“Yes. Of course.”
Nye and Gabriel left. I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. Hung on the back of the door was my stola and palla. My fingers tingled feeling the satin palla.
“Kiriana,” Zarmina said. Her voice was light and sounded frightened.
I peered out of the bathroom and smiled at her. She ran toward me and wrapped her arms around me. She was freezing.
“Hey. Hey, there, Zarmina. It is fine. Please don’t.”
She was giving me a chill.
“I apologize for speaking out of turn. I’m a dumb, flighty idiot.”
“No, you’re not.”
I pulled back from her but she just held tighter.
“Okay. You’re feeling guilty. Freezing. I don’t want a cold.”
“Oh…oh…”
Her hands slid down my arms, warming as they went.
“Again…”
“Don’t…it was wrong of me to assume and not ask for clarification. I need you to guide me through this crazy world I’m entering. Especially since I think Gabriel is putting Nye and me in charge. I need a good assistant. And those weapons you’ve created…are amazing. Almost as amazing as you.”
“You are too kind to me.”
“Zarmina, I have never had a girlfriend and I just killed the closest thing I’ve ever had to a best friend. I’ve never felt more comfortable with someone besides Nye in my life. Your warmth and kindness is something I need in my life. As much as I need Nye, I’m going to need you.”
She hugged me and her skin was warmer than anyone I had ever felt before.
“I have missed that. I was raised in a village with women who always were together. I love that you are bringing this house together.” She glanced at my hair. “Oh my. Let’s get that fixed.”
I laughed as she started to help me dress.
* * * *
Nye
I had never been so ecstatic. Louise couldn’t hold a candle to Kiri. She was beauty personified. Here standing beside me as my bride. My other. The flowers were exquisite, but what did I expect from Zarmina. She’d make everything perfect.
Kiri’s eyes seemed focused on our intertwined fingers. Gabriel had tried three times to make her put her hand on top of mine until she glared at him and said, I will hold his hand the way I want to. A growl had come from Gabriel’s chest, but Kiri wouldn’t back down.
My smile was so big it hurt and set Gabriel off. But I just raised my eyebrow, kissed my bride on her cheek, and whispered in her ear, “Never wonder why I love you.”
Her soft giggle was what started the ceremony.
“In sealing you are more than married,” Gabriel began. “When God created man, he took him from the dirt. When God created his helpmate, he took from his chest. Humans have said he took from his rib to create Eve. Those who were there know he took from his chest. His heart was too large. His strong heartbeat was duplicated, to be the same in her chest. He made her to complete him. Before she arrived, his breathing was labored because he did not have room for his lungs. His mind wandered with no purpose for he had nothing to focus on. When she took on a part of his heart it was no longer cramped and it pumped nourishment through his veins to help him grow as a human.
“It is easier to freeze the heart off from those who could do us harm by not returning our affections. The bravery of a man or woman who allows love to flow to another not only melts their heart, but that of another. The frozen state of the hearts is like a field in winter. Cold. Barren, with no purpose, but with the potential for greatness. We ask you take this love you have found for one another and allow it to grow, so you can pick from the bounty in times of turmoil or strife. For your other is to be your strength and foundation. To be the home you never knew existed in the world. To be the one you draw upon in your joys and sorrows.
“Kiri, you have lightened Nye’s heart in a way we who’ve watched over him never thought possible. By taking this piece of his heart, you will feel what he feels. As he will feel the same for you. Nye.”
My stomach flipped. God, I hoped Kiri could not feel me yet. She must never feel I had a second of doubt in my decision.
“Kiri. I take you as my other. To be by my side for all eternity. To breathe the air I breathe, touch the softness in the world, and to feel the fullness of my love.”
I knelt down so my face was just below Kiri’s.
“Kiriana Kladshon, do you accept my body, my heart, and my soul for now until the end of time?”
“I do.”
I kissed the back of her hand and slid on the platinum ring, which had a groove in the center.
“I give you this ring to symbolize our present and our future. The past is no more for we were not one before this time.”
I stood up and Kiri’s smile warmed my whole body.
“Nye, I take you as my other. To be by my side for all eternity. To breathe the air I breathe, touch the softness in the world, and to feel the fullness of my love.”
Kiri took both my hands in hers.
“Nye, my love, do you accept my body, my heart, and my soul for now until the end of time?”
“I do,” I replied, and Kiri kissed the inside of my palm.
Her lips were soft and wet and my hand tingled. She took out the matching ring.
“I give you this ring to symbolize our present and our future. The past is no more for we were not one before this time.”
We extended our left arms. Gabriel drew my claustranima from its sheath. The blades glistened, reflecting the soft candlelight in the room. Gabriel used the point of the blade to draw a line from my wrist to elbow. The coldness of the silver evoked the hair on my arm to rise. The sharpness scratched, but didn’t break the skin.
With the knife Gabriel then punctured my skin at the bend of my elbow. The blade stung as it sliced through my flesh to my wrist. As my breathing became labored, I held back a scream from the pain in my arm and the warm feeling of my blood escaping the safety of my veins. My temperature must have dropped because I could see frost on the blade. Gabriel turned to Kiri, who had tears in her eyes.
“It will be quick. I promise my love,” I whispered, trying to set her at ease.
“It’s not that. You’re hurt.”
I had to smile.
“Not for long. You will heal me as I heal you.”
The blade now sliced Kiri’s forearm.
The veins leaked their bright red blood. Gabriel took Kiri’s sun-kissed peach skin and my obsidian and bound our arms together with the white linen cloth that’d been wrapped around Kiri’s flowers.
Zarmina had scattered the flowers around us in a circle. I cupped my hand under Kiri’s elbow to become the base to hold her up until the eventual fall. I did all I could to focus on her. Our eyes locked and I could see her holding back tears of pain. Her long, blond lashes batting rapidly. Her jaw clenched, her lips drawn in.
* * * *
Kiriana
The cold started to overtake my body, which felt strange since my feet were warm from being covered in the blood. I started to get dizzy and I tried to focus on Nye, but the light in the room seemed to fade as blackness encircled me. Nye seemed to slip away from me and I felt as if I was floating. The room was gone and I was surrounded by gray.
“Kiriana,” I heard Gabriel say my name in the distance. “You have chosen to end your life. I now offer you the chance to absolve yourself of your sin.”
“This wasn’t a sin, though. This was a choice to be with Nye.”
“It was always a choice. You chose to make yourself immortal. That cannot come without a cost.”
Gabriel appeared before me.
“This part of the ceremony is never to be discussed. It is never to be a warning for future loves that come into the lives of the Frozen. When Nye took his life, he had but two options. Heaven or Hell. One required no sacrifice, one did.
“You chose to end your time in the earthly world, not your life. You were not forsaking the gift that was given t
o you, but instead trying to enhance it by allowing love into your heart. Not everyone that has started to seal finished. You’ve even run away once to prevent it. I give you this option. Return to the world you knew with no memory of Nye or your time here. You can continue in the world you knew and be oblivious to the one that lies beneath the surface.”
“No,” I said without hesitation.
“You haven’t heard the other option.”
“If it doesn’t include Nye, it’s not an option.”
“You’ll never enter Heaven. You’ll never be reborn and worst of all, you’ll never be saved.”
“Nye’s love is my salvation.”
Gabriel shook his head, sighed, and paced in the gray void.
“I have never had someone not want to know all their opportunities.”
“You said you’ve waited for someone like me. Bring me back to him now.”
“I’ve also never known an other that understood why a member of the Frozen could never be offered salvation after sealing. It would pale in comparison to the love they’d found here on Earth.”
“What can I say, I’m ahead of the curve.”
“I do need but one item from you.”
“Name it.”
Gabriel held Nye’s claustranima in his hand. Squeezing the hilt, Gabriel crushed the diamond that surrounded Nye’s soul and smaller crystals fell to his feet.
“I thought that was encased in a diamond?”
“You think I’m not strong enough to crush a diamond?”
Good warning for me.
Nye’s soul flew around the room, landed on the tip of my nose and glowed, turning me into the blue-nosed Rudolph.
“Your soul, my dear,” Gabriel ordered as metal flowed from his fingertips to create another handle for Nye’s claustranima. “Titanium. I like things strong.”
“Won’t that be too heavy to wield?”
“I guess you’ll have to give him the strength. Now…”
Gabriel pointed to the opening at the end of the knife.
“You want me to jump in it?” I asked.
“Not you,” Gabriel said and touched his finger to my nose like a child would reach for a caterpillar. “You know the drill, little one, but you will not be alone now.”
Nye’s soul attached to Gabriel’s finger and he placed him inside the hilt. Gabriel placed his palm on my forehead as he closed his eyes. Suddenly, I felt the warmth of my blood on my left arm and saw the blood had started to flow again. A burning was deep in my chest and I felt as if my spine was being ripped out. When the pain hit its crescendo, I blacked out.
* * * *
Nye
“Kiri…Kiri, my love,” I continued whispering in Kiri’s ear.
Oh, I hoped she’d make it through. I couldn’t tell her some don’t survive. It was forbidden and Gabriel would never allow us to be sealed if he thought she knew there was a chance she could die. Those who disappeared into nothingness were heartbreaking to watch. I could only imagine what it felt like to watch the one you loved wither in front of you and leave only a thin skin like a snake’s.
Her eyes fluttered and in relief, I finally released the air from my lungs. I knew she was strong enough to handle what would happen on the other side.
“Nye,” she said, her voice scratchy.
I nodded, letting her know it would be over soon. I could tell. I had been a party to enough of these. Gabriel was reaching for the gold pitcher. Leaning in, I placed my forehead on hers to try to take on the pain she was feeling.
Gabriel poured the mixture of warmed herbs I had prepared. The ancient mixture of witch hazel, calendula, chamomile, comfrey, and horse chestnut seeped in between our arms and I could feel my arm sealing.
My right hand cupped her jaw to hold her head up as my thumb stroked her cheek. Kiri’s face turned into my hand, and she kissed my palm. She was shaking against my hand. Her eyes closed as her lips were more drawn in than before.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to take away her pain. But we both knew it was temporary, a mere blip in our life together.
“Breathe in the life of your other and you shall forever be one.”
I turned Kiri’s chin up and kissed her sweet lips with a slow sensual kiss that had her licking my lips wanting more. Being a Southern gentleman, I obliged the lady and opened my lips to allow her tongue to caress mine. If these are the sacrifices of being an other, I knew I would sacrifice myself for her as often as she wanted.
Lars let out a loud, “Oh yeah. Hoy, hoy, hoy!”
Kiri laughed then softly spoke.
“I love you.”
“I reckon, I love you too.”
“You better know.”
“I know. I’ve always known. From the moment your eyes met mine, I was yours.”
Kiri’s lips returned and my heart skipped again.
Lars and Zarmina unwrapped our binding. They folded the now bloodstained linen and placed it in a small cedar chest, which had our names carved into the top. Gabriel sprinkled the diamond that had held my soul alone over the top of the fabric. Finally Zarmina placed one tulip and one orchid inside.
“For your most important items,” Zarmina said as she placed the small box by Kiri’s hip. “This will be the base.”
“Thank you,” Kiri said, still holding back tears.
“My love,” I said helping Kiri to her feet and walking her to a chair.
On bended knee I opened a jar that contained a mixture of aloe and plantain I’d made. We spread the paste on each other’s wounds. I knew we’d heal fast, but this was amazing. Our arms seemed to reseal with each stroke up or down the arm.
Her hands rested on my chest and her lips were on mine before I could protest. Open and full, her kiss warmed me to my core. Gabriel was right. She had melted my heart. The cold rushed from my heart through my whole body, like snow from a mountain in the spring, finding crevices I never knew existed. I was living now.
Epilogue
Her Royal Holiness Princess LaDressa, Daughter of Lucifer IV
I was looking in the mirror at my smooth waist-length white hair and the emptiness that was my solid black eyes, the eyes of royalty. One solid black eye, without the white to distract. My hair was parted down the middle with diamonds attached by my hair that spun a protective web around the jewels, in no particular pattern. The knock on my door made me break my gaze.
“Come,” I said, not turning to see the large, black iron door’s locks click free. The rounded shape of it was for beauty not security. The idea of beauty down here was laughable. The walls were made of now crumbling limestone. Years of pressure created the rock, just to have it start to break under the same pressure.
My vanity, I assume named because of the giant oval mirror attached to the desk, was my refuge. In the mirror I can still remember him standing beside me. Seeing his deep brown eyes marveling at my striking features and tight gold and pearl dress. The small gold links would burn and scar my skin if I were to step outside my room. Pearls gave me little comfort. I was basically in chainmail.
It flowed down my body. The bottom hitting the floor. The neck high and sleeves long. He would say he knew my body because I was naked bathed in gold. The way he described it, it was as if he had felt the groove of my hip. My skin he knew would be soft as a newborn, for I had not been touched to harden it.
“Your Highness.”
It was Masako. I wouldn’t need to turn to know she was wearing a long black robe-like gown all my servants did. Masako was my favorite for she would pull her hair up in a bun and would wear sandals with beautiful flowers covering the straps. The hair was her outwardly fighting with my family. The sandals were illegal and her silent protest made me envy her strength.
I lifted my hand and beckoned her to me. Her silent movement made my brother nervous but the change in the air around me told me where she was. Looking at the tray, her long sleeves covered the handles so I could not see her fingers.
She was shaking as she placed a tray on the
flat surface of the granite top of the vanity.
“What is vexing you?”
“Your Highness, I have received a message for you.”
“That is?”
“Not for my ears, I assume. It came through the fire.”
Her hand reached inside her robes. Pulling out a small animal skin pouch she placed it in my hands. Her fingers touched my hand causing her to pull back and hit the wall. Her body collapsed on the floor, her hands outstretched in front of me.
“I apologize my lowly hands touched yours.”
“Masako, rise. The touch of another is my desire and I would not punish you for this indiscretion. I will also not punish you since I know you are putting your life on the line for my communication.”
This wasn’t the first time she had snuck me a message. Damarion had sent me a dozen when he could manipulate the system enough to get through.
Rising, I walked to the stone fireplace whose fire was licking lightly on the logs. The message felt heavier than normal but I would not let Masako go until I knew if I was to try to respond or not. She held my secret close to her heart. Always having done that I trusted her above all others.
My fingers rose over the fire making its small flame increase, almost hitting the hearth. I threw the satchel into the fire. A blue flash doused the flame and before me was not my love but a woman. Tall with black hair slicked back.
“Your highness, my name is Nemesio. I have been Damarion’s confidant for many years now.” Her body pulled in close. Hands holding themselves while her head lowered. “Sending this message has saddened me greatly for he has fallen.”
A hot poker burned through my chest. My love had less than a year before he’d return to me. Whole. His love for me unwavered. Part of me questioned if my brother had sent someone to kill him. I could feel acid starting to form in my eyes, but I held back. The female tracker continued with her message.
“His life was taken by a Frozen’s other. We are not sure why the Dark One’s other was even allowed to engage with Damarion but the reason will not change the result. His ashes were not scattered. They have been confiscated by the Frozen, but we do not know the intent of their keeping of him.”
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