power had rippled through him, had roared through his veins like a lion seeking whom it could devour, he shuddered.

  Clenching his fingers tight as the tiny snowflake in his palm burned bright.

  But on the heel of that powerful emotion came a thought...what did this marking mean exactly? Had she bespelled him, or—as he was more inclined to believe—had he been marked because his soul recognized its mate?

  The thought so startled him that he shook his head. It wasn’t possible. Centaurs didn’t mate. Not in the traditional sense.

  Except they did.

  Though the herd often denied it, saying it was unnatural to be loyal just to one, there were rare and few cases of it. Chester and Kym, and even a few others in history.

  There was even a mating ritual that was often taught to them as children, though they all laughed because surely it was nothing more than fables and fairy tales...every centaur knew what to do if by some bizarre stroke of fortune they were blessed to find one.

  The door opened then—cutting him off from his thoughts—and a maiden with short blue hair that stood up shockingly like frosted icicles on her head, peeked her head in. “Time for bed, children,” she said softly.

  “Have the castle grounds been checked over?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “Yes. Astrid and the mistress have built snow monsters who are even now guarding the exits of the castle. And there are dark magic yeti’s in the castle proper.

  He lifted a brow.

  But she’d routed his question before he could even ask it.

  “The queen built them to detect the dark magick traces of the Under Goblin. If he returns, we will know it.”

  Gerda and Kai turned to look up at Alador.

  “We’re frightened,” Gerda said softly, all smiles they’d worn earlier now gone as she grabbed hold of Kai’s little hand. “Can we sleep in your room, Alador?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’ve nothing but piles of straw, it is not nearly suitable for children.”

  “Do not worry, children,” the maiden said as she stepped inside, and unlike before when the maidens had been dressed as scullery maids, this one was dressed in thick icy plates of battle armor, “you shall each have a guard standing just outside your doors. The Goblin will not return this night, he’d be foolish to try.”

  Alador wasn’t so sure, but had no wish to frighten the children either.

  Holding out her hands to them, she waited for the children to slip their hands into hers.

  “I will check on you before I go to bed.” Alador promised. Then looking at the ice maiden he said, “Perhaps the guards should—”

  As though knowing his thoughts, she smiled serenely. “We know what’s happened this morning, and we’re now prepared. An attack such as that will not occur again.”

  Alador raked his gaze down her form, studying the body armor again. Not that he didn’t believe that they’d try to be prepared, but even he couldn’t fathom how a slight child like Gerda had been able to take on Antigua in the first place.

  “Do not worry, male,” the ice maiden repeated, “the yeti’s can taste dark magick, if the Goblin returns, we will know it.”

  He supposed there was nothing more to be said after that. It didn’t sit right with Alador to leave the children alone, and yet, he knew he’d have no choice but to stay with Luminesa in case the ice demons returned.

  Gerda nodded slowly. But Kai pursed his lips tightly. The boy was upset.

  Understandable really. No doubt he was worried about his family. Worried about how to leave this place. He might be younger than Gerda, but Kai seemed to better understand the kind of danger they now found themselves in.

  Tomorrow Alador would make an extra effort to comfort the boy as best he could. But right now he needed to find the queen.

  They needed to talk about what’d happened this morning.

  Once the children were out the door, he stood, and went in search of her.

  ~*~

  Luminesa

  Luminesa heard his footsteps long before he’d entered the glass room.

  She did not move from her spot, didn’t turn her face to look at him, she continued to gaze up at the nighttime sky ablaze with winter’s kiss.

  But she did light the hearth behind them, filling it with the heat of frost fire, a lambent flame that would not melt ice but warmed the room up.

  He inhaled deeply, pausing only once he’d gotten to her side.

  “The moon is so full tonight,” she said softly, taking a quick second to glance at him.

  He nodded.

  The moon looked triple the size it normally should, a giant, glowing orb filling up the navy sky with its soft radiance and turning the snowstorm into a crystalline shower of light.

  “Thank you for going out of your way to keep us warm, I know it cannot be comfortable for you,” he said.

  Hugging her arms to her breasts, she turned, looking up at the tall, exotic male and wondering all over again why it was that she felt so relaxed in his presence.

  “You’re welcome. But it is not uncomfortable for me.”

  Those green eyes she’d dreamt about last night studied her so intently that for just a moment, Luminesa forgot how to breathe.

  And the world around them ceased to exist.

  She forgot about the snow outside, the howling winds, the children sleeping warmly in their fur-lined beds, the Goblin’s riddle, or even the fact that if she couldn’t figure out his game in a month’s time she’d cease to be who she was.

  What she was.

  Because right now, the only thing she could focus on was Alador. And how his words from last night continued to haunt her.

  “I do feel,” she finally admitted into the heavy silence tha
t hugged them.

  The muscle in his jaw tensed.

  “Keenly,” she whispered.

  “I am sorry. I should not have—”

  But she didn’t let him finish, instead she shook her head. If she was going to be honest with him, if she was going to open her heart to him then she couldn’t look him in the eye as she did it.

  And as much as it hurt to turn away from him, she did. She faced that night sky and whispered her truths out into the world for the first time since the dawn of her rebirth.

  “I ran away from you this morning because what you did, when you touched me, it broke something in me.”

  “I am—”

  “No.” She shook her head. If he said anything else she’d lose what little dregs of bravery she now possessed and would never be able to get this out. “Please just listen.”

  From the corner of her eye she saw him nod.

  Turning her palm over, she stared at the horse hoof marking that’d appeared not to long after he’d touched her. She wasn’t sure what it meant, all she knew was anytime she touched her finger to it, a shot of warmth pulsed up her arm like a welcoming wave and that somehow, someway...Alador was becoming so much more to her than just another centaur male.

  Taking a deep breath, she plunged feet first into her tale.

  “Long ago,” she began, “I was not the woman you see today.”

  The only sound she heard was his steady, but heavy breathing. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine that it was just her here; that no one else was around, that no one could hurt her again. That she was safe and protected. It was easier to speak that way, when she was separated from the rest of humanity, when there was no one around to make her feel...alone.

  Thinking back on that day a hundred years ago, Luminesa finally let herself give it life again.

  “I thought I’d known him. Or known him well enough to feel safe in going to his tent.”

  She tracked the flurry of snowflakes that fell right in front of her, swirling and twirling in the blustery wind. Her eyes were glued to the night, awaiting the first flicker of ruby red demon eyes.