by Lily Thomas
“How romantic.” Jasmine’s voice took on a dreamy note.
Adorra snorted. “It was more lustful than romantic. We had needs, and we took care of it. Nothing more. But we are getting off topic.” She waved a hand in the air. “You still need to tell me about Mathar’s scars.”
“He’s never said anything, but I’ve managed to gather some information regarding them. It turns out he never had a good relationship with his father.” Jasmine filled her in.
Adorra was worried where this might go.
“When he was younger, his father was known to drink too much and beat him.”
Adorra had been right. She wasn’t enjoying where this tale was going.
“But,” Jasmine reached out and grabbed a hold of her hand, “that wasn’t all his father did. There was one day that everyone seems to be unable to forget when Mathar discovered that his father had killed his mother in a drunken rage.”
Adorra gasped. “How horrible!”
“Rumor has it that Mathar was willing to put up with his father flogging him but when his father killed his mother… he lost it.”
“He killed his father.” Adorra supplied, knowing where this was going before her sister said a thing.
“So goes the story, but I have no idea if there is any truth to it.” Jasmine rushed to tell her.
“The poor man.” She’d grown up in a loving house, and although her parents had passed while she was young, she’d never had someone be so cruel to her.
Jasmine smiled grimly as she sat back in her chair. “That man has lived a troubled life that we can barely imagine. It doesn’t surprise me he is unwilling to tell anyone about it.”
“He probably won’t ever tell me the story lest I call him a murderer again.” Her heart faltered in her chest, sputtering like it was breaking.
Jasmine nodded her head. “Dryden gave him a special pardon for killing his father. After all the torture he went through as a child, it was amazing he hadn’t snapped earlier.”
“He was so sweet this morning.”
“How so?” Jasmine cocked her head to the side.
“He tried to help me remember more about Edmund.”
Jasmine’s eyes widened. “And did you remember anything?” Hope shown brightly in her sister’s eyes.
“There was one thing.” Adorra bit her lip before continuing. “Mathar helped me realize how strange it was that Edmund preferred me out of all the women who vied for his attentions.”
“And?” Jasmine leaned forward, ready for more details.
“We both agreed that it seemed strange he would choose me over all those other women, women with more wealth to their name until I realized why.”
“Sister, you are drawing this out.” Jasmine looked like she might pop off her chair at any moment.
“If Edmund had indeed wanted to kill me as everyone insists, then he would have chosen me because there was no family to ask questions when I died.”
Jasmine nodded her head slowly. “That would make sense. With no one to wonder why you died, he wouldn’t have to fear anyone questioning whether or not it was accidental.”
“We are assuming he had any intention to kill me though.” Adorra raised a finger in the air.
Jasmine bit her lip before saying, “I believe he intended to poison you. Can you think of any moment during your wedding night that he may have tried?”
Adorra shook her head, and then she paused. “Although, there was a strange moment when he insisted I have another glass of wine. This,” she held up a hand, “was right before Mathar showed up. I only had a sip of the wine, but there had been a taste in there… something more than wine.”
The room around her disappeared, and she thought back to the night of Edmund’s death. At least tears were no longer plaguing her when she thought back to that time.
“Could it have been poison?” Jasmine pressed.
“Can I say for sure either way? No, but it was strange how he insisted that I drink the glass of wine when I had already said I didn’t want to finish it and that I’d had enough.”
“It does sound a bit strange.”
“I didn’t feel the best after that ordeal, but I put it down to trauma, and now I have to wonder if that was the small bit of poison I did swallow.”
Jasmine nodded her head. “So what do you think about it?”
“I’m not sure it’s enough, but then I also have your side of the story, and I don’t doubt what happened to you.” Adorra met Jasmine’s eyes. “I just find it so hard to believe he could so easily fool me.” Adorra raised a hand when Jasmine opened her mouth. “I’m not saying he didn’t, but I am sorry he fooled me. If I hadn’t brought him into our lives, we wouldn’t be here.”
Jasmine shrugged. “It may sound strange to you, but I’m glad that Edmund did do what he did. Now I have Dryden and this child.” She rubbed her stomach. “In a weird way, he was a blessing.”
They stared at the flames in the hearth.
“Does that mean you believe me about Edmund now?” Jasmine hedged.
Adorra smiled. “I’m sorry it took me this long to realize how wrong I was about Edmund.” That night had been strange, and the more she thought about it, the more she agreed with Jasmine. Something had been up… she’d just been too wrapped up in love with Edmund to notice, but now, after all this time without him, her mind was better able to think clearly.
Jasmine leaped to her feet and rushed over to Adorra’s chair, and took her hands into her own. “You were in love. It’s hard to accept that someone you loved freely would hurt you so. I was never insulted that you didn’t believe me.”
A knock sounded on the door, and Jasmine pulled away before announcing, “Enter.”
“Your Majesty.” A servant walked through the door with a tray of food, bowed, and then walked over to a table and left the tray. “Is there anything else I can get you?” She asked.
“We are good, thank you.”
The servant bowed and then left the room.
“Does it ever feel strange to you that you are the queen of ice giants?” Adorra looked up at her younger sister, who wasn’t so young anymore.
“Sometimes. When I give orders, it feels so backwards to me. I feel as though I should be the servant.” Jasmine laughed. “But now that I have settled in a bit more, it comes a little easier.”
Jasmine grabbed a cup off the tray and came to sit back near the hearth. “What will you do now that you believe us about Edmund.”
“I’m not sure.” Adorra glanced down at her fur dress. “I feel as though I should return to our manor.”
“You could stay here.” Jasmine smiled over the rim of her cup as she took a sip.
She could do that, but… “The manor is all we have left of our parents.”
Jasmine smiled sadly. “I’m sure they’d rather see us together and happy rather than trying to keep our lands in our family. They were the adventurous type. I was always told.”
Adorra scoffed. “We barely remember them.”
“But they were happy and in love. I know they’d want us to find and keep that type of love as they did.”
“True.” Adorra couldn’t argue about that because the few memories she had of them they had always seemed happy and in love. She’d hoped to find that sort of love with Edmund. Until she’d found out, she couldn’t trust the man she’d fallen in love with. The only question was, did she trust Mathar anymore?
“Well, until you decide what you want to do, remain here with us.”
“I will.” Because as much as Adorra loved the manor and all the memories it held, it didn’t have her sister and family was more important.
Chapter 21
It’d been days since Adorra had last seen Mathar, and she was beginning to worry about where that man had gotten himself. It was beginning to look like he had disappeared into the snowy ice giant mountains.
Her slippered feet made barely a whisper as she strode across the stone floors. She’d been searching inside and
outside the castle, but there wasn’t even a glimpse of that damn man.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Jasmine’s voice asked from behind her.
Adorra swung around. “I’m trying to find Mathar.”
“Mathar?” Jasmine shrugged. “Why would you be doing that?”
“Don’t play coy, Jasmine.” Adorra frowned. “You know why.”
“I just don’t think you’ll come to believe it until you say it out loud.”
Her lips tightened. She wasn’t sure she could say it out loud, but here it went, “I can’t stop… thinking about him.” Or his hands pressed up against her, or those lips of his that drove any sense of sanity clear out of her head.
“He’s probably off at that plot of land of his. Last thing I heard was that he accepted the piece of land and is now building a cabin of his own. A place where he can get some peace.”
From his past demons. Demons that would only plague him here at the castle. A castle where he was beaten, where his mother was killed, and where he killed his father. There was nothing here for him.
Her heart had the audacity to break at that last thought.
But it was true. If he had something here at the castle, he’d be here with her. He wasn’t, and it spoke volumes. She was worth nothing to him.
“After your wedding, I will return back to the manor,” Adorra announced without thought.
Sadness filled Jasmine’s eyes. “Perhaps I’ll convince Dryden to postpone our wedding.”
Adorra chuckled as she shook her head. “I’m returning to the manor after the date you have set. Besides, you’ve already put so much work into celebrating your impending nuptials. Everything is planned, and as the day grows closer, I see a gleam of joy growing in Dryden’s eyes.”
“What that man does to please me.”
“You’ve opened my eyes, Jasmine. The rock giants and fire giants may be beasts, but these ice giants have proven they just want to stay up here out of anyone’s business.” Did she completely understand, perhaps not, and was she sure they still could behave badly, yes, but, “Your Dryden is special.”
“He is.”
“Let me help you get ready for your wedding.”
A couple of days later, Adorra found herself sitting in the great hall waiting for her sister and Dryden to be married. Her sister was beautiful. She was wearing a white fur dress, with tall boots that no one else knew about since her dress hem reached the ground. Her brunette hair was done up on her head, and she made a stunning bride.
Adorra felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. She wished her mother and father had lived long enough to see this day. The joy they would have felt at seeing one of their daughters married would be unbound.
Glancing over to the other side of the seated crowd, she saw Mathar. She was sure he was here only because of Dryden and wanting to please his king. Otherwise, she’d expect him to be back at his cabin, ignoring this thing that he had to be protesting inside his head.
He looked dashing though. A blush crept up her cheeks. She’d been lonely these many nights with just herself to warm her bed during these icy mountain nights. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle up against Mathar’s chest and enjoy the warmth that poured off of him.
Mathar turned and his onyx eyes collided with hers.
Immediately, Adorra faced towards Jasmine and Dryden who were now kissing, but all she could see were her face and Mathar’s face. She was imagining them getting married.
Yes. She could very well imagine that. There wasn’t the same repulsion she felt when she’d first come here. Mathar may have killed Edmund, but there was proof, proof she’d provided that Edmund hadn’t been the man she’d suspected him of being.
Her heart sputtered in her chest. She was a real piece of work. First, she’d fallen for a man who’d done nothing but prove her a fool, and now she was in love with a damaged ice giant. Her choice in men left something to be desired.
But, oh, she desired him.
Dryden and Jasmine walked past all their seated guests and out to the castle courtyard. Everyone stood and followed the happily married couple outside where there was an impressive setup. Huge bonfires had been lit in the courtyard, and Adorra found it quite daring of them.
One stray spark and she could imagine a fire, although… she turned to take in all the buildings around them. There wasn’t too much to burn when all their buildings were mainly built of stone, and anything that might be caught on fire was buried under a recent snowfall that had rivaled anything she’d seen as of yet.
Adorra made her way over to the hot spiced wine. “I’ll have a glass.” She said to the ice giant tending the large pot of hot wine with a million spices that wafted up on a small breeze.
“I will as well.” A strong voice washed over her, and a shiver spread down her spine.
“I never expected to see you again.” She commented as took the cup of offered hot wine from the ice giant in front of her.
Then the ice giant passed one to Mathar, and she finally turned to lay eyes on the man that had intruded on her dreams every single night. To say she’d slept very little would be an understatement.
“Dryden wanted me here for this joyous day. Otherwise, you never would have.”
She took a sip of the wine and savored the taste of the thick liquid on her tongue. It was amazing what the addition of heat and spices could do to wine. And the cold outside only made it taste even better.
“Will you disappear yet again?” Her breath puffed out in front of her.
“I have a cabin to build.” He took a sip of his spiced wine.
“And how’s that going?” Adorra bit her bottom lip. What she wanted to ask was if he’d be kind enough to visit her bedchamber tonight, but she wasn’t that bold of a lady.
“I have four walls and a floor, so not too bad.” Mathar nodded his head.
“Will you be showing anyone your cabin?” Like her… she wanted to know if he wanted to bring her further into his life.
Mathar snorted. “That would defeat the purpose of the cabin, now wouldn’t it?”
“Surely, not even you could go for an extended period of time without some sort of company.”
“Are you volunteering? Would you like that?” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Would you like to keep my bed warm for me?”
Adorra felt a blush creep up her face. She knew he was trying to scare her away, make her faint in fright, but the idea of spending the rest of her life as his bed partner sounded… like the most appealing thing in the world.
It’d only taken a few nights without him, for her to want to spend more time with Mathar.
“Ah,” his onyx eyes moved over her face, “you’ve missed me.”
“Pfft, please.” She brushed his statement away. “Any man could please me as well as you.”
She watched his face darken at her insult, and she felt success rush through her.
“We’ll just have to find out tonight when I visit your bed.” And then he walked off.
Her knees trembled with her excitement. Damn her sister, Edmund, Mathar, and Dryden! Without all these players she could have lived a normal life with a husband and a family… but now she had an adventure up here with ice giants, and she dreaded going back to the manor. Now that she’d been up here with excitement and fear pulsing through her, she wasn’t sure she ever wanted the normal boring life of a lady.
Adorra laid in the dark of her room, the hot coals warming the air as she waited for Mathar’s promised visit to her chambers. Rolling her head to the side, she watched the flickering of the glowing coals. She felt like she’d been waiting forever, and she was worried he might not show.
She closed her eyes and sighed. She’d been hoping he would show.
The door to her chamber creaked open, and her eyes shot wide as she stared at the wooden door as it swung open. Then Mathar stepped into the room before shutting the door quietly behind him.
“You came.”
“Of
course I did.”
As he approached the bed, he slowly stripped off his clothing, and she wished the coals were burning brighter so she could get a better look at him. He flung his shirt off to the side, and she was able to see his muscles rippling in the dim light. Then his hands untied his trews, and he dropped them to his feet and kicked them off. Next, he toed off his shoes and kicked them away.
“Have you missed me, Adorra?”
“Yes.” She watched his eyes widen a bit at the declaration, and then his eyelids shuttered over his eyes.
He reached out a hand, gripped the corner of the sheet, and ripped it off of her. She watched his eyes dip.
“You’re naked.”
“You promised to come.”
He bent over the bed and his mouth covered hers. She moaned low in her throat, but his mouth swallowed the noise. He growled down at her, the sound vibrating through her and sending pleasant sensations down to her groin.
He smelled of sweat and horse, and she wasn’t sure she could ever get enough. She softened against him as he leaned further onto the bed, covering her with his body.
His tongue licked the crease of her lips, asking for entrance, and she popped her mouth open. Mathar delved into her mouth, exploring and claiming. Their tongues danced together in playful banter.
Her heart thundered away in her chest, filling her ears.
Mathar laid down next to her, never breaking their kiss. One of his arms worked its way under her head, and his other hand trailed down between her breasts, over her stomach, and down into her patch of curls. Then his hand dipped between her thighs and knocked them apart.
Adorra arched her back knowing exactly where his hand was headed.
His finger dipped between her lips, spreading them. Then he found her nub easily. His finger pad circled, tight and fast. She sighed into his mouth as her cheeks heated with desire.
He broke away from their kiss and gazed down at her. There was a flicker in those dark eyes… a flicker of love. But maybe she was being too hopeful.
His finger dipped down to her entrance.
“You’re so wet.” His eyelids slid closed as he swirled his finger among her juices. “I love how your body responds to me.”