* * *
Muir awakened on something softer than their travel blanket. Someone had placed the softest nest beneath him, although it took a moment for him to realize it wasn’t a nest at all, but a feather bed. It smelled of ice and snow and frost, the down feathers of some snow bird and something else wildly feminine and exotic.
He was human again, and his mate’s warm presence was absent.
“Rapunzel?”
Ice glistened around him, clear as glass in some places and opaque in other. Sunlight shone against the crystalline walls, sparking off dancing rainbow prisms across the room. Several furs covered the floor directly around his bed, and silk tapestries in watercolor hues covered the walls. A small table carved from ice stood nearby, covered with fruits and a small basin. Muir sat up, only to discover in addition to his wife, his clothes had vanished as well.
Was he dreaming? He thought so when two nubile women entered the room, both draped in semi-translucent silks, underdressed for the frigid environment. They were nude beneath the opalescent fabric. They might have been twins, they resembled one another so closely.
“You’re awake,” the first one said. “I am Varees.”
“I am Sareen.”
“Where am I? Where’s Rapunzel?”
The white-haired twins giggled and moved closer. They leaned in and ran their fingers across his arms. Their touch was cool and light, as gentle as falling snowflakes. Closer, he was able to pick out subtle colors in their hair, pale pinks and lavenders. Likewise, their eyes shone in shifting hues of misty green and blue.
“You’re safe,” Sareen replied.
“Safer here than anywhere,” Varees agreed.
“Where is here, and where is Rapunzel?”
Varees pouted her pale pink lips. “Don’t you like us?”
Sareen crawled onto the bed to join him. She traced her finger down his bare chest and circled it around his flat nipple. “You don’t need a princess. Not anymore.”
Natural male instinct stiffened his cock. He suppressed the rising lust and scowled at the two women instead of surrendering to base male instinct. He edged off the bed to put distance between them, remembered his nakedness, and tugged one of the silk sheets free.
Sareen persisted and followed him. “Why do you hide from us?”
“Are your kind not accustomed to absolute freedom?”
“Aye, but by our own choice. What have you done with my clothes?”
“They were dirty,” Varees said.
“Filthy,” Sareen agreed.
“We took them to be cleaned.”
“You don’t need them anyway. Not with us.”
Muir imagined the men of Eisland would be in paradise were they ever in his position, confronted by two stunning nymphs offering their attention. For surely, these had to be the true snow nymphs he’d heard of from James, the creatures for whom he’d mistaken Rapunzel that night. “While I am flattered by your kind regard, I need to leave. I need to find my mate.”
The two nymphs looked at each other and smiled slyly. “A mate in name only.”
“A mate not of your choosing,” Varees whispered. She moved in close and fast, her lips suddenly against his ear. “A mate you didn’t want.”
Muir barely resisted shoving her away and stepped back instead. “Out, both of you.”
The nymphs drew close together, limbs entwined. Their translucent garments faded away. Muir managed to keep his gaze on their faces.
“You could stay here with us.”
“Yes, with us. We’ll make certain you want for nothing.”
“We’ll make you happy.”
Sareen moved closer and caressed his cheek. “Happier than any mortal woman.”
“Where. Is. Rapunzel?” He enunciated each word, his voice low and close to a growl. “I won’t ask again, lasses. Beautiful you may be, but I won’t give in to your charms. I don’t want to harm you, but if it’s the only way to return to Rapunzel, I will.”
Sareen drifted away from him and became a feminine silhouette made from snow and winter frost. “How can you harm…” she began in a playful murmur.
“…what you’re unable to touch?” Varees finished, following her.
Muir reached after one and grasped a handful of snow. “What do you want from me? Why me?”
“You’re strong,” one of the snow waifs said.
“A perfect specimen,” said the other.
“You would give us strong young and perfect little ones.”
“And if I do this, you’ll let me go?”
“We will,” one of the disembodied voices whispered, a caress against his ears.
“Both of us,” said the second from the opposite side.
Muir growled. “I refuse.”
“Then you may stay here and rot.”
The fine mist of snow and swirling air dissipated, and then all was quiet, leaving Muir alone in a silent room with only a silk sheet in his hands.
* * *
Rapunzel came to a fork in the path, the first she had seen on this mountain since their journey began. Ribbons marked the wider trail to the right, but the tug on her heart, that sense of Muir, pulled her to the narrow track to the left. In fact, without that sense of him, she might have missed the trail altogether. It wound through the trees and thick bushes on a steep upward climb, coming to an abrupt end.
Rapunzel eyed the wall of ice and rock in front of her. The trail had come to a dead end, blocked by an avalanche from further above. Stomp warbled and picked at the sharp stones sticking out from the hard-packed snow.
“I can’t leave him, Stomp. Move back, I’ll try to clear a way through it.”
She placed her hands against the wall and reached out with her magic. Snow always responded to her manipulations, but not this time.
The mountain rumbled, and more snow rolled down from the higher slopes. Rapunzel threw up a shield of ice and magic to protect herself and Stomp from the falling chunks. When everything was quiet again, several more feet stretched above them.
“Well, that didn’t work so well, did it?” For whatever reasons, magic reacted strangely on the mountain, from the winds that kept Muir from flying to the peak to the mishaps whenever she tried to use her powers. “I’ll have to climb it.”
Stomp whined.
“You don’t need to come any farther with me. Thank you for getting me this far, but you should go back home.” She reached over and stroked her hand down his shaggy arm. “I’ll never forget you.”
Stomp cocked his head and bounced from foot to foot. Rapunzel gave him a gentle nudge. “Go on now. Go home.”
She turned her back to him and readied herself for the climb. There were plenty of rocks and ledges to help with the passage. She made it up several feet before she heard Stomp’s quiet warble close behind her and glanced down to see the yeti climbing up after her.
“No, Stomp. Go home.”
The narrow ledge beneath her feet began to give under her weight. Her fingers scrambled for purchase, but she found no handholds, nothing to grab on to. The snow crumbled away, and she plummeted, screaming.
A strong hand wrapped around her wrist and halted her descent. Stomp pulled her up beside him. She clutched his fur with one hand and a rock with the other and waited for her racing heart to slow.
“Thank you,” she whispered after a few minutes.
From her vantage, she could see the other path with its colorful ribbons flapping from the trees. It would be easy to climb back down, forget about Muir, and continue to the peak where the Northern Light rested.
The idea of abandoning him squeezed her heart like a vice.
“Think, Rapunzel, think.”
Trying to move the avalanche had only made it worse, and climbing it like this was next to impossible. Even with Stomp’s help.
“I can’t move it, but maybe I can manipulate it in small ways.”
Careful to keep a hold of Stomp for balance, she slid her free hand down the snow and summoned her magi
c. The snow shaped itself to her will, crystals growing outward. Rough ice jutted from the wall and flattened beneath her feet, providing a sturdy and solid platform. Stomp whined and lifted his foot.
“No, don’t do that,” she said quickly.
Another spear shot out and shaped itself into a level stair. She created a third and laughed softly, each one coming easier than the last, until the steps angled across the entire wall.
She made her way up with ease, with Stomp right on her heels. Her steps held even his considerable weight.
Above the wall, the path continued up the mountain. Her steps quickened until she was running the rest of the way up, with her yeti companion close behind her. The trees thinned into an open clearing.
Rapunzel skidded to a halt. Flurries spun about in the air, but there was no breeze—no wind rustling through the trees to disturb the weightless clouds. Then the snow thickened and moved toward her, taking shape as it approached. She recognized the delicate features as the snow nymph they had seen the day before.
“You came,” the waif said.
“Where’s Muir? Did you take him?”
“He is safe. You left the path to find him.”
“Of course I did.”
“You gave up precious time and put your life in danger. Why?”
Rapunzel blinked. To her, the answer seemed obvious. “Because he would do the same for me. Because he’s my husband, and I care about him. I won’t leave him behind.”
“Then you have truly passed your test. Come, I will set you on your way. My daughters will entertain your sweet companion.”
More khione, though these were shorter and lacked the curves of womanhood, materialized from the blizzard. When they danced around Stomp, he jumped up and down in place and clapped his enormous furry paws, but he didn’t pursue them when the little snow girls zipped off. He whimpered at Rapunzel.
“It’s all right. Go on and have fun. I’ll get Muir.” She smiled and gestured for him to follow the others. A toothy grin spread across his face as he took off, scooping snow from the ground in his huge fists as he went.
“Please come with me, Princess.”
No one knew much about the khione. Rapunzel had always thought they lived alone as solitary nymphs, but as she crossed the snowy meadow, she saw many of the creatures frolicking together or watching from the frosted boughs. When they neared the mountain side, she made out structures crafted from ice—no, they’d been grown, as if icicles had been encouraged to form in a specific manner.
“What did you mean by test?”
“All will be explained in time.” The waif giggled, and her form dispersed. The ice wall ahead crackled and parted, leaving a clear path for Rapunzel to follow.
* * *
Hours passed in damning silence, giving Muir time to dwell on every possible outcome for Rapunzel.
What if the yeti attacked during his absence?
What if she froze on the snow-covered peaks, unable to make her way down alone?
What if some awful, greater threat reared its head and she proved incapable of fending it off even with her magic?
Anxiety led him to pacing, a caged animal desperate for any escape route he could find, and when there proved to be none, he tried to make one, but found the ice to be solid throughout the chamber. He pounded the wall with his fist and only bruised his knuckles. He tried once more to return to his griffin form, but that aspect of him—that divine-granted ability passed from the stars—refused to cooperate.
True panic set in afterward. He raked his fingers through his hair and growled at the empty room, unable to recall the last time he’d felt so helpless. Then it came to him. Losing Fiona. Losing his mother. Watching loved ones and family perish in the war.
And if he didn’t find a way free of his cell, he’d lose Rapunzel too.
“Think, think, think,” he muttered, still pacing.
They wanted something from him. The creatures—those women of exceptional beauty—had wanted him to sire their children. If he did it, if he gave in, they’d allow him to go free, wouldn’t they?
The thought of touching either nymph twisted his stomach with disgust. Rapunzel had gotten under his skin and branded her essence into his mind, burrowing like a tick inside his heart until there was no room for anything else. Only her.
She’ll be fine, Muir thought at once, positive she’d make it to the path. They hadn’t much farther to go when they’d headed inside the mountain. She’s too stubborn to die. She’s come too far from her prison. If anyone can acquire the light, it’ll be her.
Confidence in her growing magical ability eased the tension knot in his chest, allowing him to take a full breath. No matter how much he needed to see her again, he would neither dishonor himself with those waifs nor disrespect Rapunzel and shatter the vows he’d made before her gods. Eis, Siel, and Triton may not have been his deities, but they meant something to her.
Muir sat on the bed again, newly calmed, and there he waited for some time before the nymphs returned to his prison, for as pretty as it was, that’s what he considered it. He turned as the door opened and crossed his arms over his chest. Varees looked him over, giggling while glancing at the sheet he had secured around his waist as a makeshift kilt.
“Release me or fight me. I won’t be held here.”
“Oh, sweet Muir, we have no desire to cause you any harm,” the snow nymph said. “If you come with me—if you’re a good boy—I’ll take you to your wife.”
“Rapunzel’s here?”
“She is. Like you, she passed her test. Loyalty and courage. You both remained true to your hearts. You resisted temptation, and she braved obstacles in her path to seek you.”
“I don’t understand.”
She giggled again and gestured for him to follow. “You will.”
He followed her barefoot down a chilly corridor with stone floors and ice walls. All surroundings and structures, save for the ground itself, radiated cold. The walls roughened, transitioning from ice to stone, and the air warmed. A mineral tang carried on curling wisps of steam.
Two high-backed benches covered in furs occupied the empty space around the pool, with a pitcher and a covered platter on a small stone table between them. Muir wandered over and raised the lid to find sweet water and winterberries.
“Relax. Enjoy. No one will bother you here, you have my word.”
The nymph left him in the natural hot spring chamber. This time, the wall did not close behind her. He considered following her and finding his way out, but her words about tests and Rapunzel held him back. Besides, no matter how much cold he could endure, nothing felt better than a long soak in a hot bath.
He sank into the water and submerged to his chest, releasing a relieved sigh. Enjoying the hot springs back home had been a favorite pastime, one he missed.
A door opened out of the wall where there had been only smooth ice moments ago. Rapunzel stepped inside, her cheeks red and flushed with exertion, his bag of heavy supplies slung over her shoulder.
* * *
Rapunzel had raced to find him, desperate to rescue her husband from a frosty demise in the mountains, only to find him relaxing in a bath with steam all around him in a room lit by glowing crystals jutting from the ceiling and walls in shades of blue, pink, and lavender.
“I’ve searched for y—” The bags she carried struck the floor, because Muir was out of the bath and crossing the short distance between them. Water sluiced off his hard angles, shone upon his chest, and careened down his flat stomach in glistening rivulets. That night in his bedroom, she’d had little opportunity to truly appreciate the sight of his battle-honed physique, each dip and carve sculpted to masculine perfection.
The sight could have brought tears to her eyes, if she wasn’t already crying with profound relief to find him alive and safe.
Before she could chastise him, before she could utter a word, he seized her. One hand cupped the back of her head and the other took her by the waist. Then his mout
h slanted over hers. His tongue led the way and swept between her lips.
It didn’t matter that he was wet, water soaking through her clothes. It only mattered that he was here, alive and warm beneath her touch.
And kissing her the way she’d wanted him to kiss her almost from the very start, from the moment she saw him at the altar.
She melted against him, aware of his fingers unbuckling the makeshift sword belt, removing her cloak and pushing so many articles of clothing from her chilly body. She let him peel away each layer and sighed against his lips when he rolled his thumbs over the tips of her breasts. Then his mouth joined them. He traced patterns across her skin with his tongue then nipped the stiff peaks he’d already aroused.
By the time he returned to her lips, she was starved for the next taste of him. Aching for it and filled with so much longing she feared burning up like cinders. When the need for air forced their mouths to part, Muir trapped her against the wall with his body, pinning both her arms above her head with one strong hand. The other slipped between her thighs.
His fingers stroked and teased until she pulled at him and begged him to quench the flames his touches ignited. Until she pleaded with him to make her his own.
The moment leading up to their joining was torment, her body trembling with anticipation. With one push, one magical thrust, they became one and her suffering ended. She wrapped her legs around his hips and held him close.
The sheer intensity of their joining sizzled through her like fireworks. She clung to him, matching his mounting passion with her own, reveling in the ferocity of each stroke, the frenetic rhythm of it, his frenzy and desire for her culminating into a wild, uncontained storm of passion.
“Mine,” he growled against her cheek. He punctuated the word with a thrust.
For those moments, there was no war, no mountain, no snow nymphs or black army. There was only her, Muir, and the budding love between them achieving its full bloom.
“Yours!” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rode the spiraling sensation as it crested the peak into unfathomable bliss. Through it all, Muir never stopped, carrying her through her orgasm until he groaned her name and reached his own.
Rapunzel and the Griffin Prince Page 27
