by Zoe Parker
“Take it easy,” a low, warm voice reproved me. Jacob.
“What happened?” I murmured. “Where are we?” From what little I could see, we were no longer in the forest. Curving stone walls surrounded us, illuminated by a small fire in the center of the space.
“Kyle was hurt and you were unconscious, so we decided to seek refuge. We found a cave a few miles from where the dragons attacked us.”
“How is he?”
“Kyle?”
I nodded. “Is he okay? Is he badly hurt? Will he recover?”
“Shh, Victoria, don’t distress yourself. Don’t worry about him. The arrows they attacked us with were tipped with iron, so not lethal for a dragon.”
There was no need for him to clarify. The only thing that could kill a dragon was obsidian, or as many called it, dragon glass. The weak point for Fae, on the other hand, was iron. The guards who’d attacked us today hadn’t intended to slow us down or capture me. Their orders were to kill me.
“We have to hurry. We need to reach the Winter Kingdom as soon as possible. Now that they’ve discovered us, there’s no time to lose.”
“Victoria, please calm yourself a moment. We can’t go anywhere. We’ve lost the horses. The earthquake spooked them so much they took off. Also, there’s a blizzard raging outside.” He stroked my temple with his thumb. “All we can do is wait it out.”
I sighed. There was no more time. The situation had already gotten out of hand. The regent of the Winter Kingdom had to be stopped before he became even more powerful. Too powerful for me to defeat with my diminishing powers. I abruptly turned away from Jacob and tried to stand up. My knees wobbled, threatening to buckle under my weight. My dragon stood up too, supporting me with one arm tightly around my waist.
“I know you’re not fragile,” he hastened to say before I could complain. “But let me help you anyway. You expended too much energy and now you have to give yourself time to recover.”
A snort of bitter laughter escaped me. “I don’t have time,” I muttered.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. I could see he was curious. I couldn’t give him the answers he sought, though. I would tell him the truth at the right time. Not before.
Jason and Kyle were sitting by the fire. Kyle was bare-chested and Jason was treating the wound on his back. As exhausted as I was, my eyes greedily followed the outline of his pectorals and his well-defined abdominal muscles. I wanted to touch him, caress his bare skin, but I doubted he would ever let me after the way I’d turned him down the night before.
“How are you feeling?” I asked hesitantly, trying to ignore the lump that had formed in my throat when I saw his wound. His eyes darted to me. Violet flecks glinted in his irises as his eyes raked my body, pausing on Jason’s arm around my waist. A low, menacing growl came from his lips.
“Now I understand.”
His words hit me like a bucket of ice water. “Kyle, what—”
He cut me off. “It doesn’t matter. What are your orders, my Queen? What do you want us to do now? How would it please you to see us die?”
“What?”
“Isn’t that why you brought us with you? We’re only dragons. Our life is worth nothing to you.”
“How dare you!” I shouted. “What do you know about me?”
“He’s right, Victoria,” Jason interjected. “It’s our job to protect you, but we’re in the dark here. We thought we were to accompany you to the Winter Kingdom, but instead we found ourselves facing the guards of the Dragon King. What the hell is happening!? Why do they want to kill you, Victoria?”
I shook my head. The little voice in my head taunted me: You’re too ashamed of the part you played in this. You don’t want your Twin Flames to know how you failed Faery. You’re a coward. “I can’t tell you,” I said miserably.
“Then you condemn us, my Queen.” Jacob’s words were a whisper against my ear, delicate as a caress, but painful as a dagger’s thrust.
Fate was unpredictable. It could change at any moment. All it took was an unexpected decision, a word amiss, and everything could change. I’d seen so many different outcomes in my faulty visions. There were many different ways things could turn out. It would be irresponsible to tell them when even I didn’t know for sure what we would find when we got to the Winter Kingdom. I kept searching my mind for justifications while my dragon’s words pierced my soul. But in the end that was all they were: justifications. Meaningless excuses I tried to use to assuage my feelings of guilt. He was right; I was putting them in jeopardy. But how could I confess what I’d done and expect them to forgive me in the end? This trip was my fault. I’d made a serious mistake and I had to correct it.
I walked away from him to a dark corner of the cave, sick with shame, trying to put as much distance as I could between me and my dragons. It seemed to have become what I did best: hiding from them.
9
Victoria
The pain in my back was like a knife. I was curled in a fetal position, so chilled I couldn’t move. Someone had draped a cloak over me during the night, but it was scant protection against the icy cold of the cave. The fire had gone out hours ago, and apparently no one had thought to gather more wood to feed it. I’d never imagined that, as Queen, this duty would fall to me too. I took a deep breath, trying to fight off the little voice in my head that implored me to stay curled up on the ground just a little longer, and got up, pulling the cloak tight around my body.
I cast a quick glance around me. The cave was dark, though I was sure it was daylight by now. Kyle was resting in a corner. I recognized his shadow in the darkness with a certainty that was almost unnerving. He sat with his back against the rock wall, his head hanging over his chest. He didn’t seem to feel the cold as much as I did, yet I felt an instinctive urge to nestle my body close to his and share my warmth with him. I shook my head, quickly dismissing the thought. I had to stay focused on the mission. Nothing else mattered. I felt my way in the faint light toward the entrance to the cave. A ray of weak sunlight penetrated a small crack, casting dancing shadows around me. I didn’t see Jacob and Jason until I reached what had been the entrance to the cave the night before. My dragons were standing in front of a massive wall of snow and ice.
“What happened?”
Jacob turned to look at me. The memory of the previous day’s outburst still lingered in the air. “We’re trapped,” he said. His voice was neutral, as if he wished to emphasize the distance between us.
I swallowed. I knew I needed to say something, but a part of me—unfortunately the dominant part—refused to do it. I was the Queen and they were my subjects, my soldiers. They should obey my orders instead of continually questioning them.
“Can’t you melt the snow with your powers?” I asked.
Now Jason turned to look at me too, shaking his head. “We could do it, Your Highness, but it doesn’t make sense.”
So we were back to the formalities. Fine. If that was what they wanted, they would have it.
“All right. If you’ll let me through, I’ll remove the obstacle myself so we can be on our way as soon as possible.” With a brusque gesture, I tried to move past the two dragons.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jacob snapped. He grabbed my wrist, preventing me from reaching the mouth of the cave.
“Let me go,” I hissed, glaring at him. “I’m your Queen.”
“As you wish, my Queen. We’ll all die if that’s what you want.” He pulled me along the wall to a small fissure in the ice. I gave him a questioning look, but he just nodded toward the slit, inviting me to look.
I bent down and put my eye to the opening. The blizzard was still raging. Someone during the night had sought refuge in the cave, but found the entrance blocked. The unfortunate man lay on the ground, his eyes open, fixed on the sky. He’d frozen to death.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. My dragons were right—there was nothing I could do fo
r him, and if we went out there we would suffer the same fate. I felt powerless. The regent of the Winter Kingdom would also pay for that man’s death.
A hand stroked my hair. “Everything will be fine.”
No, everything would not be fine. Time had run out for me. Faery was dying, and it was all my fault.
We sat in silence around the remains of the fire. There was no more firewood and, while my dragons seemed not to be affected by the cold, I was freezing.
“You’re in danger of hypothermia if we don’t find a way to warm you up.”
My head snapped up in the direction of the man who had just spoken. I saw Jason get up and come towards me. He sat down next to me, putting his arm around my waist and pulling me against his body. I laid my head on his shoulder and heaved a sigh of relief.
“How can you be so warm?” I murmured.
“I’m a dragon, Victoria. My body temperature is higher than a Fae’s.”
I didn’t really care about the reason. Having him that close to me was enough to make me forget everything else. I heard a throat being cleared and two dark eyes met mine. Kyle’s gaze was murderous, but he said nothing, just stood up and walked away. Jacob was staring at us as well, his expression undecipherable.
“It will pass,” Jason murmured, stroking my cheek with his thumb.
“What do you mean?”
“His feelings for you,” he clarified. “The emotion he feels every time he’s near you. It’ll pass.”
“How do you know?”
He remained silent as if searching for the right words. “He’s destined to be with someone else. But you confuse him. Not that I blame him.” His lips touched my temple. “You’re so beautiful, Victoria. Your mere presence is intoxicating.”
“Do I have the same effect on you?” I asked with a brazenness I didn’t recognize in myself. These men, these dragons, brought out a part of me that I hadn’t known existed before my vision.
“Yes. But, like Kyle, I know that my heart is destined for someone else.”
“Are you engaged?” My heart skipped a beat. Did that mean they weren’t my Twin Flames after all? My vision must have been wrong. But why did I feel so drawn to them, then?
“It’s more complicated than that. I guess you could say I’m promised, but I don’t know to whom. Have you ever heard of Twin Flames?”
I shook my head. It was a lie, but I wasn’t ready to be truthful with them. Especially if there wasn’t anything to be truthful about.
“We don’t know why it happens, but some dragons are born with a special mark. On others, the mark doesn’t appear until later in life. I have one, and I know Kyle and Jacob do too, though I’ve never seen theirs. It looks like a birthmark, but it actually means that your soul is fragmented. To be complete, you must find your other half. ”
“So you have no choice. You’re forced to be with someone Fate has chosen for you. You can’t find love on your own or decide the course of your own life.”
“I never thought of it that way,” he murmured thoughtfully. “When it comes right down to it, I guess you’re right.”
“If you could choose, what would you do?”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “If I didn’t have the Twin Flame mark, I’d probably kiss you right now.”
I gulped. My throat suddenly tightened and my cheeks felt like they would burst into flame. “I—”
“No, Victoria, let me finish,” he interrupted. “From the first moment I saw you, I felt attracted to you. I know it’s not appropriate—you’re the Queen and I’m just a soldier—but I can’t do anything to change what I feel—”
“—but you won’t approach me the way you’d like to because you want to be faithful to your Twin Flame, even if you haven’t found her yet,” I finished for him.
“It’s crazy, right?”
“Not at all. I think it’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. Whoever she is, your Twin Flame will be lucky to have someone like you by her side.”
He put his lips to my temple again in a gentle kiss and remained silent. Lulled by the warmth of his body, I closed my eyes and drifted off to a sound sleep despite the doubts torturing me.
Jason’s Twin Flame really was a lucky woman, I thought. Even if she wasn’t me.
10
Victoria
I’d read in the history books that poverty had always existed in society. Occasionally, at the palace, I’d even met someone who hadn’t been particularly lucky in his life. Despite how I imagined poverty to be, though, the reality around me was very different. The servants who worked for me weren’t rich, but their clothes were clean, their cheeks had a healthy glow, their bellies weren’t empty, and they could feed their children.
But now I understood there was a side to the world that I’d never imagined. A part of my realm where gaunt, sunken faces crowded the streets. Barefoot, dirty, and bleeding. Bony hands attached to skeletal arms. Just seeing poverty, the real thing, caused me pain. Seeing my people dying of hunger and cold, huddled by the side of the roads, provoked such a severe pain in my chest I couldn’t contain it. A tear caught in my eyelashes, ready to fall and roll down my face. I was the Queen, yet I’d spent so many years closeted in my splendid ivory tower that I hadn’t seen what my kingdom had become.
The snowstorm had finally ended, allowing us to leave the cave at sunrise. We were forced to go on foot, since our horses had bolted, but finally, after hours of walking, we reached the border of the Winter Kingdom.
My dragons didn’t know it yet, but my plan was simple: I would go to the castle and challenge the regent before it was too late. As Queen, I was intimately connected to the life of my world. The reason I knew Faery was dying was because my powers were waning with every passing moment. Fear of righting the wrong I’d caused had made me wait so long I’d finally realized I might not have the strength to set things right any longer. That was why I’d left so suddenly, escaping my castle in the middle of the night.
We decided to stop at an inn to rest. I needed all my strength to be able to defeat the regent of the Winter Kingdom, so I didn’t object when my dragons opted to stop. My feet were covered with blisters, the cold had sliced through my skin, and my stomach was noisily protesting the fact that it hadn’t received any food for many hours.
I dropped into a chair next to Jason. Kyle still wasn’t speaking to me, and Jacob remained cautious, not sure he could trust me. I didn’t blame him. I knew the dragons and the Fae had a long history, but I hoped that one day he could look at me differently.
A yellowish broth that smelled like potatoes was set before me. The tubers were among the few things to survive the harsh climate that had hit Faery. A reminder of why I was here, in this kingdom, ready to die: so my people could have real food on their tables.
“What are you thinking about?” Jason asked, distracting me from the hot, tasteless broth.
“Everything and nothing.” Maybe it was time to stop being so vague with my dragons. They were entitled to answers, especially now that we were so close and they were facing imminent danger. “There’s something I—”
I didn’t have the chance to finish the sentence. A dozen guards entered the tavern. They identified us immediately, as if they’d known exactly who to look for. I felt my dragons stir in their chairs. Sneaking a look at them from the corner of my eye, I noticed they were starting to shift. Dark scales were rising on their faces and hands.
We couldn’t fight here. There were too many innocent people around us who could be hurt in the crossfire. I stood up and slowly pushed back the hood that hid my face. Surprised looks and astonished murmurs followed my gesture. They’d recognized me.
“Take me to your regent.” My voice rang out, regal and commanding, but it was an act. I was thankful only my dragons could hear how hard my heart was beating.
The guards who had come to arrest us and who now approached us uncertainly, were Fae from the Winter Kingdom. Their leader’s coat of arms, a silver snowflake, was
affixed to the front of their gray uniforms. The crest of the royal family was conspicuously absent, a signal that the Winter Kingdom had stopped recognizing my power.
One of the guards held my arms behind my back and cuffed my wrists. Then they dragged me out of the inn under the stupefied gaze of my subjects. The Queen of Faery had just been arrested like a common criminal.
11
Jason
They dragged us through the streets of the Winter Kingdom, tied behind their horses as if we were beasts. Despite being the Queen, Victoria received no better treatment. Even so, she walked with her head held high before the curious gazes of the passersby. I didn’t understand what was happening. I didn’t know why the regent of the Winter Kingdom would treat the Queen of Faery like this. The game of politics had never interested me. Maybe if it had, I would have understood the reason we’d been brought to the regent’s court in such a disrespectful way.
“Sister.” The regent’s voice was low and cold. It reminded me of the hiss of a snake.
“I can’t say it’s a pleasure to see you, Mason,” Victoria replied without moving her eyes from his for a second.
“I notice that your brief stint as Queen has made you arrogant.”
“I have no time to waste,” she said coldly. “Free me and my soldiers and surrender with dignity, Mason.”
He gave a bark of laughter. “You’re so naive, little sister.” He took a step toward her and reached out a hand to touch her face. A menacing growl escaped my throat.
Nobody had the right to touch her. She was mine.
“Your dogs look rabid. I would have them put down right now if I didn’t know what they really are to you.”
Victoria’s eyes opened wide. Her lips trembled and she gasped. “How did you know?”
“I have my methods,” the regent answered with a shrug.