Melt

by Demelza Carlton

  She climbed atop him, easing the length of him inside her until she could hold no more. Then she began to rock her hips against him, just as she used to do when they were lovers.

  Once, he would stare up at her in wonder, his hands moving to cup her breasts, his lips murmuring endearments before he kissed her, moving within her in a blissful harmony that would bring them the most glorious release.

  But now…

  Briska blinked away tears, wishing for what could never be again.

  Behind her, unnoticed, the lamp's light went out.

  Forty-Two

  Amani debated whether he was dreaming, or if he'd died and attained paradise, for there was no way Briska could be truly sitting astride him, riding him hard in the pursuit of her own pleasure, as she sent him inexorably to his own glorious peak.

  He reached up to cup those glorious breasts, bouncing as she rocked. But there was blood on his hands, and the dimly remembered pain of tearing his palms free of the ice. But blood could cast magic. He sent a powerful healing spell through his body, gritting his teeth against the pain as his ribs knitted together and his hands became whole once more. Only then did he place reverent hands on Briska's hips, wanting to touch her to see if she was real.

  Her eyes flew open. "Amani?"

  He managed a smile. "You mistook me for some other lover? My queen, you wound me."

  "I have no other lover. Never. Not in all this time…"

  He rose up, so that he might kiss her lips while still driving deep inside her. Bliss, the like of which he never thought he'd feel again.

  "Then you have been neglected for too long. It will take me weeks to make up for my absence. I will make you never want to leave your bed, my queen. For I know I have no wish to leave it." He thrust gently, changing the angle until she gasped. He fixed his gaze on her face as he pushed her to heights of pleasure no one else could reach, and was rewarded by the sound of her screaming his name. At last.

  His pleasure could wait. For Briska was and forever would be his queen, and nothing mattered more than bringing a smile to her face, a sigh to her lips, and an enormous, shuddering orgasm that engulfed her completely.

  Forty-Three

  Briska cried out again, her voice hoarse for the first time in too long. And still Amani played her body until it sang, just for him. She'd lost count of the number of times he'd carried her to that lofty peak of pleasure that made her scream, for once he'd reached it, he started again, just as lovingly as the first time.

  "Stop fucking that man!"

  Kun's icy tone cut through Briska's pleasure, freezing her in place.

  "Now pick up that lamp, and hold it in your hands. He is the slave of the lamp, and as long as you are holding it, you are his mistress. Hold it in your hands and order him to throw himself off the nearest cliff!"

  Briska winced as Amani slid out of her, wishing she could disobey the order, but even the thought of trying made her head pound. Blindly, she groped for the lamp.

  "Go ahead. You're too late for that," Amani said. He rose from the bed, so that both Briska and Kun could see his naked magnificence, and folded his arms across his chest.

  Briska touched the lamp, now cold from lying unlit on the floor for so long, and cradled it in her hands. She didn't want to do this. She didn't. Yet her mouth opened and the words came out anyway, followed by a sob.

  And the sound of smashing glass.

  Blood trickled down the surface of the mirror, tinting Kun's horrified face red.

  "Blood of the betrayed that binds this djinn, set her free!" Amani commanded.

  All of a sudden, a weight lifted off Briska, as though she'd been carrying a heavy load that had almost crushed her. The fog in her head – fog she'd scarcely noticed until now – cleared, and she became aware of just how cold she was, standing naked in a palace made of ice.

  "NO!" Kun screamed.

  "Yes," Amani replied. He flicked his fingers at her. "Now, you will leave us alone, for if I ever see you again, you will not live to see the next day."

  Amid a storm of cursing, Kun vanished from the mirror.

  "Did you kill the Sultan?" Briska asked, wrapping her arms around herself to try and stay warm. But the very thought of Amani – the man she loved – killing anyone, chilled her heart.

  "No, of course not. That blood came from Maram."

  "You killed my daughter?" Briska shrieked. She sank her teeth into her lip, determined to curse Amani into oblivion for hurting Maram, but nothing happened. "What is wrong with me?" She rushed at Amani and pummelled him with her fists. "What have you done to me? To her?"

  He grasped her wrists and gently pushed her back. "I've made love to you, to the best of my ability. And I have done nothing to Princess Maram that she did not ask for."

  Briska snatched up the lamp again. This time, she said the words of her own free will. "I order you to go jump off a cliff and never touch me again."

  Instead of obeying, Amani laughed. "If it is your wish, I will not touch you. Because it is your wish. I am no longer a slave, and I have your daughter to thank for it. So do you, for she gave me the vial of her blood and commanded me to use it to free you. Until she told me, I had no idea that you still lived. The moment I was free, I did everything within my power to find you. Now I have…and you are free. No more orders, ever. Least of all from that whore, Kun."

  Briska took this all in, looking for a lie, yet knowing she wouldn't find one. His words explained everything, and they even made sense. All except one thing. "But why isn't my magic working?"

  His brow furrowed. "I do not know. If you permit me to touch you, perhaps I can find out."

  Briska stepped into the circle of his outstretched arms, and breathed a sigh of relief as his warmth engulfed her.

  He stood silent for a long moment, before he finally said, "Your magic is working fine. If anything, it's stronger than it ever was. This castle is absolutely humming with it. Every inch of ice and snow, obedient to your command, woven into a protection spell so powerful no one could see through it. Not even to search for you."

  "But Kun said…she said she cast the spell. I didn't. I know I didn't. I would have remembered…"

  "For a spell of this strength, it would have taken a lot of blood. No wonder she managed to hide you from me for so long. If she cast the initial spell, then used your blood to enhance it…but the amount of blood this would have taken…I don't know how you survived, my queen. Unless she took a little at a time, every day…"

  The truth dawned on Briska so suddenly she gasped. She had not thought so quickly in years. "Gerda. When she and the boy stabbed me, I feared I would bleed to death. The floor was awash…and when I awoke it was gone. Kun saved me, or so I thought." She grimaced. "How do I break the spell so that it no longer uses up all my magic?"

  "Just let it go," Amani said.

  "Let it go?" she asked doubtfully. Breaking spells was usually far more complex than that.

  Amani's arms closed around her, his voice a sultry whisper in her ear. "Feel the spell, just as you feel this." His lips kissed her neck, sending a flood of warmth deep into her body. "Then release it."

  It was hard to focus, when all she wanted to do was return his kisses and caresses with a few of her own, but Briska did her best. Reaching deep within her to the magic in her blood, she found the spell, a delicate web of threads that radiated out of her and into every facet of the castle. Now she could feel the magic pulsing through the walls of the palace, keeping the world out. No more.

  Briska severed the connection.

  Magic boiled through her veins, like a flood unleashed on a dry river bed. She bit her lip, and cast the barest whisper of a lust spell.

  The power of it swirled around her, more powerful than any blizzard. Swirled around both of them, as desire darkened Amani's eyes.

  "My queen, I'm taking you home. My castle is yours, and right now, we need a bed, or my desire will melt this castle the moment I kiss you," he said roughly, tracing a circle in th
e air.

  Lifting Briska in his arms, Amani stepped through the portal, from icy mountain to searing desert. No, not just the desert. A castle in the desert, and he was already carrying her inside.

  Briska laughed. Inside, the castle was bare, but she had magic to spare. She conjured a bed, big enough to fit a sultan and a dozen concubines, then squealed as Amani tossed her on top of the silk cushions.

  He fell to his knees on the end of the bed. "Permit me to love you, my queen. Every day for the rest of my life. Be my wife, and I shall worship you every night for as long as I live."

  "Yes," she whispered as Amani took her in his arms, sliding between her legs and deep within her. "Yes!" And she melted under his touch, just the way she wanted. She was the snow queen no more.

  Forty-Four

  Kun stepped out of her portal, pulling her cloak more closely around her thin frame. There was no sign of the accursed couple, or the magic that had once protected this icy palace from the elements. Already the wall beside the waterfall had collapsed into the river, letting snow into the chambers where Briska had hidden from the world for so long.

  Kun sighed. She would never find another matchmaker as talented as Briska. The girl had a gift for finding precisely the right moment to cast her spell, weaving the couples together so closely they never even suspected. She would have liked to keep the girl for longer, for her work was nowhere near done, but that damned enchanter had ruined everything. She still didn't know how he'd managed to free himself from servitude, or to free Briska, but it served him right. He'd thrown away immortality to rut like rabbits with the little matchmaker queen. So stupid. But so were most men, when they thought with their pricks. Centuries had passed, but men never changed.

  She stepped into the palace, trudging through the blown snow, until she reached the mirror. A thin layer of blood crusted the glass, but that could be cleaned off. She would take the mirror back to her palace in the floating city, where it belonged. It had served her purpose, and so had Briska.

  She'd pushed Molina and Lubos together, ensuring they produced a child, and she'd even dealt with that dreadful scion of House Rumpelstiltskin. And with Briska doing all the matchmaking, she'd left Kun free to tend to the training of Molina's daughter, and to do it properly.

  Grasping the mirror, Kun stepped back through the portal. She would return it to her palace later, when Molina's daughter was asleep.

  "Good day, Mother," Rapunzel said.

  Not that the girl knew she was Molina's daughter, of course.

  Kun smiled. "It is, isn't it? The future looks quite rosy, now I have you."

  Rapunzel looked puzzled, but still she smiled. "Yes, Mother."

  Yes, the future looked rosy indeed, though it could darken as much as Kun desired, for now she had Rapunzel, she could weave whatever fate she wanted.

  The next tale in this series will be Spin: Rumpelstiltskin Retold, which you can get HERE (http://www.demelzacarlton.com/fairytale/#Spin)

  If you'd like to read how Maram and Aladdin found their happily-ever-after (and how she freed Amani), it's in Wish: Aladdin Retold HERE (http://www.demelzacarlton.com/fairytale/#Wish)

  If you'd like to read the tale of Hansel and Gretel (who lied about being siblings), check out Return: Hansel and Gretel Retold HERE (http://www.demelzacarlton.com/fairytale/#Return).

  If you'd like to read the tale of Melitta, George and the dragon, it's in Embellish: Brave Little Tailor Retold HERE (http://www.demelzacarlton.com/fairytale/#Embellish).

  If you're looking for more of Demelza's medieval fairytales, including the other couples Briska played a part in matchmaking, you can find the rest of the series HERE (http://www.demelzacarlton.com/fairytale/).

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  USA Today Bestselling author Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.

  She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below.

  Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.

  The Ocean's Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by her suspense thriller Nightmares trilogy. She swears the Mel Goes to Hell series ambushed her on a crowded train and wouldn't leave her alone.

  Want to know more? You can follow Demelza on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or her website, Demelza Carlton’s Place at:

  www.demelzacarlton.com