She was truly becoming more confused by him every day and confused by her own feelings toward him.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew that the way she’d reacted to him sexually had to mean there was more than lust for him in her heart. She wasn’t someone to just get swept away by a pretty face or a deft pair of hands. Sex had to mean something. So what had sex meant with Alek?
He intrigued her, drew her in, but at the same time, her brain knew she should be keeping her distance. What if there was something wrong with him? What if he’d woken up but wouldn’t be able to live long in this world? She realized now that she was being delusional in just trying to live in this fantasy world with him. She needed to help find out where he belonged.
What if he needed medical care? What if he…?
He seemed healthy enough, despite being quite a few hundred years old.
She bit her lip, watching him stir in his sleep and turn over. Why did he call himself lord of winter? Why did his friends bow at his feet?
All of it bothered her, and she knew if she wanted to know more, she would at least have to trust one other person.
She picked up her phone to send a text, and when she got her reply, she smiled. If there was anyone in this world she could trust, it was Iris.
She woke the lord of winter and resisted the urge to shower with him, instead showering first and letting him take his turn while she made breakfast.
When they were at the table, eating, she frowned when she got a text. This one was much more unwelcome than the one from Iris.
Dr. Henrick: I got your emails. I’ll be back earlier than I thought. See you soon.
She sighed, putting her phone away before Alek could see it. At first, when Alek had emerged from the ice, she’d been freaked out and wanted to tell her mentor immediately. Had wished he’d come home so she would know what to do.
But now things were much more personal, and a part of her, most of her, wanted to protect Alek from any contact with Dr. Henrick.
When she’d first seen Alek, she’d thought this could be the discovery of a lifetime. Now she no longer cared, which was odd for someone who’d been waiting for exactly this type of a breakthrough her entire college career.
She sighed as she slumped with her cheek in her hand, thinking over her options.
Alek looked up at her curiously. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just… Things are complicated.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“I was supposed to just study you. And my mentor, the one who found the ice you were in, is coming back.”
“What will happen?” Alek perked up slightly.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m worried about even telling him about you. Science is his life.”
“He doesn’t already know?”
“I don’t know. He never said anything when he sent me the ice.” She tapped her fingers on the table. “But I want to know more about you first. Are you willing to submit to some blood tests? I have a friend who can help with that, and I know she’ll keep our secret.”
“Why would you want to test my blood?”
“I just… Nothing in the ice we found explains how you got here. Why you’re alive. A part of me is worried about you. What if there’s something I’m missing? What if there’s a better place for you to be?”
He reached over and took her hands in his, and she was glad both his friends and her roommates hadn’t gotten up yet. “I want to be right here.”
“But what if… what if something’s wrong with you?”
He frowned. “I don’t think there’s something wrong with me.”
“But no one has ever lived this long. I just… want to know a bit more, if I can.”
He thought about it for a second. “Yes, your friend can have my blood. But promise me you will come to me first about anything you find in it.”
“I promise,” she said, squeezing his hands lightly. “You’re not just an experiment to me. You’re my friend.”
He frowned at that. “That’s not what I want to be.”
She smiled ruefully. “Is it bad that I agree? I want more as well. But we have to be careful with this.”
He considered that thoughtfully. “I suppose.” She guessed that was a big leap for him, because she got the feeling that he usually wasn’t careful about anything. He seemed like the type to act first and think later.
But he’d changed in the days since he’d been awakened. He was no longer egotistical, shouting and swaggering past everything in sight. And he definitely was different with her.
“All right,” he said, finishing his breakfast and standing. “Let’s go see your friend.”
* * *
At the lab, Talia was having a hard time hiding her amusement.
Iris, normally a feisty, matter-of-fact little scientist who cared for nothing but her latest hypothesis, had been rendered speechless by the sight of Alek in her lab. The small black woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun took off her glasses to walk in a small circle around Alek while he stared down at her, bemused.
“So what am I checking for? Growth hormones? Steroids? Dude is jacked!”
Alek cocked his head. “What is jacked?”
Talia put her hand to her forehead. “Um. Muscular.”
“Oh, that is because it’s my natural state as lord of—” He cut himself off when Talia sent him a warning glare. “Nothing.”
Iris’s eyes widened, the deep brown there glittering in response. “Did he just call himself lord of something?”
“No,” Talia said quickly. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Well, damn,” Iris said, putting her glasses back on as she went to a chair and gestured for Alek to sit in it. “Where do they make them like that?”
Talia bit her lip, not wanting to say, Siberia, probably five hundred years ago.
Alek sat in the chair and put his arm on the pad while Iris tied a piece of rubber above his elbow and began poking for a good vein. She’d have a lot to choose from with Alek’s overly muscular arms.
Talia fought back any traces of jealousy because she was glad her friend was helping her. And this would help Talia get insight into Alek as well. But for some reason, seeing anyone else touch the lord of winter didn’t sit well at all in her heart.
Alek caught her watching and smiled up at her, and she caught her breath at just how beautiful he was. And it wasn’t just his physical beauty, but the way he looked at her. The way he was curious about the world. The way he didn’t let any part of his situation bring him down, even though he could have.
After all, he’d lost his whole world.
“There, I’m done now,” Iris said, putting a bandage over the area she’d drawn from, as Talia realized that while she’d been staring at Alek, Iris had already gotten the blood.
Alek hadn’t even flinched.
When he stood, pulling his sleeve down, Iris came over to them, removing her gloves.
“I’ll have the results probably tomorrow,” she said. “Anything I should be looking for at all?”
“Anything out of the ordinary,” Talia said. “Mainly, I want to make sure he’s in good health.”
“Looks like he’s in good health to me,” Iris said, looking like she still wanted to devour him. Talia wished she could tell her friend she was already involved with Alek, because she knew Iris would stand down.
Right after she chewed her out for getting involved with a scientific discovery. Iris probably wouldn’t let a little thing like love mess with her work.
Talia blinked, watching Alek as he moved around the lab, exploring things. Was she in love with him? Could it really happen so fast?
“Hey, Earth to Talia,” Iris said. “I asked if you had any plans tonight.”
“She does,” Alek said, speaking up. “With me.”
Iris let out a wolf whistle. “Oh man, I’m jealous.” But she nudged Talia conspiratorially. “You deserve this. Go have fun.”
Talia was still blushi
ng as Iris ushered her out the door, promising to call with the results soon.
When she found herself outside in the hallway again with the lord of winter, awkward silence took hold.
“So do you think she’ll find anything?” Alek asked.
“I don’t know,” Talia replied quietly. “I just… wonder if there will be anything out of the ordinary.”
“Well, I already know there will be because I’m—”
“Not ordinary, I know,” she retorted with a frown.
“No, because I’m lord of winter,” he said, his tone teasing.
She couldn’t help but laugh. When they exited the building, snow was lightly falling. “I’m planning to go to the library, do some more research. You can come if you want, but it’s going to be boring.”
He shook his head. “I’ll walk you over there, but then I’ll head home. I have some things to do with my friends.”
She blinked. “You aren’t going to tell them about us, right?”
“No. It’s none of their business. For now at least.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, good then.”
When they reached the library, he bent down to kiss her on the forehead, something she was coming to expect. It was warm and tender, and she couldn’t help sighing as he opened the door to the library and ushered her in.
“Give me a call if you need anything,” he said.
“That should be my line. You’re the one new in this world.”
“I’m learning quick,” he said. “Though, time in front of the TV helps. It’s like watching moving history.” He put a hand through his hair. “Though, sometimes I feel I was always meant for this time.” He gave her a cryptic smile. “I look forward to seeing you tonight.”
And then he was gone, out of the library and down the stairs leading toward the apartment, leaving her alone with her thoughts and a ton of books.
Chapter 12
“How much farther, Alek?” Dmitri protested as the three ice dragons made their way up a particularly deep embankment. The ground was covered in iced-over snow that crunched beneath their heavy feet.
“Not much, I’d wager,” Alek replied as they continued into the hills overlooking Oakwood University. Far beneath them, he could see the buildings that made up the campus. One in particular, painted in white with redbrick accents, he could instantly recognize as the place where Talia’s lab was located.
“Might I inquire again as to our purpose here?” Luka asked. As he spoke, his leg punched through a hollow pocket of snow, burying him up to the knee, and he cursed.
Alek sighed. “If I’m going to attempt to use my powers, I don’t want to be seen by any prying eyes. You suggested as much yourself the other day.” Alek’s feet remained steady over the ice, instinctively knowing where to step and where not to tread.
“Drat…” Luka muttered, pulling his leg out. “Yes, I did.”
At this point, Alek had an idea of some things about his past. He knew he’d been royal. Pampered. He knew that at one point, he’d had command of snow. He didn’t know how or why or the extent of his powers.
Or why someone called the lord of winter had been frozen at all.
Now that he was getting close to Talia, he intended to find out.
After a minute more, they reached a flattened-out embankment Alek deemed sufficient for their needs. Through the dense haze of trees below, he could make out square outlines of the campus buildings, but only barely.
Cold pine and spruce wafted in the air, awakening his senses. Nearby, a squirrel watched curiously, then resumed digging around for a food hideaway he’d likely be hard pressed to discover again.
What would Talia think of Alek now, out doing “experiments” and such by himself? He was becoming a scientist of sorts in his own right.
Dmitri huffed, reaching Alek finally. “You certainly have a way with scouting locations.” There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Alek ignored it.
For the first time since awakening, he felt totally surrounded by nature. It called to something deep within him. Childhood memories of being a boy, exploring the limitless acres of forest around his home. Of chasing rabbits and foxes. Spending long nights talking with his friends around campfires of their own making.
What had he become as an adult, as a man in his prime, right before being locked away in that prison of ice?
“So, Dmitri and Luka, how goes your recollection? Can you remember anything new?”
Luka and Dmitri glanced at each other, pausing for a moment. Then, in tandem, they shook their heads.
Alek couldn’t help but feel it was a little odd. But, unfazed by the lack of new developments, he stepped out into the center of the clearing, eager to test his… What did Talia call it? Hypothesis.
“No matter,” he said, both to himself and his friends. “The lord of winter’s powers will return, and all will be as it should.”
“Here, here,” Dmitri said eagerly as he and Luka watched on.
Last night, Alek had been barely able to use his powers to ice over the area they skated in. And as they’d kissed, the snowflakes that had come from nowhere had to have been from him, or at least he was quite sure of it.
This time, he’d call forth a blizzard so thick, so white that he could once again reclaim his title.
Or at least be able to show Talia. After he’d revealed his true nature as a dragon to her, of course. The blood tests she’d taken might open up a chance to converse about that.
He raised his arms to the sky and focused his mind, his thoughts inward. He pictured sleet and snow swirling around him, a whiteout of wind and cold from the heavens.
But the harder he pushed, the sharper the pain at the back of his head became, so fierce it began to radiate down his neck and spine and into his joints.
Alek opened his eyes, hoping to see the manifestation of his will. But instead, only a few puffy snowflakes drifted lazily downward, spiraling gently until they disappeared into the ground below.
“Nothing,” Luka remarked.
“Don’t hurt yourself, Alek,” Dmitri warned.
Stubbornly, Alek tried harder, arms and legs and body tensing as he pulled harder at the invisible place within that was the source of his power. Still looking to the sky, he noted a few heavy puffs of snow plop down, and a cool breeze blew through the clearing. But that was the extent of his “blizzard.”
Already exhausted, Alek’s arms fell to his sides as heavy breaths forced their way in and out of his lungs. But he couldn’t give up now. He was the lord of winter.
Instead, he whirled on a raised patch of snow that had piled up at the side of a granite boulder. He outstretched his hand, commanding the snow to become a solid block of ice. But nothing happened. Instead, excruciating pain flashed through his mind, piercing like a spear.
Frustration welled inside him. Not just because he couldn’t access his abilities, but more importantly, because the impenetrable wall that kept him from using his powers somehow held the secret of his past from himself as well. He couldn’t prove it, but in his heart, he simply knew that when he unlocked his powers, he would surely unlock his memory as well.
“No. No. I must do this.” Alek tried to step forward, but his legs felt weak from exertion. His heart felt cold, like frost-encased stone. Only the thought of Talia could warm him.
But how could she possibly be with someone who didn’t know who they were? How could he be true to himself if he didn’t even know who that was?
Feebly, he waved his hand once more, hoping for a sign, for something to happen. But the quiet glade remained still, devoid of answers.
Nearly passing out from pain, Alek stumbled forward. Suddenly, Dmitri and Luka were at his sides, propping him up.
“Watch your step,” Luka said.
“Perhaps we give it a shot another time,” Dmitri added hopefully.
“My friends. Thank you,” he said gratefully, the radiating needles in his skin slowly abating. After a moment, he stepped forward
on his own and turned to them.
Perhaps he was better off just ignoring that part of himself now. Even if it had been his entire identity before, Alek knew he had much more to live for now than just being a dragon with winter powers.
“Well, that didn’t go particularly well,” he admitted, folding his arms. Luka and Dmitri shared a chuckle with him, and for a moment, it felt like old times between them.
Then, far below them, a siren blared in the distance, reminding him that things would never quite be the same as his world.
But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Just give it time. Hold back for now,” Luka said sagely, and Alek nodded.
“What will you do?” Dmitri asked, curious.
“I have other plans in mind,” Alek responded cryptically.
Plans that involved seeing Talia again tonight. This time in a setting worthier of someone as beautiful and outstanding as she was.
He just needed to ask Chelle a few more questions first.
* * *
Later that night, Talia was looking forward to seeing Alek but disappointed that she still didn’t have any information about what was going on.
She couldn’t find anything in the books she’d read, and she’d grabbed everything she could on cryonic preservation and ancient ice findings.
Perhaps if anyone like Alek was found, the government kept them secret.
Perhaps the blood tests would reveal more, but she was nervous about that as well. She was walking out of the library when she got an email notification on her phone and saw it was from Professor Henrick.
He’d be back in town the next day, if his flight didn’t get delayed.
Oh God, hopefully she would decide what to do by then. Hopefully, she would have tests results back the next day. And then hopefully, even if Dr. Henrick did know about Alek, she could hold him off, convince him Alek was a real person with feelings and responses.
While hiding her feelings about him as well.
Her heart pounded as she began the walk to her apartment, pausing to look up at the clear gray sky.
No sign of snow.
The thought brought Alek’s face to mind. She wondered how he had spent his day.
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