Winter's Scorching Kisses

by Lily Thomas

  His arm tightened around her as his horse jumped a log, and continued galloping through the forest, eating up the ground with its large hooves.

  With a day gone by, Mathar finally pulled up on the reins, stopping his horse. He’d given his stallion plenty of breaks and allowed the beast to go at different gaits, but now it was time for both of them to have a rest, especially now that Adorra should be waking from her dose of berry tea.

  They were far enough away from the manor and any human settlements that any catterwalling she did wouldn’t be overheard by any passerbys.

  Mathar draped her over the front of his saddle and then swung a leg over the back of his saddle as he dismounted. Turning back to his horse, he unstrapped a pack from the back of his saddle and rolled it out by whipping it into the air with a snap.

  “Damn humans and their complications.”

  Jasmine just needed to have her sister brought to her. She couldn’t just wed Dryden without her sister’s presence. He knew why she wanted her sister, but he didn’t understand it. Jasmine needed her sister’s approval and well wishes before she could fully give herself to Dryden.

  He rolled his eyes as he popped up the fur tent. He turned back to Adorra, who was still unconscious, “It’s not large, but it will have to do because I don’t enjoy being burdened with dead weight, like you.”

  He wrapped his hands around her waist and slipped her off the back of his horse. He laid her down on the ground near the tent so that he could get to another pack on his saddle. The one with furs so they’d have something to sleep on other than the unyielding ground.

  Mathar untied the leather straps, yanked the furs off, brought them inside the tent, and rolled out the furs. Then he strode over to Adorra and carried her into the tent and laid her out on the furs.

  Taking a second, he gazed down at her. Unlike Jasmine, Adorra was a great beauty. Her cheeks were flushed, her crimson lips pouting and ready to be kissed, and her chest well endowed for a man’s hands. And he found his palms itching to test the weight of her breasts.

  Mathar heaved a sigh.

  She might be a great beauty, but she was off limits. A human was not the woman for him, no matter how beautiful she might be. It might be for Dryden, but he wasn’t sure he’d want a human running around with their strange ways. This whole wedding Jasmine wanted was so foreign an idea.

  When two ice giants wanted to spend their life together, they just did. There was no need for a ceremony and witnesses to their commitment to spend the rest of their lives together. It seemed useless.

  With one last glance at Adorra, he left her alone in the tent, pushing through the flaps of the tent.

  When she woke, her head would be groggy, and he didn’t want to have her screaming her head off like a lunatic when she realized he’d taken her from her life at the manor. Because with the berry juice still in her system all she’d be able to do was scream. She wouldn’t be able to form words until she was free and clear of the berry juice pumping through her system.

  Adorra slowly woke. At first, she couldn’t move her body and panic set in. She struggled against herself as she tried to get one of her limps to work. She couldn’t move! She continued to struggle, but it was getting her nowhere.

  Gradually, she calmed. If fighting her way through her inability to move wasn’t working, then she would relax and see what happened.

  After a few minutes, Adorra raised a hand to her head and felt relief wash through her that she was able to move. She must not have slept very well last night. The last thing she remembered was collapsing on her bed with exhaustion. With a groan, she rolled over, and her hands grabbed onto her soft covers. She brought them up to her face, caressing her cheek with their softness.

  Then she stopped.

  Her eyes opened as she glanced at the covers clasped in her hand.

  “These aren’t mine.” She whispered. She stared dumbly at the furs she clutched tight in her grasp as her mind tried desperately to catch up with what her eyes were seeing.

  Slowly, her thumb rubbed the furs, disheveling the small brown hairs. Dropping the fur like it’d burned her, her heart rate spiked as she glanced around the foreign looking tent. She wasn’t sure what to make of this. It was a situation unlike any other.

  “Am I dreaming?” Adorra asked no one in particular. If it was a dream, it was like nothing she’d ever dreamt about before.

  Darting up to her feet, her head spun, and her vision went fuzzy around the edges. Adorra dropped to the ground in a rustle of fabric. She rested her head in her hands until the inside of the tent ceased spinning around in a blur of brown.

  Everything felt so real. Adorra glanced down and found her dress from last night still on her body. This couldn’t be a dream. She’d never felt so much in a dream. Or seen such prominent colors. Which meant there was only one other possibility left.

  She’d been kidnapped.

  Maybe it was for a ransom. She’d make sure it was paid if that was what her kidnapper wanted. Or maybe it was Edmund’s killer returned to off her. In which case, she had to wonder why they hadn’t killed her yet. Perhaps they wished to prolong her torture.

  Her lips fell in a flat line. In which case they would get an unpleasant surprise. She was in no mood for being an easy captive. She had spirit, and she would use it.

  Adorra froze as she heard someone outside the tent rustling around. She wasn’t sure who had done this, but she did wonder if it was Keir. It hadn’t been too long ago that she’d been trying to find him and digging out any information about him that she could. He might have grown a spine and come back to get rid of her and her persistent digging.

  She gritted her teeth. If it was him, she planned on turning the tides and figuring out what he knew about the disappearance of Jasmine. Her heart puttered in her chest at the same time that hope blossomed in her heart. This could be her chance to find answers about Jasmine.

  Steeling herself, she rose to her feet and sucked in a few calming breaths while pressing her hands to her corset. Here went nothing.

  She approached the tent opening with sure steps. She reached out a hand, ready to push open the fur flaps when they were suddenly pushed inwards, and an ice giant strode through the opening.

  Adorra halted in her steps, and then let out a piercing scream. Her mind needed time to process, and this was the first thing it thought of doing.

  The ice giant raised his hands to his ears and let out a growl, which sounded like a curse despite the fact that it wasn’t in her language. His obsidian eyes fell on her as his lips turned down in a frown.

  Then he pummeled her to the ground but cushioned the back of her head with a hand so she wouldn’t crack her head against the hard ground. But she was less than thankful. A cracked head would be much better than having an ice giant laying on top of her.

  Her hands came up, and she pummeled his face with closed fits. She wasn’t hitting delicately either. She may not have had any formal training on how to defend herself, but she was aiming to hurt him. She hurled a fist through the air and punched him in the side of the neck.

  “Cease your squirming!” He hollered directly in her face.

  Adorra paused for one brief second, shocked by his outburst in her language before self-preservation kicked back in. Aiming her head, she attempted to crack the front of her head against his, but he pulled back and dodged the attempt.

  Grabbing her hands with one of his, he forced them above her head as he used his weight to keep the rest of her bucking body down on the ground.

  “Stupid human. You would’ve hurt yourself worse with that move than myself.” He shook his head, his silver hair cut short and his black eyes boring into her soul. “Will you stop your squirming?”

  “Never!” It wasn’t a lady like thing, but she hawked a loogie in the back of her throat and spat at him.

  It landed true, splatting right across his face.

  “Bitch!” The ice giant let go of her for a brief second to flip her over onto her s
tomach. Then she felt him lean over her as he caught both of her wrists again, and then he nuzzled the back of her dress.

  Her mouth popped open. “Did you just wipe your face on my dress?”

  “It was your spit. You honored me with wearing it on my face, and now I’ve returned the favor.” He growled in her ear. Then he ripped her arms behind her back and tied them with a rope despite her kicking and thrashing about below him.

  “Let me go!” Adorra screeched, as her heart thundered in her chest nearly causing her to go deaf with its pounding.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” Despair pitted in the bottom of her stomach. This was so much worse than Keir kidnapping her. At least Keir was a small desperate man searching for a master to tell him what to do in his miserable little life, but this was a well-muscled ice giant with unknown intentions.

  “I’m under orders.”

  “From who?” Adorra was bewildered by his statement. It made no sense that someone would hire an ice giant to kidnap her, or that any ice giants would want her.

  He went silent as he finished tying her wrists, and her heart never ceased thundering in her ears. The ice giant grabbed one of her shoulders and spun her back around and yanked her into a sitting position.

  “Now behave yourself.” His eyes narrowed in on her.

  Adorra was tempted to let out another piercing scream, but she reasoned that it would get her nowhere and piss him off to no end. He watched her with his obsidian eyes, bottomless pits into the realms of hell. She wasn’t sure if she saw flames in those depths, but she wouldn’t put it past a giant to have hell flames burning inside of them.

  He pointed a finger in her direction. “Don’t you dare scream again.”

  “Or you’ll gag me?” She filled in.

  “Exactly.” He confirmed.

  A prickle spread across her flesh and tingled the hairs on her head as his dark eyes studied her. Her heart tripped over itself. She wouldn’t have expected an ice giant to have such a finely chiseled jawline. From all the stories she’d heard, she would have expected him to be… grotesque, but he was weirdly easy on the eyes.

  Her eyes dipped down to his expansive chest, and she was amazed he hadn’t crushed her when he’d pummeled her to the ground. Everything about him screamed menace, but despite her troublesome behavior he’d handled her fairly gently.

  “Not surprised that I know your language?” He cocked an eyebrow.

  She shrugged her shoulders as she shook her head. “Not really. It would make sense if you spend your time kidnapping humans.”

  “I don’t kidnap humans.” His eyes darkened if that was possible.

  “Could’ve fooled me.” Adorra rolled her shoulders already tired of having her hands tied behind her back. The ropes were beginning to chafe her wrists. She wasn’t used to this kind of abuse. “Couldn’t you loosen these or take them off altogether?”

  The ice giant shook his head. “Not until I’m sure you won’t bolt off into the forest.”

  She ground her teeth. She would never be released then because there was no way she could promise not to bolt if given the chance. Which meant she would just have to let her arms go numb before the uncomfortableness became pain.

  “Maybe the information I hold will allow me to untie you and make you stick around.” He continued to study her with those demonic looking eyes of his.

  Adorra snorted as she crinkled her nose at him. “Like you could ever tell me anything that would get me to stick around.” The moment he released her, she planned on darting away before he could react. Irking him and risking death was better than any future with this ice giant in front of her, with his sharp jawline and steep nose. She shook her head. Not the right time to be studying his surprisingly handsome face.

  “I have news about your sister, Jasmine.” A smirk spread across his face, knowing he had something over her.

  “My sister…” she trailed off. “You couldn’t know anything about my sister.” Her eyes narrowed as she eyed him.

  “I know her name, Jasmine.”

  “Pfft,” she dismissed it easily, “anyone could find that out, even an ice giant. You seem resourceful enough.” Or he wouldn’t have been able to get to her without getting himself killed by the guards around the manor house.

  “Thank you for the compliment.” He sent her a half smile, and it looked too good on his face.

  “It wasn’t”

  He cut her off with a raised hand. “I don’t care what it was, Adorra.”

  “So, you know my name. Still not impressed.” But she was slightly intrigued. Just the mention of her sister after so long was tempting.

  “I once overheard your sister telling a story about your childhood.” The ice giant kicked out one of his legs as he draped an arm over his knee. “I believe it was something about an injured bird she’d found in the courtyard of your manor house. The both of you tended to the animal until it was ready to go off on its own.”

  Adorra’s heart stopped in her chest. She swallowed harshly. “You’re speaking the truth about knowing my sister.” She felt her jaw drop as she said those words, but then she snapped it shut. She couldn’t give him the upper hand by showing her absolute shock. She wouldn’t have expected his words to be true, but there was no way for him to know that story unless… he’d been around Jasmine. “Is she still alive?” She leaned forward slightly eager for more news.

  “Yes.” The ice giant held her gaze, and it unnerved her, but if Jasmine were alive, she’d put up with him. “We ice giants don’t tend to bother ourselves with killing human women.”

  “Why did you kidnap her?” Because it made no sense to Adorra. Try as she might to rack her brain for a reason, but she couldn’t come up with one.

  “Kidnap her?” He leaned back as he chuckled lightly like she was the densest person in the land. “We didn’t kidnap her.”

  “We?”

  He kicked out another leg, relaxing, when her arms were tied uncomfortably behind her back. She hated him for that. It was like he was flaunting how comfortable he could get when she wasn’t able to, and it irked her. If only she could smack that small smile off his lips.

  “We didn’t kidnap her.” He repeated himself.

  “You kidnapped me. Why?” Adorra wanted to get to the point of this kidnapping and move on. If he wanted something, then she would be happy to give it to him before she sent armed soldiers after his head. Assuming her people had the resources to spare. They were currently fighting a war with the rock giants and the fire giants, so if her sister were alive, then Adorra would have to be the one to rescue her.

  “Because your sister and her husband”

  “Excuse me?” Adorra kicked out a leg making sure to kick his leg away from her with a slippered foot. “Husband?” Adorra shook her head noticing her hair was coming loose from her bun and waving around behind her head. “Are you sure you have the right woman?”

  “Yes. Reddish brown hair, hazel eyes, and a bit of a backbone.” He took a moment before raising a finger into the air, “And bookish.”

  It sounded like Jasmine.

  “My sister isn’t married.” Maybe he’d been lying before about knowing her sister, and he was just really good at fibbing his way through a childhood story.

  “In my culture, she is married, but she’s insisting on a human wedding, which she has demanded your presence at, which is why we are here.” He eyed the tent walls around them. “Why she can’t get married without you is beyond me, but here we are.” He waved a hand in the air as he explained.

  “Wait.” Adorra closed her eyes as she spoke the next sentence. “Are you saying she’s married to an ice giant, or about to be?”

  “Yes.”

  She opened her eyes and glared at him. “You forced her.”

  “We did not.” His onyx eyes darkened as a growl curled the last word.

  He appeared to be genuinely pissed that she would think that, but how could she not?

>   “You must have. My sister would never marry one of you.” She spat the last word. Her poor sister. Jasmine had been forced into a marriage with an ice giant! She would save Jasmine from her horrible fate if it were true.

  “Your sister is happy and pregnant.”

  Adorra paled. “Pregnant?” Her heart sank with dread. Every time he opened his mouth he delivered even worse news.

  He nodded his head.

  “You animals!” She thrashed around, attempting to strike him with one of her slippered feet, but he just scooted out of range. “Damn you! Do you have no decency?”

  Her sister had been used by one of them. Her heart kept breaking the longer this conversation continued, and she couldn’t shake the image of Jasmine being dragged under an ice giant and…

  Her poor sister! The trauma. Would her sister ever be able to recover from such a heinous experience? She feared the answer would be a no.

  “She would’ve traveled down here to tell you herself, but she is in no condition to ride.” He sighed. “I wish she had. She may have done a better job at convincing you she was happy than I am.”

  “That…” Adorra trailed off. She didn’t want to give too much away about what she believed. This was her moment to make a decision. She could either wait it out and see if her sister was alive, or she could keep telling him she didn’t believe him and remain tied up.

  Once he brought her to Jasmine, she would get Jasmine back to human civilization. Her sister was either brainwashed or too scared to refuse what the ice giants demanded of her. It had to be what was happening.

  “How do I know any of this is true?” She studied him as he just watched her in silence. Those obsidian eyes disturbed her so much. She wasn’t sure how anyone could read anything in them when they were just dark pits. “You could’ve gathered this information before slaughtering my sister.”

  “If we slaughtered her like you say, then why would we bother with this pretense with you?” He arched a brow. “If all we wanted to do was kill you, I could’ve done it back in your room.” He reasoned.