by Linsey Hall
The fox swallowed and looked at me. Since you have curried my favor with the beef, I will take you to some stairs.
“Curried my favor with the beef? You have a way with words.”
Beggars can’t be choosers. Now come.
He led me down the path and partially off the trail. I stuck toward the more grassy bits, trying to avoid the thorny bushes.
Finally, the fox stopped at the top of some stairs that crept downward toward the sea. They were carved right out of the rock itself, terminating at the crashing waves below.
“Thanks, pal.” I took them two at a time, heading quickly toward the bottom. Near the waterline, I spotted a cave.
Bingo.
A grin stretched across my face, and I stepped unhesitatingly into the darkness.
Did smugglers also use this tunnel?
I turned to the fox. “They did.”
Well, I’m going to leave you to it. That castle reeks of death, and I’m no dummy.
“Thanks again.”
He nodded as he backed away.
Cold air rushed from the tunnel, chilling my legs and reminding me that my pants had been torn to shreds by the thorns. I pulled the spare pair of black jeans out of my pack and changed quickly, then I turned to the cave, which extended into a tunnel. As I followed it inward, the ground sloped upward.
“This had better lead to the castle,” I muttered. The stories had spoken of caves that did so, but with my luck lately, this would go to the village or somewhere else useless. It could even be dead-end storage, for all I knew.
But there was only one way to know, so I followed it.
As it extended upward, ice began to form on the walls. I shivered and tugged up the zipper on my slim-fitting leather jacket.
Finally, I reached a dead end. I searched the walls, then looked up, finding a trapdoor overhead. The wood was old and frozen shut, a thick layer of ice between me and the metal clasp.
I raised a hand and fed my flame into the ice. It began to drip, and I moved aside, letting the water flow down the tunnel path. Finally, the trapdoor was revealed, and I pushed it open.
Silence greeted me, and I climbed out into an empty room. Layers of gray dust were trapped beneath the ice, giving the whole place a dingy appearance.
Damn, this place hadn’t been used in ages. I found the door hidden behind more ice, and melted my way out of it.
The hall beyond was empty but simply decorated. There was no light other than a couple of glowing blue orbs, a Fae magic that I’d never seen before. Had to be an Ice Fae thing.
I must’ve been close to the dungeons, though. With any luck, I could grab Connor and run. Minutes ticked by slowly as I searched the corridors and rooms at the base of the castle. When something grabbed me from behind, I nearly shrieked.
“What are you doing?” a rough voice hissed.
I called upon my flame and blasted him.
The figure winced, then clutched me tighter. “That won’t work on me, dearie.”
The figure’s voice made a cold shudder pass through me. I spun my head back, catching sight of a pale white figure with a bald head and slitted blue eyes. There were no ears, and the creature’s neck was so slender that I was surprised it could hold its head upright.
It didn’t look quite human.
But the magical signature didn’t feel demon.
“What the hell are you?” I demanded.
It arched a brow—or at least tried to. It didn’t actually have eyebrows.
“You don’t know?” it rasped.
I thrashed in its grip, not bothering to answer.
“Well, it was already clear you were an intruder. But this makes it irrefutable.” The monster pushed me ahead of it. “We’re taking you to the king.”
“No.” Desperation sounded in my voice. “I’ll do anything.”
“Of course you will. For the king.” The figure pushed me harder, and I nearly stumbled.
As we moved through the halls, my mind raced. His words made it obvious that he wasn’t an uncommon type of creature here. Everyone knew him, apparently.
Or creatures like him.
I fought to get away as we moved upstairs and down hallways, but it was impossible to break his grip. Though I fed my flame into my hands that he had gripped behind my back, the fire didn’t seem to bother him.
I’d been afraid this might happen. Capture was always a probability when walking into an unknown, guarded fortress. I’d just have to figure a way out of this.
Finally, we reached an enormous atrium.
Once, it would have been beautiful, with its domed ceiling and tall windows. But every surface had been thoroughly coated in ice, the windows closed over and the decorated dome concealed. I shivered at the chill in the air.
“Oh, you’ll get used to it,” the creature muttered bitterly. “We all have.”
He shoved me through the atrium and into a huge throne room. Like the atrium, the space could have been beautiful. But it was coated in ice, the huge hearth filled with the stuff. No fire or candles burned within—just the pale blue lights that floated near the wall and cast icy shadows over the room. Huge pillars supported the soaring ceiling.
The king stood in front of the iced-over fireplace, staring into the depths as if he could see the flames that didn’t flicker.
Fear shot through me, colder than the air.
I can’t be incapacitated near him.
Finally, I was able to shake off the monster who held me. I hissed back at him. “I walk on my own.”
He glared at me.
The king turned to face us, his blue eyes glinting with interest. “You’ve come.”
My jaw tightened as I watched him. “Of course I came. Where is my brother?”
He inspected me silently, and I used the opportunity to return the favor, taking him in and observing my surroundings.
He fit in well here, a frozen king in his icy kingdom. His cloak flowed down from his broad shoulders, and he was well over six feet tall. He had an air of lethal elegance that was impossible to ignore, and the stark beauty of his features made me hate him even more.
My heart began to race—fear and attraction. I’d always hated fear. But the attraction? That was just an insult. It was some magical connection I didn't want and had no control over.
The king’s eye traveled over me, heat turning to cold. I sneered.
His lips twisted in response, then his gaze flicked to the figure behind me. “Thank you, Erias. You may go.”
His faint footsteps disappeared.
“Erias?” I asked. “That’s a Fae name.”
The king shrugged and turned away, strolling toward the massive, ice-coated throne in the center of the room.
In his hand, a pendant dangled from a chain.
My heart thudded.
Connor’s comms charm.
“That’s my brother’s!” I strode after him.
“It is.” The king sat in the throne, louche and irritatingly sexy. He didn’t seem to notice the ice beneath him. He slouched in the throne, dangling Connor’s pendant in front of him—I hated him.
Hated him. And I hated myself for wanting him.
My gaze riveted to the pendant in his hand. “Where is my brother?”
“Safe. For now.”
“What the hell do you want with us?”
He arched a black brow. “It won’t work. I know who you are, and you know that I know.”
My lips twisted. “Why did you take him?”
“Because you love him most.”
“But you want me. Why not just take me?”
The corner of his lip tugged up in a smile that heated something in my belly. “I did take you. He’s your heart.” He shrugged, as if he didn’t understand the feeling but could at least grasp the concept. “I knew you’d come after him, and you did.”
I hated that he’d planned it this way, but he was right.
Connor was my brother.
I couldn’t have left him to th
is fate. Anyway, just because I was captured didn’t mean I was at his mercy.
“I’ve been watching you,” the king continued. “You sacrifice for others, not yourself.”
“Whatever.” It was something he wouldn’t understand, that was for sure.
I glared at him, my mind racing. What did I say next? Could I sweet talk my way out of this—something I’d never been any good at—or was fighting the only option?
“You tried to kill me with an ax,” the king mused.
“Yeah. How about I say I’m sorry, and you release my brother. Then we go on our merry way and call it a day.”
He chuckled, but it was an almost bitter sound. “I’m afraid that’s no longer an option.”
My heart thudded. “Killing me. That’s your option, right?”
I wasn’t one to beat around the bush. The prophecy said he would kill me, and he hadn’t yet.
He surged out of the chair and stalked toward me, his movements leonine. He was so big and his expression so serious that it was impossible to miss the threat.
He was in front of me in an instant, crowding me until I backed up against a pillar. The ice was cold against my back, but I pressed myself against it to avoid touching him.
The king loomed over me, tilting his head down to meet my gaze. “It’s not so simple, little lamb.”
I bristled. “Do I look like a little lamb to you?”
“Compared to me, yes.”
He was so much bigger and stronger that I had to agree with him, much as I hated it.
And yet—part of me liked it. I was strong—muscle and strength and death on the wind. Yet he was even stronger.
I liked it as much as I hated him, which really screwed with my head.
His gaze dropped to my shoulders and lower, and I knew what he was seeing. The fighting machine that I’d turned myself into over the years.
“But in truth, you do not.” Heat echoed in his voice, and when I met his gaze again, I saw it reflected in his eyes.
He wanted me.
He liked that I was tall and strong, with more angles than curves.
Cold banked the flames in the blue depths of his eyes as he shoved away the desire.
We had that in common, at least. A deep and abiding need to ignore the sparks between us.
Though he didn’t touch me, my skin heated at the idea of contact.
I tried to force my mind back to the problem at hand. “I’ve heard the stories. You’re fated to kill me.”
Pain flickered in his eyes, but it was gone so fast I thought I’d imagined it. When he spoke, his voice was devoid of emotion. “True enough, but we must be mated first.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have much choice.”
“I always have a choice.”
“Not in this.” His gaze flicked across mine. “We will complete the mating ceremony at the solstice. Once our hearts are entwined, I will sacrifice you to save my people.”
“That’s totally effed up.” I scoffed. “I’m never going to love you. And you’re never going to love me.”
He shrugged, his gaze enigmatic. “The seer says it is so. Therefore it will be.”
Fae believed strongly in seers and fate, but still. This was nuts.
I searched his gaze, seeing duty. Desperation.
Shit.
It didn’t matter if it was nuts.
He was a king desperate to save his people. He’d do anything, sacrifice anyone, to save them. Either he believed in the prophecy and that I would love him, or he was so desperate that he would try it and kill me anyway once the ceremony was complete.
Either way, I was dead in the end.
“How is sacrificing me supposed to save them, anyway?”
He gestured to the room. “We were once the Sea Fae, but the ice grows daily. And as it grows, we become weaker. Soon, we will freeze as well.”
My gaze moved over the throne room, taking in the thousands of pounds of ice. The ice was changing their very nature. Maybe even killing them. It was a compelling motivator—how was I going to convince him to look for another way?
Make him love you.
No. It was impossible. There wasn’t enough time. And the odds against it… They were staggeringly high. There might be a potion that could help me in my bug-out bag, but the guards had taken it. Which meant it was all up to me and my charms. Which was….not great.
But still, I could try to at least win him to my side. Make him care for me. Understand what was at stake for me.
“I’m supposed to save my people from a similar fate,” I said, my voice desperate. “It’s not just my life you’re playing with, but the lives of all of the Fire Fae. A prophecy says that I’m meant to save them from a terrible fire that is fated to tear through our land.”
His gaze flickered, then hardened. “My duty is to my people, not to yours.” His hand hovered at my cheek. “So you see, Caera, why this must be.”
Shock lanced me.
Caera.
“My Fae name,” I whispered, unable to speak any louder. “How do you know it?”
“You are fated to be my mate. Albeit for a short time. But I know much about you. And I plan to learn more.”
“To make me love you.”
He dipped his head toward mine, cheek nearly pressed to cheek, and whispered, “Yes.”
“Not possible.”
His warm breath feathered across my ear, sending a frisson of terrified excitement down my neck and spine.
I hated it, but I couldn’t help it.
“And then you’ll sacrifice me,” I said. How, I didn’t know. But did it even matter?
He said nothing, just hovered over me, breathing me in.
“This is insane, you know.” Not just the situation—which was actually totally impossibly bananas—but also the attraction I was feeling. I hated it. “You’ve hunted me.”
He pulled back and met my gaze. “For years.”
“How will you survive my death? It’s said that mates are not whole once the other dies.”
“That is for me to worry about.”
I had a feeling that he wasn’t whole now. So what was one more piece removed from him? “How did you find me?”
“Your light, Caera.”
“Claire. I’m called Claire now.”
“By the non-Fae. But that little bit of disguise couldn’t hold up when your light revealed itself.”
Damn it.
My mind flashed back to the moment months ago when I’d been in a fight and an insane golden light had exploded out of me. I still had no idea what it was, but apparently it had allowed this jerk to find me.
“I hate you,” I hissed.
“Not for long.” A devastatingly sexy smile pulled at the corners of his mouth, then he stepped back. He looked past me toward the edge of the room and gestured for someone.
Did he mean I wouldn't hate him for long because I’d fall in love with him? Or because I’d be dead soon?
Didn’t really matter, since I’d be dead either way.
I scooted away from the pillar so I could run if necessary, but two guards were on me in seconds.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” the king said.
The guards grabbed my arms and hauled me off. I struggled, calling upon my fire, but it was banked by their icy magic.
“You bastard,” I spat, raking him with my eyes. “You’ll never succeed.”
“I will.”
Strangely, he didn’t look particularly happy about it.
His face was the last thing I saw as they dragged me toward the dungeons.
5
The Fae dragged me through the icy halls and down wide staircases that were deadly slippery. They moved effortlessly on them, as if they were used to it, but I nearly lost my footing twice.
By the time he shoved me into a small but sumptuous room, I was seething mad. To make matters worse, he took my pack.
I turned to hiss at the door
as it slammed in my face. I grabbed the bars that bisected the small window and tried to shake the door. “Let me out!”
There was no reply.
Despite the comfortable furniture and beautiful decor, the room had no windows and a locked door.
A cage.
“Connor!” If I was in the dungeons, he was probably in here, too.
There was no response.
Damn it.
I tried calling upon my magic to burn the door down, but it stayed dormant inside me. I had a few helpful things stashed in a pack in the ether, so I tried reaching into it.
Nothing happened.
The ether was as dead to me as if it didn’t exist.
Of course the dungeons were enchanted to suppress the magic of the prisoners. Any good dungeon would have that feature, and the king didn’t seem like the sort to skimp. He certainly hadn’t skimped on the interior of the horrible little room—plush bed, beautiful couch, thick rugs.
Still, it was a dungeon.
I staggered back from the door, my mind racing.
How the hell was I going to get out?
My back hit the wall, and I sank to my butt. Despite the plush rug, the floor was cold, but I ignored it and tilted my head back against the wall.
“Think, damn it.” My voice echoed in a lonely way.
No ideas came to me—at least, none that were reasonable.
Every single one that I thought of involved tools I didn’t have. There was a tiny window above my head. Though there was no glass in it, there were a few bars that would make it impossible for someone my size to fit out. The fresh sea air filled the cold little room, and I breathed in deeply, the scent reminding me of the king.
It was his face that filled my mind as I finally drifted off to sleep against the icy stone wall.
The images shifted in the way that so often accompanies dreams. One moment, the king was standing in front of me.
The next, I was lying on a slab of ice, the king leaning over me. I cringed away from him, but he was fast, gripping my arm and holding me steady. He raised his other hand, a silver knife glinting evilly in his fist.
