Destiny: A Fantasy Collection

by Rachelle Mills

  Aiden—Apollo—had instructed Elle to stay put until her handmaidens arrived to prepare her for the ball. Elle had other ideas. One was to find a makeshift weapon to defend herself with if she came across Jack Frost once more. The other was trying to figure out how to find an exit to the palace. Maybe there was an elevator or, at the very least, a long flight of stairs.

  Elle grabbed a nearby crystallized lamp and held it close. The lamp had a nice neck that was perfect for holding. It also had a sturdy bottom. Elle’s plan was simple. If Jack Frost made a reappearance, she would try to crack him over the head before he took on his icy appearance and made his head hard as rock…or, rather, solid ice. It would not hurt him, but at the very least, it would make Elle feel slightly better.

  Slowly, Elle opened the doors to her bedroom, silently trying to figure out her long-term plan. She would have to convince her grandparents to give up their business and move. What would that entail for the long run? Would Elle have to spend the rest of her life running and hiding from monsters and magic like her father had? She swallowed her fear and pushed the negative thoughts away. Elle didn’t have time to worry about how she would live the rest of her life. There would be time for that later. Biting her bottom lip, Elle, as quietly as possible, made her way down the enormous hallway until she reached the end. She turned the knob of one door and found a similar winterized bedroom to hers.

  That wasn’t an exit. Closing the door, Elle hurried to the other and opened the door, only to find yet another winter-themed bedroom. Nearly every room was a bedroom, easily resembling a large hotel with its endless hallways and countless bedrooms. Two more doors revealed themselves to be bedrooms. Frowning, Elle tried to remain calm and think this through. After a few more wrong doors, it became apparent she had gone the wrong way. The exit that eventually led to the throne room was in the opposite direction. Quickening her pace, Elle jogged down the hallway, only picking up her speed once she heard a door closing behind her. There was no time to look back to see who had closed it. Elle started to recognize the long hallway she reached. She went down two flights of stairs next. Then she zigzagged down multiple corridors until she reached the familiar landing that brought her to the hallway that held the doors to the massive winter-themed throne room. Elle stopped her jog mid-stride once she spotted a familiar blond head on the opposite side of the hall. Apollo. She concealed herself perfectly, hiding behind a large pillar from view while also allowing herself to become privy to his conversation.

  “Do you realize she could have been killed last night because you thought it necessary for the both of them to meet first without proper introduction?” Aiden-Apollo hissed, sounding deeply aggravated.

  “Ohh, come now, Apollo! Don’t be so cross with me…” a familiar voice that Elle recognized as Eros countered. “They are both demigods. She was fully capable of protecting herself if Jack had been near harming her.”

  “You toss-pot!” Apollo snarled. “Elle was raised among mortals her entire life, starting with the very moment she was born! She had never been allowed to learn of our customs; she holds no ability to fight. She doesn’t possess any supernatural abilities! What you did yesterday was similar to throwing someone who could not swim out into the middle of a gods-forsaken ocean!”

  Elle noticed from her hiding spot how the young-looking Eros winced heavily. “Someone really should have pointed that out to me,” he muttered, clearing his throat. “But truly, I feel you should get control over your own feelings for the girl. You have known she is to belong to Jack from the day she was born. Your romantic feelings for her are pointless.”

  “Just because I do not wish to see her dead doesn’t mean I have feelings for her, Cupid,” Apollo countered coldly.

  “Oh,” Eros chuckled quietly. “’Tis my fault. I suppose it was easy for me to mistake that you love her. You looked as though you wished to kill me once you discovered ’twas I who allowed Jack to find the girl.”

  “I promised Matthew I would look out for her. I did not make that promise only for her to die simply because Jack still does not want a bride,” he countered coldly. “You should have waited for the right opportunity for them to be introduced. You should not have taken it upon yourself to thrust them together!”

  “You love her.” Eros cackled obnoxiously. “Look at you! Face flushed, fists tightly clenched, eyes narrowed! I bet what’s making your blood boil, sunny boy, is the mere thought of the lovely Elle being with someone other than you—”

  “Go shove an arrow, Eros,” Apollo snarled. “I don’t love her. I have known her destiny from the very moment Pele discovered it was her child destined to marry Frost. I’ve stuck around Evangeline all these years to make sure nothing happened to her before the prophecy took place.”

  “She obviously feels strongly you are a close confidant. She held on to you for dear life back in the throne room. I can feel her aura, Apollo. She loves you—”

  “Well, I don’t love her!” Apollo snapped coldly. “I tolerate her. I’ve been by her side all this time solely because I made a promise to Matthew. Nothing more. As soon as she is married to Jack, she’s no longer my problem.”

  Elle felt warm tears welling in her eyes at that reveal. She shivered as the realization of everything was hitting her full throttle. All these years, her very best friend wasn’t a friend at all. Aiden-Apollo tolerated her solely because it was a very long babysitting job? The young woman quietly tiptoed away, careful to keep herself concealed by the large marble pillars throughout the lovely hall so Apollo and Eros couldn’t see her. She tried hard not to cry, but she couldn’t help herself as the tears gently cascaded down her face. What more in her life could be proved as a lie?

  Her father was never honest with her. Elle still loved her dad, of course, but the man could’ve given her a heads up that at some point she was scheduled to marry a psychopath one day.

  Aiden was not actually her friend at all. He was Apollo, a Greek god, an immortal who spent nearly ten long years pretending to be Elle’s friend. She never once saw the signs he was secretly a creature of the supernatural. She saw him grow up! She’d known him since he was a kid…

  A lump rose in Elle’s throat as she quickly deduced Aiden made her see what he wanted her to see. He was an immortal god; he could do that. He was never simply a good-looking kid who grew into a handsome teenager before growing into a handsome young man. It was all a lie.

  Elle was alternating between crying and jogging when she lost track of where she was going. She found a staircase and quickly started to make her way down it before she heard voices nearby.

  “Where could she have gone? She does not know her way around the palace!”

  “We must find her before King Boreas realizes she is missing!” someone hissed in response.

  Elle saw shadows of people coming down the hallway. Gritting her teeth, she knew it was now or never to escape. She turned to the nearest door and threw herself into the room before quietly shutting the door behind her.

  Elle stood silent, listening to the voices grow closer. Their noise soon turned fainter, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief that the two individuals went down a different corridor. Their words caused Elle to cringe. They were looking for her. She only had so long to try and escape.

  Elle found herself in a much larger bedroom than any other bedroom she had seen yet. There was still the same white winter feel to the room and the same white and silver throw pillows around nearby couches, but Elle could see this room was specifically made grander for a purpose. It held a much larger living room than the one Elle had in her room, and there was even a decent-sized kitchen in the room as well. It looked as though it were a large loft rather than a room.

  Looking around, Elle slowly approached the breakfast bar in the kitchen. It was a beautiful crystallized bar top that was designed to look as though icicles were leaking off the edge of the bar.

  It was beautifully designed to look like an outdoor winter wonderland. On it lay a charcoal drawi
ng on a strange type of parchment. There was a family in the picture. Slowly, Elle stepped closer before picking up the drawing. It was well drawn and looked as though someone spent days, if not weeks, creating it. There were three people total in the drawing. There was a tall man holding a tiny child—a girl—on his lap. The little girl was beaming as she looked to be holding a strange, old-fashioned doll in her hands.

  The arm of the man that wasn’t holding the girl was draped around a woman on his other side. She was beautiful. Even though it was an all charcoal drawing, Elle could see the woman in it was stunning. She had sharp cheek bones, full lips, and a long mane of wild hair that cascaded down her right shoulder into a loose braid.

  Whomever had created this drawing was quite talented; they caught the facial features and characteristics of the small family perfectly. It resembled an actual photograph more than a drawing. The three people in the picture looked incredibly happy. Elle found herself envious of the picture people; they were in better spirits than she was now.

  Those were not the only drawings around. At least a dozen more were put together in a very old fashioned binder. Elle curiously started sifting through the pages. Some were magnificent drawings of trees, lakes, rivers, and cities. New York City in one, Paris in another. Other drawings were of animals, and even more were of the small family. There was one drawing that made Elle stop and stare for a moment. It was another drawing of a child, just not of the girl in the family portrait.

  This one was of a little girl sitting upon the steps of a grand gazebo. The charcoal child in the drawing was distraught and looked to be crying, but that was not what made Elle stare at the drawing longer than necessary. There was something very familiar about it that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  Elle tore her eyes away from the beautiful drawings, realizing her time would be better spent running away than admiring someone’s artistic talent. There seemed to be a massive hallway that exited off to other rooms down the hall. Elle couldn’t be sure, but she felt going down the hall would only lead to more bedrooms or a bathroom.

  She ran to the large window on the other side of the room, trying desperately to unlock the door to get out onto the balcony. She wanted to see if there was a way to lightly jump off each balcony. It would be tiring, but if Elle did this, she was certain she could reach the bottom of this place without running around this kingdom and risking others finding her.

  A sudden noise that sounded like a door opening caused Elle to quickly move herself behind a large white sofa nearby. She wasn’t anticipating someone coming back to the room so soon.

  Laying completely still on the stone floor, Elle watched from underneath the couch as a woman, dressed in a flowing red gown of satin, entered the room, giggling softly. She was not alone. Elle saw a pair of black boots follow in slowly after the woman.

  “Honestly, Voluptas? I’m not in the mood for your games.”

  Elle covered her mouth with her hand to stop any horrified squeaks from escaping her. She recognized that male voice at once. It belonged to the man who tried to kill her just last night. Jack Frost.

  “Well…” The female voice giggled. The voice was laced with a French accent. “I heard that you are receiving the most hideous mortal to be your bride. I thought I could make you feel better about the situation, you know?” the woman said softly.

  Elle mouthed the words “hideous mortal” to herself, not able to help feeling offended. The woman was talking about her. After all, Elle was the only one who was being forced to marry Prince Popsicle.

  Elle didn’t often care about her looks and knew today of all days she wasn’t looking her best, but she felt the word hideous was a bit too much.

  “Actually…” Jack yawned. “She’s not bad to look at. Which was surprising. I was assuming she would be an older equivalent of her four-year-old self with a missing front tooth…”

  Elle scowled but kept herself silent. It was easy to decide she didn’t like Jack Frost, and it only partially had something to do with his trying to take her life the night before. He was arrogant, bitter, and beyond rude.

  “Does she have anything on me?” the French woman purred, the sound of a dress slowly unzipping. It next softly fell to the floor. The woman stepped out from her mess of clothes, a confidence to her step as she now approached Jack. Based on the silence, Elle would bet her life savings the woman was now butt naked.

  “She does not come across as overwhelmingly needy like yourself,” Jack replied coolly.

  The woman’s silence caused Elle to cringe. She had a bad feeling this was going to go somewhere very naughty. Where else could it go when a woman stripped naked? It was disgusting for Elle to realize it didn’t seem as though the woman was wearing a bra or panties underneath her flowing dress, either. That didn’t seem very hygienic, in Elle’s opinion.

  “I think you’re forgetting that I’ve seen all this before.” Jack yawned, sounding almost bored. “So, unless you’ve got a way to get me out of this arranged marriage underneath your naked breasts, you are better going somewhere else, Voluptas.”

  The woman groaned before stepping closer to him. Elle kept still on the floor in order to avoid making a sound. Her hand and wrist were hurting from holding the lamp for so long. Elle quietly realized this was Jack’s room. That’s why he wanted the woman out; it was his room. Out of all the rooms in this place, she accidentally enters the homicidal psycho’s room! Elle cringed but was careful to not make a single noise.

  Voluptas chuckled softly. “All of the fun we used to have, and you are not the least bit curious as to how good I can make you feel?” she asked, a soft coo to the end of her sentence.

  Elle rolled her eyes at the obvious desperation. If you were naked and the man wasn’t automatically throwing himself at you, he obviously wasn’t interested.

  Jack softly laughed. “Forgive me for not being drawn to the woman who keeps dumping me. How asinine of me.”

  Elle recognized the name “Voluptas” from Greek mythology, but in the moment, she couldn’t recall why the name was familiar or from what story she was from. From underneath the couch, Elle could make out Voluptas approaching Jack while still wearing her sky-high ruby heels. As soon as the sound of kissing started, Elle was horrified at the very thought of these two having intimate relations in the middle of the living room. There was no way she could listen to that! The mere thought made her want to gag.

  As the two slowly made their way over to the couch, Elle could make out the feet of both individuals coming closer. Jack sat on the sofa while Voluptas climbed upon his lap to straddle him.

  Elle resisted gagging once more as she very quietly crawled behind the couch. Her idea was to slink across the floor while these two were busy, and then she’d be in the clear.

  Elle slowly made her way across the stone floor and even successfully managed to make it behind another chair before the sound of kissing stopped. It made Elle pause as well.

  “What was that?” Jack asked sharply, causing Elle to remain still. She didn’t move a muscle out of fear of being found.

  “What was what?” Voluptas asked, sounding disappointed they had stopped.

  “I heard something,” said Jack quietly, standing up from the couch after lightly pushing Voluptas off of him.

  The goddess flopped herself onto the couch with more dramatic flair than was needed. “It was probably my sexual appetite turning off,” Voluptas answered curtly, causing Elle to wince. This was too much for her to be around. Her inexperienced ears didn’t need to hear that.

  “Don’t you hear it? It sounds like…a heartbeat.”

  “And it could not simply be mine or yours?” Voluptas chuckled.

  “No. This sounds strange,” Jack said quietly, moving toward the window. Elle didn’t dare look back to see what he was looking at out the window. The only thing on her mind was reaching the door that was at least ten feet away from where she was crawling on the floor.

  “Listen!” Jack snapped, causing Vo
luptas to stop quietly mumbling to herself.

  “You are right. It’s a softer heartbeat, not immortal,” Voluptas agreed, removing herself from the couch to walk toward the windows. “An animal, perhaps?”

  “The only animal that would be up this high by the castle would be a bird of some sort, and this heartbeat isn’t of a bird,” said Jack, sounding suddenly suspicious. “Now listen, the heartbeat is getting faster…”

  Elle glanced down at her ripped and bloody hoodie-clad chest, the realization dawning. It was her heartbeat that was picking up pace out of fear. Glancing at the small lamp still clenched in her left hand, Elle realized it was now or never to get out of here. Holding her breath, she waited until Jack and the woman opened the patio doors leading out onto the large balcony. As they went out, Elle made a run for it.

  She sped out the front door before quietly closing it behind her. Feeling positively thankful she escaped the encounter unscathed, Elle took off at a sprint down the stone hallway to put as much distance between herself and Jack Frost’s room as she possibly could.

  Elle reached the far end of the hall, turning down the corridor before coming to a stop and breathing a sigh of relief. She had been successful. It took a moment for her terrified fear to die down. She thought for sure she was going to be caught.

  Elle started to slowly search for another exit, her feet feeling tired beneath her from all the jogging.

  She shouldn’t have stopped running. Elle squealed as her shoulders were suddenly grabbed from behind. She found herself being roughly pushed up against the opposing wall by none other than Jack Frost.

  It happened so fast that Elle hadn’t had time to even blink. Her teeth starting to chatter. Jack looked angry. She couldn’t be sure what form of his was more frightening, the iced monster or the human version where he had beautiful marble white skin and frosted white hair. As Elle flinched at the painful way Jack used one arm to hold her against the wall, she decided it was his human version that scared her most.