“Oh, brother, we’ve done wrong. I do not believe at all it was her, but the Goblin. He’s tricked you, twisted you, turned you into someone you’re not. You haven’t been the same since your return. I knew that, but it was easy to believe it was her fault even though deep down—”
“Haxion, stop.” He made a cutting motion with his hand. “You must stop.”
But his sister wouldn’t. She didn’t. Clasping her hands together she tucked them tight to her breast.
“She has done something, Alador. When I saw her this night—”
“You saw her?” For the first time he didn’t feel a wash of hatred, but a rush of emotions so powerful it was almost crippling, making him feel as though he were going to drop to his knees.
She nodded. “For five years, every night on Yule. The night of your return to us. She comes and looks down upon our herd from the bluff above. But this night was different, Alador, she was weak, cold...she said...she said she released you, and then she gave me those.”
She pointed to his hand.
“But, Alador,” she whispered, knowing immediately what he was thinking, “if you leave for her, the herd will disown you.”
She didn’t sound gleeful about it, anything but in fact. Tears shimmered in her pupil less eyes.
“But will you, sister?”
Because she was the only one that mattered to him.
One second ticked by. Then two. Three, before finally...she shook her head slowly. “Never.”
Stomach heaving and shot through with panic, Alador said nothing else as he sped from his hut. He didn’t know why, or where he was going.
He knew nothing other than the overwhelming need to get to her before she did something irrevocable.
As he ran he thought.
Thought long and hard about everything.
Could Haxion have been right? Were these memories he had not his own? Were the ones in his dreams real?
In his dreams Luminesa had been a creature of divine beauty and sweet kindness. A shy, fairy-like creature that only the very lucky and chosen few ever got to see for who she truly was.
Like spotting a unicorn frolicking through a stream. That was how rare and special she was.
“Oh Gods.” He clutched the bracelets tight to his chest.
Not running toward her castle.
Because deep down he knew she’d not be there.
The moment he realized that was the moment he felt the sweet arctic glow of her spread like fire through his chest.
Shaking his head, Alador began to see through the pall. The dark magick that’d cloaked him the moment the key had been pulled from out of his chest fractured into a million pieces and like peeking through a veil of mist over rolling water he began to suss out truth from fantasy.
With each step his dread and doom increased.
Reality knocked him flat, made him feel breathless. He trembled, muscles bunching, flesh sweating, as more and more memories came flooding through him.
“Oh Goddess, my queen, what have I done to you?”
He’d thrown a spear at Luminesa, threatened to pluck the heart from her breast and roast it upon a fire...all while she’d gazed upon him with tears in her eyes, begging he listen to her.
“No!” he roared, forcing his body to move at a punishing pace as he followed the stirring of his heart.
The oily coating of that black magick was nearly extinguished now...and he remembered it all.
Do not stop searching for me, come back for me, Luminesa...come back for me...
His words taunted him, his actions convicted him...tears blinded him as he ran around trees, as branches lashed at his cheeks, his chest, bleeding him.
But he didn’t care.
She’d done as he’d bid and he’d tortured her for it.
Alador broke through the forest, coming upon an icy clearing and there in the center of that blue, blue snow sat his queen.
She had her hands on her lap and her head bowed. The tips of her hair danced on the breeze and were slowly fading into wisps of snow, drifting higher and higher.
She was fading. Dear gods, she was fading.
“Luminesa, stop!” He roared.
Her shoulders bunched, tensed up, and like the hands of a clock moving back in slow motion, she turned toward him.
Her skin was pale as the snow around her.
The cheeks he’d remembered such a lovely shade of mauve once were now a ghastly shade of grayish-ivory.
Rushing her, he didn’t stop to think as he reached down, plucking her up beneath her arms and bringing her tight to his chest.
She felt as light as a feather, there was hardly any substance to her.
“Oh my gods, my queen, my love...” he murmured, his tears mingling with his kisses as he desperately clung to her.
Luminesa didn’t move. She was a statue in his arms, hardly even breathing.
But Alador couldn’t stop trembling, couldn’t stop begging that she stay with him.
“I’m so sorry, so very sorry. I remember everything now. I remember it all. I love you. You are the very beat of my heart and the soul of my soul. Please don’t leave me, not now. Please...”
And then...her hand slid up to his whisker-roughened cheeks. That single touch was like a shot of lightning straight through his veins.
He looked at her, and she at him. “I thought you’d forgotten me forever,” she whispered. “I tried so hard to reach you, Alador, I—”
Grabbing her hand, he looked down at her palm, and his heart thumped wildly in his chest at the sight of the hoof print. Her mark for him had never faded.
Then he looked at his own hand, and it was with glee that he saw the slow spread of the snowflake spread across his own.
She saw it too and that’s when the tears fell.
“Is it really you?” she asked. “Will you never leave me again?”
“Oh, my love.” He kissed her soundly, exploring her lips hungrily as a different kind of fire spread through his belly. “Never. Never again. You healed me, Luminesa, in more ways than you could ever know. You broke the curse. I remember everything. Please tell me you’ll stay. Don’t end yourself.”
She laughed and the sound was like the tinkling of fairy bells in his ears.
“I wasn’t fading, I was simply choosing to become the ice I’d been crafted to be. Being human hurts too much, and I do not like it.”
He hugged her tight. “I’m never letting you go. Ever. If you wish to become snow, then I’ll become snow with you. Take me with you, wherever you go, whatever you do. You are mine, and I am yours. We swear by peace and love to stand—”
Her lips twitched. “Heart to heart and hand to hand—”
“Mark o spirit and hear us now, confirming this our sacred vow,” they both said in unison.
The wind howled as raging rivers of snow surrounded them, but Alador wore her mark and her snow was his snow.
She was all he’d ever want in this world or the next.
Claiming his lips with her own, she nuzzled his nose before saying, “Where should we go, horse?”
Wanting to laugh with jubilation, he ran his fingers through her hair, “anywhere so long as we’re together, I care not.”
“Have you been outcast?”
“Once my tribesmen hear of this, I’m sure I will be. Knowing Haxion, she’ll keep our secret for the night at least.”
“Would you like to see the dancing lights in the night sky? A castle atop the highest cliff in all of Kingdom. Just you and me?”
Her eyes sparkled with life, that flickering warmth of fire that he so loved.
Goddess he’d almost lost her forever.
Alador would never stop hating himself for what he’d done, but he’d also never stop in his efforts to make it up to her.
“I would follow you to the moon.”
Standing, she held tight to his hand. “Maybe in a few years we can return to your sister. So that she can see you are well.”
“It will t
ake a least a few years before my hunger for you isn’t quite so feral.” He tucked a curl of her silvery hair behind her ear. And then with all earnestness and seriousness looked her deeply in the eyes as he said, “I love you, woman mine.”
“Always?” She asked softly.
“Always and forever,” he murmured.
Then tipping her chin up, he kissed her and she kissed him right back with all the passion, longing, and love that only true soul mates could know...
~*~
Baba Yaga
Cackling softly, she rubbed Balthazar’s head as she gazed on the bones.
“He’s lost. The Under Goblin’s lost, as I knew he would. And boy does he owe me now, Balthazar. Does he ever owe me now...”
~*~
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Author’s Note
Many of you may be unaware that I previously wrote Kingdom titles under a different pen name. Luminesa’s history was first revealed in the Dark Princess saga, book 10 Her One Wish. A romance about Nixie the genie who turned Luminesa into the Ice Queen, and her mate, Robin Hood.
Dedication
An author is nothing without the dedicated team of editors, betas, and readers behind her. And I’m definitely luckier than most. So to my wonderful team, I think you guys are aces.
Also, to the Women of UF group, you guys are really amazing and helped hold my hand as I wrote my first centaur romance. But hopefully not my last, too much fun.
And finally to all of you reading this and in love with Kingdom, from the bottom of my heart...I thank you.
About Jovee Winters
Jovee Winters is the penname for a NY Times and USAT bestselling author. She’s a lover of all things fairy tales, especially when she gets to twist them up and give the villains of those stories their much needed happily ever afters too. If you’d like to know more about her upcoming books, you can either sign up for her newsletter, or friend her on FB.
Dark Queens Books
The Sea Queen, Book 1 (The story of Calypso and Hades)
The Passionate Queen, Book 2 (The story of the Queen of Hearts)
The Ice Queen, Book 3
The Ice Queen Page 20