Ice Queen

by Candace Wondrak

  “I…I’m…I’m fine.” Frost would not be remembered for her eloquence.

  “Even with a wet ass, I’m fine. I don’t get cold often, Frost.”

  She was not sure what to say. Why did his words feel like they held another meaning, and why did she think she liked their hidden meaning? If he did not get cold often, he would be fine with her taking more of his heat. “I’m always cold,” she whispered, losing herself to the warmth spreading in her lower gut.

  Douglas nodded, moving even closer to her. “I know.” She could see each and every water droplet coursing down his chest, soaking up in the front of his trousers, which were dry. It was only his backside that was wet thanks to Blue, and he seemed to be doing quite fine ignoring it.

  Frost then asked something she shouldn’t have, her words coming out in a bare whisper, “Can I touch you?” Could she touch him. What in all the world was she thinking, asking something like that? Surely he would never…

  “Sure,” Douglas spoke with a nod, not a single trace of hesitancy laced with the word.

  She met his eyes, wondering if he knew what she meant. Without gloves. She wanted to touch him without the gloves hindering her, wanted to feel his warmth in her very soul. There was no way her magic could get the better of her when his body was so hot.

  Tentatively, Frost reached for the glove on her right hand. She plucked at the dark fabric, the glove already loose on her because it was a man’s glove, not made for her dainty hand. Finger by finger, she tugged it off slowly, stopping only when she had the glove clutched in her other palm, the warm air snaking its way through her bare fingers.

  Such a strange, nerve-wracking feeling, to have a glove off, to be outside of Wysteria. Before, when it’d been nothing but her and Blue, it never much mattered whether she had gloves on or not. There was nothing to save in Wysteria, nothing left to protect. The kingdom was already in ruins. Here, here there was so much more. Living, breathing people. Her sister. These men. Frost would not see another kingdom fall because of her.

  And yet here she was, gloveless, reaching for Douglas’s torso. A bad idea if she ever knew one. A bad idea, but she wanted to do it all the same. She wanted to touch those muscles, feel the warmth of his body again, and this time, she wanted to be aware while doing it. It wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

  Frost’s hand went to the area between his pectorals, and almost instantly, the tan, scarred skin beneath hers shuddered. Their eyes met, and deep down she knew her touch affected him just as much as his did to her.

  “Am I too cold for you?” she murmured, her fingertips light on his chest.

  Douglas shook his head once. “No. You’re not.” She wasn’t sure if she believed him, but he seemed truthful. What would he have to gain by lying to her about it?

  Her hand dropped to his abdomen, tracing the squares lining his stomach. Never had she pictured a man quite like him, and not once had she imagined touching a man like this. This was…it was all new to her, mostly because she’d been so sheltered growing up, and then alone for so long. This was right in so many ways. His strength, his muscles, the way the water glimmered over his flesh in the sunlight, how he watched her with deep blue eyes, needing her reaction.

  “Am I too warm for you?” Douglas asked quietly.

  What could she say? What words could she use to tell him that he was just as warm as she needed him to be? That he felt perfect beneath her fingertips? They locked gazes, and she managed to croak out a soft, “No.”

  He reached for the hand on his abdomen, laying his own hand atop hers, flattening her palm against him. Frost inhaled sharply, feeling caught between the warmth. It was not a bad feeling. If anything, it was one of the best things she’d ever felt, almost made her believe she was normal, non-magical. It was not a feeling she’d voluntarily give up anytime soon.

  “No matter what happens,” Douglas spoke, “no matter what we face, know that I will do everything in my power to protect you.”

  Maybe it was stupid, but Frost believed him. She believed each and every word with her entire heart. Gazing up at him, feeling her insides swell and blossom with happiness, it only meant one thing.

  It was going to hurt to lose him. It would hurt to lose them all.

  Chapter Ten

  The soldiers Queen Amara had chosen to bring with her to the camp were very welcoming. They were probably even happier knowing that they’d be packing it up in the morning and heading back to the castle, now that Frost had agreed to help them get to the Jewel. There was no point in Queen Amara and these soldiers waiting here. Who knew how long it would take them to travel to the castle and actually get in it.

  Still, who was Noel to say no when they offered him some drink? Plus, he was a fan of good stories, and it seemed like these soldiers were full of them. That, and full of drink. Perhaps a bit too full, for one woman had the guts to proposition him right then and there, in front of all of her comrades. Flattering, sure, but not something Noel was interested in, so after laughing, he politely declined her.

  The men around him were busy laughing, although the laughter died down when one of them asked him, “So, surely you must have some stories. Tell us how you found her.” The other soldiers nodded, even the woman who’d propositioned him, each of them eager to hear how he found Frost.

  Noel didn’t like gossip, mostly because he found it the idle man’s way to pass the time. But in this case, well, he didn’t want to gossip because of the subject matter. Telling the story about how he found Frost didn’t seem pertinent to these people; he’d gotten her, wasn’t it all that mattered?

  “Oh, you know,” Noel spoke, shrugging it off, “I just happened to stumble upon her.”

  “Bullshit,” one soldier said. “You had to find one woman in the entire snowy kingdom. There’s got to be more of a story to it than that.”

  “Not really. The three of us split up each day, covered what ground we could, met back up, traveled a bit, and so on and so forth,” Noel explained. “Not that exciting, trust me.”

  The same man who’d asked about her let out a frown. “No army of snow people?”

  “I’m afraid not.” Noel laughed, but then he recalled the snowman who looked as if it was going to try to eat her. Her magic had been uncontrollable, hadn’t it? Everything alive in Wysteria was alive because of her; that snowman should’ve listened to her. Was her magic failing?

  It was clear they wanted to ask him more questions, but Noel’s eyes scanned the area and spotted Hale. Hale’s white brows were together, and he was frowning to himself, pacing back and forth. What the…that wasn’t good.

  Noel got up after setting down his drink, moving past the group of soldiers surrounding him and to his friend. He couldn’t recall ever seeing Hale so distraught. Something bad must’ve happened, but what? “What’s the matter, my friend?” Noel asked.

  “I did something I should not have done,” Hale muttered, sounding frazzled, the complete opposite of calm. He didn’t sound like himself at all. Pacing with that look of concern on his face; he looked like a stranger, not the ever calm and quiet Hale.

  Having no idea what his friend was going on about, Noel tilted his head, trying to piece it together in his mind. “What did you do?” Straight to the point, because his mind was not coming up with any possible explanations. Out of the three of them, Hale was the best behaved. He never got himself into trouble. This was…this was most definitely a first.

  “I was with Frost,” Hale said, and Noel felt something constrict in his chest. He wasn’t sure why, but dread crept over him as Hale continued, “She was worried, upset. She wanted to use her magic away from camp; I think her emotions were getting the better of her. I calmed her down, told her she wasn’t alone.”

  Okay, that didn’t sound too bad. In fact, that sounded rather tame. That wasn’t such a big—

  “And then I kissed her,” Hale finished, and Noel had to focus on keeping his jaw clamped shut. No agape mouths here.

  It was a very di
fficult thing to do.

  “You kissed her?” Noel asked, as if Hale’s words hadn’t been enough of an admittance. He watched his friend nod once, meeting his dark eyes. Noel couldn’t imagine Hale kissing her, mostly because he never imagined Hale kissing anyone. Hale was a private sort of man; anytime they didn’t have a job, he kept to himself. To kiss a princess, to kiss Frost—that was the very opposite of keeping to himself. “Why did you kiss her?”

  “I…” Hale trailed off, looking away. “I don’t know. She was upset.”

  “You don’t kiss someone because they’re upset.”

  “No, but I…I’m drawn to her. I like her. She is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and I let my body take control. I wanted to kiss her.” Hale’s eyes squeezed shut, as if recalling the kiss was the worst memory floating around in his white-haired head.

  Noel wasn’t sure what he wanted his friend to say, but it wasn’t that. Knowing Hale wanted to kiss her, well, made him wonder if Frost wanted to kiss him back. And then, of course, something ugly started growing inside him. Jealousy. He was jealous of the notion that Frost would possibly want to kiss Hale back, which said nothing about the jealousy that currently swelled in him because of the fact that Hale had kissed her.

  Hale had kissed her, and he hadn’t.

  It didn’t seem right, did it?

  “I think I only upset her more after the kiss,” Hale muttered.

  “Where is she?” Noel asked, needing to see her. Needing to figure out whether or not she had enjoyed Hale’s kiss. He couldn’t say why it mattered so much to him, for truly, she belonged to no man. Frost could kiss whomever she wished, and there was no contest running between the three of them. They all stood on even ground.

  Still…Noel had to see her. Maybe even kiss her himself.

  “I’m not sure. She went off with Blue,” Hale spoke with a shrug. “It wasn’t as if I had any right to stop her.”

  “True enough,” Noel agreed. “Stay here. I’ll go looking for her.” After his friend nodded, he went off, the breeze caressing his bare face. With his hood down, he had to squint as he walked, leaving the outskirts of the camp.

  Frost and Hale. His mind was tumultuous as it pictured the two of them together. Why was Noel so jealous? He had nothing to be jealous of. Frost was beautiful, yes, any person with eyes could see it, and it wasn’t like Noel thought every beautiful woman was his and his alone to kiss and embrace. No, it had to be something more.

  Something more real than simple physical yearning.

  After a while of searching, he came upon a stream. Voices carried, one deep and one light and fluttery, almost disappearing as the wind carried it. Douglas and Frost, Noel recognized the voices instantly. It was good she wasn’t alone, good she was not letting her magic take control of her after what happened with Hale.

  Noel hiked closer, traveling beside the stream, stopping when he saw them. A sick feeling swarmed his stomach. Blue was at the edge of the river, his two front paws in the water. He lounged about, not a single care in the world. His white tail thumped when he saw Noel, though the creature did not make any moves to get up. It wasn’t the wolf that made Noel feel like he’d been punched in the gut, though.

  Douglas had said something about protecting her, no matter what should happen, and Frost was quiet as she gazed up at Douglas. Beside him, she looked immeasurably small. Almost like a child. Her hand laid flat on his abdomen, which was bare, and he held a hand over hers. It looked like an intimate moment, a moment which Noel should not be part of, no matter how badly he wanted to be.

  She’d gone right from Hale to Douglas. Did she not once think of him? Could she not go to him for comfort? He could not say why, but the notion that she would find comfort in the arms of his friends and not him made him both extremely jealous and intensely depressed.

  As badly as Noel wanted to interrupt their moment, he couldn’t. The look on Douglas’s face, the fact that neither of them had noticed his presence, even though he was a good ways away, said it all. Douglas liked Frost, too. Douglas and Hale had both been caught in her frosty web, powerless against her. And because of that, Noel had to be the one to keep a level head.

  Even though it was the last thing Noel wanted to do, he did it: he turned quietly and headed away from the pair, returning to camp. He did not return to the group of soldiers near the campfire. Instead, he wandered to the tent which Queen Amara had given to them for the night, plopping himself on the nearest bedroll as he sighed. If his friends could be happy, he shouldn’t stop them. They deserved to find happiness, even if it was only for a short while.

  Because that’s all it could be—a short while. Happiness during the job, but after it was done and Queen Amara held the Jewel of Wysteria in her hands, the job would be done. Frost would go back to Wysteria, and Noel and his comrades would return to the guild. Theoretically, they could quit the guild, but who wanted to live in a snowy wilderness for the rest of their lives? It just didn’t feel plausible.

  Noel couldn’t say how long he sat there, lost in his own thoughts, but eventually another presence entered the tent. He looked up, half expecting and half hoping it was Frost, but he only met the cold blue eyes of her wolf. The creature was intelligent, Noel would give the wolf that. The way he looked at a person, almost as if he could understand what was being said. Maybe he could; it was clear the wolf was magical. There were truly no limits on magic.

  “What are you doing here, Blue?” Noel asked, hating that he sounded so downtrodden. All because of Frost. Well, more specifically, that Hale and Douglas seemed to fancy her a bit more than they should, but that was beside the point. What was also beside the point was the fact that Noel himself fancied her, too.

  Oh, yes. He fancied her. Like Hale had said, Frost was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he’d traveled a lot, seen a lot. There was truly no one else in the world like Frost, which was a terrible thing, really, because it made wanting her all the more impossible.

  Blue trotted over to his side, plopping down on his haunches before him. The wolf let out a deep-throated whine, cocking his white head as he stared at Noel. Far too intelligent. Far too knowing. It was as if Blue knew all about what was on Noel’s mind. How embarrassing.

  “What?” Noel asked, frowning at the wolf. “I don’t appreciate the look you’re giving me.” Noel could’ve sworn the wolf’s eyes narrowed at that. Or maybe it was all in his head. Who knew? “Stop that. Why don’t you run back to Frost and Douglas? I’m sure they miss you.” Great. The last thing he should be doing was bringing either of them up.

  Blue’s snout lifted, and he let out a quick bark. Almost a whining sound, like he was trying to help Noel see what a stupid fool he was being.

  “I don’t need you telling me,” Noel said. He reached for Blue, running his hands along the furry sides of his face. The wolf’s fur was the softest thing he’d ever felt, smoother than silk and the purest white color. “I know. I know I shouldn’t be jealous, but I am.”

  Blue let out another low whine, as if telling him to snap out of it.

  “I like her, okay? I like her, too. What am I supposed to do? Just ignore these feelings and pretend they don’t exist?” Noel let out a sigh, knowing, deep down, that’s exactly what he had to do. Or, rather, what he should do. He was the type of man that had a hard time doing what he should do, however…

  Blue tore away from him, turning his head toward the tent flap, where another person stood, having walked in while Noel was busy telling the wolf all about his business and personal feelings. And, as luck would have it, it was the one person who shouldn’t have heard any of it—Frost.

  Her lips were parted slightly, and as Noel glanced at them, he couldn’t help but wonder if Douglas had kissed her, too. Such thoughts he should not concern himself with, but here he was, unable to change it.

  “I came after Blue,” she said, speaking quietly, barely a whisper. She stood a few feet away from him, rooted in place. Noel did not blame her for not
wanting to move closer to him, not after overhearing what he’d told Blue.

  “Ah,” Noel spoke, getting to his feet, ready to leave the tent and pretend all of this simply did not happen, “well, here he is.” He tried to chuckle, but the sound fell flat, so he stopped quickly. For a moment, they both stared at each other, neither of them saying anything or doing anything to remedy the awkwardness of the situation.

  Blue let out another yip, as if telling them to talk it out. The wolf was too smart for its own good.

  Frost’s hands fiddled before her stomach; Noel remembered seeing her touching Douglas, the look on her face as she gazed up at him…not to mention the expression Douglas wore when he stared down at her. No, Noel should not interfere here. Hale and Douglas—he would not step between them and Frost, even if he liked her himself. It’s something friends did for each other.

  “Did you mean what you said?” Frost broke the silence, taking a single step closer to him. Noel felt his back straighten in response. Her azure stare sparkled, even without the sun’s rays, much like Blue’s stare did. She radiated a coldness that Noel could feel, even with the few feet between them.

  “That depends on what you heard, I suppose.” Look at Noel, trying to be funny. Now was not the time for that, sadly. Now was the time for seriousness and embarrassment, nothing else. In all his life, Noel couldn’t quite remember feeling so uneasy, like he was caught doing something bad. He had done many bad things in his life, but admitting feelings about a woman? A woman he and his friends all seemed to like simultaneously? That was a new experience, one he wasn’t sure how to handle.

  Frost’s lips tugged into a small frown. “I heard it all, Noel.” The way she said his name, almost scolding him, made him sigh.

  His shoulders rose and fell with a heavy breath. “Then you know what I said,” he spoke, unable to look away from her, needing to see her reaction. “I’m not a liar, either, Frost. You should know that, if you know one thing about me.”